Humility and teamwork.

I have noticed an interesting evolution. A 'tude check, if you will. Nebyoolae started (and finished) the soundtrack very early in Rorasuketo's development, as did Tiffany with her storyboard. For a good six or seven years, it felt like the game rested entirely on my shoulders.

Everyone was just waiting for me to finish it. It was all up to me. Every glitch, continuity problem, typo, misplaced pixel, and obligation belonged to me and me alone. Tiffany and Mike (especially Mike) were very encouraging and supportive, and pushed me to the finish line - and that's no small feat. Their contributions were not small. Neither were those of my husband, Jerry.

But it felt like my game for a very, very long time.

What's that you're working on?
Oh, it's my video game.

Now that it's done, and we are all celebrating together, I find more and more that it is our game. Maybe, now that my vision is no longer clouded by doubt, anxiety, insecurity, and even dread, I am getting a clearer picture of what it is that we have made together. I'm better able to see everyone's strengths and how they very generously shared them with me, and how powerfully they influenced so many of my own decisions along the way.

When I was a teenager, I loved to draw, write, and make music. I told myself that if ever they made a movie of one of my stories, I would do all the work! Every costume would be from my head, and the score would be done by me, and every word of the screenplay would be mine. I would direct. I would edit. It's shocking that I didn't also envision myself playing all the parts.

Obviously, this example is overkill. But since my teen years, I've seen enough movies to know that when "written by," "directed by," and "starring" are all the same name, odds are that I am in for a particularly rotten egg. The more one person contributes to a project, the more pronounced their weaknesses are.  If you integrate a couple other people that have differing strengths, the whole project is elevated, the weaknesses are dampened, and you have something unique. Yes, you knuckleheads in the back, diversity is good. Rorasuketo is better because it isn't entirely one person's inbred fever dream.

 

The Rorasuketo dev team is pretty killer. The other day I was texting with everyone, and my heart was so full.

And right now, the other half of Tibbs-Babu Publishing is in the other room hemming the tablecloth for the Mitten Kitten appearance in a few weeks.

Sometimes, I am really not sure what I did to deserve all this. But I'm really glad to have gone on this journey.