A Dad, A Daughter, and a Creative Bond Forged Over, of All Games, Elden Ring

Ryan Sands and his daughter, Naomi, have always shared a passion for creativity and drawing, but neither anticipated what happened while playing FromSoftware's epic.

Aug 13, 2024

For a while, artist Ryan Sands and his daughter, Naomi, found themselves at a local cafe after Naomi’s weekend archery lessons. At the cafe, Ryan and Naomi would play Uno, read, and more than anything, they’d draw. Around the same time, the two started Elden Ring together, and while Ryan was fighting the game’s many challenging bosses and enemies, Naomi, who was five years old at the time, would sit nearby, doodling her own interpretation of the sprawling evils that Sands was fighting.

“At some point my publisher brain just thought, wouldn't it be cute to collect all these drawings into a little book she could give to friends?” said Sands, an artist in his spare time and director of talent and development at Skybound by day, in a recent interview.

The result was two zines, Undertow: Elden Ring and, later, Undertow: Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom. Elden Ring is sold out, while Tears of the Kingdom is available for just $7.99.

A…zine?

“The word ‘zine’ is abbreviated from fanzine,” explained Sands, “with a long history of typewritten or xeroxed fanzines in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, about science fiction, anime, punk music; really whatever else young people have been obsessed with. But really, any sort of organized collection of self-expression can be a zine, whether print or digital. I grew up reading zines through local comic shops and Tower Records, including LA's Giant Robot (all about Asian-American pop culture) and Riot Grrl music zines by bands like Le Tigre.”

Sands’ appreciation for zines became a desire to produce his zines. Years ago, living in the Bay Area, Sands would collaborate with friends to make “little booklets full of drawings and articles about whatever movies and comics we loved.” He printed them on his own personal Risograph duplicator, a kind of screen printer and copier mashup.

(Interestingly, Sands and Spelunky designer Derek Yu met in college, and Yu was one of the people who would contribute to the zines Sands was releasing in the Bay Area.)

Since she was much younger, Naomi has been drawing versions of her obsessions, be it Dog Man, Pikachu, or Bowser. It’s remained a bonding exercise between the two.

What Sands did not anticipate was Elden Ring also becoming a bonding exercise.

“It's way too long for a parent to spend time with, it's creepy as hell, and it's extremely punishing in that FromSoftware way,” he said. “But for some reason it immediately clicked for us; I let Naomi pick our build, including our character's gear and outfits and appearance, and name our character (Ooma Naomi). And that continued throughout the entire playthrough. Naomi would basically copilot the entire time, telling me where she wanted to explore and what weapons she thought were cool.”

It can be challenging to get on the same page with your kids!

Every few months, when one of my kids cannot sleep, they’ll sheepishly leave their bedroom to see what I’m up to in the family room. I am often playing a game or watching something for work, and my rule is that if you’re going to stay up longer, you have to sit with me and engage with whatever I’m choosing to spend my free time on. I’ll turn it off if it’s inappropriate, but otherwise, they understand that this is my time, not theirs. What I’ve noticed when this happens, though, is that it’s a rare moment where they fully engage with whatever it is I’m into and ask lots of questions. I treasure these moments, and while I like my alone time, I’m honestly tickled when it happens.

So does, unsurprisingly, Naomi.

“It's just so fun and makes me feel very happy to do it with my dad,” said Naomi, who answered a handful of questions I passed along to Sands, about playing video games.

(The audio for the interview is so damn cute, y’all.)

Naomi has also enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder—she is especially fond of the part where you can become a Goomba and stomp around—and other games with her dad, but in our “interview,” she kept returning to their time playing Elden Ring.

“I like Elden Ring because it was so fun watching dad defeat all the bosses, and we stepped up to any challenge,” she said, noting that the game was “too fun to be scary.”

The two made an “enemy map” that chronicled their journey through the game.

“We [would] draw all of our enemies, and when we [would] defeat them, we [would] mark them off, just to show who we took down and who we want to take down next,” she said. “It was so fun. And defeating the Elden Beast was impossible. Whenever we tried to hit him, he swam away.”

Naomi said the zines took “forever,” but she wanted “to inspire people” to play the games she was enjoying with her dad. And they eventually took down the Elden Beast.

The zines are a beautiful mashup of a father and daughter’s personalities, at an age where children inevitably chase after who you are, while figuring out who they are.

“The goal of the zines with Naomi was never to make money, but simply to have a sweet memento of the time we spent with each game that we could send to friends and family,” said Sands. “But mostly it was just an activity we could do together. But from my experience making zines when I was younger, I do think there is something really nice about having a physical object you made that you can give to friends and strangers as a way to say, ‘This is me. I want to share my passion with you.’ Naomi definitely felt proud of herself, telling classmates she is now a ‘PUBLISHED AUTHOR’ which delighted me and my wife Jane.”

“These zines make me feel very happy, and I feel very bright when I make them,” said Naomi.

My seven-year-old will tell people “she’s in YouTube videos” because sometimes she has appeared in the background while I’ve been streaming. (As a rule, I try to avoid having them onscreen, because I do not think they can reasonably consent to the idea of being watched by strangers, even if I’d be taking precautions to protect them.)

There is real joy in sharing an experience with your kid. For most of us, they become shards of memories that inevitably fade a bit with time. Sands and Naomi have managed to crystallize that experience, and even cooler, share it with all of us, too.

Yes, this is them in costume. Yes, they did a professional shoot at J.C. Penny.

Naomi picked out the paper and colors the zines for the zines. Sands even walked her through using the Risograph, though he admitted to handling the boring parts—like the actual printing—while she was at school, and let her do the more active parts.

“I don't want Naomi or our younger son Eno to ever feel like we are forcing my interests and favorite old movies and passions onto them,” he said. “You know, the 10-year-olds wearing Black Sabbath t-shirts because their parents made them listen to metal in the car. And as she's gotten older, Naomi is much more opinionated about the books she reads, clothes she wears, activities she takes part in—and that's the dream of course, raising a self-actualized kid that trusts themselves and has opinions.”

It’s a double-edged sword. It feels validating for children to follow in your footsteps! Sharing what you love is one part of what makes being a parent satisfying. But another part is nurturing their interests and helping them become a complete person.

For the moment, the two are still playing together. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a hit, but Sands has concerns Super Smash Bros. might turn into an obsession! We’ll see.

Next up, at least, is a new zine project. She wants this new zine to be about autumn.

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

A Dad, A Daughter, and a Creative Bond Forged Over, of All Games, Elden Ring

Ryan Sands and his daughter, Naomi, have always shared a passion for creativity and drawing, but neither anticipated what happened while playing FromSoftware's epic.

Discussion about this post