One year ago, I encouraged you (and me) to create something meaningful to you in 2022. I suggested that you share your creation in the comments of that post; over 40 people replied. Whether or not you were one of those people, I would love to hear today (a) what you created in 2022 that was meaningful to you and (b) what you hope to create in 2023.
I’d recommend reading the original post, but here’s a quick recap of why I’ve phrased the question this way:
- create something: It’s easy (and fun) to get caught up in an idea, but you only become creative the moment you take your idea for a game, book, blog, video, painting, etc and actually start creating something (make a prototype, write a chapter, press record, etc).
- meaningful: It’s absolutely okay to create for the sake of creation–that’s what this challenge is all about. Choose something close to your heart and get to it. Or two things; I find it helpful to jump back and forth between two projects to avoid burnout.
- to you: The only measure of success in this challenge is if you actually make something. Do this for yourself. I think it’s helpful at some point if you share your creation with others, but the goal isn’t publication or money or views. The goal is to create something you want to create.
Having said that, here are my questions for you:
- What did you create in 2022 that was meaningful to you? What was the process like for you? What made it meaningful?
- What will you create in 2023 that is meaningful to you? This is the new challenge. It can be something completely new or something you’re continuing to create from 2022. What’s the first step you’ll take?
Among my regular content creation, I spent 2022 primarily creating two games. One is a game I just couldn’t seem to get right–I started over from scratch nearly 10 times since starting the process in 2020. But every prototype and every playtest gave me a little more information about what the game needed, and finally it surged forward this year. It will be published in 2023.
The other game I spent significant time on in 2022 was my open-world game. I set the goal of finally finishing the world itself in 2022, a daunting task considering the number of locations. But I chipped away at it, and even though a few more locations need some work, I’m really close, and I think I’ll make it by December 31. For such a big game, having this goal was incredibly helpful for me to actually create–even if it was just one location–on a daily basis. My goal in 2023 is to finish the gameplay itself (design, playtesting, and development) and get the game to the printer. I’ve had so much fun exploring this world and can’t wait for you to do the same.
I look forward to reading your answers to those questions! Huge congrats if you completed something meaningful to you in 2022!
***
Also read:
- Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless
- The First Barrier Is the Biggest
- Your Best Work, Mediocrity, and Creating for Creation’s Sake
If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.
36 Comments on “What Did You Create in 2022 that Was Meaningful to You?”
Leave a Comment
If you ask a question about a specific card or ability, please type the exact text in your comment to help facilitate a speedy and precise answer.
Your comment may take a few minutes to publish. Antagonistic, rude, or degrading comments will be removed. Thank you.
I helped a 9 year old begin to sew! She worked hard to learn and ended up making a handmade gift for each of her family for Christmas! We already have set new goals for this year. It has been a personal highlight for me to share something we both love. As she does more sewing on her own, I think Wingspan can be added.
I didn’t see the original post at the start of 2022, but I did want to share something I made last year.
When the 25th Century reprint of Ra was announced, I decided to check out the game as I’d never played, and ended up absolutely loving it. I decided I would back the reprint when it became available, but didn’t want to wait for the campaign and fulfillment to play it, so I put together my own copy of the game: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6748329/ra
Components are:
* BGG GeekUp Bits for all the tiles and victory point tokens
* player aids found on BGG
* BGG 1-value poker chips as the sun disks
* Mister Whiskers (from Clank) as Ra himself
* And the part I’m most proud of, a custom redesign of the main board to be printable on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of cardstock that retains the aesthetic of the original board AND perfectly fits the auction tiles. This was my first time doing more extensive graphic design work, and making the new board really tested my limited skill set.
All in all, this ended up costing slightly less than a used copy of Ra on eBay, but it’s a huge upgrade to the auction tiles from cardboard to plastic, and I’m happy to see the work I put into it every time I get it to the table.
Still really looking forward to my deluxe copy of the reprint though!
I can’t think of a specific thing I created this year that was meaningful but I do have something planned for next year. I have a whole Pinterest page filled with ideas for Christmas tree ornaments I want to make. I’m a creative person and I like making things but I don’t always like displaying what I make. I could make crafts for other people but I know not everyone appreciates the clutter. Plus, the thought of creating just to create seems a little wasteful so that always holds me back from making things. In 2023, I plan to make all of the ornaments that are floating around in my head and on my Pinterest board. I am going to decorate a spare Christmas tree and I am going to donate it to a local charity that auctions off Christmas trees during the holidays to benefit mental health programs at a local children’s hospital.
