Hi friend!
FORKLIFT FLOWERPOT is officially back in production - with a twist.
In this issue, I will talk more about my unconventional production schedule that allows me to manage being a stay-at-home parent and make steady progress on the game. I’ll also talk about a bizarre personal thing I’ve been doing for years to help me finish my long-term projects.
Chasing the Lamp - a lesson in creativity
Years ago, when I first started making games, I did something a little deranged to try to pump myself up into completing my projects.
I would frequently go for runs to clear my head, and towards the end of my route there is a long uphill with a singular lantern at the very end.
Being a bit delusional from the run (and maybe with some inspirational music in my ears) I would envision that lamp as my goal.
Usually the objective represented by the lamp would be “Finish my project”. With this goal in mind, I would pick up my pace, getting a good stride going up the hill, but trying to pace it out so that I don’t run out of steam before the end.
This delusional imagination technique has been something I started doing around 2017 as I was working on The Machine’s Garden. I kept it up during development of TENDY: Robot Gardener, TORSO TENNIS, and FORKLIFT FLOWERPOT.
I thought by envisioning the endpost like this, it would help give me the motivation to push through the difficult times at the end of a project. And this mindset definitely served me! By focusing on outcomes, I was able to complete several commercial projects that I feel very proud of.
Recently I’ve started slowly getting back into running after a few years of dabbling with other cardio outlets (Cycling). On my most recent run, I saw the lamp, and a FUNKY tune was on. I saw the lamp, and reflexively imagined completing the development of my current major project. Then, something completely different happened.
Instead of picking up the pace, I slowed down. Maybe it was because I was tired or maybe it was because of the song, but I bobbed my head to the music and got a little sway in my step. Instead of pushing, I tried to savor this funky walk up the hill.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to sit down to work on the game with this attitude. A feeling of warmth and excitement flowed through me. It’s important to have a goalpost, but mostly so you know what direction to walk in. Then, it’s your job to enjoy the journey from here to there. Do it creatively. Walk the way only you know how. Skip with joy or dance to express your anguish.
I think this reflects a change in approach to creativity in my 20s to in my 30s.
In my 20s I really felt like I had something to prove through my work. That I had to make excellent commercial indie games that were universally praised. With the goal of, maybe someday, getting award nominations and recognition by my peers. It always felt like the project I was working on I needed to just “muscle through” so I could get to the next one. I think this attitude exists inside me still, but I am a bit more conscious of it (and I am noticing a shift).
Now, squarely in my mid-30s I feel different about these “lamps” on the horizon. I now know it’s important to have a goalpost, but mostly so you know what direction to walk in. Then, it’s your job to enjoy the journey from here to there. Do it creatively. Walk the way only you know how. Skip with joy or dance to express your anguish.
The creativity and joy is to be found in the journey. It’s not the end product. So I’ve been deprioritizing creating these finely crafted nuggets of output “Commercial Indie Games” and really thinking deeply about how to live a fulfilling creative life, holistically.
Any creative project starts in my mind like a small curiosity. “I wonder if… ?” “It would be funny if ….” . The projects I find myself drawn to are the ones where the question keeps revealing more questions and more interesting design spaces to explore. From here on, I am going to enjoy that exploration to the best of my ability.
Production without Milestones
FORKLIFT FLOWERPOT is officially back in production, BUT, I will not be setting any milestones. I can already hear all the producers in Tomato Club yelling “How can you be in production without milestones?”. Well, let me explain.
I’m still getting used to life with a newborn. I tried in June to try setting milestones for the game and fell flat on my face and lost motivation when I couldn’t reach them. In the spirit of the lamp story above, I decided to go back to an old method that I used to get through the “long middle” of game development - tracking my hours.
Yes, I am once again timers and spreadsheets to track how much time I am working on everything. It helps me SO MUCH to feel like I am accomplishing things in the little snippets of time that I have. There is a timer running right now, as I write this with the baby monitor perched in front of me - knowing that I will have to stop this timer, log my work, and go get the baby once he starts crying.
You might ask - isn’t it depressing to realize you only got 12 minutes of work in before you had to go rock the baby back to sleep? NOT AT ALL! Setting time goals has actually freed me up to feel more satisfied both in my creative life and my family life. When the timer is off, I am with my family. When the timer is on, I’m locked in and working on what matters. By setting a modest goal of 1-2 hours per-day, I can truly step away from my work with a sense of accomplishment once that time goal is achieved. I’m also more motivated to grab those short windows of work time when they arise.
I will talk more next month about how this process has been going! I have been meaning to do an updated version of my 2023 game conference talk about time tracking now that I’ve been doing it for 3 more years!
Steam’s Best Bundle
So while the Steam Summer Sale is going on (wrote this months ago), I noticed that Ă–oo was on sale, and bundled with two of my favorite Short puzzle experiences: Leap Year and Linelith. These two games have the densest mind-blowing AHA! moments per hour of gameplay. Maybe we can call this the Eureka Ratio. There is at least a 1:1 mind-blowing moment per hour in these games.
When I saw this bundle, it was just another sign from the universe that I needed to purchase Ă–oo and play it immediately.
and Ă–oo Delivered.
A text-less puzzle experience, simmered down into a delightful 3-hour package that will have you shouting with glee every time you figure out a puzzle. The mechanics seem simple at first - lay bombs and blow them up to traverse the environment. Over time, these bomb-traversal mechanics reveal so many unexpected use cases that can only be discovered by small logical steps that the game’s puzzles introduce you to.
The way in which the game does this to you OVER and OVER is nothing short of incredible. Early in a “level”, you reach a dead-end, and have to find an alternative path. The alternative path then TEACHES you, step-by-step through puzzle design, a new way to think about bombs and what you can do with them. Then, through a level layout that beautifully folds back upon itself, you will find yourself back at that dead-end, but with the knowledge you need to progress past it. By the end of the game I KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING with these dead-ends, but the level of delight only grew when more secrets were revealed.
Next month, I am going to talk about BIG WALK. I have so much to say about it but want to wait until I have collected EVERY LAST GOURD.
Thank you so much for reading the newsletter and following the journey! Feel free to respond to this email if you’d like to get in touch, or leave a comment on the post.
<3 Michael