Writer's Blockus
Passive Planner
by Mark
The last few months of work at The Misplay have had overarching themes. We have focused on participating in our local board game community, studied the story of Biome, and practiced designing our own games. April was different. We took detours to different topics while we continued designing behind the scenes. If we are being honest, we didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped in April. It's the first time we've had to grapple with the limitations of The Misplay as a passion project that, at times, has to take a back seat to the other facets of our lives. There is a cold math to the logistics of time available for Misplay-related work. For me, working on a creative project in general not only requires time but also a different mindset to be productive, different from a "get sh*t done" mentality.
My mind works in different modes when I engage in a creative activity. I would call myself a "passive planner" when I start a new project. I think about the project away from where the product will be recorded. I literally came up with some of the rules for "Word Warpers" in the shower. Another phase is "staring at the blank page." This is deliberate planning time where I carve out time and put pen to paper. This type of time will sometimes result in an outline, a storyboard, or some other type of prewriting that will inform the final product. Finally, I sit myself down and blast my way through creating a rough draft of the product. I’d call the version of "MMA Gauntlet" that we played on the show something between a rough draft and a detailed outline of the game. Jason and I haven't specifically talked about the differences in our approach to creative projects. However, I would take a bet with boba on the line that Jason's process is more methodical and detail-oriented. It shows in how we write our show outlines.
I vividly remember writing a show outline all by myself once and being surprised when Jason asked me if I'd worked on that episode's outline. My impulse response was “Of course I did! Didn’t you read the show doc?” I don't detail my outlines with all of my passive planning notes. My outline was coded in a way that didn't give Jason enough information about the episode, so it appeared incomplete. The show docs we write together are coded in our collaborative voice.
We've shared how our planning for the podcast has changed since we started the show. We used to try to prepare separately, write the outline on a shared Google Doc, and then sit down to record an episode. If you happen to recall how many episodes we've re-recorded… this approach doesn't lead to the strongest final product. Our current planning includes sitting down to talk through the show and write the outline together. It would be very easy to point out that budgeting more time to plan together obviously leads to a stronger episode. I believe a closer examination would reveal that our collaborative creative process is a more efficient and salient process than mashing our independent processes together in a single outline.
Thank you, everyone, for following along even when the chapter isn’t quite finished.
Lorcana
by Jason
Lorcana? What? I loved Mark's writing so much this week that I wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. I think it's worth re-reading if you're willing to scroll back up. I appreciate how introspective he is.
In other news, at the school carnival this week, my 5-year-old son was "winning" Pokémon cards at the game booths. He brought home about fifty cards and started making his own rules and games with them. I loved it. He loved it. I have never played Pokémon, and I couldn't make any real sense of the cards. He's too young for Magic, and I don't think that is a road I want to ride down again. So, I started thinking about Disney's Lorcana as a first step into TCGs. Mark and I had tried the game a few months back.
While playing with Mark, we found the game "too kiddie". We didn't see the appeal for us. Playing with my son, I see it from a different lens. I have really enjoyed our games. I have even played a handful of games with my wife, who I should thank for going out of her way to find the best starter sets to buy.
Also, the art is beautiful. Have you see this alternative art cards? Please don't tell Mark I said this.
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