We were lucky to catch up with Quill Kolat recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Quill, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with something countless entrepreneurs have had to figure out on the fly – how have you dealt with the rise of remote work?

My coworkers and I have all been working remotely since the beginning of the pandemic. I joined the Snowbright Studio team in April 2020, so in-person work wasn’t an option. As time passed, we realized it wasn’t cost-effective to have an in-person office space. We’re such a small team, and only 2 of us live in the Cleveland area. Everyone else is spread out all over the country. Snowbright Studio keeps in touch daily through voice and video conferencing and a private Discord server. We sit in a “cubicles” voice channel on mute to let everyone know we’re available during work hours and chat in our many text channels that organize our projects. It’s been a successful setup for us. A small team helps with communication, though issues and misunderstandings can happen if we aren’t clear enough in our messages. Despite the occasional miscommunication, I love our online office situation. Besides the obvious benefits of working from home, like having vivid conversations with my cats all day and working in sweats, my home office doubles as my art studio. I have access to all of my art equipment and supplies which I wouldn’t have in a conventional office. This gives me a lot of creative freedom and the opportunity to experiment with media.

Quill, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Quill Kolat, a non-binary transgender person who uses they/them pronouns. I’m an artist and designer from the Cleveland area, and the Creative Director for Snowbright Studio, a game studio focused on making fun, heartwarming games for all ages. Our first game was Time Tails, a point-and-click adventure game about time-traveling cats who teach players how to use Unity coding software. That series has continued with new episodes that teach increasingly complex concepts. Our second release was Teatime Adventures, a tabletop roleplaying game that encourages players to use communication and creative problem-solving to unravel mysteries. Some folks are interested in darker themes, so we also created “ink,” an RPG that all takes place in the afterlife of deceased characters. We also have board games with a birding card game called Birds of a Feather and a frogs-on-bikes veggie delivery game called Harvest Hoppers. Our latest project is a new bi-monthly cozy game and fiction magazine, Cozy Companion. We expand on the worlds of ink, Teatime Adventures, and Time Tails with stories and game modules while also featuring interviews with game designers and other cozy or geeky businesses. I’m so proud of all that our small group has accomplished over the last few years. We’re making beautiful, happy games, and making a space to shine a light on other creators that are doing the same.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I was looking for a new job around the end of 2019. I applied to so many Indeed listings. One of the listings turned out to be a scam, so I was on high alert for shenanigans. One day, I got a very polite email from Grace giving me some background on themself and the company. They were looking for someone to guide Snowbright Studio’s (then, Liminal Esports) creative direction and to draw cute anthropomorphic animals. It sounded too good to be true. I was sure it was another scam, but I was curious and agreed to meet Grace at a cafe. They turned out to be an actual human being and not a scam bot, and we had a lovely chat over coffee and chai. They told me more about the company and team. I decided I wanted to be a part of that. I was officially hired in April 2020. I am still drawing those cute animals and loving it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love to share my creations with people. I put a lot of care and emotion into my work and get a lot of creative satisfaction from seeing folks’ reactions to my work and hearing how it makes them feel. I get to talk to many people about my work for Snowbright at game conventions and share the joy my work gives them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.quillkolat.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/quillkolat
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@quillkolat