EXPAND THE POSSIBILITY SPACE

Originally wrote this for Manifesto Jam 2026, but I'm cross-posting it here for posterity and completeness, and because it was basically a blog post, followed by a 1-pager cheat sheet that perhaps more accurately feels like a manifesto.

Something I am interested in is possibility.

I like to look at a collection of all things and say, what is missing? What is not there, because someone said no, because someone was scared, because nobody thought of it? What doesn't get to be here, because it's technically incorrect to include? What isn't there purely by chance?

When I publish poetry, I write my name in all caps. I was tired of seeing lists of contributing authors and everyone either used Title Case or did the e e cummings all lowercase thing to their names. Absolutely nowhere is there a rule that you have to do one of those two things. But if you only ever see two things, you start to think maybe those are two only two things that could ever exist. Maybe you have to pick a side.

So I started publishing as IAN MARTIN, not because I’m shouting, or because I think I’m so important, but because why not? Who sez? Also it looks cool. I’m not the first person to ever do this, and I've come across some other people who do this, which is nice. It can be exhausting to be the only one. to be a weirdo.

As something of a weirdo myself, I think a lot about casual exclusion.

By nature of being human, of suffering the curse called "being social creatures", we like to gather in communities. We like to create spaces. But bummer! All communities and spaces are unintentionally coercive.

Every space has implicit rules and limits: what kind of people show up, what people wear, what things people talk about, what shared values or philosophies emerge naturally as the group spends time together. Anything that isn't currently represented in the space is casually, accidentally excluded. What emerges is a space where some people don't feel welcome, or feel like they can't be themselves, purely by accident. There’s no one saying NO, but there's also no one saying YES.

The more you deviate from the "default" in any given space, the less included you feel. Say you're in a group and everyone but you has a blue hat. Maybe you feel pressure to get a blue hat. Maybe you get angry that you have to have a blue hat to be part of this group. Maybe you say this out loud, and everyone says what are you talking about, you don't have to have a blue hat, that’s silly. Now you feel like you’re an idiot, and you feel even more left out.

Even if you share the same interests, ideals, or aesthetics, even if you are on paper the same as everyone in the group in every meaningful way, you're still going to sometimes feel like you don't belong. This is unavoidable. Though it might help you to know that everyone else in the group has their own blue hat they measure themselves against.

But IAN, you say, you can't make a space inclusive of everything!

I agree! But what you theoretically can create, even if just in your own mind, is a space that is specifically for confronting possibility. A space where anything can exist by nature of being thought of. You don't actually need to account for every possible thing, and you don't have to exhibit or inhabit every possibility. (And of course, I'd suggest excluding evil and hateful behaviours and beliefs. Unlimited possibility is not always good.) But you should be thinking about possibility.

If we all think collectively about possibility, if we think about every little thing that can be possible, what we do is expand the possibility space.

Expand the possibility space is a phrase that's been bouncing around in my mind a lot lately, especially when I’m in an artist's malaise, a writer's block, feeling like art doesn't matter. It's full of potential. And I think even if you feel like the stuff you do sucks and is pointless and no one likes it, it can be helpful to think of creation in terms of the collective – by creating weird shit, you empower and inspire others to create weird shit.

The possibility space is kind of like the collective unconscious; it's the metaphysical well that all human creative work draws from. If you drop something in there, now it's accessible to anyone. And the wider you make this well, the further you dig, the more there is for everyone to draw from. We don't want to get stuck with the same old three ideas clanging around in there. Then everything would be the same.

And I guess I'd also liken it to the multiverse theory – there are infinite possible things, infinite possible ideas, combinations, and changes to make. Like how I write my name in all caps – that is a small, seemingly insignificant detail, but it's something that can be changed, something that can be confronted and questioned. The more we recognize everything as changeable, malleable, the more we open ourselves up to possibility.

