Nina Freeman
Nina Marie Freeman (born March 15, 1990) is an American video game designer known for her games with themes of sexuality and self-reflection. A former game designer at Fullbright, she developed and published numerous video games and is a co-founder of the Code Liberation Foundation, a non-for-profit organization that makes an effort to diversify employment within STEAM fields.
Also recorded as Nina Marie Freeman
Nina Freeman

Star Maid Games (developers of Cibele) · Star Maid Games · The author, via email · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Nina Marie Freeman
- Born
- 15 March 1990
- Spouse
- Jake Jefferies
- Occupation
- Video game designer
- Education
- New York University Tandon School of Engineering
- Nationality
- United States
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Documentary summary
Nina Marie Freeman (born March 15, 1990) is an American video game designer known for her games with themes of sexuality and self-reflection. A former game designer at Fullbright, she developed and published numerous video games and is a co-founder of the Code Liberation Foundation, a non-for-profit organization that makes an effort to diversify employment within STEAM fields.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q22088019 · wikipedia · Nina Freeman
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Nina Marie Freeman • Born — 15 March 1990 • Credits — Cibele, Tacoma • Spouse — Jake Jefferies • Children — 1 • Website — http: ninasays.so • Occupation — Video game designer • Years Active — 2012–present • Education — New York University Tandon School of Engineering • Organization — The Code Liberation Foundation
Academic career and personal life
Academic career and personal life
While a student at Pace University in Lower Manhattan, New York, Freeman was drawn to the work of Frank O’Hara and other poets of the New York School. She admired how they documented their lives through verses that were witty, conversational, and confessional all at once. Freeman regularly streams on Twitch. Freeman resides in Maine with her husband, Jake Jefferies. The couple had a child in 2025.
Ludography
Ludography
Video Game Credits • Year — Game — Note — Ref(s) • 2014 — How Do You Do It? • 2015 — Cibele • 2017 — Kimmy • 2017 — Lost Memories Dot Net • 2017 — Tacoma — Level design • 2018 — Beach Date • 2019 — We Met in May • 2021 — Last Call • 2022 — Nonno’s Legend — Part of the Triennale Game Collection. • 2023 — Holy moly Houseplant • 2024 — Open Roads — Level design • 2025 — Lost Records: Bloom & Rage — Writer
Identity
Identity
Nina Freeman is recorded as designer.

"How Game Mechanics Helped Players Embody 19 Year Old Nina Nina Freeman | Level Designer, Fullbright
Official GDC · _TXT5626

"How Game Mechanics Helped Players Embody 19 Year Old Nina Nina Freeman | Level Designer, Fullbright
Official GDC · _TXT5641
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1990
Nina Freeman born.
Works, awards, and accomplishments
Freeman developed her first game in 2012 based on a science fiction poem she wrote, though it remains unreleased. In 2013, Freeman co-founded the Code Liberation Foundation on International Women's Day, a program offering free development workshops in order to facilitate more women to create video games. Her game Bum Rush (2016) debuted at NYU Game Center 2015 No Quarter event and was released for free on July 6, 2016, for OS X and Windows. She was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 2016 list of influential video game industry figures. Her autobiographical game How Do You Do It? deals with the discovery of sexuality through toy dolls after viewing the movie Titanic. It was developed during the 2014 Global Game Jam and was a finalist at the Independent Games Festival and Indiecade. In 2015, Freeman released Cibele. The game tells the story of a teenage girl, engaged in a whirlwind online romance with a fellow gamer, and is based on a personal experience she had during her college years. The game gained praise for its characters and intimate stories and received the Nuovo Award at the 2016 Independent Games Festival. At Fullbright, she worked as a game and level designer for their second release, Tacoma. The game sold fewer copies than the studio's previous game Gone Home, but made enough sales to allow them to continue developing games. In January 2020, Freeman resigned from Fullbright to focus on her own projects, working on a narrative domestic horror game with her partner, Jake Jefferies. In 2021, Freeman released Last Call, which was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative award at the 2022 Independent Games Festival.
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Freeman, Nina. it's my birthday on sunday ahhhhh~. March 12, 2015.
- 2.Hudson, Laura. Cibele Is a Crazy-Real Game About Falling in Love Online. Wired. November 4, 2015.
- 3.Nina Freeman Has Been Called "the Punk Poet of Gaming." But That Doesn't Mean She Doesn't Like to Shoot Things. Willamette Week.
- 4.About us. The Code Liberation Foundation.
- 5.Kurutz, Steven. No Guns, No Dragons: Her Video Games Capture Private Moments. The New York Times. 2022-07-04. 0362-4331.
- 6.ninasays.so.
- 7.Bluesky. March 24, 2025.
- 8.Wallace, Kimberley. Making Games Personal. Gameinformer Issue 274. 22–23. February 2016.
- 9.Smith, Graham. Interview: Code Liberation On Game Workshops For Women. Rock Paper Shotgun. November 8, 2013.
- 10.Biery, Thomas. Car combat dating game Bum Rush launches for free July 6. Polygon. July 1, 2016.
- 11.30 Under 30 2016: Games. Forbes.
- 12.Stuart, Keith. Meet Nina Freeman, the punk poet of gaming. The Guardian. November 16, 2015.
- 13.Starkey, Daniel. If Sex Videogames Make You Feel Weird, That's the Point. WIRED.
- 14.Dyson Alumna Nina Freeman '12. www.pace.edu.
- 15.2022 IGF Award Nominations. igf.com. January 7, 2022.
- 16.Favis, Elise. Digital Intimacy. Game Informer. 18–19. February 2017.
- 17.Cibele. cibelegame.com.
- 18.Kimmy. starmaidgames.itch.io.
- 19.Kimmy. starmaidgames.itch.io.
- 20.Beach Date. starmaidgames.itch.io.
- 21.We Met in May. ninasays.so.
- 22.We Met in May on Steam. store.steampowered.com.
- 23.Last Call. starmaidgames.itch.io.
- 24.5 videogiochi gratis che arrivano dalla Triennale Game Collection. Wired Italia. 2022-06-30.
- 25.holymolyhouseplant. aef.itch.io.
- 26.Freenan, Nina. nina says so. ninasays.so.
- 27.Phillips, Tom. Life Is Strange Creators Discuss Leaving Their Hit Narrative Adventure Series Behind, Building on it with Lost Records. Eurogamer. February 1, 2024.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q22088019: Nina FreemanWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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