I found my experience with much of design retreating into more conservative areas after doing it for several years because I was learning how much our genres are interdependent on a million pieces, how incorporating many divergences to be new, different, creative was building a bridge to the void from one end only, how fixing these issues tended to circle back to established solutions. Games aren’t art. They’re machines that create art, and as machines they’re sensitive and must be built properly.
I learned to be professional, and I died more than a little.
But there are things I know to be true, stories and dances that have stuck with me for years. I think I’m learning how I can do those without jumping past more than I can handle.