Remember Your Light

Remember Your Light

Mar 6, 2024

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Some believe that the video game industry is in crisis due to the spate of layoffs over the last couple of years. It’s not been easy, and my heart goes out to every game developer who has lost their livelihood—it’s a very tough pill to swallow to be let go from a job you love.

But remember, we’ve seen this before. Things cycle and consolidate like crazy in this business. Teams ramp up, then reconfigure or downsize. Companies wax and wane. I’ve seen this many times over a nearly thirty-year career.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”.

Albus Dumbledore

Owing to other commitments, I will miss GDC this month. Frankly, I won’t miss Moscone and San Francisco in March, or how verbose many of the sessions have become. (I still pine for the days when it was held in San Jose!)

But I will miss the faces, minds and hearts of fellow game developers—so many creative spirits in one place—and the random, sometimes deep (often hilarious), conversations that tend to popup right after a session, in a queue for a slice of pizza, in the lobby of the W, and certainly at parties.

And for those a bit too worried about the state of things, I will miss the chance to say: Have hope. Find your happy place. Shine your light—it is still there, through the darkness, I promise you. Keep making things. Keep learning. Keep that delightful creative spirit that lives within you alive—it’s the thing that got you into this business in the first place. Remember your light!

Happiness is a Choice

Mar 27, 2012

What a great post from Bronnie Ware, which prompted her to write a book, in which she lists the five most common regrets that terminally ill patients had on their way out of this world. “I wish that I let myself be happier” is the one I find most interesting. As Bronnie says:

 Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

Play is such a important part of human existence. Like love and art and mathematics, it skips past culture and economics and politics. It slips through language barriers. It jumps over random bumps in the road. And fills us with silliness and wonder.