Whatever your medium of choice is, whether it be digital art, books, video games, or visual novels, here a ton of things that you can be grateful for in this age of information.
Accessibility of Visual Art Freeware
An artist has never been more empowered than in today’s society. Whereas artistic hobbies and endeavors were restricted by socioeconomic status and tool/supply limitations in the past, nowadays anybody with computer access can grab quality software from online. Art software doesn’t require consistent financial backing to support it and has the benefit of non-destructive workflow; meaning if you mess up somewhere the entire piece isn’t ruined. Image-wise, art software allows you to create things people of the past could only dream of.
Emotive Music Direction
Like artists, musicians of the modern era have access to digital music production software and editing software. But what I consider more important than that is the new fields that have been opened to musicians, namely, series affiliated music. Music has always existed throughout most of human history, but never before had it had the same sense of purpose as before. E.g. video game music represents a category of music that has an extremely refined sense of direction and purpose. A horror game needs eerie and creepy music. An action game needs intense and epic music. Giving a musician a strong sense of purpose is a recent development.
Immersion and Interaction
Immersion in the universe through gameplay is a very recent development. An audience member never joined in on stage in a play of Romeo and Juliet. A reader never plunged into the pages of a copy of Jane Eyre and started writing in sentences of their own. A story and the universe it encompassed has always been the domain of the author and the author alone… until now.
Accessibility for Inspiration
There has never been more accessibility to novel ideas and original concepts. Inspiration for the writing of one’s own world can be found by consuming the myriad masterpieces of other creators. An aspiring character designer emotionally affected by the computer game “To the Moon,” may be inspired to include mental disabilities in their next work. A writer that shed tears over the visual novel “Narcissu” may want to develop a story revolving around terminal illness in their next work.
Communities
The internet has proven to be a bountiful tool for the aspiring creator. If you want to conceive a universe, the availability of ideas and inspiration is practically difficult to avoid. If you want to flesh out your universe, tutorials that teach you how to do anything from digital art, to music composition, to game design can be found in the click of a mouse button. And finally when your universe is ready for sharing, there are communities that will consume and critique your content, offering suggestions and helping you refine your world.
Universe Building 