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在 2019 年开发我的第一款游戏《太空角斗士》时，我决定开始每周在时事通讯中分享一些与游戏开发相关的想法。
其中大多数只有十几个人阅读，从那时起这些电子邮件就一直保存在我的 Google Drive 上。
我仍然认为其中大部分想法都是相关的。所以我浏览了所有这些想法，删除并更新了一些想法，并将所有内容都汇编在了今天的帖子中。
这些都不是铁板一块的事实，只是我在制作动作类 Roguelite 游戏时得到的想法和观察。尽情享受吧！

注意与你的游戏进行比较

如果你正在制作一款小型 roguelite 游戏并告诉他们“它受到了《死亡细胞》的影响”，他们一开始会抱有很高的期望。
当他们发现这款游戏不如《死亡细胞》时，他们可能会感到失望。
他们中的一些人甚至可能会因为你将它与他们喜欢的游戏进行比较而感到生气。
最近的一个例子是：《Back 4 Blood》不断被拿来与《求生之路》系列进行比较，这意味着玩家感到失望当他们发现它不那么好时。

营销就是让陌生人信任你

玩家需要相信他们会喜欢你的游戏。
朋友或有影响力人士的推荐很有说服力，因为他们基本上绕过了这个过程。
玩家会立即信任你的游戏，就像他们信任推荐它的人一样。

如果玩家喜欢你的游戏，他们可以忍受很多

这意味着你不必在展示或发布之前修复所有错误和问题。我知道这一点，因为过去几年
我一直在玩Dofus，这是一款已经推出 15 年多的游戏。游戏中有很多问题：音乐曲目在不应该播放的时候播放（禁用它们只有一半的时间有效）、内存泄漏迫使你每隔一小时左右重新启动游戏、缺少动画、不平衡的匹配系统……
但它仍然是一款非常成功的游戏，拥有数十万玩家。

努力开发一款游戏并不意味着它会成功

你可以花费别人 1% 的努力，并取得比他们更好的结果。Rising Hell的开发始于4 年多前，由5 人制作。Gutwhale由3 人在1 个月内制作完成。现在比较一下它们各自的评论数量：156和113。 （在我写这篇文章的时候）Gutwhale 的销量和价格确实比 Rising Hell 少，尽管差别并不大。但在制作游戏所需的努力方面，两者之间存在巨大差异。如果你看看像SNKRX这样的游戏，这种差异就更加明显了。（1 人，3 个月，3302 条评论）

你对游戏的感觉会波动

有一天你会认为它只是一堆垃圾，永远不会成功。
第二天你会认为它是有史以来最好的东西。
重要的是——如果你真的想完成游戏——你在休息日不要完全在精神上放弃它。

作为独立开发者，要谨慎对待自己的期望

如果你是一个独立开发者，那么你将与数十人制作的游戏竞争。
即使你只考虑由 2 或 3 名开发者组成的小团队，这也意味着你理论上必须花费两倍或三倍的时间来制作同一款游戏。
例如，Scourgebringer。范围非常小，但据我所知，它是由 2 名全职开发者在 2 年内制作的。
因此，你应该准备花 3-4 年的时间来开发类似质量的游戏。如果你在业余时间做这件事，那就更糟了。
这还没有考虑到他们是经验丰富的开发者，之前已经发布过同类型的游戏。

你的工作

一开始，你必须付出很多努力，但收获却微乎其微。
你必须在游戏还未可玩时就构建游戏的所有后端。
你发布一个 YouTube 视频，获得了 10 次观看。
但随着时间的推移，它会变得越来越容易。
随着观众的增长，花费同样多努力制作的相同视频可能会为你带来 5 倍、10 倍甚至 100 倍的收益。

联系 YouTube 用户：越大并不一定越好

需要考虑的事项：
  • 有些视频有很多订阅者，但浏览量和参与度却非常低。（不好）
  • 他们是否专注于与您的同一类型的游戏（好）或是否涵盖了广泛的不相关的游戏（坏）？
  • 人们观看这些视频只是为了欣赏主持人的个性（坏）还是为了寻找游戏来玩（好）？
请注意，我并不是说以主持人为中心的频道不好。
我只是指出了影响与他们合作的曝光度和财务结果的因素。
如果创作者只发布没有评论的游戏视频，但仍然获得大量参与，你就知道这些人是为了游戏而来的。
所有这些都是为了说：不要忽视有目标受众的小型频道。
一个拥有 6K 合格受众的频道可以比拥有 25 万订阅者的频道产生更多的销售额。（我遇到过这种情况）

你的游戏不必是杰作

游戏不一定要是杰作才能让玩家满意。
如果玩家喜欢游戏的核心循环，他们可以忽略平衡问题、丑陋的 NPC 或僵硬的动画。
不要等到完美了才分享你的作品。
你可能不会成为下一个 Minecraft 或 Dead Cells 或 Hollow Knight。
但如果你的目标是靠游戏谋生，那你就没必要这么做。
成千上万的独立开发者正在用你从未听说过的游戏赚取（丰厚的）收入。

你开发一款游戏的时间越长，你感受到的压力就越大

造成这种情况的原因如下：
  • 您的游戏需要带来更多的收入才能被视为成功。
  • 你会更容易倦怠。这会降低你的工作效率和积极性。
  • 您将有更大的机会陷入死亡循环。
如果您将范围保持在较小范围内，您可以避免很多问题。

每个平台都想赢

对于 Twitter 来说，这意味着发布那些获得最多参与度的推文。
对于 Steam 来说，这意味着展示那些被证明能将访客转化为销量的游戏。
对于 YouTube 用户来说，这意味着玩那些产生最多浏览量的游戏。
这对你来说意味着什么？
你的游戏越成功，它就会越成功。
但反之亦然。
如果你的游戏不为人知，还没有证明自己的价值，那么当他们有数百款其他有良好记录的游戏时，很少有人和平台会冒险展示它。

了解你的受众

您必须知道您的游戏面向哪些人，并根据他们的喜好定制体验。
例如：如果您正在制作像Nuclear Throne这样的以游戏玩法为中心的 roguelike 游戏，请将文本保持在最低限度。
玩这类游戏的人希望快速行动，因此很可能会跳过大部分文本。

