Moved

We rush around like water in a funnel collectively moving towards the same general area only to be thrust out into the void falling and changing. We may never contact anything solid on the other side instead perhaps being added to a relatively slow moving mass.

I've moved now to a new home. Adjustments were made and things became important that previously I was unaware were capable of surfacing. I am now looking for another place to live as this one is no longer available.

Time is always at our door compressing our surroundings and digitizing our experiences. When you have enough time it moves slowly and languidly. When you are pressed for time, it races and dodges. It requires great effort to grab it by its tail and rein it in, bend it to your will and fill its volume with more than it was prepared to accept.

Time, Cost and Quality. The triangle that is almost never equilateral. At certain times the triangle gets inverted, especially in times of economic dysfunction. When you must promise to get more done in less time than a competitor. We are not spending money to speed up the development, but instead saving money to speed up the development.

The only victim is poor old overlooked quality. Always seeming to get the short end of the stick.

Time is moving and we generally need something moving to get us moving. When you are pressed for time sometimes you just have to move regardless of the outcome. Take your best guess and keep moving.

Sort it out Johnny!

I often wonder why I am so scared all the time.

All the energy I expend needlessly in the work place fretting about just how long the 'company' will need me could be better directed to outside creative efforts.

How much of this stress impacts the creative process I employ on a day to day basis?

My cousin Jay likes to say "sort it out!" It is really funny the way he says it, and is nearly always meant in jest. It has me thinking however how it is I can sort myself out. Do I need sorting out or should I just learn to be more positive?

When we sort out the pros and cons of game mechanics how much of that self-talk effects our moment to moment tastes? Have we allowed enough internal sorting out to take place before we rush to impress with our latest bold decision?

When you question what is fun, and question the fundamentals of emotional conveyance, are the labels and diagnosis of our forbearer clouding our responses? It would appear from my perspective that assumption and past tense rule the day. Why is that?

Can it be that society has cowed creative confidence? Rather I believe, it is often the desire for ownership of ideas and the stamping of one's mark upon something, that filters down into projects from whatever supplementary source the development maintains. I maintain in earnest, that trust is all one should desire from their charges and that anything less is a mal-investment.

Honestly from my perspective, and a narrow one it is, I see success coming to those who create without license to some predestined ideal.

Asking an artist for something other than what they truly have passion for is mal-investment. Striving to meet expectations is mal-investment, while the act of pure creation in my opinion is the strongest investment.

Nay-sayers will say, 'that's been tried and we've seen it fail countlessly.' The obvious rebuttal is 'how many of those times did you use a hands-off approach and give the artisans the time they needed?'

Indi-devs are solidly proving time and again that audiences want genius. Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many opinions undermine the possibility for something truly special.

Individually everyone one of us has to sort out the incoming onslaught of opinion and try to plan for the future. Collectively we all need to sort out our level of speculation and expectation.

Opinions are only valid if they are opinions based on hands on experience and the direct love for the craft.

Now that that's sorted out...back to your regular programming.

Transparency

With all the buzz over the potential of a controllerless revolution I find myself wanting to remind people of the joy of interaction with specific rules and physical objects.

I believe that Natal and other motion manipulated devices will lead us towards even more and more subtle experiences. This is both an interesting prospect and a worrisome one.

In board games players physically interact with the board and its playing pieces. If we removed the movable pieces and responded to the play area with symantic casting gestures we would also remove the purpose of creating the physical parts to begin with.

Much like if we all start shadow boxing Miis and forget how to take one on the chin we may find ourselves unequipped with basic life skills.

With video capture devices that track positional movement we can easily imagine experiences being developed that are so subtle that they may effect every piece of media you interact with.

Why limit this to games? Certainly M$ and others are looking at controlling all media and not just electronic games published by the top 3. In schools and stores we will see this being used to greet customers, direct them to a table, remind them to stand straight when they walk, and we will see a whole new social level of control as these devices communicate your every movement to those in your friends list or any corporate/governmental group with the ability to view this data.

Clothing styles will be manipulated by games and these devices will unfortunately become so widely accepted that they will become trusted as harmless enhancements to a better fun-time.

I am certainly not fearful of these devices, but I do foresee a massive change in the way we as human society draw our boundaries around what is acceptable and not. The level of privacy we once held on to for dear life is very rapidly being replaced with a new level of transparency into everything we do at all hours of everyday.

There can be no electronic replacement for throwing and catching a ball. No replacement for the sensation of breaking through choppy water from a high dive. Life is not delivered to us just through our eyes and ears, yet this seems to be the direction we are trying to go. Will we remember what freshly smashed garlic smells like when we have simulated cooking games with scent emitters strapped to our faces?