Kan "Reives" Gao is a video game developer, writer, director, and composer. He is the founder of Freebird Games, an independent studio known for its narrative-driven games built using the RPG Maker engine.
Gao initially grew up in China and immigrated to Canada at the age of 11. The immigration process was challenging for his family, who worked long hours to make ends meet, resulting in Gao spending much of his time alone. During high school, Gao was an aspiring writer working on a novel. However, he discovered the RPG Maker engine, which allowed him to create interactive stories with visuals and audio. Gao taught himself to play the piano during high school lunch breaks, though he only began proper composition with game development.
On August 8, 2017, Kan Gao mentioned he was getting married in the upcoming month.
Before To the Moon, Gao created several free, narrative-focused games within the RPG Maker community, including Quintessence: The Blighted Venom and The Mirror Lied.
In 2008, Gao established the Canada-based Freebird Games as an independent studio to create interactive stories. Gao is the only employee of it, but he does receive assistance "via commissions from many talented folks who kindly contribute [...] and sometimes via bartering". Freebird Games later released To the Moon, which was its first commercial title. In 2018, it was made public that Gao was involved in the script and supervision for an upcoming animated film adaptation of To the Moon.