Chrissa: Thank you for sharing! That sounds like a fun and generous project for 2023.
My fourth daughter was born! My wife and I make a pretty creative team.
Congratulations, Kevin!
I didn’t create it this year, but CRISPR sure progressed a TON from mildly playable, to a pretty much fully fledged game! This was in part due to Design Day, so Thank You, Jamey, for making it possible!!
From revamping the action allowance mechanism (it was too linear, and awfully complex for a side mechanism) to redesigning a rotating piece, central to the game, so that it collects cubes “automatically”, taking a big chunk of fiddliness off the board.
Design Day pushed me to finish restructuring it, and also showed me how that would look in real life (which also triggered a couple later changes).
I’m very happy with it now, and I just have to re-check the balance of the solo game to make sure it didn’t break with the changes on the player actions… and, of course, playtest the multiplayer a lot (the bane of my existence)… :P
Thanks Ben! I’m glad Design Day was helpful for you. :)
[…] absolutely loved the comments section of Monday’s post (here and the repost on Facebook), as it was filled with such a wide variety of creative projects people […]
I not only made a prototype for myself (a dice placement game), but I spend about 2 hours a week for 20 weeks teaching my software development students (between 17 and 20 yo) about creating a prototype, because it’s really similar to creating software.
That’s amazing, Rudi!
Jamie, for the game you finished after 10 restarts, I’m so stoked: 1) to hear that you finished it despite multiple hurdles and 2) that I will get to play it in 2023! Good luck on the open world game!
Thanks Jeremy! :)
Jamie, is the game you’re referring to here Expeditions?
Thanks for asking, but no, Expeditions is not my cooperative open-world game.
What I created this year that was meaningful to me was an IOS shortcut I wrote for my wife. This may not sound like much, but I am not a programmer. So this was many weeks of tweaking and refining until I got it right.
Early in the year my wife had expressed a desire for me to send her frequent affectionate texts. This was right after I had updated to IOS 15 and had just read about what Shortcuts could do. It didn’t take long to find one to download that reminded me to send one each day to her. I was fascinated with the few steps of code that made this happen. After a short while I had improved it to start logging each text I sent; well, each intentional affectionate text.
Now at the end of the year this code of mine not only logs each affectionate text I send her, but it breaks up the log into months so I can send her a summary each month of all the affectionate texts she’s received. Before the texts are sent, it checks to see if I’ve sent that text before; and I can search through the log of texts if I do want to resend a text – and this search can be done either by scrolling through the log or keyword search.
This has been a pet project of mine that’s been fun and not related to any of my normally routine of work, kids, or anything else.
As far as what’s coming in 2023…I don’t have anything on my docket. But then again, I didn’t in 2022 either. I’ve looked into other cool things to try to do with IOS shortcuts, but nothing jumps out at me as much as this texting project I’ve been working on. So, maybe it will be something else. Thank you for this opportunity to reflect on this. I don’t think I would have otherwise.
Robert: I think it’s amazing when people learn a new skill as part of the creative process. Congrats on doing that to create the shortcut!
My answer to what I created in 2022 and my goal in 2023 encompasses the same project. Or more precisely the same theme.
I started to create an island in Animal Crossing New Horizons midway through 2022. The island is what the fandom may understand as Japancore (Japanese theme) for expats. It is based on what I had dug up regarding my parents’ stories after their passing (father in 2021 and mother in 2022). Wakayama province was a place where “repatriated Japanese Canadians” ended up after WW II.
A side project which I may also embark on is a fanfic using Stardew Valley but telling the story of my father’s family from BC to interment to Japan.
Lillian: That’s amazing! I hope the island-building is going well.
I created a Game Night at our cafe which provided a safe-haven for folks who wanted to do anything in Claymont after the stores closed in the area.
Since we opened our doors, my plan was to have a Game Night focused on the community where mothers and fathers could bring their children, working folks could unwind at the end of the hard day, and passers-by could get a hot cup of coffee (or a barista-made specialty) long after our normal business hours and learn a name game or two.
We have been recognized by the community, including local and state representatives who frequent our location as well as myriad teachers and administrators from local schools. The cafe has grown to become quite synonymous with Claymont living.
Due to the demand for more, we’re looking to expand our Board Game Nights to twice a month, on Thursdays to allow even more folks the chance to play games and relax.
