Jul 26 in Consystency!
Always Set a Deadline For Your Games
When my contract job wrapped up I started to work on a new game in Unreal Engine.
After some play tests and 5 months of development I gave up.
Despite making games for four years by that point I STILL made such an obvious rookie mistake:
I gave myself an ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ and an ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐.
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Why is it that in University we're able to finish the game projects we get assigned as homework?
We may not like what we created, but we ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ something.
We may wait until the last minute to submit, but we ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ something.
Was it the pressure our professors put on us? Was it the weight of the money we spent on tuition? Perhaps. But let's entertain an alternative:
We completed these game projects easier because the ideas we had were ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
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What makes a game idea feasible?
As I mentioned earlier there's two things: ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ and ๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐. The two check & balance one another but You really want to define time, and I'll explain why.
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Scope is declared within the bounds of time. If You have a time limit of 7 days to work on a game, you have to narrow the scope down to something that is feasible in 7 days.
Otherwise, your game gets ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐๐. Worse, your game ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐๐.
Scope is also more difficult to quantify. If You often reflect upon your skills and have a good estimation of how much content You can develop over time, then perhaps You can quantify your scope.
But that logic gets messy once You begin creating games with small teams, because to quantify the scope you'd now need to calculate how much each of your team members are capable of developing over time.
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Time is the better choice to define, because no matter the team size everyone has to narrow their scope of the game to fit time.
In all things time also creates a sense of urgency; a now or never situation. How many times have you shopped online and been ambushed by a One-Time-Offer urging you to 'act quickly' before this deal expires?
Lastly, time encourages us to put the brush down and make us decide that our work is ๐๐๐๐๐ โ๐๐. We can work on a game for as long as we want, but it will never be a finished game until ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐๐ก ๐๐ .
How do we define time? ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!
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When you set a deadline for your game, you are now holding yourself ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐.
You are saying to yourself, "By [insert date here], I will have a new game that I can share with others to play and showcase in my portfolio."
Once you have your deadline you'll have a much better idea of what to make your game about. Time limits have a way of making you think resourcefully.
Game Jams do this well because the deadline is set for you.
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I help busy game developers like you find time in your schedule to make new games every month without the stress and burnout of crunch.
It doesn't matter if you work a 9-5, work weekends, or work two jobs: The time is there, waiting to be unearthed.
Stay Consystent.
-Daniel
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Always Set a Deadline For Your Games
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