If asked to write a creative autobiography on the fly, it would very likely consist of nonsensical rambling as I'd have no idea where to start or how to structure the piece. Luckily, I have here a list of questions that provide just such a structure for my rambling.
What was the first creative moment you remember?
Well, I can't say I actually remember the first creative moment I remember, at least not off the top of my head. But the first creative moment I remember that I can remember is actually directly related to my field. I built a laughably intricate underground water ride in Rollercoaster Tycoon, probably riddling my park with thousands of structural instabilities in my quest for the creation of the most insane ride ever.
I definitely played games before Rollercoaster Tycoon, but certainly none that provided any sort of creative license. Even today I occasionally reinstall the classic original and construct a wacky theme park out of the thousands of permutations in locations and rides, aided by the ability to actually construct certain rides like the titular rollercoasters and water rides from scratch.
Did anyone see it?
I showed my friends from Sunday school, as we had an informal contest of sorts to who could create the zaniest situations in the game.
What was your best idea?
Well that's pretty difficult to pin down. I would say one of my best ideas would be the Choose Your Own Adventure short story entitled "Crystal Promise" I wrote for my creative writing class in high school. It's not something that is as visually impressive or contributes to my portfolio as directly as the animations and games I've made, but I still consider it to be important.
What made it great?
In a way a Choose Your Own Adventure story is the purest form of the adventure game genre. It is essentially a manually navigated version of a text-based role-playing game, which forces you as the creator to rely entirely on words to convey imagery and emphasizes the role of the story above all else, a philosophy that I am partial to. This particular story reintroduced me to how much I loved the text-based genre, and it is on my list of projects to revisit.
Also, my class actually had fun making choices in my story as opposed to falling asleep with their eyes open as I talked at them non-interactively, which is a win in my book.
What was your dumbest idea?
This doesn't really have anything to do with the creative process, but I can probably correlate it if I try hard enough. Either way, it's the first thing that my roommate from freshman year thinks of when I ask him about the terrible ideas I've had, and he was privy to a bevy of terrible ideas.
The long and short of it is, I decided to eat a taco decorated with butterscotch instead of cheese or some other saner condiment. I shall expand upon this shortly.
What made it stupid?
They were serving tacos in the cafeteria, which was unusual in my experience, so I hastened to load up my plate. When I went in search of cheese, I couldn't find any of the shredded variety, which seemed odd in the context of taco day. At the salad bar, however, there was a vat of yellowish goop that resembled to me nacho cheese, so I shrugged and loaded my plate up with that. I was mildly confused when one of the cafeteria ladies cracked up and made a comment to the tune of "crazy white boys," but shrugged it off as I am occasionally crazy and usually a white male.
When we sat down at the lunch table, I took a taste of the "cheese" and was mildly confused at the flavor. My roommate tried a bit, and said 'Dude, I think that's butterscotch.' The part where this was a terrible idea and not just a terrible accident lies in the fact that I shrugged and said "Well it's yellow, maybe it'll taste good on a taco" and slathered it all over my taco anyway.
Suffice to say that my result stomach agony is representative of the potential painful consequences that come with the optimistic execution of bold (stupid), creative new ideas. Also like when the scientist can't find anyone to test their crazy serum on so they inject themselves and become a hideous monstrosity.
What is your creative ambition?
I'd like to be the lead writer on high-profile games with a major studio. No humor in this section, this is my genuine desire for the future.
What are your creative obstacles?
Life! To be specific, everything that doesn't involve writing, reading and video games. I am incredibly happy that I took this class (which created this blog), as it has forced me to write often and expansively, despite the other distractions and projects that I have which I continually convince myself don't allow me the time for such side pursuits.
Also, television. Curse that captivating box that inspires passivity and gently suctions away my waking hours.
What are the vital steps to achieving this ambition?
In order to get any job whatsoever in the industry I need to possess the technical skills, which this major is currently imbuing me with. The ability to animate in two and three dimensions, program in multiple languages, understand level design and human-computer interaction are all vital to the well-rounded industry peon.
For my specific goal, as discussed the most important thing would be to write continually and eloquently, and hopefully obtain some examples that could supplement my portfolio.
How do you begin your day?
Jolting out of bed to the soul-searing sound of the Verizon default ringtone. No matter how sleep-deprived I am, no matter how nasty the weather outside is, nothing will vault someone more unpleasantly into total consciousness than the sound perfectly engineered to be as distracting and ear-achingly annoying as the Verizon default ringtone.
Then I guess I shower and dress and stuff, no need to pry into that aspect of my morning ritual. I usually skip breakfast because I wake up late in the day, but I have a massive tower of yogurt in the refrigerator currently that I've been working my way though.
