Inspiration
I really enjoyed Meeting Mr. Kid Pix by jeffrey aka Whistlegraph on Twitter. I appreciated the sincerity of both him and Craig Hickman. So nice to see people putting effort to understand + be understood.
This does touch on something I've tried to nail down before in regard to creative tools and video games.
If Kid Pix is so delightful (it is) what does it mean that it is a delightful paint program? Rather than a delightful video game?
Even if the produced image isn't the point, that you're manipulating an image is some part of it. That you see images all around you and now you're enjoying making them. It's got to be (I think) something to do with feeling agency. Video games give you agency too, but with a closed world (that's oversimplifying).
I can't fully articulate it! But it seems useful to keep returning to.