Nina Freeman
{{short description|American video game designer|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nina Marie Freeman
| image = Nina Freeman (25496446670) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Speaking at the 2016 Game Developers Conference
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1990|03|15}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| spouse = Jake Jefferies
| children = 1
| website = http://ninasays.so
| occupation = Video game designer
| years_active = 2012–present
| employer = Fullbright
| alma_mater = New York University Tandon School of Engineering
| organization = The Code Liberation Foundation
}}
Nina Marie Freeman (born March 15, 1990){{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/hentaiphd/status/576170593457836032|title=it's my birthday on sunday ahhhhh~|first=Nina |last=Freeman|date=March 12, 2015}} is an American video game designer known for her games with themes of sexuality and self-reflection. A former game designer at Fullbright,{{cite news |title=Nina Freeman Has Been Called "the Punk Poet of Gaming." But That Doesn't Mean She Doesn't Like to Shoot Things. |url=https://www.wweek.com/culture/2020/01/15/nina-freeman-has-been-called-the-punk-poet-of-gaming-but-that-doesnt-mean-she-doesnt-like-to-shoot-things/ |access-date=30 May 2022 |work=Willamette Week |language=en}} she developed and published numerous video games and is a co-founder of the Code Liberation Foundation,{{Cite web |title=About us |url=http://codeliberation.org/about/ |access-date=2016-02-26 |website=The Code Liberation Foundation}} a non-for-profit organization that makes an effort to diversify employment within STEAM fields.
Academic career and personal life
While a student at Pace University in Lower Manhattan, New York, Freeman was drawn to the work of Frank O’Hara and other poets of the New York School. She admired how they documented their lives through verses that were witty, conversational, and confessional all at once.{{Cite news |last=Kurutz |first=Steven |date=2022-07-04 |title=No Guns, No Dragons: Her Video Games Capture Private Moments |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/04/style/nina-freeman-video-games.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |issn=0362-4331}}
As a teenager, Freeman was a devoted player of Final Fantasy Online, an MMORPG.
Freeman regularly streams on Twitch.{{Cite web |title=ninasays.so|url=http://ninasays.so|access-date=2023-10-22|website=ninasays.so}}
Freeman resides in Maine with her husband, Jake Jefferies. The couple have two dogs, Auron and Kimahri. They welcomed their first child in 2025.{{Cite web |date=March 24, 2025 |title=Bluesky |url=https://bsky.app/profile/ninamarie.bsky.social/post/3ll5fzm57pk2q |access-date=April 16, 2025 |website=}}
Works, awards, and accomplishments
Freeman developed her first game in 2012 based on a science fiction poem she wrote, though it remains unreleased.{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Kimberley |title=Making Games Personal |date=February 2016 |publisher=Gameinformer Issue 274 |pages=22–23}}
In 2013, Freeman co-founded the Code Liberation Foundation on International Women's Day, a program offering free development workshops in order to facilitate more women to create video games.{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Graham |date=November 8, 2013 |title=Interview: Code Liberation On Game Workshops For Women |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/08/interview-code-liberation-on-game-workshops-for-women/ |access-date=2016-02-26 |website=Rock Paper Shotgun}}
Her game Bum Rush (2016) debuted at NYU Game Center 2015 No Quarter event and was released for free on July 6, 2016, for OS X and Windows.{{cite web|last=Biery|first=Thomas|date=July 1, 2016|title=Car combat dating game Bum Rush launches for free July 6|url=https://www.polygon.com/2016/7/1/12082924/bum-rush-release-date-nina-freeman|website=Polygon}}
She was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 2016 list of influential video game industry figures.{{Cite web|title=30 Under 30 2016: Games|url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2016/games/#710366686500|access-date=2016-02-26|website=Forbes}}
Her autobiographical game How Do You Do It? deals with the discovery of sexuality through toy dolls after viewing the movie Titanic.{{Cite magazine
| url = https://www.wired.com/2015/05/sex-videogames-make-feel-weird-thats-point/
| title = If Sex Videogames Make You Feel Weird, That's the Point
| magazine = WIRED
| language = en-US
| access-date = 2016-02-26
| last1 = Starkey
| first1 = Daniel
}} It was developed during the 2014 Global Game Jam and was a finalist at the Independent Games Festival and Indiecade.
In 2015, Freeman released Cibele. The game tells the story of a teenage girl, engaged in a whirlwind online romance with a fellow gamer, and is based on a personal experience she had during her college years. The game gained praise for its characters and intimate stories and received the Nuovo Award at the 2016 Independent Games Festival.{{Cite web|title=Dyson Alumna Nina Freeman '12|url=https://www.pace.edu/dyson/dyson-digital-digest/spring-2016/poet-turned-indie-gamer-nina-freeman|access-date=2021-03-09|website=www.pace.edu}}
At Fullbright, she worked as a game and level designer for their second release, Tacoma. The game sold fewer copies than the studio's previous game Gone Home, but made enough sales to allow them to continue developing games.
