In a similar vein, I have been sketching quite a few small maps of late. I keep a small notebook (3.75 x 6 in) and some pencils and Sharpie pens on my bedside table. Whenever I need to empty my head or distract myself for a bit before sleeping, I sketch a little map or make some notes for the Borderlands game.
Eventually I'll be posting a lot of that material here. Unfortunately, that has to wait until the players are done exploring it.
That's pretty cool. Sometimes time pressure focuses your creativity like nothing else can. You should say five minutes for the basic "broad strokes," then give yourself 15 more to fill in the details. Once you have this cool little intimate environment roughed in, don't let the clock cheat you out of polishing it. (I'm assuming your interest is in actually using this as a game environment.)
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that limiting some things can really open your creativity. Having a small time window really forced me to consider what I was doing and plan a few things ahead of the actual work. It also forced me to just get something done and on paper. Often it is easy to agonize over all the details I want to add to the point that I spend hours overworking something that will never see development. And with little things like this, it's very easy to go back later, add a few other details, and drop them into play.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete