Don't Be A Fool, Make Dem Tools

Quicker Development Cycles: This is a big one. We’ve all had experiences slaving away on an awesome game, only to leave it unfinished or released but never hitting the spotlight. Typically tools have a much smaller scope than games and can be finished in about a month. This means more stuff being released on the market, more chances to get noticed, and a good sense of accomplishment once you “finish” a project.

Less Crowded: There are less game developers then there are game players. But that also means less competition! Also developers are much more likely to purchase a tool if they like it and think it will help. Game players are flooded with new awesome games every day, and only purchase a game if it’s in the top 1% of their “must play list”.

More Income: The highest selling tools on the Unity Asset Store are all over $35! That means your sales numbers can be a lot smaller for a project to be considered financially successful.

More Tools In Your Toolbox: You get to keep the tools you make! This might sound silly at first, but as a game developer you should always be creating content that can be used in other projects! As you make tools for yourself and for the public, it will make game development that much easier in the future because you’ll have awesome tools at your disposal. The tools you make will probably give you some new game ideas as well.

Releasing your stuff to the public: Releasing a tool to the public means it needs to be in tip top shape. Code needs to be well commented, assets need to be scaled and packaged nicely, everything needs to be organized and well documented. But these are actually just good practices in general. Releasing something to the public makes you do all the nit-picky stuff that you know is good practice but might glaze over if it’s a project only seen by you. In the end this makes you a better developer and increases the quality of the things you’re making.

Support: You can’t just release a tool and be done with it. You have to commit to upgrading the tool when new versions of the engine you use come out. You have to respond to comments in a timely and polite manner. As most engineers/developers say, work doesn’t stop once you deliver the project. However I see this as a positive thing as well. Supporting your products gets you engaged with the community. If done right this can get you life-long fans and expand your customer base.