So how do we expand the possibility space? Here are some ideas to get started:

Look for what's missing. Instead of doing something, do the opposite. Ask why it's the opposite. Are there other possible opposites? What if you stop looking at things as opposites?

Look at the people around you. What are they doing? What are they not doing? Are there any girls with brown hair wearing jeans? If not, why? Is that a rule? Or just a coincidence? Something you made up? Maybe they just live in a different city? Maybe you can be the first?

Look at the art around you. What is popular? Who is it popular with? What is unpopular with that group? What genres and aesthetics are people mixing? What is no one mixing? Why does it seem like certain aesthetics are only popular with certain types of people? Can a girl with brown hair make a puzzle platformer?

If you're making art for a particular audience, what in-group signifiers are necessary to get them on board? How much can you push back on or away from what is familiar before you alienate the people you're trying to reach? Who even is your audience, if they don't like the stuff you like? Does that matter? Is there value in art you don't aesthetically vibe with? Can a girl with brown hair make a game about having brown hair that no one else with brown hair relates to?

What if you create something so esoteric no one likes or relates to it?

That could happen. But creating something that doesn't appeal to anyone creates possibility. The possibility that it does, actually, appeal to someone. The possibility that someone could hate it. That they go and make something else. Or someone sees you doing your weird thing and thinks yeah okay I guess I'll do my weird thing now, even though it's not really the same, and maybe you think it sucks. Who cares. You expanded the possibility space. That's a win. A win for who? Who knows. Some other weirdo.

Expand The Possibility Space Cheat Sheet!

If you're out of ideas, or angry at the world, or just want to try something new, here are some pithy phrases to inspire and guide you.

ELIMINATE DICHOTOMIES. Think of a third thing. A fourth thing. There's actually a lot of things. Don't get stuck fighting losing battles. Boy games or girl games. Casual or hardcore. Wholesome or edgy. Gameplay or no gameplay. These are enclosures. These are enemies of the possibility space.

FIND WHAT'S MISSING. What aren't games doing? What are games not allowed to do? What have we written off? What do we expect from a genre, an aesthetic, a scene? Get out of your scene. What else is out there? What is there room for? Who is allowed to make what? Who still isn't making something, even if they're allowed, and enabled? Can a girl with brown hair make a puzzle platformer?

TRY THE OPPOSITE. If everyone is petting the dog, don't pet the dog. If games are supposed to be fun, make one that isn't. If someone killed gameplay, bring it back to life. If everyone stops petting the dog, pet the dog. Try a new animal. A vegetable. A golf cart. Pet the golf cart. Fuck the golf cart. Make a game where golf carts are extinct and sex isn't real. You might like it.

DON'T ACQUIESCE TO MEMES. Relatability is a dead end. Ignore Redditisms. No more kill it with fire, no more heckin doggos. No more bisexuals sit funny, no more orange cats are stupid. No more pet the dog, no more kill gameplay, no more be gay and do crimes. These are not rules. These are just possibilities someone already found. Find something else possible.

MAKE STUFF FOR NO ONE. Mix a genre you love with a genre you hate. Try an aesthetic you loathe. Do it in earnest. Make a game that sucks. "Who could ever possibly like this?" Imagine that person. Forge an evil experiment. Punish your players’ expectations. Make something you regret.

SELL THE IMPOSSIBLE. Take it seriously. Don't make novelty the punchline. Sell your audience on the merits of the undiscovered. Commit to the bit. Treat the impossible as banal reality. Make the unusual usual. Stand up for your weird ideas. The things you believe are not a joke.

RECOMMENDED READING

• Other manifestos from Manifesto Jam 2026.
• I don't recommend this, but I have been looking on social media to see people talking about the jam, and you can find a lot of interesting dissenting opinions like, "I'm mad that people are reading your manifesto and not my blog post", "You can't call it a manifesto unless you get arrested by the police", and "How dare you exclude (topic that was explicitly allowed in the jam)". These opinions are great examples of limiting the possibility space.