Your First Game: Ship It, Don't Polish It To Death
Launching your first game can feel like an insurmountable mountain. Many solo developers and students get stuck in a cycle of endless polishing, feature creep, and ultimately, never releasing anything. The goal for your first project isn’t perfection; it’s completion and shipping.
Start with a small, focused concept. Resist the urge to build an open-world RPG with 100 hours of content. Think about a single, compelling mechanic that can be explored within a short play session.
Prototype quickly to validate your core idea. Don’t worry about perfect art or sound at this stage; use placeholders to get the gameplay loop functional and fun. This early validation saves immense time down the line.
Scope management is paramount for solo developers. Every feature you add pushes your release date further away and increases the risk of burnout. Ruthlessly cut anything that isn’t essential to the core experience.
Consider using pre-made assets to accelerate development. Creating everything from scratch is a massive time sink for a single person. Platforms like Strafekit offer a wide range of royalty-free assets, from 2D sprites to 3D models and sound effects, which can drastically speed up your production time.
Focus on a single platform for your initial launch. Targeting multiple platforms simultaneously adds complexity and testing overhead that can overwhelm a solo developer. Get it right on one, then consider porting.
Design your game for a clear target audience. Who is this game for? What problem does it solve or what joy does it provide? A clear vision helps in making design decisions and marketing.
Don’t skip the game design document, even if it’s just for yourself. A concise GDD helps you stay on track and prevents scope creep by outlining what is and isn’t included. Tools like Blueprint can simplify this process, turning your ideas into a structured document quickly.
Prioritize solid core gameplay over extensive features. Players will tolerate simple graphics if the game is genuinely fun and engaging. A buggy game with beautiful art will still fail.
Get external feedback early and often. Don’t wait until your game is ‘finished’ to show it to others. Early playtesting helps identify flaws and areas for improvement before they become deeply ingrained.
Understand that your first game will likely not be a commercial blockbuster. Its primary purpose is to be a learning experience and a portfolio piece. Embrace the lessons learned.
Build a minimal viable product (MVP) and get it out there. The act of launching, even if it’s a small release on itch.io, teaches you invaluable lessons about distribution, marketing, and community management.
After launch, collect feedback and iterate. This doesn’t mean adding every requested feature, but rather addressing critical bugs and considering quality-of-life improvements. Use tools like Sentiment to analyze player reviews if you launch on platforms like Steam.
Showcase your work effectively. Once your game is out, even if it’s small, it’s a tangible achievement. Use a platform like Devpage to consolidate all your projects, both released and in-progress, in one place.
Remember, the biggest pitfall for solo developers is never finishing. Your first game is about proving to yourself and others that you can take an idea from concept to completion. Ship it, learn from it, and then apply those lessons to your next project.