Ok, summer is coming and the weather is getting nice. So, enjoy a fresh drink while you read my ramblings about everything.
If you have time for one game this month
Make it be Essays on Empathy by Deconstruct team. Not only because the collection of tiny, personal deep games is good per se. It’s just a start, because the documentary and the added material the Spanish team has put together really manages to be an anthology of their own respective thoughts and poetic.
We need more games like this, we need people talking more about their creative journey. And they have done it with kindness and love.
I’m grateful to have had the chance to play it. You can, too. Here is the game homepage. I suggest you buy it from itch.io, because that way you will support the team better.
Aquarian energy in movie format
Not much into Italian movies, usually, but Rose Island is a really nice and well told story. Something that actually happened in the 1968 Italy, where a very much Aquarian engineer at some point decided to build an island just out of the Italian waters and attempted to declare it as an independent free state. It didn’t end well, but Elio Germano is amazing in portraiting the overly idealistic Giorgio Rosa, while Fabrizio Bentivoglio aces the role of the Italian minister of Defense Franco Restivo. Not an amazing movie, maybe, but absolutely an amazing story.
Capcom makes scary cute
And I keep thinking about that puppetry course.
This is just part 1. There is more!
How do you define success?
A man named DK Metcalf recently ran a 100m heat contest and ended up last, missing the opportunity to qualify for the Tokyo olimpic trials by a few tenths of second.
It looks like a failure, eh? Except DK is a football player (he’s the wide receiver of Seahawks, whatever that means - I’m European and my football is different) and he weighs 100kg. He just wanted to test his dash against pro runners.
What if you compare yourself to other people? You will think you got last and you’re terrible, while it’s just a matter of not seeing how unique and awesome you are. Think of DK when you feel you’re not enough. See how directly comparing yourself to others will never make you feel successful.
End last in the special race by knowing how great that last place is.
Body augmentation is cool
Opposable thumbs are so 20th century. Let’s just get an extra thumb and start imagining the possibilities. It seems that our brain loves it and quickly accepts it as a new body part.
Which is pretty amazing. Brain, I love you.
Good Reads
I’ve just finished Ask Iwata, a collection of interviews and thoughts to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who sadly passed away in 2015. I didn’t expect a book like this to be honest. Usually biographical books, especially about businesspeople tend to depict images of in-your-face people, who dare, boast and explain it all. You get the gist.
In Ask Iwata, instead, we see the picture of a humble and very quiet man, who shows respect and understanding and humanity. I never had the chance to meet Satoru Iwata, but he must have been a very special person.
If you are curious about Nintendo you should read it. It gives a bit of a different insight in the game industry, which I personally found refreshing.
What I’m doing now
Well, I am in a time of big changes. More will come, possibly next month. There are nice things and scary things. I’m designing a lot, except now it’s not a game but it’s my mid term future. Which can be unnerving at times. But getting through it.
In the meantime I randomly opened a Redbubble store, putting on some designs I like to make when I’m on my iPad. Drop a like or a comment if you fancy it! Buy things!
I’m also working on a Youtube channel. It will be about creative practice with interactive things. Games, mostly, but not just games. You’ll see. I just need to… er… Start.
Please cheer me. See you next month! ❤