We live in a world where we see finished products. Mostly finished products. Early Access has changed the moment in a game’s development where we’re invited in to play, but usually, we’re still on a road to release. There’s a linear progression: a developer begins a project and then works on it through to launch; an idea begins and develops and ends. That’s how we think about games, about what the process of making them is. But what about the game ideas that don’t make it, what about the ideas that never get that far, the creative cul-de-sacs and dead ends? Think about how many ideas you’ve had in your life and how far each of those ideas got. How many went the distance? How many resulted in a fully formed thing? Because I believe we’re just as shaped by the ideas that don’t make it, as we are the ones that do.
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