Tyler: “With the cancellation of all live music performances and rehearsals, I found myself not playing or writing music for the first time in 12 years. Somewhat oddly, I haven’t felt anything missing, or any sense of longing. With this extra time, in addition to the stability that Kristen’s full-time job gives us, I have been able to work towards fulfilling my first ever dream: making a video game.
For the first time, I’m able to take full advantage of the absolute abundance of (free!) educational materials online to make that dream come true. Of course, the kind of game I would want to make has to have great music, so I will certainly make use of the musical skills I have developed the past 12 years somewhere down the line. But right now, I’m enjoying diving into an entirely new world of programming and writing. I’m also grateful to Kristen, who trained in art and is an excellent problem-solver, for developing the game along with me. That our passions align to work on something of this scale together means so much.
While the progress is slow and I have so, so much to learn, I am working toward it in ways that I never would’ve been able to if performing music was still on my radar. So in a way I’m grateful, and I hope that any others who have this forced downtime are able to genuinely evaluate what brings them joy in life, and consider whether or not they’re following the path that they truly want to be on. It can be painful and jarring, but I think it’s a vital part of being happy in the long term.”