"No prototypes. Just make the game. Polish as you go. Don't depend on polish happening later. Always maintain constantly shippable code." - John Romero
I think one of the biggest problems indie game devs have is putting a lot of focus into art and polish without actually working out whether the game is fun to play. The dev gets to make enjoyable incremental progress without having to confront the difficult questions about whether the game is actually workable. Some games can get by purely on story and art, but in the vast majority of cases I think solo devs would be best served by making an absolutely minimal gameplay prototype and making it fun before thinking at all about polish.
This is why it’s good to intentionally go between the micro and macro and define some design goals or pillars. The latter give you a razor by which to judge the game and the former stops you getting stuck in the weeds.
I broadly agree with the Romero quote, getting the game playable as quickly as possible and keeping it playable is easily the most effective way of crafting a game because it enables you to routinely playtest and understand your progress. A key element of that is making the game legible and for that you do need to spend some time on “polish” because it’s an intractable element of the whole.
barrysteve|3 years ago
The first 90% of the effort is getting it working and then the next 90% is the polishing the result.
cillian64|3 years ago
c0mptonFP|3 years ago
Best way to end up bikeshedding.
meheleventyone|3 years ago
I broadly agree with the Romero quote, getting the game playable as quickly as possible and keeping it playable is easily the most effective way of crafting a game because it enables you to routinely playtest and understand your progress. A key element of that is making the game legible and for that you do need to spend some time on “polish” because it’s an intractable element of the whole.
jheriko|3 years ago
i think that also sums up John Romero tbh...