确保你的游戏符合游戏类型的关键节奏

当观察同一类型的游戏时，你会发现它们都具有表面上不同但实际上服务于相同目的的功能。
例如，在 roguelite 游戏《杀戮尖塔》中，卡牌给人一种多样性的感觉，可以控制你的整体策略。《以撒的结合》中的物品和《死亡细胞》中的武器也达到了同样的目的。每个 roguelite 游戏都会在旅途中设置你必须做好准备应对的巨大挑战，例如《杀戮尖塔》中的精英或《鼠城》中的 Boss 。你应该确保你的游戏符合同类型成功游戏的所有关键理念，但要有你自己的独特方式。

看人们做了什么，而不是他们说了什么

如果他们告诉你，你的游戏很棒，但是他们只玩了一个小时就再也没有玩过，这就意味着你还有工作要做。

作为新开发人员你将面临的最大障碍

刚开始时，你面临的最大障碍不是人们不喜欢你的游戏，而是没有人知道或关心它。

了解游戏的重点

当你必须做出决定时，一定要优先考虑它。
我正在制作一款 roguelite 游戏，所以游戏玩法是我的重点。下面是这个想法如何影响我的决定的一个例子。
当我的角色使用盾牌时，他们会把它举在身前。
所以它可以保护他们免受正面伤害。有道理，对吧？
问题是没有人使用它们，因为与其他物品相比，它们有点糟糕。
必须转身保护自己太麻烦了。
所以我只是让玩家从各个方面都无懈可击。
这不合逻辑，看起来也不太真实，但从游戏玩法上来说更好。

让你的游戏在技术上对玩家不公平

如果你想让玩家觉得你的游戏公平，那么从技术上讲它就必须不公平。
玩起来感觉不错的游戏会实施许多不同的策略，为玩家提供回旋余地。（参见《Celeste》的创造者 Matt Thorson 的这条推特）允许玩家从平台上跳下，即使他们已经开始从平台上掉下来。如果他们试图冲向某处但脚撞到了墙上，就将他们稍微推高一点。当敌人朝错误的方向攻击时，将敌人的命中框缩小或免费转动它们 -就像《Dead Cells》所做的那样。
尝试了解玩家想要做什么并帮助他们。
如果你不这样做，你的游戏会让人感到沮丧——即使它在技术上是公平的。

玩家关心游戏给他们带来的感受

他们中的大多数人并不那么关心技术细节。
你的游戏可能有 300 个道具、十几个世界和几个小时的游戏时间。
但它可能仍然不如一款没有内容但角色控制完美的 15 分钟游戏那么吸引人，也不那么成功。
大多数人只会玩你的游戏几十分钟，然后再决定他们是否喜欢它。

从制作一个小游戏开始

如果你一开始就做一个大项目，那么你将会因为自己在刚开始做项目时做出的所有错误决定而陷入困境多年。
糟糕的代码系统。
动画风格要求太高而且制作速度太慢。
设计糟糕的游戏机制限制了你的关卡设计可能性。
而对于小游戏，你可以随时创建反映你当前技能水平的东西
。而且你将避免 80% 的问题，这些问题只有在你的项目达到一定规模时才会出现。
（我真希望我的第一款游戏能从较小的范围开始）

你的动力是一种资源

当你长时间从事那些没有明显成果的任务时，它就会耗尽。（重构代码、清理艺术资产……）
当你得到积极的反馈或看到游戏的切实进展时，它就会填满。（新的敌人、新的关卡……）
如果你想要完成你的项目，你必须正确地管理它（就像时间和金钱一样）。

了解你的设计选择意味着什么

在项目开始时做出的决定比你想象的更有影响力。
假设你决定玩家应该能够在 2D 平台游戏中向上或向下攻击。
仅此一项就可能意味着数周的额外工作，并且会限制你在关卡布局方面的创造力。
你必须确保玩家不能通过从下方或上方攻击敌人而让他们无法自卫。
你的敌人将需要更多攻击（这也意味着更多的动画工作）和更复杂的行为模式来应对它。
要意识到你的每个决定意味着什么。
在给自己增加更多工作负担之前，问问自己是否真的需要实现你的愿景。

信心源自客观事实，而非心理技巧

你相信自己有能力完成一款游戏，因为你之前已经完成过很多其他项目。
你相信你的游戏很有趣，因为你不认识的人玩过它并告诉你他们喜欢它。
自信是通过小胜利建立起来的。每一个小胜利都是你有能力实现目标的进一步证据。

赢的越多，赢的越容易

当你还不为人知时，你必须努力吸引人们关注你的游戏。
但一旦你取得了成功，人们就会愿意关注你并为你花钱。
平台会更多地推荐你。YouTube 大咖会尝试你的游戏。只是想想，如果《Bumbo 传奇》
是由一位随机的匿名开发者制作的，你认为它会卖出多少份？

创造你喜欢玩的游戏

你需要了解你的目标受众是谁以及他们想要什么，如果你自己就是这个受众的一部分，那么事情就会变得更容易。
这也会让开发变得更有趣。

你不能将一款游戏的成功归因于某件事

与其他双摇杆射击游戏相比，《核王座》有什么突出之处？
我无法指出一款游戏的突出之处。
我相信这是因为游戏做出了许多小决定，并在正确的位置加入了正确的元素。

在营销之前修复你的游戏

假设您已将其展示给几个人，他们都给您相同的反馈。
如果您将其展示给更多人，您只会得到更多相同的回应，这对您没有任何帮助。
在让其他人看到您的项目之前，请修复它。

在开发之前确保你的核心游戏循环是有趣的

在继续之前，你需要确保游戏的核心循环/概念是有趣的。
无论多少秘密、深奥的传说或无尽的自定义选项都无法解决游戏互动不愉快的问题。
另一方面，你可以在 2 天内制作一个原型，甚至在推出 4 年后仍有成千上万的人玩它：右键单击 Necromance。

人们不想要原创游戏

他们通常只是想要一些自己已经喜欢的东西，但又有些不同。

制作一款成功的游戏的方法不止一种

Butterscotch Shenanigans乐队成员迭代设计游戏，不提前计划任何事情。
其他在制作任何原型之前，都要进行广泛的市场调查。
任何事情都可以，但你必须找到最适合自己的方法。

