If you knew you only had a limited amount of time left in your life before you die, what would you work on? Sam Coster, one of the three brothers of game studio, Butterscotch Shenanigans found himself answering this very question when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013.
We needed to work on something that would generate meaning for us, as a studio and family. And that something sure as hell wasn’t an endless runner.
Seth left for the night and I began daydreaming. I wanted to build something big, something more like a world than a game. Something that I could escape into. I wasn’t concerned with market viability or monetization schemes. I was singularly concerned with making something that would emotionally sustain me through treatment.
When the craziness of life shakes your world turbulent, what will be left standing? When life demands your energy be poured into a singular point of focus, what would you be focusing on? For Sam Coster, it was Crashlands. I have yet to play Crashlands, but definitely will pick it up after reading Sam’s story.
I haven’t faced a life threatening event that has forced me to question what I should focus my limited time on, but I have been trying to limit myself on the things I am working on. It is easy to get consumed by work and my projects but I’m learning to make sure my priorities are set where my family is the most important over everything.
