Spam Spam Spam Humbug: Episode 53 – Game Development Challenges II

by WtF Dragon · Published September 7, 2016 · Updated September 15, 2016

Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Google Play | Subscribe on Android | Subscribe on Stitcher | Subscribe on Podbean

We discussed some of the challenges facing would-be game developers in a previous episode, albeit mainly through the lens of a discussion about the potential pitfalls of crowdfunding and the struggles of companies like Portalarium and Cloud Imperium Games (or Roberts Space Industries) to produce their respective games (Shroud of the Avatar and Star Citizen).

This time around, we wanted to hear more from the perspective of indie developers, including those who have (and/or still are) working on Ultima fan projects.

Topics discussed include analysis paralysis; this phenomenon occurs when you overthink things to such a degree that your original (perhaps simple) plan becomes unnecessarily convoluted, to the point of implementation simply not happening. Tweaking is (of course) expected, but it’s too easy to play all of your cards at once and fine tune a game that may possibly never exist.

We also touch on the risk of helping the few at the expense of the all, the debate between how much post-release content to give away for free vs. how much should be charged for, the debate between pay-once-and-play and freemium, and (relatedly) the struggle to set a good price for what you’ve created.