Major problems faced by game developers

David maletz

Translation: gamerboom

The field of independent game development has gathered a large number of dreamers and views who wish to make the game here. Recently, I have found many pessimistic articles trying to prevent developers from making games. They clearly show the dark and difficult aspects of game development. Frankly speaking, game development is not easy, and you will face a lot of obstacles in this process. This article is intended to list some of the obstacles I have found over the past five years. These are real situations. It may be a bit cruel. As I said, "It's crazy to make a game !" However, this article is not intended to block game developers. On the contrary, you can use this to get inspiration from a large number of failed developers, so as to reduce your detours.

Indie Game Developer

You may fail, especially the first game.

You may have heard of this, but most independent game developers have failed to make the game. Behind every success story you have heard is a large number of failed stories you have never heard. As an independent game developer, you may be an optimistic person and you may think you are different-and think you will become a rare winner. However, this kind of thinking is often wrong. Only by accepting the fact that you may fail will you make extra efforts to discard those failed works and ultimately achieve success.

90% of the game development process is boring.

You may have an idea that you are interested in. Very good. The project is always interesting and fresh at the beginning, and it seems that everything is going smoothly. However, this situation does not last long. In fact, game development requires a lot of effort, and this process is not always fun. Sometimes in the development process, especially in projects that take a long time, you will get tired of creativity and works. At this time, you will come up with some new ideas. They seem to be even better, so that you plan to put down your projects and do it right away, but you should think carefully before that. At the beginning of the current project, you thought that when you change to another project, you may face the same situation. In the end, you will only get some unformed works. Keep in mind the fun of the original idea and stick to it. Although sometimes you have to give up a project because it is not feasible, but more often, you just get tired of the current project and want to start a new journey. At this time, you should stop your work, breathe fresh air, and then really consider your own projects and ultimate goals. Maybe you will find yourself disappointed with some of them, and you still have a strong willingness to finish.

Game Development takes at least two times as long as expected

Five years later, I began to be good at estimating the time required for game development. Here, I mainly use a simple formula to calculate the length of time required by my project and multiply the result by 2. You can get the actual time required to complete the project. In fact, you will always encounter some unexpected situations during the development process. When you predict the development time, you may ignore some features, vulnerabilities, and design drawbacks. Even expert games will overspend time and budget. In an early game, I was expected to be able to complete in one month, but it took me more than a year. As shown in the preceding figure, game development times out of the expected results often result in killing people's work enthusiasm. As shown in the preceding figure, you may feel frustrated and bored. Therefore, if this is a conservative estimate, you should set some additional time. If a game project requires a large amount of time, do not shorten the expected duration, but test charts reduce game performance.

Performance Expansion

Getting new game ideas will distract you, and you will also want to add new performance to the current game. If you are not careful enough, the game will be scaled several times during development and eventually become a failed product. Sometimes adding game performance is inevitable to fix design gaps, but you should "keep the game simple ". A project with the simplest form may be as outstanding as a work with numerous features.

Cooperation with teams cannot avoid disputes

Especially when encountering obstacles in the development process, even if you work with friends, you may have different opinions, which leads to debate. If you are not good at team leaders or work with strangers, the entire team may be destroyed. I strongly recommend that you learn to listen (this is a practice I have not fully mastered ). You should listen to team suggestions and stay calm and effective, even if there are some major crises in the game. If necessary, you can stop the job again. Moreover, you should ensure that you establish trust between yourself and the team members. Therefore, when a debate arises, even if you try to stop it, you can still keep the internal staff from splitting, solve the problem.

Note Vulnerabilities

Don't think you can write perfect code. Vulnerabilities also exist, and the number of vulnerabilities is large. Before launching a game, the game must undergo a large number of tests, debugging, and modifications. Outstanding works that contain vulnerabilities or poor interfaces will not be playable. If the development process takes one month, you need to invest another month for testing, debugging, and modification. According to the rule that "the time required for game development is twice the expected time", this amount of time should be accumulated gradually. That is to say, you thought it would be completed in one month, it takes four months! However, you cannot omit the debugging and modification steps because of time-out or boredom, which brings huge changes to the game. For example, the average sponsorship price of a game that has been debugged and modified has increased by 4 times! Twice the workload can be exchanged for 4 times the benefit!

Molded work may still fail

The completion of game production does not mean that the project is over-some people think this is just the beginning. After you complete the game and release it online, the game may only attract some players. You may even receive negative comments. Why didn't it respond well based on your vision? You cannot have only one outstanding game. You should also promote it! Use excellent websites on the Internet to continuously promote games! Unfamiliar players on the game portal may not promote the game for you, especially when it gets negative comments-they may spend 30 seconds or 1 minute without seeing what's special about the game. You should gather a group of fans to let them really experience your game and then conduct related promotions. You can also contact reviewers to encourage unfamiliar players to truly experience the game. You should "sell" games to the public (even if it is a free model ). In addition, your target users may be small groups. Therefore, you should try your best to make them discover your game and then continue to create the next project.

Many projects will end with failures

You may have abandoned projects, unformed projects, and released projects in your hands. They are not favored by gamers. In fact, not all games from your hands will become hot works, especially the first project. I have already made five games (and a lot of unmade works), And I think only one is successful (even if it is not hot ). You can't assume that your game is very creative, and it can win immediately after it is shaped. If you want to succeed in the end, you should be prepared to meet those difficult times, obstacles and failures.

Do these words make you lose confidence in game production? Do not engage in this industry. If you give up this field just because I (or anyone) say you don't want to make a game, it only means that you are not suitable for the gaming industry. If you are passionate about making a game, do not let others' words influence your actions. You should be inspired by the stories of failure and negative game development. If you are not passionate about development, you can consider other aspects. I only love game development, although programming in other fields may bring me more revenue. However, the development of Games is not to get a lot of benefits, but to do what you like, no matter what difficulties and obstacles you encounter, you can still stick to your dreams.

 

Major problems faced by game developers