Welcome to Studio Blue Jay!

 

 

A queer-owned business that seeks to create fun and diverse content by diverse creators for everyone!

 

The story behind the name of our indie game studio might seem simple, but Studio Blue Jay carries the essence of what I love the most.

 

 

My favorite color is blue — that rich, vibrant, colorful hue that stretches from the bright skies above to the endless ocean below.

It’s the color that captures a sense of vastness, mystery, and infinite possibilities, always drawing the eye to something beyond.

Blue is the color of endless horizons, the kind that makes you feel like you could spread your wings and fly. It also happens to be the color of some of my most cherished companions — birds.

 

Spirit, one of my budgies, had periwinkle blue feathers that were as soft and calming as a quiet dawn. She was a violet-blue greywing budgie who was introverted but enjoyed befriending other birds. Spirit flew to Soul’s side when they first met.

Soul was a budgie with teal blue feathers as bright as tropical ocean waves. She was an adventurous sky-blue recessive pied budgie with curiosity and wit, exploring odd nooks in the house that she accidentally found herself in.

I grew up surrounded by birds — five budgies, a peach-faced lovebird, and a young starling — I developed a deep love for these creatures.

Out of all the birds in the world, if I’m being honest, my true weakness has always been parrots. My favorite parrot species are budgies, lovebirds, green-cheek conures, cockatiels, galahs, and kea.

 

 

If I had all the money in the world, I’d have a cozy little beach house with a giant sunroom aviary dedicated to being a parrot sanctuary — a haven where the birds have a lot of space to fly around, live with a flock of companions, and thrive in a loving home.

Sadly, parrots are often neglected due to improper care, poor diets, tiny cages, no veterinary treatment, and lack of social interaction and stimulation. It breaks my heart because parrots are incredibly intelligent creatures.

 

 

Parrots are quite bright if you ask me, having lived with them before.

African greys can learn how to speak in coherent sentences. Goffin’s cockatoos can be taught how to read and can craft tools from materials. Kea parrots have a human-like ability to make predictions and calculate risks based on information from their surroundings and their peers.

Parrots and corvids have intelligence similar to that of great apes.

 

 

Speaking of corvids — which include crows, ravens, magpies, and jays, they are my second favorite group of birds after parrots.

Corvids are known for their tool-making abilities, and self-awareness when presented with the mirror-test.

 

 

Blue jays in particular are my favorite corvids. Native to New England, where I was born, blue jays are a colorful contrast to the monochrome blacks of their raven and crow cousins.

Their blue feathers are actually a clever optical illusion — the air pockets in their feathers act like a prism to refract and scatter light, making them appear blue even though their feathers are naturally brown.

Their very own calls remind me of squeaky door hinges, but blue jays can mimic a variety of bird calls.

They’ve got a reputation for outsmarting other birds, mimicking the calls of red-tailed hawks to scare away competitors to get all the seeds for themselves at feeders, and even raiding each other’s food caches.

 

 

I admire birds for their intelligence, over pleasant songs or intricate plumages. Their cunning, mischievous, playful nature is what fascinates me about blue jays.

To summarize this tangent, Studio Blue Jay’s name reflects my love for birds, especially parrots and corvids, my admiration for their intelligence, and my favorite color, blue.

 

 

I wanted a name that reflected the things I love most. The things that I feel passionate about. The things that spark my creativity and inspire me to create.

And that’s the story behind Studio Blue Jay’s name.