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Need An Idea? Take An Idea 4/20/2019

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

In honor of my book on Brainstorming and ideas, Art Of The Brainstorm Book, I wanted to start posting ideas I’m not going to be using. I’ve been using the Brainstorm Book idea for over a decade, so I’ve accumulated a lot of great ideas, inspirations, and so on. More than I can use.

So time to share them! Here’s a few I’d like to see people run with.

Chose Your Own Instruction: With things like Twine and Ren’py, what if we were to create instruction manuals and such like Choose Your Own Adventure and Visual Novels?

Where In The World Is The Game: I’d love to see a site or book about where various games and video games take place. How many are in New York? Which cities in Europe? It’d be fun to see where they are.

That Damn Truck: How many anime shows/LNs/etc. have a protagonist hit by a truck, die, and end up in some afterlife/reincarnation adventure? Well what if there’s some kind of Truck Of Destiny driving around hitting people?

Enjoy. Let’s see what else I post in the future . . .

Steven Savage



Farewell To Overwatch

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I stopped playing Overwatch. For those of you that know me, that was hard. It was my go-to relaxing game, lots of fun, great FPS.

What changed my mind was watching the layoffs at Activision Blizzard. It was unnecessary and it felt like I was somehow supporting that. I thought about how the company could be focusing on making the game better, wondered about how much of management pay should go to employees. It started to make me ask “why am I playing this?”

Then as I watched the Anthem mess and others, I began to realize I really needed to go back to more and more indie games. I needed to support people who were innovating. I needed to support innovation. I needed to ask where my money was going.

Something felt “off” among a lot of big games and big companies lately. Oh sure, I’ll play some AAA games, but I’m going to be more selective. But I’m also going to think about who I’m supporting and where my money and time goes.

After a week or two, I didn’t miss Overwatch. I rediscovered some Early Access Games I’d let slide, and I found new ones. I explored more weirdness and fun at itch.io.

I felt like I appreciated games again. I appreciated the diversity of the many indie games I played. I realized how fun Early Access was to connect with people. It was kind of like if you eat the same thing a lot, you remember what it’s like to taste different things when you change.

I’m sure there will be more experiences to report, but this made me think. I do miss Overwatch, it really is a well done game (that deserves more), but it’s nice to taste diversity again.

Steven Savage

Steve’s Update 4/16/2019

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s our latest sprint roundup! But first . . .

Seventh Sanctum got mentioned and used at Drawfee!

So what have I done since last time?

  • In General: I had a tough week – hurt my back. I’ve recovered, but ouch.
  • Way With Worlds: Chugging along on the Fashion book. Figuring it’ll be out very late May or early June. It’s gone deeper than I expected, which is good – amazing how much clothes are part of a society.
  • Seventh Sanctum Book: The core philosophy section is done (well in draft), and I’m on to an examples section. That one is proving fun to write as it explores the concepts.
  • Seventh Sanctum: Didn’t get to the new generator yet, and I had delays in my tech review.
  • Next Novel: The next novel is tentatively called “A School Of Many Futures” and I had a real breakthrough on plotting. I won’t really start it until the fall, but it’s looking promising.

What’s next?

  • Way With Worlds: Keep writing the Fashion book. Really, I can keep repeating this as I write these constantly.
  • Seventh Sanctum Book: I should finish the example section, and hopefully move on to the practical advice section.
  • Seventh Sanctum: Try to get back to the new generator and my study of Python.

Steven Savage