Jenn Sandercock – Using Constraints to Innovate

Jenn Sandercock – Using Constraints to Innovate – collaborated in the 47th of 52 conversations of the 2021 Playful Creative Summit, chatting with Alyea Sandovar. She suggests that setting constraints on your creativity can be freeing, because it can eliminate the overwhelm someone might otherwise feel if s/he/they try to tackle everything in a project all at once. When applied to developing games, you might limit the number of players, or insist that there has to be a puppy in the plot, or that the software will only work on a particular machine. Someone doesn’t have to adhere to the constraints: they are only guidelines to inspire progress. Conversely, you can embrace the constraints and add more. Sandcock’s imagination has even led her to create edible games. That is important: each of us needs to allow ourselves to define our fun, play and games. Starting with a box lets you push its boundaries and think outside of it.