It is now 25th of September of 2023, and I finally have an idea for my honours I really want to do and think will want to do for the year that honours entails. In this post, I will write how I got there. Then I will make a post of the research I’ve done today…

I had a proper idea for Honours on the day of my birthday, 22nd of September. Technically it was on the night of 21st, when I thought “Miraculous Ladybug” was not good series and switched to “The Little Witch Academia”, but it feels more poetic to say it was on my birthday — almost like a birthday gift! Before, I had toyed around with an idea of making a game about being a couple’s therapist. But then, on this day (21st or 22nd, doesn’t really matter which one) something clicked to place and I admitted it to myself: I should do what I wanted to do anyway, what I had wanted to do since I learnt to code in 2017 and spent my classes in High School coding a game about a grandma. I should do my own magic system, and make it a game.

This is exciting. Of course it means I will wear many hats and not specialise, since I’ll be researching, designing the system, writing the story/dialogues (which will happen, let’s be real), coding the game and doing the art assets. That’s okay as I would like to wear many hats in my future career anyway. I’ll just have to be vary of scope, and not doing something that requires heavy coding or animation, as those are very time-consuming things and I want to focus on the design and writing. I’ll also need to narrow down the subject as “magic system” is broad and vague, and possibly add a unique twist (but I can do without too).

I spent the 22nd day researching into… My future research. I searched the university library and noted down the most interesting sounding books about magic. By titles alone I learnt that magic has been around for ages, it ties into religion (but religion has always wanted to distinguish itself from magic) and sexuality, and apparently psychology. There is also gender history around magic to be explored, as wizards were never burnt at a stake.

Starting 23rd, after listening to Finnish audiobook about the history of magic around Antique times, I read some of “The Age of Witches”, a novel about witches through multiple generations.