Inspiration for the game

When I was a child, my mother would read to me at night during bedtime. I would often request that she read to me the story of “The Good Little Christmas Tree” by Ursula Moray Williams.

The story of a little tree venturing out into the woods captivated my heart. In hopes to bring joy to the peasant children of its home, the tree sacrifices itself to get decorations, not for vanity, but for the children. The tree also protects the cookies that bobble on its branches. The different creatures and people that the tree meets along the way take from the tree until the tree is almost bare, but in the end the tree is shown mercy and is restored.

I think a hidden message is that the tree is beautiful as it is, even though it's not the biggest or fullest tree ever. The children loved the tree when it was first brought into the house and were happy; the tree felt bad about itself because of what the parents said about it. This is very reminiscent of what happens to so many people.

The goal of making this game was to let the player imagine something better. I wanted to change the element of sacrifice into something fun and of gifting. We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our well-being to get an outcome. Moreover, I wanted to give the player the opportunity to imagine a world of being able to get gifted items out of generosity while also giving the player the time to reflect on the message that we are:

• Beautiful the way we are
• We deserve love and to be appreciated
• Worthy of being shown generosity and that we should receive openly
• Whole and complete 

I don’t know who needs the reminder, so I will say it: Nothing will make you more you or a more complete you, except yourself. Those who love you, will no matter what.