STILLFRAME 3D STUDIOS

Hello everyone,

My name is Basel Yousef. I am a Palestinian 3D artist, former CTE animation teacher and owner of still frame 3d. StillFrame is closing. However this is not the end, but a transition to something better.

I will be starting Bakaya, a new indie video game studio and worker cooperative dedicated to Palestinian fiction games. Bakaya is an Arabic word that means remains. I chose it because of its similarity to vestige as I believe all our stories are inspired by the marks left by those before us.

Why Bother? AI is Gonna Take the Job Anyway!

The world wants to erase us, and the media industry is riskier than ever. with rising AI and exploitation, artists are told to treat their craft as a mere hobby and find a real job instead. Too many of us are leaving the digital creative field because of this pressure. I cannot accept that. More than ever, we need to assert our right to represent ourselves in any way, shape, or form across all mediums. We need a space in this industry, or nothing will ever change.

I want an industry where we can create fictional stories about the struggle against Zionism with the same creative freedom the Western industry enjoys when depicting Nazis. I want the right to tell stories completely unbound from Zionism, allowing our characters to stand on their own merits and giving us access to diverse narratives we have been denied for too long. I want to see Palestinians saving planets, solving murder mysteries, and becoming superheroes. So despite the barriers, I refuse to let billionaires, Zionists, or AI dictate where we are allowed to thrive.

A Team Project

However, I cannot do this alone. I am just a small-time 3D artist without an established reputation or the backing of larger institutions. I have spent more time teaching others to model than modeling myself, despite being confident in my own skills. Because I lack the funds to hire staff or pay cooperative members, I must start with volunteers. I am looking for two individuals willing to help with this project despite the risks, even if only for a few hours a week. If we can build a working prototype and things go well, my hope is that these volunteers will become part of the collective itself.

While I could look for members worldwide, I specifically need these two to be based in the Texas Triangle region. This is simply because it is easier to operate a collective registered in Texas if the members are also located here. I am also tired of communicating with people solely through a screen. In this creative field, working with a team you can meet in person makes all the difference.

Another major difficulty is finding the right people:

The first role I need is a Palestinian concept artist, whether from the diaspora or the homeland. This person will set the game’s art direction, so they need a personal understanding of what it means to be Palestinian. This is especially hard to find, particularly here in Texas.

The second role is for a game engine coder. Familiarity with Godot is preferred but not required. While this person does not need to be Palestinian, they must understand and respect that this is a Palestinian studio. Our mission is non-negotiable: every project we create will center on representing Palestinians.

A Plea to the Community.

This is where I need the community. If you know anyone who fits these roles, or if you know other spaces where this message could reach the right people, please share it. Finding these individuals is hard enough on my own, and the Palestinian community is often fragmented, making these connections even more difficult.

You might wonder why I am making things so difficult with these requirements. I am not just trying to start a game studio, I am trying to start a little movement of my own. In these difficult times, with ongoing genocide, poverty, and inequality, it’s important to push towards change in the way we best can. For me, a workers’ collective is one of the most viable models available today because it returns the rights and wealth of labor to the workers themselves. This is all the more critical given that many corporate leaders are directly responsible for the suffering and genocide in in Palestine.

So please, if you know anyone who fits these descriptions or are able to share this in spaces where the right people might find it, please do so. If that person is you and you are interested, reach out to me through my Bluesky or UpScrolled account.

Thank You for reading!

Basel