找到创造可重玩性的有效方法

尝试找到有效的方法来激励玩家一遍又一遍地重玩相同的内容。
你不一定需要创建数千个不同的敌人和物品。
在Dicey Dungeons中，你可以用不同的角色重玩相同的关卡。
每个角色都有一个独特的机制和 2 到 3 张不同的起始卡，可以改变你抓捕敌人的方式。这足以保持新鲜感。
在Slay the Spire中，游戏通过使用Ascensions让你为每个角色重玩相同的关卡 20 次。
每次，都有一件事变得更难。“更多精英”。“开始受伤”。
作为开发者，你只需要调整一些数字。但它会给你的玩家一个开始新一轮游戏的理由。

对反馈持保留态度

很多人会告诉你他们认为你应该做什么， 但他们自己却一无所知。
我在 reddit 上遇到过开发者询问他们应该如何营销他们的游戏……
...他们回答说要制作名片。什么？

Steam 可能不会给你提供大量免费流量

有些人认为在 Steam 上发布游戏可以为你带来大量免费流量和销售。
事实是……如果你不从外部来源带来销售，Steam 对你几乎没有任何帮助。
但首先获得一些关注，Steam 将使你的游戏成倍成功。
比如10 倍甚至 100 倍的成功。
因为 Steam 只想推广赢家，也就是能带来最多收入的游戏。

获得关注很难

如果你从未亲自尝试过，那么在网上吸引人们对你的项目的关注可能比你想象的要困难得多。
这并不像制作 YouTube 视频、创建开发日志或在 Twitter 上制作酷炫的 gif 那么简单。
成千上万的人已经在这样做了，但只有少数人真正获得了关注。
你需要花费大量的时间和精力（你不会花在改进你的游戏上）来了解什么是有效的，对其进行实验并将其转化为销量。
事实上，你最好把所有的精力都集中在制作一款具有潜在病毒式传播概念的游戏上，并押注运气和时间来吸引玩家：SNKRX、吸血鬼幸存者、5D Chess。

让其他人玩你的游戏

你应该尽快让其他人玩你的游戏。
有些事情对你来说很明显，但对其他人来说却并非如此。
你的一些想法很糟糕，但你只有看别人玩才会知道哪些是糟糕的。
有了外部玩家的反馈，你的游戏将以指数级的速度得到改进。
所以发布一个早期的演示，把它发给你的同事，让它成为早期的访问。没有人会窃取你的想法。

充分利用唾手可得的成果

游戏中有些东西不需要费多大力气就能做出来，但却能极大地改善玩家的体验。
例如，在《Grim Nights》中，你的单位有很傻的名字。这很容易做到，但却能让玩家觉得游戏更有趣。

玩家发现问题，而不是解决方案

玩家是找出游戏问题的专家，但他们并不总是知道正确的解决方案。找到这些问题是你的工作。
例如，有人可能会告诉你“游戏感觉太重复，你需要添加更多敌人”。
这是很好的反馈。但你可以通过多种方式解决这个问题：让敌人与新技能更好地协同工作，重新构建你的游戏方式（对于 roguelite 游戏），甚至添加新角色。
很多时候，解决方案可能是调整玩家甚至不知道的东西。
如果你的游戏感觉太难和令人沮丧，你可以让玩家在与敌人碰撞时有几帧无敌，或者在敌人攻击前增加半秒钟。

完善早期的游戏内容

你应该花大部分时间来完善早期的游戏内容。
这是大多数人会看到的内容。那时他们就会决定是否喜欢你的游戏。
不要花 2 个月的时间来制作只有 1% 的玩家会看到的终极 Boss。
相反，要确保基本敌人的战斗很有趣。

加倍努力让你的游戏与众不同

尝试了解为什么最大的玩家会觉得你的游戏有趣并改进这些方面。
观察他们玩，与他们交谈并向他们提问。你会得到宝贵的信息。
同时，你也可以问人们为什么不喜欢它。
如果不损害游戏的核心，解决这些问题可以帮助更多人加入你的玩家群。
但请注意，其中一些人可能不是你的受众。

作为开发者，要意识到你对游戏的偏见

你玩这款游戏的时间比其他任何人都要长，所以在看到其他人玩这款游戏之前，你无法知道难度是否合适，或者游戏是否重复性太强。
在听取玩家意见之前，不要做出大的改变。

不要让你的游戏变得乏味

如果信息对玩家来说太过乏味，就不要向玩家隐瞒信息。
让他们自己记住或计算一些本来可以显示出来的东西会让人很沮丧。
这可能意味着：
  • 显示所有增益之后它们造成的伤害量。
  • 在发现其中一种药水后，更新下一种相同颜色药水的“未知效果”描述。
  • 允许他们在执行移除或升级卡牌等操作时查看自己的卡组。
如果它是游戏玩法的一部分，则不适用。

通过多层次的随机性创造可重玩性

从池中随机挑选房间只是第一层。
随机化宝藏、敌人及其等级、陷阱或墙壁的存在、物品的效果等，可以创造无限的可能性和独特的体验。
但要在预设的范围内进行，以避免造成完全混乱。
过多的无监督随机性可能和过少的随机性一样糟糕。

何时听取玩家反馈

如果一名玩家指出了问题，这并不总是什么大问题。
他们有自己的偏见，改变它对你的游戏来说可能不是最好的选择。
如果很多玩家都指出了同样的问题，那么这就会成为你的问题。
你必须抛开情绪，解决问题。

制作游戏关乎人

你在游戏中所做的一切都是为了让玩家有所感受。
这就是为什么我认为同理心是游戏开发者需要培养的最重要的技能之一。
如果游戏没有考虑到玩家的体验，那么最复杂的技术和最美观的艺术都毫无意义。

成瘾性是通过平衡产生的

你必须在适当的时间给予玩家适当的奖励，以保持他们的兴趣。
但如果给予太多，他们就会变得麻木不仁。

基本问题很难发现，因为开发人员

随着你开发游戏的时间越长，基本问题对你来说就越不明显。
这就是为什么你需要不断让新玩家给你反馈。

从简单的任务开始你的一天

这会帮助你获得动力。
在处理复杂的新功能之前，先洗碗、修复简单的错误并更新精灵。
你甚至可以把简单的任务留到最后。
这会让工作变得不那么令人生畏。

复制内容

如果你从很多游戏中复制一些东西，人们会称之为灵感。
如果你只从一个游戏中复制一些东西，人们会称之为抄袭。
这就是《魔法传送门》由于受到Cuphead 的启发而受到很多批评。
不幸的是，这款游戏从未发布，所以我们永远不知道这会对其成功产生多大影响。
有些人似乎对它很反感，而另一些人则很高兴能有更多内容可玩。

专注于正确的事情

你可以花时间尝试优化银行费用，处理代码中无关紧要的小部分，或者尝试找到发布开发日志的最佳网站。
或者你可以花时间真正完成你的游戏，获得诚实的反馈，并更多地了解游戏设计以及让游戏变得有趣和成功真正需要什么。
如果你选择后者，随着时间的推移，你会获得指数级的结果，而你不必担心小事。

失败是默认的...

