Quotes

A lot of words are thrown around when it comes to creative work: trust, community, ‘gift’ in the Lewis Hyde sense, sincerity, etc. But conviction is different—it’s belief in what you are doing, being driven to create something because it must exist. Because it exists already in your mind so strongly that it has to exist in the world. Conviction doesn’t cower to market forces, it doesn’t move with trends. If it’s not there, then what are you doing? I realize now that what I dislike about certain work—novels, films, whatever—is a lack of conviction.

What you imagine must exist, Joanne McNeil

I came of age in a time when everything was completely uncertain, and I’m happy to be part of a new generation that’s turning things over, but we were turning things over while print floundered and wondered what to do with itself. And it had been the stalwart thing, this very, very reliable dependable thing for generations, print. And we watched it die from up on our hill of youth. You kind of get the sense that you’re not safe. That’s coming for you, too, but you don’t know what it looks like for you. That’s kind of bleak, I suppose.

Kate Beaton interviewed by The Guardian, September 2015 (via fictionz)

You know, [during] the very last year or so of ‘Mad God,’ or even before that, the last couple of years, I ended up hating it. It was just a slog, just go in every day, and then get it done. And at the end, maybe about a year before it was complete, I had a huge mental breakdown and had to go into a psych ward for a while, and recovery, and that took me about three months to get over — but it busted my brain.

Phil Tippett on busting his brain for Mad God

I know you don’t think it’s a show. I don’t doubt your emotions are real, but what’s the point of all the sad faces and the gnashing of teeth? If you’re not gonna change your behavior — and you won’t — why not just skip the whole exercise? In the end, you’re gonna hurt everyone around you. You can’t help it, so stop apologizing and accept it, embrace it. Frankly, I’d have more respect for you if you did.

A little brotherly advice

When people look at us, they see our games and they see the game content, but there’s this whole machine, lurking behind the scenes, that makes games that exist at our company and at every company. That’s a huge part of the day-to-day experience for us. We spend a year grinding in that machine and then we output a game and people just see the output. They don’t see the process.

Why Zachtronics is shutting down for good this time

Books were a way to get out of my own head. I’d come to rely on alcohol for that, and after I stopped drinking, I felt trapped in myself. … A number of resources for the newly sober encourage people to revisit the activities they enjoyed as a kid, and that turned out to be really valuable for me. (Turns out I still love drawing, reading, and making clothes!)

Edith Zimmerman: Drawing as Therapy