In January 2020, Freeman resigned from Fullbright to focus on her own projects, working on a narrative domestic horror game with her partner, Jake Jefferies.
In 2021, Freeman released Last Call, which was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative award at the 2022 Independent Games Festival.{{Cite web|title=2022 IGF Award Nominations|url=https://igf.com/article/unpacking-and-inscryption-lead-igf-2022-nominations/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=igf.com|date=January 7, 2022}}
As of 2022, Freeman has expressed the desire to make personal games about sex and human relationships. Her ultimate goal for each game is to elicit what she calls “player-character embodiment,” as in Cibele. The game is partially inspired by Freeman's experience of finding a real-life partner through an MMORPG, and exploring how these relationships manifest. The gameplay is said to alternate between exploring files on a simulated version of a desktop and controlling an avatar in a fictional MMORPG. A release date is yet to be announced.
Notable works
- How Do You Do It? (video game){{cite magazine|magazine=Game Informer|pages=18–19|title=Digital Intimacy|last=Favis|first=Elise|date=February 2017|accessdate=27 August 2023|url=https://archive.org/details/feb-cover-g-i}}
- Cibele, 2015 indie video game.{{Cite web |title=Cibele|url=http://cibelegame.com/|access-date=2021-12-29|website=cibelegame.com}}
- Kimmy, 2017 indie video game{{Cite web|title=Kimmy|url=https://starmaidgames.itch.io/Kimmy|access-date=2023-10-21|website=starmaidgames.itch.io}}
- Lost Memories Dot Net, 2017 indie video game{{Cite web|title=lostmemoriesdotnet|url=https://starmaidgames.itch.io/lostmemoriesdotnet|access-date=2023-10-21|website=starmaidgames.itch.io}}
- Tacoma, 2017 action-adventure game{{Cite web|title=Tacoma - Fullbright|url=https://tacoma.game/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=tacoma.game}}{{Better source needed|date=December 2021}} (level design).{{cite web |last1=Freenan |first1=Nina |title=nina says so |url=http://ninasays.so/ |website=ninasays.so |access-date=9 July 2022}}
- Beach Date, 2018 indie video game{{Cite web|title=Beach Date|url=https://starmaidgames.itch.io/BeachDate|access-date=2023-10-21|website=starmaidgames.itch.io}}
- We Met in May, 2019 indie video game.{{Cite web|title=We Met in May|url=http://ninasays.so/may/|access-date=2021-12-29|website=ninasays.so}}{{Cite web|title=We Met in May on Steam|url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1097780/We_Met_in_May/|access-date=2021-12-29|website=store.steampowered.com|language=en}}
- Last Call, 2021 indie video game.{{Cite web|title=Last Call|url=https://starmaidgames.itch.io/lastcall|access-date=2022-01-07|website=starmaidgames.itch.io}}
- Nonno’s Legend, 2022 short game part of the Triennale Game Collection.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-30 |title=5 videogiochi gratis che arrivano dalla Triennale Game Collection |url=https://www.wired.it/gallery/5-videogiochi-gratis-triennale-game-collection/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=Wired Italia |language=it-IT |archive-date=2022-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630123649/https://www.wired.it/gallery/5-videogiochi-gratis-triennale-game-collection/ |url-status=live }}
- Holy moly Houseplant, 2023 indie video game.{{Cite web|title=holymolyhouseplant|url=https://aef.itch.io/hmhp|access-date=2023-10-21|website=aef.itch.io}}
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/16/nina-freeman-punk-poet-game-designer-cibele-interview |access-date=March 5, 2016 |title=Meet Nina Freeman, the punk poet of gaming |last1=Stuart |first1=Keith |date=November 16, 2015 |work=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140717/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/16/nina-freeman-punk-poet-game-designer-cibele-interview |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/11/cibele-game-nina-freeman/ |access-date=January 7, 2016 |title=Cibele Is a Crazy-Real Game About Falling in Love Online |last1=Hudson |first1=Laura |date=November 4, 2015 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107045525/http://www.wired.com/2015/11/cibele-game-nina-freeman/ |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{official website|http://ninasays.so}}
- https://www.pace.edu/dyson/dyson-digital-digest/spring-2016/poet-turned-indie-gamer-nina-freeman
- http://ninasays.so/games/
- http://www.interviewwithanartist.net/ninafreeman/
- https://www.pace.edu/magazine/features/30-under-30/nina-freeman
- http://www.digiart21.org/art/cibele
{{Portal bar|Biography|Video games}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Nina}}
Category:American video game designers
Category:Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni