Video game goals.

I have mentioned to friends that my last therapy session was actually very enlightening on an artistic level. (I've gotten a lot of insight into my art through my regular therapy sessions, so there you go. They're good for coaching and bouncing ideas off of.) We talked about the parallels between fantasy and real life - overlaps as well as the need for a "safe" realization of wishes and desires. So when I dream up a video game where you ride a yak around, pitch a tent, weave your own clothes, and work in the fields, I think that's some concept of a life I envision working out pretty well for me.

One thing that always bothers me about fantasy video games is how you can often carry 99 small glass bottles of potions, as well as several cabins, swords, suits of armor, etc... and still see a character wearing scantily clothes with nothing on their back. Where is all of this STUFF? Don't get me wrong - I find those 99 Cure2 potions infinitely useful, but it takes away so much of the worldwide travel feel of the game when there's no positive or negative consequences for the act of taking basic necessities with you. (I've enjoyed/hated Earthbound for the relatively small inventory slots, where you carry things like bubblegum, baseball caps, and sandwiches.) The horse/horse analog is always an upgrade but does nothing much but make you pass up monsters and satisfy the estrogen levels people like me, who squee at every mount like a 7th grade girl.

So, as I [pretend to] learn to code some Python and draw up sprites, I want to keep in mind the romanticism of lightweight travel - the intimacy of the goods you carry with you. How everything has a place, it gets unpacked, it sits in your campsite. I've spent some time studying nomadic lifestyles, specifically of north and east Africa - the sticks, reeds, and hides atop camels as people move from place to place. I love it. Your possessions become sacred to you, being repaired and re-used, and they are a comforting constant in an otherwise changing landscape.

Home base.

All packed up and ready to go!