Cheers,
Joe
That’s great that you created a game night for folks in your area, and I hope you have fun expanding the endeavor next year. :)
I commented last year with 2 goals, 1 was to get a game to a level I feel comfortable Kickstarting. The other was to give that book I’ve been writing (and has been sitting for 5 years) another look, to see if I could get a final edit completed that I was happy with. Well, 1 out of 2 isn’t bad. My attention was solely on games and I never did look at the book. My hidden movement game is in a very good place as far as gameplay. Now the real work begins: professional art, graphic design, and then marketing and about another 100 things 🤩
Thanks for sharing, Trevor. 1 out of 2 is great! Good luck with the next 100 steps. :)
I’m a sucker for hidden movement games. I just joined your email list!
I can’t believe it’s a year since you discussed this first! It did spur me on and Ive now designed four games, with prototypes and playtesting for each. Two are good, and this coming year I want to do gamefound campaigns for them. The first will be a small PnP campaign so I can learn the ropes, the second will be a card game I’ll have printed hyer in England. Thanks for all the encouragement and have a great 2023.
That’s amazing! Congrats on making such progress in game design in 2022, and I hope you have fun creating crowdfunding projects for some of them in 2023.
Well 2022 was more of a shift in creation from novel writing to board game focus after a major move so creation is starting now.
For 2023, I intend to create at least 1 game and start a board game channel using all the tools I’ve learned over the years.
Look forward to seeing that open world game you’re working on. I’m very curious to see what you come up with. Your ideas are quite provocative and I love how they follow similar patterns but still exist in very unique spaces if that makes sense.
That’s exciting, Tony! Let me know when you start a board game channel so I can follow along. And thanks for your curiosity about my open-world game. :)
Thanks for the prompt Jamey. I tend to look forwards rather than back so it’s nice to reflect on some of the things thay have been created this year (rather than all the things that nag at me to still be created).
At the macro level printing 13,000 copies of Micro Dojo wasn’t just a sign of success for the game, but a sign of the potential to have success in future as a game designer.(and publisher) and so it represents the start of a very new and big chapter of life for me. At the micro level, I still enjoy watching the wonder on people’s faces as they figure out strategic moves for the first time. Having Micro Dojo also published as a Rolling Realm promo was a huge point of pride for me.
For 2023 I have two games coming which will both be the first published games by other designers. It’s certainly meaningful for me to be able to give them a platform to share their ideas and have their name on a box on shelves across the world. I also hope to find the time and energy (and luck) to create the next game of my own, and thanks to a lot of ‘research’ spent playing God of War recently I’m quite inspired by norse mythology. Maybe Micro Midgard will have it’s creation in 2023.
Congrats on 13,000 copies of Micro Dojo, Ben, and thank you for letting us make a realm inspired by it. I’m excited to see what games you publish and develop that are designed by others in 2023.
Hello. I’m looking for rule clarity with the card-to-food bonus conversion spaces on the player mat. In the Asia & Base game rule book, under the Option 2. gain food section, it states that if you are going to turn in a card for an additional food, that you have to choose from what is in the bird feeder. In the paragraph titled “Managing the Birdfeeder” it states that if the dice..all show the same face (including if there is only 1 die) and you are about to gain food from the bird feeder for any reason, you may first roll all 5 dice. This seems to contradict the card-to-food bonus rule..? Thanks, Bob
Both statements are true. The first statement is about an optional bonus. The second statement is regarding a condition when you can reset the bird feeder. Can you please post questions like this on a Wingspan-related page of our website (this blog post is unrelated to Wingspan)?
Thanks for the post Jamie, I love the idea of this open ended celebration of creativity.
In 2022 I’ve been heavily impacted by the war in Ukraine (where I live). During the course of the year I wrote a number of songs as an outlet for some of those emotions, and towards the end of the year decided to record some of them, at the time I’m writing this, there’s just one song published (written back in April), but more are in the pipeline.
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inkerman/raging-heart
In 2023 I’d like to generally increase the number of creative projects I take on. That includes continuing to make music, but the main reason I started following you initially was due to your videos on the game design process, and I remain hopeful that I’ll be able to realise some game development plans in 2023 too – I have a tableau building game idea for which my next step is to finish making the initial prototype to test with.
Thanks Tim! I can only imagine how difficult this year has been for you, and I’m inspired that you still found a way to create. I hope your creations continue in 2023 (and that the war ends then too).
Hi Tim, I just had a listen to your song, it’s great. I’m right next door in Hungary and still, it’s hard to believe what’s happening. I’d love to hear more of your songs,
Really enjoyed your song, Tim. Very well done!