I recently got one of those letters from a student asking about my job. Someday, I suppose, I will be too busy to answer letters like this. But I am not just quite yet. It’s been sitting on my desk guilting me for over a month now.
Probably the single best and simplest explanation for ‘how do you make games,’ ever.
If we go out on a date and are going to be doing ANY WALKING, don’t fucking wear shitty shoes and then complain about it, because it makes you look ugly. The visual benefit the nice shoes give you do not outweigh the whining, complaining, or apparent discomfort they are giving you. Seriously. Of COURSE your feet are killing you, you are wearing the equivalent of a board with a nail on it on your foot.
I would much rather you be comfortable, even in ugly shoes, then wear ‘nice’ shoes and be mreh. I don’t know if I speak on behalf of guys everywhere, but I assume I am. Can I get a what what?
However, I understand the whole “beauty is pain” thing.
This is directed at no one in particular, of course, I was just chatting it up about girls and their shoes with my homie NaiaMuffinQi. Yeah, I’m manly, I talk about shoes.
There’s a great post on Creating Passionate Users about User delight and the guy from the train phenomenon. My old french teacher, who was also a poet, used to come out with things like: “and now Matthew will give us his translation of this paragraph with acrobats and high kicking.” I don’t know where he got it from but the fireworks of his everyday speech in the classroom are still with me 20 years later.
Anyhow here are my top tips for writers to create the same kind of surprise and delight:
David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars
More cool advice from people who say doing-it-all-yourself is the best way to make all the monies…