Junk Data

Posted on April 21st, 2015

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything. The main reason has been, well, a lack of stuff to post. For really ling time I just hadn’t been in a game-creating place. Or, really, a place to make anything except in brief moments. But first, the game stuff.

The more I work on Raziel, the more it reveals to me. At first, Etherworld was simply a realm of junk data. And it was all one thing. But since it draws on not only the thoughts of people who enter the virtual reality of Otherworld, but the code of Otherworld, too, it made sense to me that parts of it would look like part of Otherworld Glitch visits. The upper layer, being closest to Otherworld proper, would look and act the most like it. But as you go deeper (and progress to further stages of the game), things get stranger, darker and more chaotic. Basically, you get closer and closer to what Etherworld really is: not just junk data, but collective subconscious in data form that wants to tell a story.

And now for some personal crap.

Full-time work and some personal issues (as well as taking time to have *GASP!* something that resembles a social life) made it seem like I never had time to do anything creative or just for fun. Especially the “just for fun” part since that seemed like wasting time which could be better spent. Often, I would sit at my desk and try to MAKE myself [try to] work on this game or work on some writing, telling myself I could do something fun once I’d achieved X or Y. Long story short, it never seemed to happen.

Then I realized: I was out of fuel. I can’t create very much if I’m not taking in anything creative — namely via stuff like playing games and reading books, a.k.a. the very things I kept telling myself I didn’t have enough time for. To tie it in with Raziel, new realms aren’t going to form in my head without all the tasty junk data those things tend to leave behind.

So I’m going to focus on that for a while: refilling the junk data pool. Ironically, it’s quite possible that that’ll help me find the energy and inspiration to work on my own creative stuff.