Nolan Filter

We spoke with Nolan Filter, co-founder of Up at Night.

QRM: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the games industry?

Nolan: I'm a game developer/designer focusing on blending digital/physical experiences together. I have my own very small game studio working on our third major release, I'm an adjunct at NYU in the Comp Sci department, and I freelance with startups working on weird cool future tech like AR/VR/Volumetric Displays/Holograms.

QRM: How long have you been involved in the game industry, and what projects have you worked on? What are you working on currently?

Nolan: I've been working on games since 2011ish, contributing to some big branded apps like 2012's Halo 4: King of the Hill Fueled by Mountain Dew and some minigames for preschool network Sprout in 2015. I've also made a number of playful experiences to help teach people how to interact with new technologies. In 2013 I co-founded a small studio with two friends (then Twenty Percent Games) and we released our first mobile game, Circle Stop, which still occasionally finds its way into pockets of new players. The studio, now Up at Night, is currently working on a deceitful drawing party game called Imposter Drawster, which is out now on iOS/Android as an open beta.

QRM: What inspired you to get started in the games industry?

Nolan: I like games! I've always been a fan of playing and creating games, especially since I wasn't really allowed to have them growing up (though I snuck them in whenever I could). I used to think I wanted to work at Nintendo, or a big company, but nowadays I'm much happier releasing my indie games when they're ready. Hopefully I'll be able to grow my studio someday and work with a huge team of talented creators.

QRM: In what ways do you feel your experiences as a queer person manifest in the games you work on, and influence the work you do?

Nolan: I think it gives me a better perspective on popular trends, what types of things have been normalized in video games, and how to subvert them in interesting ways. Just because you see a mechanic repeated all over the place doesn't mean it's right for your game. There's plenty of space to explore mechanics both in relation to and completely separate from conventional game industry games.

QRM: Do you have a favourite queer character—in games or media more generally? If so, what is it about them that makes them your favourite?
Question asked by @kamienw.

Nolan: Is it a cheat to say Korra in the mediocre Platinum game? In terms of canonically queer characters whose sexuality is explicitly part of the game (not a long list), I'm gonna go with Volgin from Metal Gear Solid 3. He's a super buff, gruff Russian commander who shoots lightning bolts for some ill-explained reason. It just makes sense to me that he has a very visible male lover in his army? Like, that checks out. He does unfortunately fall into the queer-coded villain trope... unless the player character (Naked Snake who becomes Big Boss) is the villain? Metal Gear is bullshit. The point is: Love can totally bloom on the battlefield, but maybe not if you're straight.

QRM: Have you ever encountered roadblocks in trying to include queer characters in games? What do you think is preventing greater diversity within games?
Question asked by @dustinalex91.

Nolan: My games don't really have characters, but one of the benefits of running your own studio is that nobody can prevent you from doing anything! In one of my games, Janky Bounce, we had fun writing descriptions for the anthropomorphized animal heroes with different genders and orientations. But, uh, they're basically glorified pinballs, so I'm not sure how much that counts.

Big studios are afraid that diversity doesn't sell, even though we've seen over and over that it can. If a data point doesn't fit into their marketing model, they throw it out.

QRM: Why do you think it is important that queer audiences are able to see themselves represented in the games they play, and in the developers who make the games they see? What can we do to improve the industry for queer audiences and devs?

Nolan: Games are for everybody! AAA marketing for the last twenty-some years has been painting this picture of a straight white male teenage game-player and it's shaped a lot of design decisions over the years. I want to play games with everybody regardless of orientation, ethnicity, gender, age, and more to really experience what they bring to the game table. Let's all have fun together!

In terms of improvement, keep playing queer games! Keep talking about queer games, and reading games as queer, and complaining loudly how much better a game would be if it were queer. Encourage queer developers to make games, even if they're not queer in content, and give them fair critiques on their work. Slowly but surely, the industry is catching on.

QRM: Have you ever mentored somebody in your role in games, or been mentored? If so, what made these experiences worthwhile for you?
Question asked by @pepelanova.

Nolan: I've had a number of mentors in both programming and game design over the years. I think the most important aspect to look for in a mentor is someone who will tell you, "This is good, but it could be great. Do it again, you can make it better". Find yourself a judgmental cheerleader.

QRM: In what ways can non-queer folk increase and support queer diversity present within games, as well as in the industry more broadly? How can we all work to support intersectional approaches to diversity, and why is this important?

Nolan: Talk about queerness in games. The more the conversations turn towards inclusivity, the better everyone's game experiences will be. If a game is only designed for one type of player, it needlessly cuts off a whole bunch of player groups who might be interested. If it's designed for as wide an audience as possible, it will still hit the intended demographic and maybe draw attention from other areas as well. It's a win-win.

QRM: Is there a message that you would like to share with the queer game players, game studies researchers, and other interested folks who comprise the Queerly Represent Me community?

Nolan: Let's make games for everybody!

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You can find Nolan on Twitter.
You can check out Up at Night on their website.