获得经济成功的游戏只是例外，而不是常态。
大多数游戏都无法完成。而大多数完成的游戏都没有赚到钱。
我们只听说过成功的游戏，这让我们对市场产生了偏见。

但大多数人并没有那么努力

大多数人并不热衷于制作一款盈利的游戏。
如果你：
  1. 坚持完成你的项目并且不放弃，
  1. 努力打磨，
  1. 致力于提高你的技能，
  1. 倾听玩家的意见，反复思考你的想法，
  1. 并了解您的游戏在市场上的定位...
我相信你实际上已经领先于 99％ 的其他项目，而且你只与其中的一小部分进行竞争。

从长远来看，依靠意志力是行不通的

相反，改变你的环境，这样你就不需要使用任何意志力了。

完善游戏和制作游戏需要同样多的时间

在开发过程中的某个阶段，你的游戏看起来已经完成了。
主要系统已经到位。图形看起来几乎已经完成。
那时你会认为你已经完成了 90% - 但实际上你只完成了一半。
完善游戏至少需要与最初制作游戏一样多的时间。

比较较长时期内的工作，了解进步情况

如果每天都做某件事，你很难注意到自己的进步。
但将你现在的工作与一年前的工作进行比较，你就会发现自己进步了多少。
当我重新设计了刚开始时制作的一堆敌人时，这一点对我来说非常明显。
当你觉得自己只是在原地踏步时，看看它总是一件好事。

过度依赖特定工具可能会很危险

如果你想建立可持续发展的业务，完全依赖特定工具是很危险的。
我使用的是 Gamemaker Studio 2 引擎。由于服务器问题，很多用户在过去 3 天内无法登录他们的帐户。
这意味着他们无法访问他们的项目，并且在此期间根本无法工作
。如果你将整个业务都建立在一个平台上，情况也是一样的：YouTube、Steam、Twitter……任何一家公司都可能在某一天决定删除你的内容。
理想情况下，你应该构建你的业务，以便任何一个平台/个人/公司都无法摧毁它。

你喜欢游戏开发吗？还是只是想从事这个行业？

您是否应该尝试将独立游戏开发作为职业？
这里有一个重要的区别。
您喜欢成为独立开发者的想法还是喜欢真正从事这项工作？
就我个人而言，我喜欢成为人工智能 (AI) 研究员和教授的想法。
我认为这是未来的重要领域，我肯定会享受它带来的地位和声望。
但是，当真正研究人工智能时，我却感到无聊透顶。所以我不会将其作为职业。
我不认为独立开发者特别有声望。很多人认为你是一个玩游戏的孩子。
但我（大部分）喜欢每天这样做。我很高兴看到我的项目得以实现，我喜欢看人们玩我的游戏。
基本上，我想说的是：问问自己，你是否出于正确的理由而这样做。
你对制作游戏感到兴奋吗？或者你对告诉人们
你是游戏开发者感到兴奋吗？

制作游戏是有趣和无聊的混合体

乐趣：
  • 提出想法和概念
  • 设计游戏
  • 编写初始主系统代码
  • ETC。
无聊的：
  • 添加内容（取决于您的兴趣）
  • 抛光材料
  • 修复错误和故障
  • 菜单和用户界面
  • 管理不同的输入设备和分辨率
  • 重新映射控件
  • 本土化
  • ETC。
我认为人们喜欢参加 Gamejam 的一个重要原因是，你只需要制作游戏中有趣的部分，然后就可以继续下一步。
但如果你想发布一款商业游戏，你就需要能够完成枯燥的工作。

完成你的项目很难

作为一名独立游戏开发者，我认为最难掌握也是最重要的技能就是完成项目，即使你对它失去了兴趣。
尤其是当你意识到没有人真正关心你是否完成了游戏时。
你没有最后期限。没有老板。没有压力。只有自我激励。
只要完成一款游戏，你就领先于大多数想进入该领域的人。
无论它是否给你带来你所希望的外部成功，你都应该为自己感到自豪。

有想法容易，但实现却很难

在制作游戏时，“创意”部分仅占项目的一小部分。
想出一个好主意只需几分钟，而将其付诸实施则可能需要几天的时间。

成为一名优秀的程序员 =/= 成为一名优秀的独立开发者

独自制作一款在经济上取得成功的独立游戏的困难通常不在于技术挑战。
你更有可能遇到以下困难：
  • 项目管理
      • 方面（截止日期、动力、纪律、时间管理、财务……）
  • 你必须创建的大量内容
  • 你必须学习并擅长的各种技能
      • 的数量
  • 商业和营销
      • 方面（让人们知道你的游戏并让他们关心）
  • ...并将所有元素整合在一起，制作出一款在市场上占有一席之地的优秀游戏。
这就是为什么成为一名优秀的程序员并不一定意味着成为一名优秀的独立开发者。

总是选择最简单的选项

当必须在多个选项（引擎、想法、语言……）之间做出选择时，总是选择更简单的选项。
让游戏栩栩如生已经足够困难，你应该尽可能降低复杂性。这也是Rogue Legacy 只用了一年半就制作完成的
原因之一。

一个小小的激励秘诀

当你感到有动力和精力充沛时，做工作中困难的部分。
当你过得不顺时，做简单和令人兴奋的部分。

不要同时应对太多挑战

假设你没有游戏开发经验。
你没有艺术背景，你不知道如何编码，你从来没有演奏过乐器。
如果你一开始就尝试在你一无所知的游戏引擎中创建 MMORPG……
你几乎肯定会被你需要学习的大量信息所淹没，才能继续前进。
每次你开始一个新项目时，只选择一两件新东西来学习。

制作游戏类似于玩 MMORPG

你正在制定一个计划，计划你想要完成什么。然后你努力实现它。
不同之处在于，在游戏中比在现实生活中容易得多。
因为游戏设计师会确保你在正确的时间得到奖励，让你感觉自己在进步。
在你的工作中，你可能会经过数天和数周的努力却得不到回报。
但一旦得到回报（如表扬、销售或仅仅是玩家享受你的游戏），它们就会比前者更有意义和更令人满意。

