Let me tell you a story

I’m a programmer from Canberra, Australia. I’m a gamer, a writer, and a professional. I’m a student at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, and I’ve been an accountant since 2016.

My reason for becoming a programmer is to make videogames for the public good, and I’ve set out to make games that leave the world better than when I found it.

My vision

  1. To be a champion of the LGBTQIA+ community in videogames, recognised for increasing diversity and inclusivity.

  2. To improve the understanding of, and compassion for, people from diverse backgrounds by exploring a wide range of experiences and perspectives in games.

My Mission

  1. To entertain.

  2. To provoke thought.

  3. To promote a sense of shared humanity.

  4. To educate through an exchange of experiences.

My Values

RespecT

Compassion

Empathy

Integrity

Excellence

My values drive how I conduct myself every day, how I perform the work that I do, and how I nurture the relationships that I build. These values derive from the traditions of where I have worked, lived and played.

“Stories From The Heart” Podcast: Zora Kerr

In May 2022, I presented the story of my life to gathered listeners on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, known both as Melbourne, and Naarm. I was generously given this opportunity by The Weekly Service, a secular non-profit founded to bring communities together through collective practices, whether dance, storytelling, meditation, and more. Sadly, The Weekly Service was brought to an end by the innumerable challenges of COVID approximately 6 months after my presentation.

I extend my unconditional thanks to the entire organisation for so generously creating the opportunity for me to contribute to the Australian community by sharing my story. The kindness of strangers, friends and family that day makes it one of my fondest memories.

My life

As a programmer I’m obviously a nerd, but wait! I’ve been an accountant in the Australian Public service for almost a decade too, which means I am also a dork. So, how did that come about?

I’ve played videogames all my life and they’re my favourite way to consume a story, but when I was growing up I also couldn’t get enough of the physicality of the arts. I would paint, draw, build objects with wood, beat and cast metal, and make both functional and artistic ceramics. The craft of writing and conjuring worlds in the minds of others has been a passion of mine since my earliest memories of The Hobbit, Narnia, and Redwall. Stories have always been a safe harbour for me, whether videogames, books, TV series’ or TTRPG’s. Science fiction and fantasy are my favourite escapes, with the most love going to narrative and strategy games, the likes of Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, The Witcher, BATTLETECH, XCOM and all manner of grand strategies. When I am the dungeon master of a roleplaying game I love nothing more than creating narrative-driven collaborative experiences. Some of my formative teenage years were spent in New Zealand, where I fell in love with tabletop wargaming and pulled an all-nighter with my friends to play World of Warcraft on launch day in 2004. I made friends over the ditch with whom I still play videogames to this day.

As a transgender woman, I was closeted enough for most of my life that Mr Tumnus and I could have chatted about how Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy don’t come around much anymore. As I entered my twenties and started sinking further into what would become 15 years of depression, any introspection about who I was made artistic exploration uncomfortable, and the prospect of scraping a living as an artist seemed like the passion I had would become drudgery. I hung up my dreams of becoming an illustrator, painter, jeweller and blacksmith, and studied accounting partially as a way to avoid poverty in adulthood and partly as a way to reinvent myself.

Through accounting I found a sense of belonging because of the guiding principle that first and foremost, an accountant’s obligation is to serve the community they live in. I discovered not only that I enjoyed systematisation and order, but that such skills are universally beneficial to any industry.

I grew up in a public service family and this sense of purpose was one of my guiding lights, and focusing on wider society rather than myself also helped to kick the can of my identity down the road. My own public service experience has honed my professional abilities which allow me to excel in areas of great complexity, like programming, but more than that, they encouraged and fostered my belief in service, respect and integrity. This is precisely in keeping with my reason for wanting to become a programmer - to make videogames for the public good, and to improve the lives of others.

I was given the privilege of presenting a short account of my life through the speaker event series "Stories from the Heart", by secular community group "The Weekly Service" in Naarm, Melbourne, May 2022. I catalogued and presented an abridged account of my life in an effort to improve understanding about the lived experiences of trans people and promote compassion, peace, harmony and hope through storytelling. Later that year, at PAX Australia 2022, high on a profound sense of shared community, I made the decision to enrol as a game programmer at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and pursue my dream of making the sorts of games that had changed my own life. It was another year later at PAX 2023, as I sat in a convention chair with tears in my eyes listening to David Gaider wax poetic about the importance of making games that matter to you, I realised that The Vessel of Argeus was the game that I had to make, and that my script for The Weekly Service was the starting point.

The time has come for me to tell my most personal story: Come with me on a digital odyssey as I weave the tapestry of my life experiences into an immersive videogame. As a transgender woman, this tale reflects the transformative journey I’ve been on over the course of my life. Come with me and hear a story that you’ve never heard before, but will be as familiar as the back of your hand. Come and explore, engage, and witness the evolution not just of a game, but of my life, and the cast of heroes who helped me get here.

Stay updated with my latest achievements, insights, and sneak peeks into the mesmerizing world I’m creating!