Now that I have a bit more time today, this is actually a really vital comment so I might get into more detail.
Why did I hide the fact that Dr. Mortum was trans?
It goes with my design document for the rest of the game. Fallen Hero is a game of controlled information release, where the player is kept in the dark about a great many things. This was an intentional design style (and a bit controversial) I did because I wanted the player to make up their mind about what they felt and what they read, before facts that might compromise that would be revealed to them.
So. Back to Dr. Mortum.
The in-game character reason was not that Dr. Mortum is trying to hide that they are trans. Sure, there is trauma in the past about having been treated differently after the revelations, but that is not the main driver. It simply is not something that they feel other people need to know, just like their real name, history and origin. Dr. Mortum has remade themselves into what they fondly term a ‘mad genius’. They are a man/woman now, that’s all there is to it. This is also the reason why the hints/knowledge/reveal often comes first to a player character who is also trans, because it has more to do with shared experiences rather than some sort of reveal.
In contrast, Sentinel is openly trans and transitioned in the eyes of the public. That is a big part of his identity, even though he’d rather wish it wasn’t.
Back to the game design then.
I did not want people to make their first impression of Dr. Mortum from knowing they were trans. Then all of their personal quirks and behaviors might be viewed through a trans lens, and the players prejudice (we all have them) would make them see what they imagined Dr. Mortum to be, rather than what they actually did in the game. In addition, I also wanted the reveal to be an actual reveal, something that came slowly, with clues if you knew what to look for, and possible emotional baggage if you felt this changed your view of the character. I wanted this as a reflection of Sidestep, the main character, who also approaches and gets close to Dr. Mortum as someone else. I wanted this to add to the discussion of identity and what your true self is, how much bodies matter, and what truths and secrets can do to people. The emotional journey of the player perhaps feeling that they were deceived or lied to, reflected in the fact that the player also deceived and lied was a conflict I wanted. I aimed for the messy. No, I intentionally created the messy because I wanted to challenge the player to think. To feel.
Can’t say this is a thing I recommend to everyone, but that’s the game. I feel comfortable dealing with the messy side of gender/sexuality/neurodivergent issues because that’s a pit where me and my friends live. However, you might note that I do not touch religion at all, and race is treated very much at a surface level because there I lack experience, confidence, and, quite frankly, I don’t feel it is a story I can tell well.
I’m not saying “write what you know” is a necessity (I have never personally been a supervillain) but I do think that if you want to get messy, it helps knowing. People might disagree with my treatment/view on things, as they should, because there are so many viewpoints and truths in the world, and the way I see things is not the way someone in a similar position might see it. But I can feel confident in telling a story that I feel is true to me in a way I would not be if the main conflict was religious doubts for example.
I think that it is entirely okay to treat an aspect of a game in a surface/benign level because you want to be inclusive. You might want variable genders, but don’t feel comfortable writing deep gender politics. That’s okay. You can introduce a trans character without having their trans narrative be their main beat. It can just be another aspect. I sometimes feel that people get scared to get things wrong, or to not treat it seriously enough. People are different. Someone might me “meh, gender” while someone else might be “pronouns in bio.” People are different.