07-16-2026, 02:18 PM
Games are cool. It's even cooler when you make your own. And nowadays, thanks to widely accessible tools and tutorials, we see more games than ever made by amateur developers.
And some of these are really good looking. But unfortunately, quite a lot of these end up going nowhere. Because creating a full game from start to finish is actually quite a daunting task; one that not inexperienced developers often underestimate.
I've been there myself. I used to start lots of cool little games which unfortunately never saw the light of day. But it's a skill that can be learnt.
Today I will outline what mindset I adopted, and I hope it will help some of you too. Let's get right into it.
Keep your scope realistic
Don't overscope your game. I think this is the most common fatal flaw a lot of people commit. When concept planning, it's easy to let your mind wander and think of all the cool features you can add to your game. You might even have ideas for DLC or a sequel already! Or a spin-off, who knows...
If it is your first game, keep it very small. Especially if you're still learning how to design games, you will inevitably learn so much on your journey that if you try to make a large scale project, you will have to redo a lot of the things you initially make. Because otherwise you might end up with a very poor foundation that will make further development a chore.
But even for experienced programmers, I think keeping the scope in check is important. For myself, I adopted something I like to call "modular game design". It's basically structuring my games in a way that I can start small, but still expand it into something larger later.
For instance for Paperball, the initial level scope was just 30 levels, which then grew into over 200. But if I had known I would have to make 200 levels from the start, the sheer workload would have been overwhelming, and the game likely would have never been made. If the worst case scenario happens and you lose all motivation and just wish to be done with the game for good, it's nice if you can still compile it into something that feels complete. And even if you don't, it's a nice feeling when you know you don't HAVE TO make all the things you planned to have a complete game, and you don't have to stress about it.
I understand that modular game design like this isn't always possible - for instance metroidvanias require planning out the entire game from the start. But that's also something I'd advise against making if you are not experienced with making large scale projects yet.
Set milestones and daily goals
When making a game, it's easy to fantasize what the final product will look like. But then you look at your PC and all you have is a test scene with a white cube in it. Thinking about all the work you have ahead of you can be very overwhelming and demotivating. Gameplay and level design? Sure, that will be fun. But then there's controller support, localization, menus, cutscenes, bug fixes... the list of tedious work goes on. If you always look at everything that lies ahead of you, you might feel like the game will never get finished.
The trick is not to only have the end goal in mind. Instead focus on what you can do today. When building a tower, putting down a couple of bricks a day doesn't feel like much work, but eventually the tower will be complete.
![[Image: 2jW2z8Z.png]](https://i.imgur.com/2jW2z8Z.png)
Set daily goals and keep them realistic. The important thing is to make daily progress, regardless of how little it is. These are goals you can achieve - they don't feel overwhelming, and you will get a sense of satisfaction for completing them. And eventually, your game will be complete, regardless of how small these steps are. Everything you do moves you closer to the end goal; only stagnation does not.
While on this topic, I also want to make a note about expanding your game's scope. If you add content to the game at a faster rate than you can actually create it, that's also a slippery slope. I would generally avoid expanding your scope until you are close to the end goal, to ensure your goals stay realistic.
Don't depend on anybody else
Now, okay, this one is not entirely true. I'm not saying working in teams is inherently a bad idea. It can work if everyone shares the same vision and passion.
But it's quite often the case you try to recruit people to take care of particular tasks for you, who don't really share the same passion for your project. This is also not inherently bad, but you should be prepared to have alternatives.
There are plenty of free and paid resources available nowadays to assist you in areas outside your expertise. You can make your game yourself. Don't let anybody be your roadblock.
Even if you only use placeholders, it's still better to use those than to halt development entirely. It's also easier to recruit people if you have substantial work to show, so don't let anyone stand in your way. Instead of saying "I have no graphics artist; I can't make this game" use placeholders and if your game looks interesting people will voluntarily come to you to provide graphics.
Don't get sidetracked
Let's be realistic. The spark of motivation you feel when starting a project won't last. There's a chance it might, and if that happens you're in luck, but the odds are that it won't. Why is that? Because when thinking about making a game you think about all the fun things you will make. But making games is hard work. Not everything will be fun - in fact I'd argue the majority of it will be dedicated to parts that aren't particularly fun.
During times like these, it's easy to think of something more fun to make instead. Many ideas will pop into your head and you begin to think - "man, shouldn't I just make this other idea instead? It seems so MUCH cooler, and I am SO motivated for that. I don't want to work on this boring platformer anymore - let's make a racing game!"
The answer is NO. You should NOT.
Getting sidetracked is a prime reason why many projects meet their end.
"But it doesn't matter, I will make my other project instead!"
No, you won't. Eventually you will realize the other project is work too - and that initial spark of motivation? You once had that for this project too. It will also fade with time. And then you will have two unfinished projects you won't have any motivation left for.
If you don't want to let your ideas for the new project go to waste, write them down. Write them all down, so you can get to it when you finish your current game. Let's see how you will feel about it one month later. There's two possible outcomes:
But if you absolutely NEED to explore the new idea: Do it after you finish your daily goal. Don't let your project stagnate. As long as you make steady progress, you can allow yourself to indulge into exploring new ideas after you're done. But absolutely prioritize your current project first.
That's all I have to say. I hope this guide helped you in one way or another, and if not, alas.
Now excuse me, I must meet my daily goals.
