"In my opinion, the hardest step for aspiring (commercial) indie game developers is learning to finish games consistently and efficiently."
What's the biggest hurdle budding indie developers will face? Your answer will likely vary based on your own experiences, but for Spelunky designer Derek Yu, it's learning how to finish games consistently.
Writing in a Twitter thread packed full of advice and insights aimed at aspiring game makers, Yu explained that in his experience, understanding how to effectively move past game jams and prototypes is absolutely critical.
He added that it's also important to avoid getting wrapped up in one project for years on end -- time is a valuable resource in it's own right, after all -- though he conceded it's a "tiny sweet spot" that's hard to hit.
"I think it's really important to learn how to finish games reliably," he wrote, "to see the beginning, middle, and end of development lots of times; to find the intersections of what you and other people enjoy; to learn how to skirt or overcome the many mental traps along the way."
The full thread (pasted below) is crammed with other useful tidbits, so check it out if you're getting ready to embark upon an indie adventure of your very own.
IMO the hardest step for aspiring (commercial) indie game developers is learning to finish games consistently and efficiently - to move past game jams and prototypes but also avoid getting mired in a single project for years without end. It's a tiny sweet spot that's hard to hit.
— Derek Yu (@mossmouth) August 22, 2018
One piece of advice is to try and avoid falling in love with your development tools over the game you're building them for. You will find time and time again that successful indie games are often built with crude tools and/or messy code. Just enough to get the job done.
— Derek Yu (@mossmouth) August 22, 2018
I've also come to believe that if you show off your game and receive a tepid response, it's generally better to try and finish the game *faster* and move on instead of extending the development to try and fix what is probably an issue at the core.
— Derek Yu (@mossmouth) August 22, 2018
Non-dev feedback is usually the best way to find out if your core ideas are working. Other game developers are more likely to focus on specific criticisms but try and leave you feeling positive and optimistic overall. It's helpful and motivating but can be dangerous for new devs.
— Derek Yu (@mossmouth) August 22, 2018
To sum up, I think it's really important to learn how to finish games reliably; to see the beginning, middle, and end of development lots of times; to find the intersections of what you and other people enjoy; to learn how to skirt or overcome the many mental traps along the way.
— Derek Yu (@mossmouth) August 22, 2018
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