Game director Nick Popovich's advice revolves around the notion that indie devs should think in 3s: 3 days or less on trying to solve a problem, for example, and 3 months or less on big milestones.
There's been some pretty stuff on Game Dev Twitter today, including a helpful thread from Monomi Park cofounder Nick Popovich about how to survive as an indie game maker in 2018.
Popovich's lessons learned are worth a look given that Monomi Park did pretty well for itself with its debut game Slime Rancher, surpassing a million units sold shortly after launching out of Early Access last summer.
While his advice is A) derived from his unique experience and B) sometimes pretty straightforward ('have some business sense...[or] hire someone who can do it"), it's also concise and informative.
Notably, Popovich chose to anchor his advice to the notion that indie devs should think in threes: try to spend three days or less on trying to solve a problem (or else come back to it later), for example, and try to spend three months or less working on major milestones.
We've taken the liberty of reprinting a few choice snippets of his advice below; you can (and should) read the full thread over on Twitter.
If Popovich's thoughts strike a chord with you, consider looking back at our conversation last year about the development of Slime Rancher and his GDC 2017 talk on the game's success as a playground for emergent storytelling.
You want to think in 3's:
— Nick Popovich (@NickPopovich) May 3, 2018
3 days
3 weeks
3 months
3 years
Because time is the most important resource we have, both in gamedev and life. It rules all. So be very aware of your time. Now, 3's:
The inclusive stuff: this is everything that makes your game palatable by a larger market. This is you making concessions if need be to acknowledge that you're unlikely to make the next Katamari. This helps sell your game to the masses.
— Nick Popovich (@NickPopovich) May 3, 2018
The original stuff: this is what sets your game apart form the rest. This is what gets you noticed and if you're working within a genre, what would make someone want to switch from their Coke to your Pepsi. It's the building element in Fortnite for the genre of BR games.
— Nick Popovich (@NickPopovich) May 3, 2018
The personal stuff: this makes your game real. It's the slice of you that you put into the game that no one else can. It's the indie part of indedev. It's your politics, your story, your thing no one else gets. And it makes the project worth doing for you.
— Nick Popovich (@NickPopovich) May 3, 2018
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