If we’ve talked at any length about careers, there’s a good chance I’ve mentioned this article. I found that spending a couple days thinking long and hard about this was incredibly illuminating.
My “message”? Creating experiences. Not games, but experiences. This is why I love to cook (creating the experience of dinner), have dinner parties (pick menu, music, guests), be a Dungeon Master, etc. Once I realized my message, I realized that my medium didn’t have to be programming, it could be event planning, writing (visualization), prototyping, drafting business plans - these are all means to the same end - creating a specific experience.
It just so happens that video games are the most powerful and scaleable way I know of to create an experience for the most people.
Here’s a great article on doing small, high-quality things quickly.
Favorite excerpts: