Sunday, July 12, 2015

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Today's blog post is about the rule of kiss. For those who don't know this rule, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I've recently been caught up trying to put together environment assets for BUS_WAIT that would rock the socks off of people. But rather than worrying about the individual pieces I should spend more time worrying about the Gestalt (the whole) of the project.

For example: I've spent a long time recently worrying about power lines in the dungeon.

What color should they be? Do I want bunches hanging from the wall? What does the hook look like that holds these power lines up? I sketched pages of doodles for these power lines. I asked friends color theory questions about how best to incorporate the power lines into the scene. I was letting this problem bring the entire project to a halt!

Who gives a fuck?

Keep it simple: no one cares about the power lines except me. They are background information that helps to build the structure of the rest of the scene. Rather than worrying about this small and insignificant part of the dungeon: I should spend more time building out and populating all of the rooms with the myriad of more important assets that actually have significant storytelling and game play importance.

Later, I can go back and improve the assets I've already made to inform a more cohesive whole. But this all needs to happen later.

Keep it simple, stupid. Worry more about the big picture, and less about the details. This may seem obvious, but it's a very helpful reminder for me.

As for the game...

More info soon. I promise.

Here's a Sonic doodle for your troubles:

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