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  • Showing only topics with the tag "creativity". Back to normal view
    1. On creation for creation's sake

      I want to make a game. ... is what I've been telling myself for the past few weeks. Honestly, I might have subconsciously had this thought for the past few months, if not years. Strange as it...

      I want to make a game.

      ... is what I've been telling myself for the past few weeks. Honestly, I might have subconsciously had this thought for the past few months, if not years.

      Strange as it sounds, I've gone on a weird mental journey in getting to the point where I'm able to acknowledge this desire. I've always had a vague, constant urge to be creative, but for the past few years, this urge has been tied to an outcome: "I want to write a JS library because it'll make for a cool product later"; something like that. Inevitably, having that outcome in mind makes me set a standard of perfection for what the thing is supposed to be, which makes me start planning every piece of the thing, which... tires me out, and then I just don't do it.

      I'd say I've been better about this recently, in that I'll sometimes do one-off things because it seems like fun at the time. Small coding projects that serve no purpose at all. I randomly got into drawing for a week, so the day's drawing for that week. Rediscovering this process has been fun, and it's definitely been fulfilling to just marvel at my work without having to check off boxes for what the thing is supposed to do.

      But now, I've got the idea that I want to make a game. A game isn't a small project, or at least not as small as what I've been working on recently. I'm pretty sure my motivation for wanting to do this is entirely intrinsic: I just want to do it, I don't want to sell it, I don't care if nobody plays it. And yet, I'm still finding it pretty hard to do anything.

      Firstly, I don't have much time during the week to work on this game; I also work full-time. Second, when I do have time, I find it pretty hard to make any progress. A game isn't small, so I feel the need to plan stuff out, even just roughly. Which is what I do at work. So then it just feels like work. I tire of planning pretty quickly, and I think I've come to conflate this tired feeling with burnout at work, so I just stop and scroll on the internet.

      Sometimes I'm able to focus and just write something without planning. It's nice when I'm able to do this, but inevitably I start thinking about the bigger picture... "Okay, the protagonist feels X because the theme I'm going for is Y, which..." and then the planning starts again.

      Anyway, this is all a very long way to say that I struggle with creating for creation's sake, partly because budgeting my time as a full-time laborer is hard, and partly because I have trouble seeing the trees for the forest, so to speak. Have you all ever had to deal with this? I'm curious to know what's helped you, or just your thoughts on the topic/my situation.

      Cheers!

      24 votes
    2. Do any Tildes artists work in an unusual medium? If so what's your medium / process?

      I am always interested in how creative people express themselves. There is something very I find very relaxing about creating large scale ephemeral art. Every summer I create temporary beach art /...

      I am always interested in how creative people express themselves. There is something very I find very relaxing about creating large scale ephemeral art. Every summer I create temporary beach art / typography with seaweed collected from the shoreline.

      Couple of examples:
      https://imgur.com/gallery/m7xZIvy
      https://imgur.com/gallery/vBrlpBz
      https://imgur.com/gallery/zYCpDuo
      https://imgur.com/gallery/Mw5NIr2

      Generally the process involves sketching out the design in the sand, then collecting 3-5, 39 gallon yard bags worth of seaweed. I then slowly trace the design and weave the seaweed into itself and the sand. These projects take about 4 - 8 hours depending on the scarcity of the seaweed and the size of the design. They disappear with in just a few days due to weather and human and animal activity.

      So tell me, artists of tildes, what weird stuff do you create?

      Edit: words

      39 votes
    3. Web Developers! What personal projects have you made, and are proud of?

      Time for some inspiration. I've been working on a few SaaS applications for the past 2-3 months, and have only really got into it full time recently, and I'm totally in code-mode now, so I thought...

      Time for some inspiration. I've been working on a few SaaS applications for the past 2-3 months, and have only really got into it full time recently, and I'm totally in code-mode now, so I thought I'd ask to see what other people have created in either their spare time, or to earn some money.

      Link your app/tool/product/service! What tools, frameworks, or services did you build it with? What does it accomplish? How did you express your creativity while working on it? What's next for what you're creating?

      14 votes
    4. Looking for tips or best practices for stoking creativity

      So, a little background, my profession is technical writing. I want to write a novel but I'm struggling a little with getting the creative side of my brain going. Technical writing seems to...

      So, a little background, my profession is technical writing. I want to write a novel but I'm struggling a little with getting the creative side of my brain going. Technical writing seems to further inhibit my creativity with all its rules.

      I'm looking into local writers' workshops but they're all full at the moment. In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone here has any advice for exercises or things I could do to stimulate my creativity and free my mind from all the rules of technical writing. Thoughts?

      8 votes
    5. How do you summon the muse?

      I used to work as an artist full-time, and I've learned a few tricks over the years to help me create consistently, even when I don't feel very creative. I recently read a book called "The War of...

      I used to work as an artist full-time, and I've learned a few tricks over the years to help me create consistently, even when I don't feel very creative.
      I recently read a book called "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield that hit on a lot of what I've discovered and presented a lot more insight on the subject of creating and overcoming blocks.

      So I'd love to hear what helps all of you out there stay creative and spark the muse. Are you willing to share your process and approach?

      14 votes
    6. Will creativity become valued more highly than STEM skills in the near-term future?

      I'm doubling down here folks :) My prior post was called-out for being click-baity and rightfully so. The title was especially poor. I'll try to do better moving forward. I'm starting a discussion...

      I'm doubling down here folks :) My prior post was called-out for being click-baity and rightfully so. The title was especially poor. I'll try to do better moving forward.

      I'm starting a discussion here because my hope is that we can talk about the ideas within the article, rather than the article itself.

      Here was the original post for those interested: https://tildes.net/~humanities/3y1/mark_cuban_says_the_ability_to_think_creatively_will_be_critical_in_10_years_and_elon_musk_agrees

      I posted the article because at it's core are several interesting observations/propositions from two billionaires, Mark Cuban and Elon Musk, that presumably know a lot about business, and in Musk's case, a lot about STEM, and have a history of making winning bets on the future.

      The article supposes that:

      • Many (most?) STEM jobs will become automated
      • This will happen very quickly; more quickly than we anticipate
      • Creative skills will soon become more highly valued than STEM skills

      There was a time when parents told their kids to "become a lawyer or a doctor" but after enough time we end up with too many people going into the same profession and there is more competition for those jobs as the market becomes flooded. I know anecdotally that's happened for lawyers (not sure about doctors).

      I can see this happening with STEM as well.

      Should parents encourage kids to pursue STEM but pair this with equal study in the humanities? Is STEM the next target of automation? Will creative skills be more highly valued? Will engineers find themselves in the bread line?

      18 votes