Maruhaeremuri (known as Maru) Nihoniho (Ngāi Tahu, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou) spent much of her childhood beating high scores on the spacies machines at her local fish and chip shop. That childhood pass time turned into a passion, as Maru became the founding CEO Metia Interactive, developing and producing games for multiple platforms.
She uses games to tell Indigenous stories, and her passion project Guardian Maia, is an action-adventure game that explores te ao Māori with a wahine toa, lead character.
In this episode we talk about being an Indigenous woman in a male-dominated industry, she shares her transition from a career in hospitality to tech, tells us the realities of pitching for million dollar projects and, shares some memories of favourite old-school game, ghost and goblins.
Once I learned about the industry, I had this realisation that games are powerful for learning, because they’re an interactive environment and self-paced.
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