And some of these are really good looking. But unfortunately, quite a lot of these end up going nowhere. Because creating a full game from start to finish is actually quite a daunting task; one that not inexperienced developers often underestimate.
I've been there myself. I used to start lots of cool little games which unfortunately never saw the light of day. But it's a skill that can be learnt.
Today I will outline what mindset I adopted, and I hope it will help some of you too. Let's get right into it.
Keep your scope realistic
Don't overscope your game. I think this is the most common fatal flaw a lot of people commit. When concept planning, it's easy to let your mind wander and think of all the cool features you can add to your game. You might even have ideas for DLC or a sequel already! Or a spin-off, who knows...
If it is your first game, keep it very small. Especially if you're still learning how to design games, you will inevitably learn so much on your journey that if you try to make a large scale project, you will have to redo a lot of the things you initially make. Because otherwise you might end up with a very poor foundation that will make further development a chore.
But even for experienced programmers, I think keeping the scope in check is important. For myself, I adopted something I like to call "modular game design". It's basically structuring my games in a way that I can start small, but still expand it into something larger later.
For instance for Paperball, the initial level scope was just 30 levels, which then grew into over 200. But if I had known I would have to make 200 levels from the start, the sheer workload would have been overwhelming, and the game likely would have never been made. If the worst case scenario happens and you lose all motivation and just wish to be done with the game for good, it's nice if you can still compile it into something that feels complete. And even if you don't, it's a nice feeling when you know you don't HAVE TO make all the things you planned to have a complete game, and you don't have to stress about it.
I understand that modular game design like this isn't always possible - for instance metroidvanias require planning out the entire game from the start. But that's also something I'd advise against making if you are not experienced with making large scale projects yet.
Set milestones and daily goals
When making a game, it's easy to fantasize what the final product will look like. But then you look at your PC and all you have is a test scene with a white cube in it. Thinking about all the work you have ahead of you can be very overwhelming and demotivating. Gameplay and level design? Sure, that will be fun. But then there's controller support, localization, menus, cutscenes, bug fixes... the list of tedious work goes on. If you always look at everything that lies ahead of you, you might feel like the game will never get finished.
The trick is not to only have the end goal in mind. Instead focus on what you can do today. When building a tower, putting down a couple of bricks a day doesn't feel like much work, but eventually the tower will be complete.
Set daily goals and keep them realistic. The important thing is to make daily progress, regardless of how little it is. These are goals you can achieve - they don't feel overwhelming, and you will get a sense of satisfaction for completing them. And eventually, your game will be complete, regardless of how small these steps are. Everything you do moves you closer to the end goal; only stagnation does not.
While on this topic, I also want to make a note about expanding your game's scope. If you add content to the game at a faster rate than you can actually create it, that's also a slippery slope. I would generally avoid expanding your scope until you are close to the end goal, to ensure your goals stay realistic.
Don't depend on anybody else
Now, okay, this one is not entirely true. I'm not saying working in teams is inherently a bad idea. It can work if everyone shares the same vision and passion.
But it's quite often the case you try to recruit people to take care of particular tasks for you, who don't really share the same passion for your project. This is also not inherently bad, but you should be prepared to have alternatives.
There are plenty of free and paid resources available nowadays to assist you in areas outside your expertise. You can make your game yourself. Don't let anybody be your roadblock.
Even if you only use placeholders, it's still better to use those than to halt development entirely. It's also easier to recruit people if you have substantial work to show, so don't let anyone stand in your way. Instead of saying "I have no graphics artist; I can't make this game" use placeholders and if your game looks interesting people will voluntarily come to you to provide graphics.
Don't get sidetracked
Let's be realistic. The spark of motivation you feel when starting a project won't last. There's a chance it might, and if that happens you're in luck, but the odds are that it won't. Why is that? Because when thinking about making a game you think about all the fun things you will make. But making games is hard work. Not everything will be fun - in fact I'd argue the majority of it will be dedicated to parts that aren't particularly fun.
During times like these, it's easy to think of something more fun to make instead. Many ideas will pop into your head and you begin to think - "man, shouldn't I just make this other idea instead? It seems so MUCH cooler, and I am SO motivated for that. I don't want to work on this boring platformer anymore - let's make a racing game!"
The answer is NO. You should NOT.
Getting sidetracked is a prime reason why many projects meet their end.
"But it doesn't matter, I will make my other project instead!"
No, you won't. Eventually you will realize the other project is work too - and that initial spark of motivation? You once had that for this project too. It will also fade with time. And then you will have two unfinished projects you won't have any motivation left for.
If you don't want to let your ideas for the new project go to waste, write them down. Write them all down, so you can get to it when you finish your current game. Let's see how you will feel about it one month later. There's two possible outcomes:
- You will still feel motivation for the new project. That's great! In that case you will probably still be motivated when you finish your current game. No need to rush into the new one.
- You don't care about the new idea anymore. That's also great! That means you didn't waste any effort setting up your new project, and that sticking with the current one was the right idea.
But if you absolutely NEED to explore the new idea: Do it after you finish your daily goal. Don't let your project stagnate. As long as you make steady progress, you can allow yourself to indulge into exploring new ideas after you're done. But absolutely prioritize your current project first.
That's all I have to say. I hope this guide helped you in one way or another, and if not, alas.
Now excuse me, I must meet my daily goals.
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