I find that I get way too in my head when it comes to generating ideas, and that’s because I have a severe problem when it comes to perfectionism – I can’t expect everything to come out perfect and I shouldn’t expect to be good at everything on the first go. I started with a mind map ready to brainstorm but the mental block at the start was real.

I had conversations with close friends about shared interests and topics that could be played around with. These conversations ranged from talking about the sciences biology & psychology, to discussions about ideologies & real life social issues such as feminism and the modern day effects of the patriarchy, as well as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

One thing that the majority of the ideas I had all had in common was this idea of conflict. And I really liked that. Especially the concept of an inner, more personal conflict, particularly one that I myself could relate to. After sitting on it for a couple days (not literally, I have better things to do) I settled on my game idea to be about grief and the process of overcoming grief, which also coincided with the Essential Experience work we had been developing over the first couple weeks.

The idea of creating and embodying such strong emotions that come with the journey of mourning a loss was so interesting to me, and to be honest I’ve always admired anthropomorphism (you best believe I googled how to spell that).

I got so excited that I finally had a game idea that made me feel good and motivated that I spent the night talking to my partner about all the potential things I could create and add. But again – perfection doesn’t spawn over night, and for a minute there I had forgotten that this project was entirely independent and that there would be no one there to draw up all these big ideas except myself… Suddenly the excitement wasn’t so yippee yay and more so a frowny face, horror and a few groans of frustration for what was to come.