There are three different groups of people in this life. The ones who played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and made it through. The ones who play the simple levels and get stuck in the Water Temple. And the ones who don’t know that the hell I’m talking about. I’m in the second group. 🫠
For context, ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Zelda is the princess and Link is the protagonist and hero. I know, what a reduced role for women! that she is only there to be rescued by the male character, despite her being the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom.
So it was 1999 (ish) and all I wanted was to beat all levels in Zelda. But for some reason, my older cousin was the only one who could do it. Talk about ‘Main character behavior’. I remember I saw her as the ultimate cool person – I still do. She had her own room, she was good at video games, and she had a disc man. COOL MAIN CHARACTER. She came to my home twice to help me finish the game.
Over the years, from somewhere I “learned” that I always had to do everything perfectly: have the best ideas and that they were just mine. And that if I had an idea, I was the one who had to make it happen.
That is –spoiler alert– one of the humongous lies on the planet.
the ultimate mixtape.
There are 2 sides to the mixtape: Side A is the people.
‘People change people’, that’s the key. And that is not reserved for behavior and social movements. Like an orchestra, with all the different sounds and harmonies, we need the minds of each other to make it. For years we had been taught that creative minds can walk and play and create alone, but that is only for such a small part of the process. Even if you feel that is better for you to be a lone wolf in the creative life; in some parts, even the smallest, you’ll need an interaction.
Years after my cousin helped me complete Zelda (the videogame), I understood that I’m the best me -creatively speaking- when I exist as a team because it takes several players to create: those who have the idea, those who make it happen and those who execute it. There’s no way we can push this beautiful God’s green world into action if we don’t sit and reflect and work together.
Side B is the ideas.
There’s something very powerful about being the bridge between an idea and a creative mind. Is impossible to have all the ideas. An actual very humble (and reliving) part of the creative process is knowing that ideas can come from many different people.
I’m a firm believer that my ideas are not for me. And on the other hand, there are some ideas that some people have that if I’m lucky enough will be handed to me. The thing is that ideas go their own way and those that are destined to reach the physical world will do. They [ideas] don’t belong to us, no matter how much we try to keep them. We lose them as soon as they touch someone else’s mind.
“(…) so here’s the deal: the job is very hard, essentially impossible. It can’t be done. It can only be done if you are doing it in concert with other people”.
— Michael Schur, director.
The good news is that we can have a part in the symphony. Good thing is that some video games are for us to complete with the help of others, and that’s not only good but perfect.
Thankfully we have all year to normalize this behavior, practice teamwork, gift ideas to others and be amazed when they become something bigger and better.
The world is better in collaboration, so let’s team up ✌🏻
val guerra
Art Director @ done!
