Burnout and Resistance

Any creative person probably knows how it feels to have some form of writers block. The words won't come out on the page. You can't figure out what to draw. The sheer amount of choices makes you feel overwhelmed. What if I choose to focus my attention the wrong thing? What if i waste my time? What if it's not good enough? You end up staring at a blank page. Its hard to move past these feelings when you are beginning a project or feel inspired but just don't know what to create. There is something that exists in almost every creative pursuit. It is called resistance. Resistance can come in the form of many things but in essence it is the initial feeling of struggle when beginning or continuing a project. Often many artists ascribe their talent and creativity to some outside force. Something that rushes over you and moves your pencil across the paper. I know I have experienced something similar to this. Suddenly I'm inspired and nothing can slow me down and before I know it I wake up at the end of a project with something complete or satisfying.

But other times. . . It doesn't come. I don't have the will to begin. I try and try to force myself to use my creativity on something but it always feels as though I don't have enough strength. Like I will never have enough strength to push myself there. Other times it is the opposite. You have spent so much time on something that you begin to burn out. Your brain loses interest and you can no longer find anything novel in what you are creating. You feel stuck and again, you can't start.

I have learned that it is important in creative pursuits to not only push yourself past the resistance but to also give yourself time to be inspired. Both serve different purposes. Pushing yourself past the resistance can help you to practice and give you experience. It is often hard but if you just be a parent to yourself and say "You are going to draw right now even if you hate it! But you only have to draw for 10 minutes." Oftentimes you can get yourself to agree since it will be over quite painlessly. So you begin to draw thinking "i'll be outta here in no time." Not caring about what you are drawing just drawing because you told yourself to do so. Then after 10 minutes... It happens! The inspiration hits and you are flying through a drawing. You can't draw fast enough. You are encapsulated. You can't turn away. You must finish. Now, It doesn't happen this way all the time but it is a great way to trigger your inspiration. The times that it doesn't happen push yourself a little further or focus on something you want to learn. It will be draining and tiring at times but you will grow as a result and it will make it easier to push past the resistance the next day. If you continue to do this each day it becomes almost effortless to slip past the resistance and begin your work. Then you get burnt out. You have put everything you had onto the page. You feel loathsome when you think about your project. You feel uncomfortable thinking about it. Perhaps you feel stuck. This is when you need to do something else. Inspiration can hit you from any angle at any moment. The best way to increase your chance of being inspired is to do something entirely different. Don't even think about what you are creating. Go for a walk. Try something new. It is like the Aloe Vera to the sunburn which is burnout. It helps you regain your energy and absorb information from the world that will later come out as inspiration when you sit down to work again. I often go through cycles this way. I used to get upset with myself when I couldn't push myself to do work. But now I only push myself past the resistance if I want to learn something. I push myself past resistance to practice but i usually end up enamored with what I am doing. Eventually I burnout so I give myself time to rest and try new things. Even rest is a part of the creative process. Don't get down on yourself because you couldn't get to work. Just let yourself absorb information from the world until you have something to work with. For more information on resistance watch this video! Its full of interesting insights into the creative process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lTcgSzf0AQ

Designing an Ending

There are an enormous amount of games that use a victory point system of one sort or another to win. Not that there is anything wrong with this sort of win condition in a game but, I have to ask, could we do more?

Something that I never expected when I began to design games, is how difficult it is to design a fun and engaging win condition that feels unique to other win conditions used by other games.

During this time I always felt opposed to using designs and ideas from other games but I have changed my thinking about that after trying and failing many times to design my own unique win conditions and mechanics.

The best way I could describe it would be like trying to invent a new color in your head. It just feels impossible. I can't tell you how long I have spent stuck on this problem. Why is it so hard to design a different way to end a game that is still fun and engaging? I have been struggling with this since the beginning of my game design journey.

I suppose the saying goes, "Don't fix what isn't broken." But, part of me just really loves to see innovative ways to end a game.

I think the win conditions that do exist tend to say something about who we are as humans and what we desire. After all, something is only fun to us if it calls to our sense of progress and well being. It feels good to advance in a game but we recognize that you must also fail in a game for that feeling of advancement to feel like anything at all.

This plays into win conditions in games. Victory points are a feeling of accretion and progress. Being the first to complete something gives us a sense of importance. Being able to outlast your opponent's hit points grants a feeling of superiority making us feel competent and in control.

There is a variety of reasons that we are drawn to games. Whether a board game, sports, or an election, every aspect of our lives involves some sort of game. But, the word "game" itself means something much simpler than most of us think. A game could describe anything from playing a video game to having a conversation with someone. Even driving a car is a game with rules.

It is no wonder then, that we are drawn to games. They can provide us many types of challenges and experiences we might have never had if they didn't exist. This is why win conditions tend to reflect some human desires and tend to be limited as well. Perhaps when we begin to understand ourselves more and discover our purpose in the universe more win conditions will bubble to the surface through games. Perhaps games are really just a means of understanding ourselves?

Do you know of a win condition that is really unique and innovative? Please comment and share it with me because that kind of thing is very fascinating to me. Thank you.

- Samuel Zomerhius