自律不是一种性格特征

这主要取决于你的环境。
如果你有：
  • 电脑运行缓慢，
  • 你周围总是有人在看 Netflix
  • 朋友们不断邀请您加入他们最新的 MMORPG……
那么你停止开发游戏只是时间问题。
但如果你：
  • 有一台很棒的电脑，
  • 与从事自己项目的人一起生活，
  • 你已没有足够的钱来维持生计了……
开展你的项目将会是小菜一碟。

限制促进生产力

如果您只是着手“制作游戏”，您可能会浪费大量时间考虑所有不同的选择和可以做的事情。
相反，您可以决定使用GameMaker Studio 2制作一个 10 分钟长的 2D 平台游戏，并在 2 周后在itch.io上发布。
这样您就可以更轻松地知道现在要做什么才能继续前进。

尽可能减少工作量

并非所有工作都是平等的。
您可能认为，为 NPC 设置 15 帧空闲动画而不是 6 帧看起来很酷。
但玩家并不关心那么多，您会浪费原本可以更好地利用的时间。

项目越大，处理起来就越困难

查找错误变得更加困难。编译需要更多时间。
总的来说，很多事情变得更慢，也更烦人。

你的资源有限

您选择添加到游戏中的每项功能都是以牺牲其他东西为代价的。
假设您花了一周时间制作精美的菜单，而玩家却要求您修复破坏游戏的漏洞或添加新敌人。
即使您的游戏可能会因为这些菜单而变得更好 1%，但如果您解决后者的问题，它可能会在同一时间内变得更有趣 20%。
任何人都可以凭借无限的时间、资源和反馈制作出成功的游戏。但实际上没有人拥有这些。
游戏开发的真正挑战是知道在哪里投入精力以及应该完全忽略什么。
 
📌
英文原版：

68 gamedev ideas

While working on my first game Space Gladiators in 2019, I decided to start sharing some gamedev related ideas every week in a newsletter.
Most of those were only read by a dozen people and the emails have been sitting on my Google Drive since then.
I still think most of those ideas are relevant. So I went through all of them, removed and updated some and compiled everything in today's post.
None of these are hard and fast truths, just ideas I got and observations I made while working on my action roguelite game. Enjoy!

Be careful which game you're comparing yours to

If you’re making a tiny roguelite and tell them “it’s influenced by Dead Cells”, they’ll start with very high expectations.
They’ll probably end up disappointed when they find out it’s not as good as Dead Cells.
Some of them might even get offended that you’re comparing it to a game they love.
A recent example: Back 4 Blood being constantly compared to the Left 4 Dead franchise means players were disappointed when they found out it's not as good.

Marketing is about getting strangers to trust you

Players need to trust that they’ll have fun with your game.
Recommendations from friends or influencers are powerful because they basically circumvent the process.
Players will instantly trust your game as much as they trust the person recommending it.

Your players can put up with a lot if they enjoy your game

It means you don’t necessarily have to fix every bug and issue before showing it… or even releasing it.
I know that because I’ve been playing Dofus on and off these last years, a game that’s been out for more than 15 years.
There are so many broken things in the game: music tracks that play when they shouldn’t (and disabling them works only half the time), memory leaks that force you to restart the game every hour or so, missing animations, an unbalanced matchmaking system…
But it’s still a very successful game with hundreds of thousands of players.

Working hard on a game doesn’t mean it’ll be successful

You could make 1% of someone else’s effort and get better results than them.
Rising Hell development has started more than 4 years ago and it’s made by 5 people.
Gutwhale was made in 1 month by 3 people.
Now compare the number of reviews they each have: 156 and 113. (at the time I’m writing this)
Gutwhale did sell less and at a lower price than Rising Hell, though not by that much.
But there's a massive difference in the effort that was necessary to produce the games.
It's even more blatant if you look at games like SNKRX. (1 person, 3 months, 3302 reviews)

Your feelings towards your game will fluctuate

One day you’ll think it’s a piece of crap and that it’ll never be successful.
The next day you’ll think it’s the best thing ever.
What matters - if you want to actually finish games - is that you don’t completely mentally give up on it during your off days.

Be careful about your expectations as a solo dev

If you’re a solo dev, you’re competing with games made by dozens of people.
Even if you consider only very small teams of 2 or 3 devs, it still means that you’ll theoretically have to spend twice or thrice the time to make the same thing.
For example, Scourgebringer. Very small scope, but as far as I know it was made by 2 devs full time during 2 years.
So you should be prepared to spend 3-4 years to develop something of a similar quality. Even worse if you’re doing it in your free time.
And that’s not even considering that they’re experienced devs who already released a game in the same genre before.

Your work compounds

In the beginning, you have to put in a lot of effort for very little results.
You have to build all the back-end of your game while it’s not even playable yet.
You post a YouTube video and you get 10 views.
But it gets easier and easier over time.
The exact same video that took you the exact same amount of effort to craft might bring you 5x, 10x or even 100x the results as your audience grows.

Contacting YouTubers: bigger is not always better

Things to consider:
  • Some of them have a lot of subscribers but a very tiny view and engagement count. (bad)
  • Are they focusing on games in the same genre as yours (good) or do they cover a broad range of unrelated games (bad)?
  • Are people watching these videos only for the host personality (bad) or to look for games to play (good)?
Do note that I’m not saying channels centered around their host are bad.
I’m just pointing out factors that have an impact on what kind of exposure and financial results you can expect from working with them.
If a creator posts only no commentary gameplay videos and still gets a lot of engagement, you know those people are here for the game.
All of this to say: don’t overlook small channels that have a targeted audience.
A channel with a qualified audience of 6K can generate more sales than one with 250K subscribers. (happened to me)

Your game doesn't have to be a masterpiece

A game doesn’t have to be a masterpiece to make players happy.
People can look over balancing issues, ugly NPCs or stiff animations if they enjoy the core loop of the game.
Don’t wait for perfection before sharing your work.
You’re probably not going to be the next Minecraft or Dead Cells or Hollow Knight.
But if your goal is live off your games, you don’t need to.
Thousands of indie devs are earning a (good) living with games you’ve never heard of.

The longer you work on a game, the more pressure you’ll feel

There are a few reasons for this:
  • Your game will need to bring in more money for you to consider it a success.
  • You’ll be more likely to burnout. Which will make you less productive and motivated.
  • You’ll have more chance of getting caught in a death loop.
You can avoid a whole lot of issues if you keep your scope small.

