hmmm, what do I think I care about when making my own projects hmmm

solid foundations? production costs? solid tricks that always work / guardrail design / design guardrails? having at least 1-2 -ideally actually- clever or tasty elements? doing my themes justice? hmmm

certitudes & doubts I guess

I care about coming up with convincing stuff, for myself mostly I guess

that's the whole creative process ain't it x)

going from "I have no idea what I'll be doing" to "here, it's made, and I approve this result"

I want to know what all the chains of cause and effect going through my work are, so I can actually have lucidity over my work

but a lot of how I *learn* what those chains of cause-effect are, is by fucking around and *not* controlling my work super closely

shooting in a particular direction and seeing where the damage lands helps to map boundaries pretty fast!

monte carlo learning is legit x)

real talk though: that's my *perception*, is it even correct?

tbh I think I'll need an audience eventually to gain some feedback and improve from that

but also, I gotta learn what I like for my own sake too, putting audience enjoyment first isn't always the best route hm

the problem is like "what /would/ I like?", and not just selecting from ideas I already have available to me

requires imagination hm 'x)

procgen is kinda central to that to some extent? making stuff flow in in front of you to pick out the parts you like and don't, to kinda build a mental map of where you want to be exploring

scouting I guess

procgen helps with scouting

yeah it makes sense actually, the guardrails, foundations etc.

I don't want to be blind, so I want some guides to help me do my work, and aggressively mapping boundaries kinda does that :>

I've royally fucked up one important project before, I don't wanna be repeating that, so I kinda go overkill with the theory and preparation I guess o_o

being afraid of mediocrity does things to your brain x)

but also, exploring mediocrity kinda helps me find an exit hm :3

like, what are the /boundaries/ of mediocrity, and where does that boundary intersect with the boundary of greatness! :D

what switches can you flip to enable awesomeness from any random crap y'know? x)

finding a solid middleground between mediocrity and awesomeness might help with production costs too!

if you know the /minimum/ necessary ingredients for awesomeness, you can save aggressively on everything else :D

what kinda prompted this thread is a video from le fossoyeur de films (ofc lol) where he talks about war of the planet of the apes, and he mentions how the story's overall setup has been done before, it's a struggle between factions for supremacy

and I suddenly wondered, what generic patterns would people expect from my NX projects y'know? what existing patterns would my work be judged against and compared to?

I have a teaser project atm, and I'm wondering what references people might end up projecting onto it, and which refs I should /choose/ to aim to evoke or not evoke ?

what /exercise/ am I performing in?

"ok let's see how meteo does fantasy"

"let's see how meteo does action"

"let's see how meteo does philosophy"

who knows

and then, how do I move /past/ academic little boxes ?

how do I make sure not to attempt everything at once like a dumbass?

do I have a way to dodge the entire academic versus alternative dichotomy ?