Blue Tango Street Studios carries the spirit of a shared community space. Bayan describes her studio culture as a “street” rather than a traditional office, open to people coming and going. Whether in dance halls or tearooms, her focus is on shaping work that feels genuine and speaks to something inherently human.
Their next release, Sips and Sonnets, is a fully voice-acted cosy visual novel with tea brewing mechanics, branching dialogue, and a poetry minigame. Starring two legendary actors: Bethan Dixon Bate (Queen Vlaakith from Baldur’s Gate 3, Sienna from Warhammer: Vermintide) and Lenval Brown (the velvety-voiced psyche in Disco Elysium).
Blue Tango Street Studio
Bayan did not expect to found a studio this early into her career. After graduating with a Computer Science degree in California in 2019, she intended to work in established companies before striking out on her own. The pandemic disrupted that plan. She took non-game jobs, but pioneered a new sales channel for them in the video games industry. Then, when she was invited to apply to Microsoft, she passed interviews and received an offer. Once the company realised she was not a US citizen, the offer was withdrawn (Though she later came back).
“I thought to myself, I made it this far. What am I waiting for?” she recalls. That question became the start of Blue Tango Street Studios in late 2020.
Job Will Hunting
Her first project was Job Will Hunting, a satirical game about job-seeking. She assembled a remote team of almost ten, spanning the US, UK, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Most were volunteers without prior shipped titles. Bayan had to wear A LOT of hats, even with all of the additional help.
The idea was to speak to the shared struggle for most in the industry right now which is trying to find work. Fighting through the corporate jargon, redundancies, and endless applications, it would speak to something not unique to the Games Industry itself… but more common in it than most.
At the same time, Bayan did eventually join Microsoft as a producer on Forza Motorsport in late 2021, on contract. Balancing a major studio role with indie leadership proved difficult. The scope of Job Will Hunting kept growing, and growing, until she put a pin in it. Though, she still hopes to return to it with proper funding.
As of now, the game is on hiatus.
Backspace Backspace Backspace
After scaling down. Bayan and her writer set themselves a challenge. “What if we made a game in a week?” The experiment led to Backspace Backspace Backspace, a small pixel-art release that built confidence. Debugging and refining it taught the pair valuable lessons.
With revenue from that game they commissioned artists and began work on the up-coming Sips and Sonnets.
Sips and Sonnets
“You play as an old lady. You run a tea shop. You make tea, you write poetry, and you wait for a friend.”
That is how Bayan introduces Sips and Sonnets. Designed as a visual novel with light mini-games, it grew into a twelve-month project. The story is quiet on the surface, but carries a weight that I shall not dare to spoil.
The cast includes professional voice actors such as Lenval Brown (Disco Elysium) and Bethan Dixon Bate (Baldur’s Gate 3). Bayan notes that they read reviews of her earlier game before agreeing to join.
Key Features
Sips and Sonnets will let you:
- Be a nice old lady. The “nice” part is not optional.
- Make a variety of teas. Learn more about tea as you play!
- Chat with customers from all walks of life.
- Write a poem inspired by your customers!
- Enjoy beautiful watercolour-inspired art and an original soundtrack composed in-house.
- Immerse yourself in a fully voice-acted story.
- Your dialogue choices and minigame interactions matter! Choose wisely and see all endings!
One of Sips and Sonnets’ quiet joys is its cast of voice actors. Lenval Brown only found Bayan’s email after it sat in his junk folder for a while, but once he read it he was inspired to join the project. Another role came from a random occurrence at a dance class: someone asked Bayan what she did outside of dancing, the conversation led to an audition for their daughter, and she won the part. In an industry that is hard to break into, work can find you in the unlikeliest places.
Launching on Steam for Windows and Mac September 12th, 2025, the game offers a relaxing 2–4 hour experience.
Dance as Design
The studio’s name “Blue Tango Street” comes from Bayan’s second vocation. She holds a diploma in ballroom dance instruction and still teaches part-time. For her, teaching a dance class and leading a team overlap.
“Both are about communication,” she says.
“When you lead in dancing, you have to be clear without speaking. When you lead a team, you have to make sure everyone understands the rhythm of the project. And most importantly, nobody is doing it by force. It has to be fun.”
Activities in the Industry
Blue Tango Street Studios has shown Sips and Sonnets at London’s Red Bull Gaming Sphere. One playtester, an artist, later offered Bayan freelance work. She also gives mentorship to aspiring developers, focusing on the skills needed to finish and release projects rather than only starting them.
Earlier this year, in July, they were able to showcase Sips and Sonnets in the Brilliant Indie Treasures at Develop: Brighton.
This year Bayan is speaking at the Game Devs of Color Expo with a talk titled Finding the Rhythm of Your Team. It reflects her own path: early obstacles, experiments in scope, and the blending of dance with game-making.
The future?
All eyes are on Sips and Sonnets, and the Blue Tango Street team are working with PiratePR on a launch campaign. A list of content creators is being assembled for outreach around release. And we are VERY excited to see how it does!