Every platform is just trying to win

For Twitter, it means putting forward the tweets that get the most engagement.
For Steam, it means showcasing the games that are proven to convert visitors to sales.
For YouTubers, it means playing the games that generate the most views.
What does it mean for you?
The more successful your game is, the more successful it’ll become.
But the opposite is also true.
If your game is unknown and hasn’t proven its worth, very few people and platforms will take the risk of showcasing it when they have hundreds of other games that have a proven track record.

Know your audience

You have to know who your game is for and tailor the experience to what they like.
For example: if you’re making a gameplay focused roguelike like Nuclear Throne, keep the text to a minimum.
People who play these kinds of games want action fast and will likely skip most of the texts.

Make sure your game hits the key beats of your genre

When looking at games of the same genre, you can notice they all have features that are different on the surface but actually serve the same purpose.
For example, in the roguelite Slay the Spire the cards give a sense of diversity and control over your overall strategy.
This same purpose is being filled by items in The Binding of Isaac or weapons in Dead Cells.
Every roguelite punctuates their runs with mid-journey big challenges you have to prepare for, such as Elites in Slay the Spire or bosses in Ratropolis.
You should make sure your game hits all the same key ideas as successful games in your genre but in your own specific ways.

Look at what people do, not what they say

If they tell you your game is great but they play it only for an hour and never get back into it, it means you still have work to do.

The biggest obstacle you'll face as a new dev

When you’re starting out, the biggest obstacle you’ll face is not that people won’t like your game.
It’s that no one will know or care about it.

Know the focus of your game

Always prioritize it when you have to make a decision.
I’m making a roguelite, so gameplay is my focus. Here’s an example of how that idea influenced my decision.
When my characters use a shield, they hold it up in front of them.
So it protects them from the front. Makes sense, right?
The problem is that no one uses them because they kind of suck compared to other items.
Having to turn the right way to protect yourself is too much of a hassle.
So I instead just made the player invulnerable from all sides.
It’s not logical and look less realistic, but it’s better gameplay-wise.

Make your game technically unfair to the player

If you want your game to feel fair to the player, it has to be technically unfair.
The games that feel good to play implement a lot of different tactics that give leeway to the player. (see this twitter thread from Matt Thorson, creator of Celeste)
Allow them to jump out of a platform even if they’ve already started falling from it.
Push them up a tiny bit if they tried to dash somewhere but bumped their feet on the wall.
Make the enemy hitboxes smaller or turn them for free when they’re hitting in the wrong direction - like Dead Cells does.
Try to understand what the player wants to do and help them out.
If you don’t do it, your game will feel frustrating - even though it’ll technically be fair.

Players care about how a game makes them feel

Most of them don't care that much about technicalities.
Your game might have 300 items, a dozen of worlds and hours of gameplay.
But it might still be less appealing and less successful than a 15mn game with no content but perfect character control.
Most people will only play your game for a few dozen minutes before deciding whether they like it or not anyway.

Start by making a small game

If you start out with a huge project, you’ll be stuck for years with all the poor decisions you made while you were a beginner.
The bad code systems.
The animation style that’s too demanding and slow to create.
The poorly designed game mechanics that limit your level design possibilites.
With small games, you can create things that reflect your current level of skill at all times.
And you’ll avoid 80% of issues that show up only when your project reaches a certain size.
(I definitely wish I started out with a smaller scope for my first game)

Your motivation is a resource

It'll deplete when you work too long on tasks that have no visible outcomes. (refactoring code, cleaning up art assets…)
It’ll fill up when you get positive feedback or see tangible progress on your game. (new enemies, new levels...)
You have to manage it correctly (just like time and money) if you want to make it to the end of your project.

Be aware of what your design choices entail

The decisions you make at the beginning of a project have more impact than you think.
Say you decide your player shoud be able to attack up or down in your 2D platformer.
This alone can represent weeks of additional work and can limit how creative you can be with your level layouts.
You’ll have to make sure the player can’t cheese enemies by attacking them from below or above without them being able to defend themselves.
Your enemies will need more attacks (which also means more animation work) and more complex behavior patterns to deal with it.
Be aware of what each of your decisions entail.
Ask yourself if it’s really needed to achieve your vision before burdening yourself with more work.

Confidence comes from objective facts, not mind tricks

You trust in your ability to finish a game because you’ve finished many other projects before.
You trust that your game is fun because people you don’t know have played it and told you they liked it.
Self-confidence is built through small wins. Each of them is further evidence that you are capable of achieving the things you’re aiming for.

The more you win, the easier it becomes to win

When you are unknown, you have to fight to get eyes on your games.
But once you get a track record of successes, people will want to give you their attention and money.
Platforms will feature you more. Big YouTubers will try out your games.
Just a thought, but how many copies do you think The Legend of Bumbo would have sold if it was made by a random anonymous developer?

Create the kind of game you like to play

You need to understand who your target audience is and what they want, and it’s easier if you’re part of that audience yourself.
It’ll make development more enjoyable too.

You can't attribute the success of a game to a single thing

What makes Nuclear Throne stand out compared to all the other twin stick shooters out there?
I can’t pinpoint one specific feature that make it good.
I believe it’s a lot of small decisions and ingredients put in the right amount in the right places.

Fix your game before marketing it

Let’s say you’ve shown it to a few people and they all give you the same feedback.
If you show it to more people, you’ll only get more of the same response and it won’t help you at all.
Fix it before getting new eyes on your project.

Make sure your core game loop is fun before developing it

You need to make sure the core loop / concept of your game is fun before going any further.
No amount of secrets, deep lore or endless customization options can fix a game not being enjoyable to interact with.
On the other hand, you could make a prototype in 2 days and have thousands of people play it even 4 years after its launch: Right Click to Necromance.

People don’t want original games

They usually just want something they already like, but with a twist.

There is more than one way to make a successful game

The guys from Butterscotch Shenanigans design their games iteratively and don’t plan anything in advance.
Others do extensive market research before prototyping anything.
Anything can work, but you have to find the best approach for you.

