Vol. 10, Friday 01.14.20
Do you ever get creative or mental blocks? Before we start the updates I want to share some interesting ways to reset your creativity. If you would like to skip straight to the updates, scroll until you see the pictures.
Besides some of the more 'obvious' concepts such as getting at least eight hours of sleep, goal setting, walking away when you're blocked, etc. here are five more to add to your arsenal - I hope they bring you value!
1). Make it about someone else (First point on this blog)
This has been a tremendous help for me and I'm still practicing. This helps in two ways:
-First, it reminds me that this isn't about me - I am here for others. Sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day, that I get tunnel vision. Legendary is a company of WE. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a team.
-Second, pretending to help a close friend, colleague, or mentee get unstuck is important to me and I often find more innovation and energy emerges when acting as if I am doing things on someone else's behalf.
2). Throw a tomato in the mix
This timing concept, though often difficult to follow, has helped me greatly. Especially if you move around. Remember to breathe.
3). Find and embrace your space that aligns with your strengths
When I first started my career I felt like "the odd one" because I had trouble focusing. The space wasn't big enough and too quiet. Later I found I work best in large environments with large windows and chaos around me. The chaos part I found through aligning with my strengths (the test I took).
4). Run Forest, run!
Fitness is #1 (I could write a ton on this however, I'll keep things shorter)! Besides the positive effects to your health and sleep, I find I am most creative after an evening run. I often leave my phone or a notepad next to the shower. Yes, both usually get soaked. Find what works best for you. Might be another exercise and / or best for you in the morning.
5). No more judging yourself
Overall, the biggest thing is giving yourself permission to feel stuck. There are better things to do than ruminate on a roadblock. Take action...even if that action is to do nothing. Make it intentional. Good luck!
Now to the updates (always four and a bonus. Why 4? Because everyone else does 3 or 5)!
(1)
Beta successfully launched!
The Broken Bottle beta launched on December 20. It’s crazy it’s almost been a month since it launched! I am so proud of the team and of each member who worked hard to get this project out the door with care. We are very excited to debrief and move toward the full launch!
We listed our beta tester's requests and extended the beta window by one week, to the 19th of January. If you’re interested in giving it a last minute test drive, hit that button.
(Edit: beta was completed. Link will now direct to the Broken Bottle page)
(2)
We still seek your feedback
So far we have received about 1/7th of our beta tester's feedback. For those of you either involved or whom would like to help make The Broken Bottle the best it can be, your beta feedback is important to us and will help us apply the final layer of polish that aligns with you and our future players.
(Edit: beta was completed. Link is no longer active)
(3)
Free t-shirts to three of you!
We appreciate all of our testers taking the time to test and leave us such helpful feedback! We are giving our first three testers below free Broken Bottle T-shirts as a thank you.
We got The Broken Bottle test shirt on Friday. It looks awesome! We made one adjustment today to sharpen the lines to help make it pop a bit more. Since quality is #1 for us, we ordered another shirt to make sure the updated lines print perfectly. We are also running it through the washer machine to ensure it ages well. (#CommittedToExcellence)
Special thanks to those who have played and left us feedback so far!
Ayush Raj
Scott Trantham
Jessica
Tony
Luca
Joini James
(4)
Quick 2019 recap | 2020 plans
2019 was an incredible year. Below are some of our accomplishments:
We grew closer as a team
Had the privilege to welcome Tony Pisculli, lead writer for Copper Canyon - one of the new adventures you will see later this year
Were blessed with the help of our Supporters
Were honored to have received two new advisors
Launched The Broken Bottle beta, woo!
Met with seven creative heroes one-on-one to provide mentorship and offer direction
Helped six companies through our corporate marketing and creative services
Pivoted to our story collection project
Started working on Project Burne again
Started actively posting on Social Media
Started sending these Newsletters and archiving them
Met amazing people
Made our first trailer
Experienced bots submitting forms on our site for the first time :/ (reCAPTCHA rocks!)
Organically grew our Legendary News circle from 19 to 92 in four months. Thanks all, it's a pleasure for us!
Were privileged with 924 all organic non-GMO unique web visits to Affinity Forge and 866 to Legendary Affinity
Further solidified our vision and plan for our future
And got to share all of this with you!
There is a lot planned for 2020
At a high level we plan to:
Listen to the Broken Bottle beta feedback
Refine and launch The Broken Bottle
Open our story collection app/platform - name soon to be revealed
Launch the pilot to Project Burne
Open Legendary Guild - a Legendary community for every type of creative (We are looking for someone to help be a part-time community activator/facilitator. If you are interested in helping or in being a part of the creative community please email contact@legendaryaffinity.com).
Additional initiatives in our other Realms are still being assessed
-If you are, or know someone who is, looking for marketing experts, content creators, or creative services, we have a lot of talent both on the team and in network.
-You're willing to become part of the Legendary Supporters.
-Or you would like to be featured in our emails and/or on our site(s), please reply to this email or email us at contact@legendaryaffinity.com.
We look forward to continuing to share the future with you!
Bonus:
Creative Hero highlight - our traveler
We are continuing to highlight some of our Creative Heroes' epic hobbies.
In addition to reading, cooking, and aikido, Anh, our character, UI, and Ending Scene designer, loves traveling. She is always intentional about deeply enjoying every trip she takes. It delights her to have the opportunity to climb, walk, and enjoy food everywhere she goes.
