About & Links

About

Hien Pham (pronounced like Ian with an H) is a queer digital artist specializing in gentle and optimistic comics. He grew up in Vietnam on war stories before moving and finding a home in Perth, Western Australia. His work revolves around respite, around caring and loving and being loved and cared for.

Hien's emotional and introspective interactive fictions are award-winning and multi-award nominated. His debut graphic novel, It Will Be Hard, won an Australian Game Developer Award in 2018. Hien was a frequent guest speaker at Freeplay Independent Games Festival, where his work was later nominated for multiple award categories. He is a long-standing volunteer for local and interstate Australian queer communities. During the 2021 Mr. Bear Perth competition, he was crowned Mr. Congeniality.

Hien is currently writing funny and personal sex-education comics monthly for Oh Joy Sex Toy. Support his work through Patreon, Bluesky, itch.io, and Instagram.

Accolades

Amarantus

• Winner of the Australian Game Developer Award for Excellence in Narrative (2023).
• Winner of the The Pavs: NZ Game Awards' The Guest Plate (2023).
• Nominated for Freeplay Independent Games Festival's Award in Narrative (2024).

It Will Be Hard

• Winner of an Australian Game Developer Award (2018).
• Nominated for Freeplay Independent Games Festival's Excellence in Visual Art (2019).
• Nominated for Freeplay Independent Games Festival's Excellence in Narrative (2019).
• Nominated for Prism Awards for Small To Midsize Press (2019).

I'm Shirtless In This One

• Nominated for Freeplay Independent Games Festival's Micro-Game Award (2019).

Minefield

• Shortlisted for The Ledger Awards (2019).