Ruune

• Role: Novice game dev
• Location: New England, USA
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QRM: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the games industry?

Ruune: I am a pop musician and spiritual counselor by trade, but recently started getting involved with game jams. It all started when I got bored of releasing music albums, and decided to instead design a short video game where people could listen to my new songs. I surprised myself by getting it done in one week!

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

Ruune: My only released game is a buggy as hell HTML game on my website called The Hex Collection. I have worked on several game jams, which although none of them got finished they have been amazing learning experiences. I mostly work as a sound engineer when on a team but I do a little bit of everything.

My current project is hopefully going to be done by the end of October. It’s a side-scroller cross between Mario + Luigi games, and Gargoyle’s Quest, and is based on a short story I wrote about myself and my husband as gay, alien-fighting space soldiers taking a hot tub together inbetween missions.

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

Ruune: The earliest thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was be a game designer. Back then, you could only be involved with games if you were incredible at coding, or had lots and lots of money, and I fit into neither category. So instead, I became a traveling musician and went on tour for ten years. Nowadays, there are plenty of programs for people like me; basically they have released the "Photoshops" and "MS Paints" of game design. Stencyl, Construct, and GameMaker are all pretty good tools for getting started on designing, even if you do not know anything about coding. This is great for the games community because sometimes just having a great idea can make a good game, so it’s nice to open up the creator base a bit. The first time I loaded up and played The Hex Collection, it was an amazing experience: sure it was buggy, and the art is extremely simple, but with video games you can create a "mood" with the simplest visuals and music, and still make a compelling game. The medium is fascinating to me as an artform.

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?

Ruune: I generally think that queer people tell better stories because we have generally lead a more storied life. Some of those stories we have lived through might have been amazing experiences, and some might have been traumatic, but either way it creates more depth. I think you can generally say this about any person who faces any kind of oppression.

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.

Ruune: I would say my favorite queer character(s) are a pair of boyfriends from Marvel Comics: Hulkling and Wiccan. When I was younger, I for sure was introduced to them during the Civil War saga; I think they were members of Young Avengers. It was really cute because in one episode they were going to come out about being superhumans, but their parents beat them to the punch and instead tried to make them feel really great about being gay boyfriends. I don't really remember when I first read them, but remember it being one of the first positive views of strong but cute guys in a relationship in any medium of my life. People talk about there not being much representation now, but when I was a kid (I am 32 now) there was NOTHING.

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.

Ruune: I don't experience any roadblocks, but then again I have worked mostly by myself or on teams for small, small projects. I think a roadblock I come across is how to show characters as queer in a game that might be super simple and not have room for that (not a lot of text, simple graphics), but obvs the character is still queer.

I think that the games community being filled with terrible nazis and trolls is sort of preventing greater diversity, but not so much anymore and not for long, because good folks are fighting the good fight to get that shit done. I see more and more cool, diverse games all the time.

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.

Ruune: I have only been working on games stuff slowly for a year, and I totally taught myself everything. Some parts have been difficult, but when I get a piece of game to work correctly, it is the best feeling I have ever had as a creator.

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?

Ruune: Just do whatever you want to do. I am a terrible coder, like worse than you can ever imagine: and if I can make a halfway decent game in a week I believe that anyone can do anything.

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You can find Ruune on their website.