The Road to Creativity & Candy Crush

The Road of Creativity and Candy Crush

Certainly we have all had those moments of marveling at something truly creative and pondering “how did they think of that?” How indeed. How does one even describe the creative process? It is at once simple and complex, individual and universal, solitary and humanly interconnected. And it is always exciting and inspiring.

For an road map of the creative process we might look at something very familiar to computer game enthusiasts: Candy Crush. If, you are not familiar with this game, it is literally laid out in a board game format along which the player advances through a never ending series of challenges. Argue what you will on the merits of computer games, this one documents the evolutionary aspect of creativity.

Webster defines the word method as a “system of doing things or handling ideas.” Looking carefully at the process used to create each level in Candy Crush, we might find some hints on "handling ideas" for our own work. There is a clear method behind the gradual increase in difficulty of each new task and it follows a pattern. First, a skill is established, then at each level thereafter imaginative items are introduced: an exploding candy, a moving element, an unexpected hazard, etc.

A novelty item may appear for several “episodes,” only to be replaced by a fresh element. Perhaps it will reappear in the introduction of a new layout, or with other old favorites in a big challenge before the introduction of another skill. The more items, the greater the possibilities for combinations and permutations in the presentation. It’s all a variation on three actions: giving, taking, and combining. Each level appears unique, having been altered, (sometimes slightly, sometimes significantly), from the last, but always setting the stage for the next step. The game moves forward through constant change while honoring its original, basic foundation.

Taken as a whole, all the levels reflect a gradual evolution of the variations on a theme. In chronological order you have what is referred to as a “body of work.” Place the first challenge side-by-side with level 101, or level 1001. How different they would be! 1001 would seem so original, so complex, by comparison to the first. But it needed level one, level 101, and everything in between, to come into being.

So we come full circle to the awestruck moment when we wonder how anyone could have come up with such an extraordinarily original idea. If only we were privy to the groundwork laid before we could gaze on that creative end result. Actually, knowing there was a journey to get there makes me appreciate it even more.  

PS-  Clearly I’m more than a little familiar with the time consuming activity, Candy Crush.

        Oh well, now you know.