3 Tools To Plan Your Game (Vertical Slice Pitfalls)

3 Tools To Plan Your Game (Vertical Slice Pitfalls)

Many indie developers, especially those new to the field, fall into the “vertical slice trap.” They create a visually impressive, highly polished demo early on, thinking it represents their project’s overall development pace. This leads to unrealistic timelines and often, project abandonment. It’s time to ditch the illusion and embrace structured planning.

Let’s look at how one developer did just that.

From Chaos to Clarity: A Planning Transformation

Sarah, a solo developer, spent six months crafting a stunning vertical slice for her RPG. The demo featured intricate combat, detailed environments, and a compelling story hook. Based on this, she estimated the full game would take another year. Two years later, she had a buggy, incomplete mess. The vertical slice had given her a false sense of security.

Sarah wasn’t alone.

After reflecting on this painful lesson, Sarah adopted a new approach. She started meticulously tracking her progress, breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. She realized her initial estimate had completely ignored the complexities of content creation, bug fixing, and balancing.

The “before” was a beautiful demo masking an unorganized development process. The “after” was a less visually impressive, but significantly more realistic, roadmap to a finished game. This transformation hinged on adopting specific planning tools. Let’s explore three that can help you avoid the same pitfalls.

1. Defining Scope with a Feature Matrix

The first step is to define the scope of your game. Feature creep, the gradual addition of new features beyond the original plan, is a killer for indie projects. A feature matrix helps you combat this.

Create a simple spreadsheet. List all potential features along the top row (e.g., “Inventory System,” “Dialogue System,” “Crafting”). In the first column, list your target platforms (e.g., “PC,” “Switch,” “Mobile”). Then, fill in the matrix, indicating whether each feature is essential, desirable, or out of scope for each platform.

• Essential: Must-have features for the core game experience.
• Desirable: Nice-to-have features that enhance the game.
• Out of Scope: Features that are not feasible or relevant.

This exercise forces you to make tough decisions early on. For example, maybe that elaborate crafting system is “desirable” for PC, but “out of scope” for a mobile port due to performance limitations. It’s better to know this now than halfway through development.

Indie Dev Challenge: Realistically assess what you can deliver, not what you want to deliver.

2. Prioritizing Strategically with a Kanban Board

Now that you’ve defined your scope, you need to prioritize features strategically. A Kanban board is a visual tool for managing workflow. Trello and Jira are popular choices, but even a physical whiteboard with sticky notes works.

Create columns for “To Do,” “In Progress,” “Testing,” and “Done.” Break down each essential feature into smaller, actionable tasks (e.g., “Implement basic inventory UI,” “Implement item pickup logic”). Place these tasks in the “To Do” column.

Prioritize tasks based on their impact on the core game loop. What needs to be working for players to even enjoy a basic, but fun, experience? Focus on those first. Move tasks across the board as you work on them.

Indie Dev Challenge: Avoid multitasking. Focus on completing one task before starting another. This dramatically increases efficiency.

3. Estimating Task Durations Accurately with Time Tracking

Accurate estimation is crucial for realistic timelines. This is where most developers using only vertical slices fail to gauge correctly how long the development process will take. Many underestimate how long each aspect of development will take.

Use a time tracking tool like Toggl Track or Clockify. Before you start working on a task, start the timer. When you finish, stop the timer and record the actual time spent. Be honest with yourself.

After completing a few tasks, analyze your data. You’ll quickly identify areas where you consistently underestimate or overestimate. Use this information to refine your future estimates.

For example, you might find that implementing a simple UI element actually takes twice as long as you initially thought. This knowledge is invaluable for planning the rest of your project.

Indie Dev Challenge: Don’t forget to factor in time for bug fixing, testing, and polish. These often take longer than the initial implementation.

From Planning to Progress: Consistent Journaling

The tools above are powerful, but they are most effective when combined with consistent journaling. Keep a daily or weekly development log. Document your progress, challenges, and lessons learned. Note down time spent on certain tasks and your observations about development pace.

This ongoing reflection helps you refine your estimation skills over time. You’ll begin to identify patterns and anticipate potential roadblocks. It also provides a valuable record of your journey, which can be motivating during tough times.

The ultimate goal is to understand your own development process intimately. This is where a dedicated game dev journal truly shines. It’s not just about recording what you did, but reflecting on how you did it and how you can improve. It turns your past experiences into data to inform your future planning. You can track your progress, reflect on challenges, and refine your estimation skills over time, turning you into a better, more efficient developer.

Track your development process effectively with our dedicated game development journal tool.