itch.io

Hello! Thank you so much for reading and for taking the time to share your honest thoughts! That means a lot to me, especially since this manifesto is rather general instead of being specifically focused on gaming (though it certainly includes it). This was also a pretty vulnerable topic for me, though, it's not exactly one of personal struggle but just a struggle of being a Person Who Creates (which is everyone, I suppose). I don't think you are being dramatic at all when you describe the way you view life as a result of your experiences. If it's how you really feel, then that's a valid feeling you feel. It makes me happy that you see so much value in each interaction, and that you care about everything. I honestly wish more people could appreciate things this much, though I wish it had come about through better circumstances for you.

I agree with you about our work being a snapshot of us in this moment. Things I've created in the past were created by someone else, a previous iteration of myself, that I look back on and appreciate now as an outsider. I look back at my previous 'snapshots' with fondness and embarrassment at how hard I tried to change the world with my words and how I've learned to speak to myself foremost. When I read the manifestos that were much more 'radical' (for lack of a better term) about changing things for the better, I appreciate the idea, and I think someone needs to say it, but I also don't think it can be done by an individual. A game about XYZ that is nonstandard isn't going to change the world on its own, but a trend of it perhaps could shift it in a positive direction. In that sense, I appreciate those dramatic manifestos (even if, to some degree, I also struggle to take them a bit seriously haha). What an individual game can do is reach out to someone who might need to hear it and affect them in a positive way. As I create more and write more, it hits me how much more this matters to me than trying to make a grandiose statement about the fabric of society.

It means a lot to me that my manifesto was able to affect you! That is essentially the ultimate compliment to my work here. My manifesto here is 'unimportant.' I doubt it has been read by many people and I didn't expect to receive any comments. I wrote this manifesto for myself. To settle the turmoil I've felt in my heart about my own creations and to look upon them more fondly than with disdain that they won't change the world. I won't change the world. I can only live. So I'll spend that time making things that speak to me, and hopefully speak to others like me and unlike me. And I'm extremely happy that this unimportant manifesto was able to touch you, too. I wanted this manifesto to be an example of what it is talking about, and I feel that I've somewhat succeeded in that, hearing your own thoughts after you've read it. I'm happy your unimportant comment is nearly as long as my unimportant manifesto. It means a lot to me.

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Hello, Moonplum here. Darkblaw, who wrote this lovely manifesto and the above comment, is my best friend.

I wanted to chime in. Thank you for taking the time to respond. As Darkblaw and I have been slowly working our way through the manifestos, we noticed that you had taken the time to share your honest thoughts on every one we saw. It really astounded us, and it astounded me. Your comments, specifically, inspired me and Darkblaw to comment on other manifestos. We would not have had the courage to speak so freely on many different manifestos had it not been for you. So, thank you.

I have loved reading your comments and thinking more about the manifestos I have read because of your comments.

I do not think that Darkblaw and I have made it to yours yet, but we will! I am very much looking forward to reading what you have to say.

I have loved reading the broad and blunt manifestos, and I have loved reading the silly, tragic, and hyper-specific manifestos, as well. I have had this account for years, and yet I have never used it to communicate with other devs. Where I have made games, I have released them in secluded ways, without putting myself or any of my personal thoughts alongside them, because I wanted the games to stand on their own. Now I am rethinking my approach.

I care about everything immensely too. Every interaction is a gift. I do want the world to change, which we can only do in collective, and I also believe that every individual interaction is a gift.

I do not know what struggles you have been through, but I am glad that you are alive in this moment for us to have this interaction. I view every day as a gift, since I did not die many years ago. I do not think that you are being too dramatic. I think that the developers who do not feel gratitude or do not want to be grateful are valid for feeling that way, and I also think that you are valid for feeling gratitude. 

Even if you were being "dramatic", I do not view that as a bad thing.

I agree wholeheartedly with Darkblaw's manifesto. He told me that he felt like he had nothing important to say. I told him that I would only post my second manifesto if he posted one, about any topic whatsoever, because I believe that this world is better with him and his thoughts in it. And, incredibly, he did so. I love his manifesto. I love the thoughts in it. I agree that something does not have to be "important" to matter.

Game development is communication. It is not magic, or a mystery. It is like saying hello to a stranger at the grocer. It is a way to connect. Of course our desires, pains, joys , confused fafs, ignorance, frustration, desires to see the world change for the better will come into our craft. The humanity and personhood of game development is what draws me towards it.

Your projects and your words have value to me too. Thank you for taking the time to write so much and for sharing this with us. It is not silly to be moved by someone's words and then to respond with words that move that person in turn. If it is silly, then it is a good silly. That is very human.