User:Harmonyandstars/sandbox

Merritt Kopas, is a British trans game designer and developer in the video game industry as well as an author and a zine creator. Kopas is best known for her games LIM, HUGPUNX as well as Consensual Torture Simulator. The common theme of her games is the ability games have to be able to convey care relationships. . This is to convey the message to either provide a sense of care to the player or invest the player in the project of caring for another person. An interview with the website Hazlitt describes the purpose of Torture Simulator as fulfilling the desires of a bound and writhing partner.

Kopas is also the author of several internet fictions and zines such as "Dear Pauline" and"These Were Free On My Blog". Dear Pauline is a short story about love told through letters to a forgotten woman

Career
Kopas was raised on games and choose your own adventure series, and since 2012 has been enmeshed in the culture of gaming, creating several of her own. She claims she was inspired in some of her games by the gaming company Twine, which she credits for inspiring people to make games about mundane or everyday occurences such as pets, family, personal city, or travel. Kopas greatly credits Anna Anthropy and her publication of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters in 2012 as having a great influence on the indie gaming scene. Kopas is also influenced in game design through her experiences as a trans woman, which comes through in her unique game concepts On her personal website, Kopas has coded such games as Minkomora, Obeissance, and Take Care - the last one described as a game in which you reach through the ether to offer comfort to a distressed person. Certain of her smaller pieces, such a simple Texture Piece style game called Super Consent deal with the complexities of issues such as consent and why and how they should be dealt with within our culture.

Personal life
Kopas speaks out freely of the influence of trans women in game design. In an essay in Lambda Literary she states that though there are rising numbers in trans game developers, they are not in the gaming community to get monetary recognition but the fact that they are rising in numbers is a good sign. Furthermore she states that shifts in the visibility of trans game developers are happening in concurrence with shifts in the culture of trans narratives and literature.

Games
TERF War - July 2012 LIM - August 2012 Princess Queen - September 2012 Brace - October 2012 A Synchronous Ritual - October 2012 Queer Pirate Plane - December 2012 Bubblegum Slaughter - January 2013 Positive Space - February 2013 Octopy - March 2013 Hugpunx - June 2013 Consensual Torture Simulator - October 2013 Take Care - October 2014