What are your habits?
I tend to tug and worry at my lip when I'm focusing on a problem, which I am consciously aware of but can't really stop. There are worse bad habits, I'm sure.
From all reports, when I am expanding upon a topic on the fly (e.g. BSing) my tone of voice shifts slightly and I tilt my head up a bit, in addition to gesturing more emphatically than usual. But keep that between you and me, Internet.
On a positive note, I am habitually on time, which is like being habitually late except that you arrive at exactly the time that you need to instead of five or fifteen minutes after you should be there. This also differs from being habitually early, which is probably better but involves sitting around boredly for fifteen minutes before class starts.
Do you have patterns?
I suppose? I'm not entirely clear on the differentiation between a pattern and a habit, but I guess something like a sleep schedule would be more of a pattern. As far as that goes, I generally slip into the stay up late and wake up late paradigm even after, say, getting up every day at 8 AM for a few months and having that theoretically programmed into me.
On a creative note, I tend to spend too much time expanding on the little things in projects, which I think to be more of a pattern than a habit. I also have a tendency toward working myself up into a fine state of agitation when the cogs catch in crunch-time, at which point the closest friend or colleague will point out that getting upset isn't helping at all, I'll stew for a few minutes, then I'll notice an obvious solution to my problem and immediately feel silly.
Which artist do you most admire, and why?
Hands-down my favorite author, Sir Terry Pratchett. In addition to his intricate world-building, prolific writing and truly funny characters and situations (not to mention the knighthood for "services to literature"), the author's own personal situation makes it impossible not to admire the man.
Pratchett suffers from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's Disease, which to a writer is a more grievous malady than the loss of one's limbs. Nonetheless he continues to write as ably as he ever has, giving no thought to retirement; I read an account of the copious notes that he takes to ensure that he is also abreast of the characters and situations he is developing in his stories, and his general optimism regarding the condition. I can only hope to achieve such dedication to my craft in my lifetime.
What do you and this artist have in common?
Pratchett has an unabashedly loquacious writing style at odds with the trend toward simple, direct and concise sentence structure permeating modern literature. At the same time, his descriptions never become so unwieldy that they lose descriptive or comedic value. I would like to think that my writing follows a similar style.
Who in your life regularly inspires you? How?
My mother, for all of the things large and small she does for myself and my sister. Generic, but true.
When confronted with superior intelligence/talent, how do you respond?
Well, this is rather heavily dependent on context. If that person is incredibly rude or irksome to be around than their level of talent is irrelevant to me; I'd avoid their company like any other ghoulish individual. Thankfully most of the people I meet are amiable; if so, then I endeavor to learn what I can from working with or for them.
When confronted with stupidity/laziness, how do you respond?
If it is a combination of the two, then there isn't much I can do but smile and nod. If it is only the former, and the person isn't malicious in nature, then I do my best to assist them with any issues they face, and avoid frustration. If it is only the latter, then it would be rather the pot calling the kettle black if I treated them any differently than I'd like to be treated myself.
When you work do you love the process or the result?
Generally the result, though there are certainly elements of the creative process that I enjoy-- typically those rare "Eureka!" moments peppered throughout projects where something just clicks beautifully.
What is your ideal creative activity?
I am a bibliophile and I love to read; and the more you read, the better writer you become, providing you learn from these novels just as a film student should learn from watching and studying films.
What is your greatest fear?
Fear itself.
What is the likelihood of the answers to the two previous questions happening?
I'm actually reading something right now as I write this blog entry, so I'd say that first activity is quite fulfilled. As to the second, the only situation I can think of wherein I would come face to face with the face of Fear itself would be if there is if the Incarnation of Death is in actuality a malicious entity that visits me on my deathbed.
Which of your answers would you most like to change?
Hm, well, I'd like to stop freaking out at last-minute issues in projects. I should probably take up yoga, or some other pseudo-scientific relaxation methodology.
What is your idea of mastery?
When you create something that serves as the archetype for the intelligent community, then you have functionally mastered that medium. For example, while there may be better gaming studios than Valve, I can't think of a game other than Portal that exemplifies mastery of the gaming medium.
What is your greatest dream?
I had a dream once where I actually had usable superpowers, which was pretty awesome, though unfortunately I didn't write down which one I had specifically. Something to do with electricity, I think, which would make sense.
Normally I have vaguely disappointing "good" dreams where I'll intrinsically know I have some interesting ability or position but there won't be any real evidence of it in the context of the dream. Just because I know I can theoretically shoot lasers from my eyes but for whatever reason refrain, it doesn't mean it's a good dream.
What else defines your "Creative Biology?"
65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, 1% phosphorus and a host of other fractions of a percent.
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