Find efficient ways to create replayability

Try to find efficient ways to incentivize the player to replay the same content over and over.
You don’t necessarily need to create thousands of different enemies and items.
In Dicey Dungeons, you replay the same levels with different characters.
They each have one unique mechanic and 2 to 3 different starting cards that change how you apprehend enemies. It’s just enough to keep it fresh.
In Slay the Spire, the game makes you replay the same levels 20 times for each character through the use of Ascensions.
Everytime, one thing becomes harder. “More elites”. “Start the run damaged.”
As the dev, you just have to tweak some numbers. But it gives your players a reason to start a new run.

Take feedback with a grain of salt

A lot of people will tell you what they think you should do when they don’t have a clue themselves.
I’ve come across devs on reddit asking how they should market their game…
...and being answered to make business cards. What?

Steam (probably) won't give you lots of free traffic

Some people think publishing a game on Steam gives you loads of free traffic and sales.
Truth is... if you don’t bring in sales from external sources Steam does practically nothing for you.
But get some traction first and Steam will make your game exponentially more successful.
Like 10x or even 100x as successful.
Because Steam only wants to promote winners a.k.a. the games that’ll bring in the most revenue.

Getting attention is hard

Getting attention on your projects online is way harder than you probably think if you’ve never tried it yourself.
It’s not as simple as making YouTube videos, creating devlogs or making cool gifs on Twitter.
Thousands of people are already doing that and only a few are getting actual traction.
It takes a lot of time and effort (which you won’t spend on improving your game) to understand what works, experiment with it and translate that into sales.
You could actually be better off focusing all of your efforts into making a game with a potentially viral concept and bet on luck and timing to get players: SNKRX, Vampire Survivors, 5D Chess.

Get other people to play your game

You should get other people to play your game as soon as you can.
Some things seem obvious to you but are not for other people.
Some of your ideas suck but you won’t know which ones until you watch someone else play.
Your game will improve exponentially faster with external player feedback.
So release an early demo, send it to your coworkers, make it early access. No one is going to steal your idea.

Take advantage of the low-hanging fruits

There are things in your game that need very little effort to make but can improve greatly the player’s experience.
For instance, in Grim Nights your units have silly names. It’s easy to do but it makes the game way funnier for the players.

Players find issues, not solutions

Your players are experts at pinpointing the issues of your game, but they don’t always know the right solutions. It’s your job to find them.
For example, someone might tell you that “the game feels too repetitive, you need to add more enemies”.
This is great feedback. But you could fix this issue in many ways: making enemies work better together with new skills, restructuring how your run unfolds (in the case of a roguelite) or even adding new characters instead.
A lot of times, the solution might be to tweak things that the player isn’t even aware of.
If your game is feeling too hard and frustrating, you could give the player a few frames of invulnerability while colliding with a foe or add half a second before the enemies can attack.

Polish your early game content

You should spend most of your time working on polishing your early game content.
This is what the majority of people will see. That’s when they’ll decide whether or not they like your game.
Don’t spend 2 months working on an end game boss that only 1% of your playerbase will ever see.
Make sure instead that the basic enemies are fun to fight.

Triple down on what makes your game unique

Try to understand why your biggest players find your game fun and enhance those things.
Watch them play, talk with them and ask them questions. You’ll get invaluable information.
At the same time, you can also ask people why they didn’t like it.
If it doesn’t compromise the core of your game, fixing those issues could help more people enter your playerbase.
But be aware that some of them might just not be part of your audience.

Be aware of your bias towards your game as the dev

You spent more time than anyone else playing it so you can’t know whether the difficulty is right or if it’s actually too repetitive before you see someone else play it.
Don’t make big changes before getting the opinion of your players.

Don't make your game tedious to play

Don't obfuscate information from the player if it's just making it tedious for them.
Making them memorize or calculate something on their own when it could just be displayed is frustrating.
It could mean:
  • Showing how much damage they do after all buffs.
  • Updating the “unknown effect” description of next potions of the same color after they have discovered one of them.
  • Allowing them to see their deck while doing an operation such as removing or upgrading a card.
This does not apply if it’s part of the gameplay.

Create replayability by having multiple layers of randomness

Picking out random rooms from a pool is only the first layer.
Randomizing the treasure, the enemies and their level, the presence of traps or walls, the effects of items etc. is what create infinite possibilities and unique runs.
But do it within preset boundaries to avoid creating complete chaos.
Having too much unsupervised randomness can be as bad as having too little.

When to listen to player feedback

If one player pinpoints an issue, it’s not always a big deal.
They have their own bias and it might not be the best thing for your game to change it.
If a lot of them pinpoint the same issue, it becomes your problem.
You have to put your emotions aside and fix it.

Making a game is about people

Everything you do in a game is meant to make the player feel something.
Which is why I think empathy is one of the most important skills to develop as a gamedev.
The most complex technology and the best looking art don’t matter if the game isn’t built with the player’s experience in mind.

Addictiveness is created through balance

You have to give rewards to the player at the right times in the right amount to keep them interested.
But give them too much and they’ll become desensitized.

Basic issues are hard to see as the dev

Basic issues will become more and more invisible to you the longer you work on your game.
That’s why you need to constantly have new players giving you feedback.

Start your day off with easy tasks

It'll help you get momentum.
Wash the dishes, fix a simple bug and update a sprite before tackling a complex new feature.
You could even go as far as saving the easy tasks just for this.
It makes getting to work less intimidating.

Copying things

If you copy things from a lot of games, people call it inspiration.
If you copy things from one game only, people call it a rip-off.
That’s why Enchanted Portals got a lot of backlash because of its Cuphead inspiration.
Unfortunately the game never got released so we'll never know how much that would have affected its success.
Some people seem turned off by it while others are happy to have more content to play.

Focus on the right things

You could spend your time trying to optimize your bank fees, working on small parts of your code that don’t matter or trying to find the best website to post your devlogs on.
Or you could spend your time actually finishing your games, getting honest feedback and learning more about game design and what is actually needed to make a game fun and successful.
If you do the latter, you’ll get exponential results over time and you won’t have to worry about the little things.

Failing is the default...

The games that succeed financially are the exception, not the rule.
Most games never get finished. And most games that do get finished don’t make any money.
We only ever hear about the successful ones and it gives us a biased perspective on the market.

...but most people aren't trying that hard

Most people are not that dedicated to making a financially successful game.
If you’re:
  1. Seeing your project through to the end and not giving up,
  1. Putting effort into polishing it,
  1. Committed to improving your skills,
  1. Listening to your players to iterate on your ideas,
  1. And understanding where your game fits on the market...
I believe you’re actually ahead of 99% of other projects already and you’re only competing with a fraction of them.

