Making is easier than having good ideas
tiny Surmount update, RIP Toriyama
Hallå my pals!
Jonas here with another issue of Indie Notebook to get some ideas out of my noggin, and to inspire you to do the same.
This Friday we’re gonna make an important Surmount announcement at something called The MIX Showcase. It’s a livestream full of fun game-news. I’ll tell you all about it next week!
Let’s talk clouds now.
Making is easier than having good ideas
Clouds come in all kinds of shapes and most of them are not worth talking about. Every now and then they will take a shape that you didn’t expect, you’ll poke your friend on the shoulder and go “look at that one, it looks like a “#$@!” They might not see what you see in it or care about it. In a moment the cloud is gone.
Just like clouds, there are billions of songs, movies and stories that we don’t talk about. For a good reason, most of them aren’t worth caring about.
When I started making things I thought the greatest challenge would be to figure out how to actually make something. Now I know that anyone with enough practice can make basically anything they want. Making it isn’t the real challenge. The real challenge is to make something a stranger will care about.
It’s easy to have ideas - it’s hard to have good ones. And you probably can’t tell a good idea from a bad one until you poke your friend on the shoulder and make them look.
Ideas are as unpredictable as the shape of clouds.
Mini Notes
💭 Thoughts - Rest in peace, Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama died the beginning of this month. He made Dragon Ball, one of the most influential mangas of all time. And certainly one of the most influential things for me growing up. I don’t know if I would be doing what I’m doing today if it had not been for Dragon Ball. The first time I got obsessed with drawing was when I discovered his stuff.
And I have so many nice memories thanks to his work. Like running around looking like a fool doing kamehameha's with my friends during recess, and somehow feeling cool as heck while doing it. Rest in peace, thanks for all the laughs and goosebumps.
📝 Article - The 7 Types of Rest
I’ve been sleeping a lot longer than usual lately and still feeling kinda tired. This made me think that maybe I’m resting the wrong way.
🎥 Video - Surmount: FPS MODE
Just for fun Jasper tried to move the camera into the head of the player. It’s quite fascinating to see the game from this perspective.
Thank you for reading Indie Notebook! The best way to support me right now is by sharing this newsletter with a friend.
Take care and have a creative week.
> Just like clouds, there are billions of songs, movies and stories that we don’t talk about. For a good reason, most of them aren’t worth caring about.
This was to me the most important sentence; an idea clicked with me when I read this. The cloud analogy is fun!
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I've been re-watching the "10 Years With Hayao Miyazaki" documentary a lot recently. Miyazaki seems to be the person that would scrap years of work because he values making something worth caring about more than his emotions and sunk-cost. "Be true to your craft, without pretensions." (https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/3004569/)
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> The final type of rest is spiritual rest, which is the ability to connect beyond the physical and mental and feel a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose. (The 7 types of rest)
I think this is when I have a good sense of the "me in 10 years" that is way more skilled and has more impressive projects than me now. Feeling this makes me love working to my future. I usually have a nightly ritual that reminds me of this; about planning how the next day can move me forward.
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On Surmount FPS: I agree with one of the commenters; make first-person surmount a cheat code - it's hilarious!! Players like me would love to play with that. Imagine the YouTube challenges as well! May get new people into the game even! As a player, I think this could be really important.
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Good luck on the Surmount announcement!
Was just reminded of this post in a conversation earlier today, such a great way of putting it! "Anyone with enough practice can make anything they want. The real challenge is to make something a stranger will care about"