Ignoring Game Development To Make A Successful Game…

Hey folks,

Here’s a pattern I’ve noticed…that some of the best/most popular indie games … most successful games have taken less then 2 weeks to make…and usually only a couple days. I’m talking about the core mechanics of the game…of course, the developers may have taken weeks/months afterward to polish the game.

This includes games like Bejeweled, Minecraft, Pocket God, and even some very profitable social games. In fact, the guy that developed Steambirds…mentioned that the core gameplay for his successful game only took a few days to make.

However, I’ve seen other situations where people “are in development”….and they may spend months or years to finish something … only to have the game flop. Basically, no one plays it or it’s not fun.

I think it’s interesting to note that billion dollar companies like eBay, Facebook, etc…only took a few to several days to develop the core concept.

I now have a clearer development philosophy…basically, set a time limit of only a few hours/days to finish a basic game. If I do not finish in that time, throw it away…because it’ll probably fail anyway. Also, you need to feel emotion while developing the game…you have to infuse some passion into the game anyway…maybe that’s why month-long/year-long games don’t work. Because over the course of that time…you are infusing logical energy into the development and that kills the potential of “fun” in the game.

Btw, this development philosophy exempts sequels and clones…because if a company is making a sequel or clone that is a rehash or revision of the original idea….well…the original idea was already successful…the “fun” was found…and so making development an engineering issue is alright in that case.

here’s the summary…
when looking to do creative development…too much time or too little time will kill the chance of success…you need to find the right time…usually only a few days…and work with that. If it doesn’t work by then…kill it, move onto another prototype/mini-project…maybe revisit the idea again in a few months/years.

Any thoughts on this development perspective 🙂