Using willpower doesn't work in the long run

Instead, change up your environment so you don’t have to use any willpower.

Polishing a game takes as much time as making it

At some point during development, your game will look like it’s done.
The main systems will be in place. The graphics will look almost finalized.
That’s when you’ll think you’re 90% done - when you’re actually only halfway there.
Polishing a game takes at least as much time as making it in the first place.

Compare your work over longer periods to see your progress

When doing something every day, you don’t really notice your progress.
But compare your current work to what you were doing a year ago and you’ll see how much you’ve improved.
That became really clear to me when I redesigned a bunch of enemies I had made when first starting out.
It’s always a good thing to look at when you feel like you’re just treading water.

Being too dependent on specific tools can be dangerous

It’s dangerous to be entirely dependent on specific tools if you want to build a sustainable business.
I’m using the Gamemaker Studio 2 engine. Due to server issues on their side, a lot of users could not log into their account for the past 3 days.
Which means they could not access their project and could not work at all during that time.
It’s the same thing if you’re basing your whole business on one platform: YouTube, Steam, Twitter… any of those companies could decide from one day to the next to delete your stuff.
Ideally, you should structure your business so that any one platform / person / company should not be able to destroy it if they just decide to.

Do you like game dev or just the idea of doing it?

Should you try to make a career out of indie game development?
There’s an important distinction to make here.
Do you like the idea of being an indie dev or do you like actually doing it?
Personally, I like the idea of being an artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and professor.
I think it’s an important field for the future and I’d surely enjoy the status and prestige it gives.
When it comes to actually studying AI though, I’m bored out of my mind. So I’m not pursuing that as a career.
I don’t think indie dev is particularly prestigious. A lot of people see you as a kid playing games.
But I (mostly) enjoy doing it day to day. I’m excited to see my projects come to life and I love watching people play my games.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is: ask yourself if you’re doing it for the right reasons.
Are you excited about making games?
Or are you excited about telling people you’re a game developer?

Making a game is a mix of fun and boring work

Fun:
  • Coming up with ideas and concepts
  • Designing the game
  • Coding the initial main systems
  • Etc.
Boring:
  • Adding content (depending on your interests)
  • Polishing stuff
  • Fixing bugs & glitches
  • Menus & UI
  • Managing different input devices and resolutions
  • Remapping controls
  • Localization
  • Etc.
I believe a big reason why people love doing gamejams is that you only have to make the fun parts of a game before moving on.
But you need to be able to do the boring work if you want to publish a commercial game.

Finishing your projects is hard

As an indie game developer, I believe the hardest and most important skill to acquire is to finish a project even after you’ve lost interest in it.
Especially when you realize no one really cares if you complete your game or not.
You have no deadlines. No boss. No pressure. Only self-motivation.
Just by finishing a game, you’re ahead of most people who want to get into that field.
You should be proud of yourself whether or not it brings you the external success you wished for.

Getting an idea is easy, implementing it is hard

When making a game, the “creativity” part only represents a fraction of the project.
Getting a good idea takes a few minutes, implementing it can take days.

Being a good programmer =/= being a good solo dev

The difficulty of making a financially successful indie game on your own doesn’t usually come from hard technical challenges.
You’ll more likely struggle in:
  • The project management aspects (hitting deadlines, motivation, discipline, time management, finances…)
  • The sheer amount of content you have to create
  • The amount of different skills you have to learn and be good at
  • The business and marketing aspects (letting people know your game exists and making them care)
  • … and putting it all together to make a good polished game that actually has a place in the market.
It’s why being an excellent programmer doesn’t automatically translate to being an excellent indie developer.

Always pick the simplest option

When having to choose between multiple options (engines, ideas, languages…), always pick the simpler one.
Bringing a game to life is difficult enough that you should reduce complexity where you can.
This is one of the reasons why Rogue Legacy could be made in only 1 year and a half.

A small motivation tip

Do the hard parts of your work when you’re feeling motivated and energized.
Do the easy and exciting parts when you’re having a rough day.

Don't tackle too many challenges at once

Say you have no experience in game development.
You don’t have an artistic background, you don’t know how to code and you never played an instrument in your life.
If you start out by trying to create a MMORPG in a game engine you know nothing about…
You’ll almost certainly become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information you have to learn to keep moving forward.
Every time you start a new project, pick only one or two new things to learn.

Making a game is similar to playing a MMORPG

You’re making a plan on what you want to accomplish. Then you’re grinding to make it happen.
The difference is that it’s a lot easier in a game than in real life.
Because a game designer is making sure you’re getting rewarded exactly at the right times to feel like you’re progressing.
In your work, you might go through days and weeks of efforts without rewards.
But once they come (as praise, sales or simply players enjoying your game), they’re a lot more meaningful and satisfying than the former.

Discipline is not a personality trait

It’s mostly just dependent on your environment.
If you have:
  • A laggy computer,
  • People watching Netflix around you all the time
  • And friends constantly pinging you to join them in the latest MMORPG...
Then it’s only a matter of time before you stop working on your game.
But if you:
  • Have a great computer,
  • Live with people that are working on their own projects,
  • And you’re running out of cash to put food on the table…
Working on your project will be a piece of cake.

Constraints foster productivity

If you just set out to “make a game”, you will likely waste a lot of time contemplating all the different options and things you could do.
Instead, you could decide to make a 10 minutes long 2D platformer using GameMaker Studio 2 that’ll get published on itch.io in 2 weeks.
That would make it much easier to know what you have to do now in order to move forward.

Reduce your workload where you can

Not all work is created equal.
You might think it looks cool to have 15 frames idle animations instead of 6 frames for your NPCs.
But the players don’t care that much and you’ll waste hours that could have been better spent.

The bigger your project becomes, the harder it’ll be to work with it

Tracking down bugs gets more difficult. Compiling takes more time.
Overall, a lot of things become slower and more annoying to do.

Your resources are limited

Every functionality you choose to add into your game comes at the expense of something else.
Say you’re spending a week crafting beautiful menus while your players are asking you to fix game-breaking bugs or to add new enemies.
Even though your game might become 1% better because of those menus, it could have become 20% more fun in the same time frame had you worked on the latter issues instead.
Anyone could make a successful game with unlimited time, resources and feedback. But no one actually has that.
The real challenge of gamedev is knowing where to spend your energy and what you should disregard completely.