The Villain Of This Story

the key to avoiding symbolismslop is sincere, thoughtful intent btw

it's fine to create art that has deer skull god (she/her) (queering it) pomegranate sun/moon symbolism in it but you need to ask yourself, why a deer skull and not another animal? what does queering it add to the text's portrayal of religion? why a pomegranate specifically? are the sun and moon the most appropriate celestial bodies to represent the meaning i'm trying to convey to my audience? what am i trying to say here?

"it looks cool" and "everyone else is doing it so i guess i should as well" are the creativity killers. inspiration requires introspection otherwise it's just imitation!!!

+ as the notes have pointed out being open to critique is also the fuel of creativity, not the antithesis of it. inviting interpretation only increases the space you have to work with and respond to!

Look at my friend's cute art!! <33333

I don't even consider "it's gay" to necessarily be a selling point in games, but I've played enough zero-budget indie walking sims where what initially appears to be wonderfully imaginative meta bullshit is eventually revealed to be a strained allegory for the straight male developer being sad about breaking up with his girlfriend that at this point I get red flag vibes from the faintest whiff of heterosexuality.

(Like, I'm not even exaggerating for effect here. "Fun mechanics, fantastic art direction, disconcertingly heterosexual third-act reveal" is genuinely a discernible category on my "do not recommend" list.)