Maru Nihoniho is the founder and managing director of

Metia Interactive Metia Interactive is a game development studio based in Auckland, New Zealand. They are a member of the NZGDA. Metia Interactive specialises in designing and creating game art assets, including modelling and texturing, as well as pre-rendered and ...

, and is also the designer and developer of several

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

such as Sparx.

Life and career

Nihoniho was born in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1973, and has indicated an interest in video games since the age of 11. In 2003, she founded the

company. Metia Interactive's debut game, ''Cube'', was released on the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

in 2007. Following ''Cube's'' release, Nihoniho was approached by the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

to develop a self-help game to combat depression. This game was specifically made with New Zealand's

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and minority ethnic groups in mind. Sparx was the resulting product released in 2013. The game was developed and modeled on cognitive behavioral therapy. In 2017, during her last year at Tech Futures Lab, she developed ''Takaro'' as her key project. ''Takaro'' was an educational game aimed at children. In 2017, Maru Nihoniho finished her master's degree in Technological Futures with the Tech Futures Lab. Nihoniho went on to develop several games, such as ''Guardian Maia,'' with the stated goal of introducing others to

Māori culture Māori culture () is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Polynesians, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of Cul ...

Awards

Nihoniho won the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

2016 for her work in gaming and mental health. She was named Innovator of the year in the 2017 MCV Pacific Women in Games Awards, presented by

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. She was named 2018's Māori Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. In 2018 Forbes named her as one of the top 50 women in Tech.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nihoniho, Maru Living people New Zealand women company founders New Zealand Māori people Women video game designers 1972 births