gewgaw

I am still so in love with the Katamari soundtrack. What a gift it was! My favorite song is still Moon & Prince – which I just realized has been translated!! Listen and sing/read along!

I sprinted, I twisted,
I tried to run about everywhere
I spun, I was spun,
I rolled into anything I could find
I was attached, I felt included,
hey! I just picked up so much stuff!

I tried to avoid it, I tried to flee,
But the power was too much, came crashing down on me
I tried to push it, I tried to pull it,
At the end of my rope, I tried to cast it away
I crashed, I snapped,
A huge thrill ran through my body

The goal was endlessly far, but I couldn’t stop pressing on
Forever rolling on, I grew a lot, as a person
I noticed many things, and everyone became as one
While smiling faces flooded the town, a petty evil lay hidden in the shadows

Chorus:

Check it up, I funk it up
Everybody shut up, come and follow me, yeah
Check it up, I funk it up
Everyone follow me like your life depends on it, come on

(Check it up, I funk it up
Minna damatte, ore ni, tsuite koi, yeah
Check it up, I funk it up
Minna hisshi de ore ni tsuite koi, come on)

Repeat x 4

I pounded on, but I lost heart
No energy left, I fell into despair
I tried to sulk, I was down,
With a heart full of regret, tried to make the tears tumble down
I thought about it, rolled down on the ground
Looked at the sky and it brought back my calm

I stared and stared, kept it always in my eyes
And the moon that floated there, it was so bright
Got bigger and bigger, hoisted up step by step
Till it was under the great big stars
I kept on going, got some cooperation
And put in every ounce of all that lovely strength

I felt the beginnings of an impending crisis, stood up,
blew the walls off of my heart
A free mind and an overflowing soul,
I gave my spirit a heart to live in
(Jiyuu na mind to afureru soul, spirit ni kokoro ni yadoshita)
Combine our power, and we can do it,
everyone comes to accomplish one great thing
Now we’re equal, we understand and admire each other
more than any time before, the people around me have grown larger

I don’t wanna hear any negative talk coming from your mouths!
It may be tough, but we can’t stop now!
We’ll draw a peaceful vibration in an arc across the sky!
We’ll create an object that won’t fail to compete with this planet!

(Negative na wadai wo kuchi ni suru na
Tsurakutemo, susumu koto wo yamerun jaanai
Peace na vibration de arc wo egaki
Kono earth ni makenai object wo tsukure)”

Repeat Chorus x 4

Everything is possible.

Super news from the world of Noby Noby Boy (have you read all the DIY stuff???) – they have reached Jupiter!!!

This means that Saturn is … just around the corner! When was the last time you stretched your Noby? Head over to the PS3 and check in – craziness awaits!

Brian and I were chatting the other day about mindfulness and how critical it is to successful creative practice (especially group practice) – and I was reminded of this post which I made while I was still up at EA in Redwood Shores.

At the time, I was very, very busy making my first “real” game – and struggling with the politics and pressures of group work. Going from graduate school (highly constrained, mostly solitary work) to development required adjustment… and then, going to a huge new IP team (70+ people!) took yet another leap. I look back at those long days, and feel a mixture of relief and resignation. They were not easy – but I wouldn’t be here without them. Every trial has it’s purpose.

I have become increasingly interested in myths of trial and transformation since my trek to Bhutan & subsequent changes in my work and personal life. I’m currently absorbing all manner of info about the creation of characters and worlds – thinking about how we transform, and tell stories about it. This includes reading about Disney and the creation of the original Disney park here in CA, a mishmash of early anime from Japan, The Power of Myth, and academic writing about UI and early computing.

Despite similar threads – I’m in mind state exactly opposite to the one that generated the early post. It’s a beautiful, open period of cross pollination, where my daily practice (which is in a large part about structuring and strengthening the creative energy and output of our team) is generating myriad connections to a superstructure of meaning deep in my core.

This core is comprised of thoughts about narrative, social learning, creativity and myth that I’ve been weaving together since my first visit to Cambridge, in high school. From Blake to Buddha – it is this feeling of “finding the thread” that keeps me learning and creating. It is the feeling… the moment, that I live for.

This state of mind – and all that supports it (family, friends, team, community) is what I’m most thankful for this year.

Gama posted an in-depth interview with Keita re: the Nottingham park project. It does a great job of capturing his current state of mind.. especially as it relates to his feelings about being a “game” designer.

I liked this part especially:

After the press conference, one of GameCity’s organizers drove Takahashi to the local art store where he filled his basket with crayons, stickers, pens, sheaths of paper and, of course, a coat hanger. Then they took a taxi to this room, and closed the door behind him.

It’s hard to shake the feeling its precisely this sort of largely directionless creativity, free from the constraints of financial targets, demographics and brand-building that has brought Takahashi to this unlikely nook on the other side of his world.

In answer to his deflected question about what I think makes a good playground, I suggest that I’ve always enjoyed a sense of progression, where one object leads to the next, giving the participant a sense of journey, like a playful assault course.

Takahashi doesn’t respond at first, mulling it over, perhaps masking a sneer. “If there’s a pattern embedded in the design of a park, the danger is always that all of the kids just end up doing the same stuff…” he murmurs.

It’s this sort of aimless approach to game design that frustrated some players and critics with regards to his most recent title, Nobi Nobi Boy, a game that’s difficult to articulate within the usual parameters of success and failure. And yet, this dislike of the order and rigid structure of mainstream games seems to imbue every aspect of Takahashi’s approach.

It’s hard to put a project like the park into words.

I spent most of Sunday with Keita at the park site & studio – and I still am not sure how to describe it. After exploring the grounds, reviewing his sketches, drawing, playing with clay and then discussing the whole thing over ramen… I felt like I had a strange, foggy tangle in my mind. So many things to consider! Days later, that sense of … complex hugeness, is still with me.

Over the last few years, what I’ve come to appreciate most about Keita is his enduring patience – and ability to calmly contemplate huge, tangly messes. What makes me anxious and compulsive… he can sit with, quietly. Stuff that’s chaotic and overwhelming washes over him – and is transformed into something better. In no small way, it is this patience that makes our friendship even possible.

Walking back from the studio, we talked about this: the quiet center of his style (slow burn… gradually coming to an idea) the loudness of mine (flashes & sparks… an explosion from compressed inputs). He likes to tease me about my brashness… and I, his silent brooding. But in the end – these are strengths, too.

And for the park… an open-ended, visionary task – a designer like Keita is the perfect fit. Because the inputs are overwhelming, chaotic, fuzzy, strange. And you just have to be one with the space and all of its possibilities – until the idea emerges from within.

I was genuinely touched to read this interview, which gets at the heart of Keita’s gifts – and challenges within the context of our industry and even, this project. It’s nice to see a piece describe his process (and its context) with such tenderness and respect.

Home and recovered (mostly) – to find more goodness from GameCity in my inbox! For starters, Tony has updated his blog and site to include the awesome results of the SpiteYourFace “BrickStock” animation workshop:

Also, Brandon posted a piece on the Elite paper-folding event, and BoingBoing ran a piece on the 15 pixel megamix (flOw? C’mon now, readers!)..,

And Rex posted a super cool pic from our panel – with some great additions!!

Sugoi!!!