Apple's Gay Poster Boy

A few months later Trism launched alongside the iPhone App Store, and, as Demeter deftly points out, "the rest is history."

"This whole experience has been a lot like coming out all over again," he adds. "It's been about finding myself [and] coming to grips with the world we live in."

In a way, he's still dealing with the latter. Case in point: An interview request from a writer working for Playboy prompted Demeter to ask his friends whether he should come out professionally.

"One friend in particular told me, 'You either need to come out or not do the interview at all,'" he says.

He followed that friend's advice but admits it was a struggle.

"I'm totally out in my private life, but I'm not sure about being out professionally," Demeter says. "I'm not worried about a backlash or anything like that, I'm just not sure that my being gay has anything to do with my business [Demiforce, www.demiforce.com ] and the kinds of games we're creating. It's not like we're making 'gay' games.

"I'm proud of the fact that I'm gay and that some of the guys who work with me are gay," he adds, "but at the end of the day all that matters is that we put stuff out there that's high-quality and that makes people happy."