“Once I reopen the book on Stardew, I always have a hard time closing it again because I always want to add more things, make it better, make it cooler, make people happy,” Barone said. “It's exciting. Every single thing I'm adding, I'm thinking about how people are going to play this and talk about it and love it. It's gonna be part of their experience. It could make a memory that they might cherish forever. That's a special thing. It's hard for me to not want to do that.”
As a software developer who loves lovable games, I am an enormous admirer of Mr. Barone and wish him the best of continued fortune.
I also wish that it was easier for independent developers to have time to build their artistic vision like this.
Does all the best art require suffering, though? Idk. I feel like that is maybe a myth invented by the exploiters.
to some extent it does, however, it used to be a bit easier to scrape by and have a roof over your head, hangout with your friends, and hone one's craft in america. There are a lot of stories where someone worked at a bakery, recorded there after. Another where two guys bought a small place to put a studio together in Portland, just a lot of shit like that. The walls have closed way, way in.
I did see a nice YouTube post from an artist recently about how a lot of artists in America also seem to have perhaps bought into the myth that they must work, develop, and improve themselves alone. The poster insisted that this concept of the lone artist rising from nowhere to success was a myth spread by those wishing to isolate artists on purpose, and that artists should do the exact opposite to as extreme an extent as their capacity for being around others would permit.
It's hard, tho, I get it. As a technologically oriented creative, I am also extremely introverted. But I know for a fact that avoiding collaboration has stunted my artistic growth.
it's good that you found advice like that. rick rubin's book is a load of shit and in interviews he's saying shit like 'maybe your job is your livelihood and your art is secondary' basically telling ppl to strive for less straight up, not even veiling it in a myth which is incredible considering he threw his entire life into helping ppl create music
lol, my (estranged) dad did the opposite. Spent X years in the Florida prog rock/metal scene, his band finally recorded and released an EP, and within a couple of years, the band had split up and he was working as a pastry chef over a thousand miles away.