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July 30 Update (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-30 16:56:07
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Another meme, this one from the Discord, I believe. There aren't many left, but this has been quite a run of fan content!

One thing I've had to work on as a creator is dealing with slower times. It isn't productive to bang your head against a wall, but it is possible to be lazy and not re-engage when you could. Are you courting burnout or do you need to push yourself?  It's a difficult process of discernment that's probably a little different for everyone.

Over the past decade, I've tried to be kinder to myself at low creative ebb, because I know energy and inspiration will come back. I find myself worrying and trying to document these periods, though. Are they getting longer now that I'm in my 30s instead of my 20s? It's very easy for confirmation bias and a lot of other cognitive biases to create narratives.

But it does come back! I've had a great week this week, making blazing progress on one of the next harem quests. It's gone from a bunch of finished pieces and ideas I wasn't sure would work to a functional event. Not finished, and this one will probably take more balance polishing after player feedback, but it feels great to see everything coming together.

The problem is, I worry that it took too long. I don't work in an environment where I can follow my inspiration 100% of the time and I'm going to run into previously planned events that will interfere with TLS work. Now, at high creative tide I can do a  ton of things at once, but not everything. I didn't need a decent July with a great week at the end, I needed to be in top gear for at least half the month. So I fear I won't hit my August target.

Anyway, one harem quest is mostly done, but it's not a quest that can stand alone. I continue to work toward a bigger update that will take a while longer to release, hopefully not too long.

Meanwhile, since it worked so well last week, anyone want to help out? I want this overlay fog converted to gold:

I can do minimal image editing myself, but I don't know how to convert grayscale into color. =/ If somebody could help me out with this, another map for the next update would be done!

Files

Comments

Leveler All

I dont think the difference is between 20-30s, younger people my feel more energetic but inspiration comes and goes the same for everyone, down times are hard due to us been acostum to a specific amout of work, and idle time can be torture for people who do a lot but we must take that for what it is, also yes, there is a special place for thoes who dare hurt the sweetest qum in the game

sierralee

It's along the right lines and better than what I can do! However, my main hope was that the black parts would be made golden.

Mycroft

I'm not sure if it's the case for you but inspiration is also far easier to find on a new project than on a project that have existed for a long time. I have always found that begining a story is easier than concluding it. I do not find it more difficult to write now that I'm 40 than it was when I was in my 20s. But I never written professionaly, so the situation is not really comparable.

DukeLeto7

Sierra is in her 30s? I feel old at 45. You know someone I went to grade school with is now a grandma (by virtue of a VERY unwise 18 year old)? I should just start picking out retirement communities now...

sierralee

Okay, you've done what I asked, but I've run into a problem: when I test the fog in the actual game, it kind of washes out. There isn't enough contrast between the bright parts and the background, so it doesn't show up much when placed over the map. I don't know... can we have the spaces between the leaves be darker? My original idea doesn't show up enough, so we need some kind of higher contrast.

sierralee

Yes, there's more creative space in a wide open project than in one that's closing down and executing its final steps. That said, these sorts of ebbs and flows have been a constant throughout my career. A number of prominent authors have spoken about slowing down significantly as they've gotten older, and while that hasn't happened to me, I'm paranoid about it.

Lord Forte Games

Would you mind sending me an example of what it looks like when you use it in the area by direct message or e-mail, just so I can get a sense of it? Would also be good to know what opacity it has in the fog script you're using. Either way, I assume the area between is the white space? I can try to darken that if so, just want to be sure I'm doing the right thing, haha.

sierralee

Oh, I forgot just how low I had the default opacity for fogs! Playing around with that, I can get much closer to what I want. I'm not sure which of the versions you sent will be best, but I'm pretty sure between them I can make things look right. Thank you very much. ^-^

Lord Forte Games

Ah, glad to help! Let me know if you need any further versions.

Lord Forte Games

While it's not exactly about creative work, I personally always think about the two types of aging using a scene Plutarch's biography of Julius Caesar. In one scene, 40 year old Caesar is looking at a statue of Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world by 32 and then died, and lamenting how he's accomplished nothing of note himself so far in his life. Some people are Alexanders and accomplish things in their youth then flame out, but as readers we of course know that Caesar would ultimately go on to be no less successful or well-known for his own achievements. All of which is to say, I wouldn't take it as a given that everyone follows the pattern of doing worse with age; some people instead decidedly improve. (And, while the example wasn't directly about creating, it's not like Caesar had no creative talent XD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico was written starting when he was 42 and remains a mainstay of modern Latin courses)

Desertopa

At some point, slowing down with age may be inevitable, but I don't think it necessarily takes place nearly so soon. Terry Pratchett for instance was in his mid-thirties when he *started* his career as a novelist, and his level of productivity accelerated from there. Different people have different curves of development in creative and intellectual abilities. Some peak young, in early adulthood, and their abilities remain stable or slowly decline thereafter, while some improve more gradually, and peak much later, usually hitting a decline very late in life as their cognitive abilities erode in old age. I don't know what the specific proportions are like, but among creative writers, I believe the latter type is more common.

Darthjake

Don't worry Duke, I just hit the milestone highlighted by Sammy Hagar.

Dubsington

I've been reading your concerns about your creative process and it's lack of predictability since 2017, and I think it's safe to say you worry about it a lot more than the rest of us do. Objectively looking at it from observable data, your creativity is a hell of a safe bet. I'm glad you've been making an effort to go easy on yourself lately. Also, I didn't realize you were that young. You are one hell of a composed person for your age!

Runcible Technician

Now I know about that tool. You have no idea how much trouble that has been giving me with other art programs.

Lord Forte Games

It's very useful! For whites, you often wanna turn up the darkness slider a bit to get the color to take more, and same with turning up lightness on blacks.

Rachnera

Random thought of the day: Any plan about adding a gallery for images like Vhala's archery shot, the entity's first appearance or Orcent's bar crawl?

sierralee

Good question. I wasn't sure how much demand there was for such, and I somewhat suspected the most invested fans probably have access to those images directly.