Being an emerging creative practitioner can be tiring. Sometimes you'll have an idea but just don't have the resources to see it through. It can be quite frustrating. Sometimes I seek out other outlets to express my creativity, ones that don't relate to work and are often never seen by anyone else.
The biggest outlet for me, is through gaming. Gaming has always played a big part in my life. I grew up playing a lot of the kid friendly games that were popular at the time, Poptropica, and Club Penguin just to name some. I think it's fair to say that these games have influenced my inquisitiveness today. I continue to play games even now, with my favourite game genres now being the ones that allow your creativity to flow. Examples of such games are; Minecraft, Terraria, and Cities: Skylines.
Minecraft and Terraria are similar in how you can express your creativity. I play them not for the game itself but for the ways they allow you to build and create in countless ways. Now obviously blocks can only go so far, but its part of the challenge to work out combinations that look good and how you imagined. Terraria is even more of a challenge because it's a 2D world, this leads to all sorts of problem solving to get things to look nice.
Minecraft, Minecraft Official Site | Minecraft | $40 NZD
Terraria, Terraria on Steam | $11.99 NZD
Cities: Skylines is a city builder game that allows you to plan out and design your own city. Everything from the road layouts, to the building height laws, to the specific plants you put in a park. I can play this game for hours, often just working on a single suburb or zone at a time. It might not come across as a very creative game, but I definitely find it to be rewarding and a good creative outlet when I have the time.
Cities: Skylines, Cities: Skylines on Steam | $35.99 NZD
Sometimes games don't need to be just a creative outlet. Sometimes they can help you come up with ideas. Sometimes they're great to just relax and recharge. If you ask me, the classic Bejewelled and Minesweeper are great timewasters if you that's what you need.
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