Ludum Dare begins. We grab our markers and boards, minds bursting with creativity. We're feverishly scribbling, ou-

"Mom, I want to watch Daniel Tiger." Our beloved son has intruded upon our creative domain. The minutes tick by as we painstakingly negotiate his entertainment. After interminable delay, he leaves.

-r minds conjuring up fantastic dreams and ideas. With precision we cut them down, select one, and begin refining. It's alm-

ring the phone goes off. It's the school with a weekend announcement. We hurriedly silence it.

-ost there, but the idea needs some more work. How does the mechanic fit with the theme? How do we keep the scope tight enough? With the idea maturing, we turn to-

ring the phone goes off again. The school, with another weekend announcement (seriously, can't you just e-mail?)

-wards developing the minimum viable product. We carefully meter out the art assets and mechanical complexity. Our minds are racing with unrealized potential, but we must be diligent and keep it in check. Our time will pass soo-

ring another phone call. sigh We call it a break. It's almost dinner time anyways. I stand up and head to the kitchen, balancing nutrition with ease of cooking - it is a game jam weekend, after all. In the distance my son can be heard - "Daniel Tiger's gone off!" ... We had better keep our scope extra small to start off with.