Felix Kramer International Women's Day
Day three of our International Women’s Day campaign features an interview with the one and only Felix Kramer!
Who are you, what do you do currently, and how long have you been working in games? I’m Felix! I’m non-binary, and I’m honoured to be included in the Women’s Day Celebration over at Finji. I’m a freelance producer and PR buddy - I work with several teams at a time, including Finji! I started doing this around 2011, and went full time real indie in 2013.
What do you look toward for inspiration? Were you inspired by any particular people/games/other media that led you to where you are?
While there were lots of games that inspired me to enter the industry, I think Terry Cavanagh’s Super Hexagon was the game that really inspired me to get off my butt and do it. I could write a whole essay on how it happened, but the short version is that Super Hexagon taught me two things:
- Small indie games can be incredibly compelling (Terry is an inspiration)
- Incremental, iterative progress is achieved in small bursts - and when you fail, or even just hit a block, you just start again. And every time you redo the same thing, you get better. You constantly are getting better. Even if it doesn’t feel that way right now. I promise it’s true.
What is your favorite part about working in the games industry? What have you accomplished recently that you are proud of or thankful for?
This industry can be a scary place sometimes! But I’m always delighted by the incredible talent I get to see and work with. I don’t even know what my favourite part would be. Probably the parts where I get to meet new devs - I love traveling to places and hearing about projects I’ve never heard of. That’s something I get to do for my job, and I can’t express how thankful I am that I get to do it.
What are some things that can be done to improve the experience for women in the industry? What advice would you give to a woman who aspires to have your job?
MEN! Listen up. Boost women’s work. Listen to women in the workplace. Believe them. And when being an ally, especially when making a point online, constantly ask yourself “do I have to say this, or could I be boosting a woman who has already said it?” Then retweet that woman instead of saying it yourself. ;)
Felix has worked on a variety of titles including Towerfall: Ascension, Oxenfree, and the upcoming Finji title TUNIC. You can find them on Twitter at legobutts, where, in addition to their work, you can find excellent photos of their cats, Gnome and Brisket.