How to scope an indie game
Scope is the main reason small games don’t get finished. A practical way to size a game you can actually ship.
How to scope an indie game
Most games that never ship weren’t too hard to make. They were too big for the time and people available. Scoping is deciding, before you start and again at every milestone, how much game you can really finish.
When you’re behind, remove a feature rather than working longer. Cutting is a decision you control; crunch is a cost you pay later.
How to scope an indie game: part 1
- Write the core loop in one sentence. If it needs two, you have two games.
- List every feature you can think of. Everything, with no filtering yet.
- Sort the list into three groups. Without it the game doesn’t work; with it the game is better; and “it would be nice”.
- Estimate the first group honestly. Then double it. Almost everyone is optimistic, and almost everything takes longer.
- Compare the estimate to the time you have. If it doesn’t fit, cut from the first group too, until it does.
How to scope an indie game: part 2
- Build a small, complete version first. A game you can play from start to finish is worth more than half of a bigger one.
- Write down new ideas instead of adding them. A “later” list lets you keep an idea without paying for it now.
- Make content last. Mechanics are the risk. Levels, items and quests are where the time goes, so don’t build many before the loop is proven.
- Cut early. Removing a feature in month two costs a day; removing it in month eighteen costs a month.
- Ship something small first. A short game released teaches you more about finishing than a long one never released.
How to scope an indie game: part 3
- The list of things to do grows faster than you finish them.
- You are working on features you haven’t tested with a player.
- You can’t say what’s in the game right now, only what will be.
- You keep restarting systems rather than finishing content.