See you at Melbourne International Games Week!

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See you at Melbourne International Games Week! 〰️

Welcome to Zora’s domain

I’m attending Melbourne International Games Week as one of Screen Canberra’s inaugural MIGW delegates! Reach out so we can chat about diverse representation in games!

I recently won a competitive spot in Screen Canberra’s Critical Design Workshop, delivered by Ceri Hutton. Over the course of a day, I refined my existing business and production skills to better understand the specific context of digital games.

Zora: At a glance

Go to Zora's 'About' page

I’m the creator of I Am This Castle, an original story-driven adventure videogame, and Healing Word Studio, the Canberra company I created to make digital games centring diverse communities and their stories.

I Am This Castle is a game of introspection about the nature of identity and acceptance of personal truths, inspired by the people and events from my own life, centering around my life journey as a trans woman.

  • I’m an Australian game programmer, software engineer, and former accountant with a captivating story to tell about what it was like for me to come of age as a trans person, and I want you to experience how profound that can be, too.

  • I’m a former accountant with a business degree, and I cut my teeth working on complex projects as a financial auditor. I know what it means to be organised and prepared, to be accountable, to be dedicated to service, and how to achieve goals. As a trans woman, I am dedicated to inclusivity and my goal is to ensure that every player feels seen and valued.

  • An emotional adventure and heartfelt narrative of acceptance that will resonate with the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond.

Take me to the game!!

Blog posts & Fundraiser

Featured
#24: Yet Another Deep Breath
#24: Yet Another Deep Breath

“I Am This Castle“ has been funded, I share a bit more concept art, and dabble in some armchair musings about my break from blogging.

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#23: The project, managed.
#23: The project, managed.

On Monday night, I submitted the 3rd of 3 grant applications for I Am This Castle to (hopefully) commence prototype development in July 2025. I only need one grant application to be successful in order to fund the prototype, and I am extremely confident that at least one of them will be successful the 2nd time around.

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#22: A Question of ‘When’
#22: A Question of ‘When’

I've decided to resume my blogging after a couple of months away to do some big processing and introspection.

Sharing stories is how we understand one another. Both my grant applications for the game are in, and I'm playing the waiting game. I'm relieved that after the big life upheavals that come with loss and grief I still believe I'm doing the right thing by devoting part of my time and energy, part of my finite stint on this planet, to making a game, a story, about my life as a trans person.

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