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AppGameKit Classic Chat / I've found polishing to take up most of my dev time

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Satchmo
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Joined: 29th May 2005
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Posted: 7th Apr 2014 01:26
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Hey guys,

I've found that the work I put into polishing my game and making it feel nice and professional is easily more than 50% of the time I dedicate to development. Tweaking small things and giving the game that extra layer of quality is a huge time suck. What are some of your experiences with this kind of thing? I almost get annoyed when I think about all the things I want to add but wont be able to because I'm spending so much time perfecting whats already there haha.

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ManOfActionTM
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Joined: 16th May 2011
Location: Sahuarita, Arizona
Posted: 7th Apr 2014 01:31
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It's the 80-20 rule. You typically spend 80% of your time on 20% of the game and vice-versa.
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easter bunny
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Joined: 20th Nov 2012
Playing: Dota 2
Posted: 7th Apr 2014 06:42
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Yep Except that I don't spend that much time on my polishing. I should spend that much time, I just don't. No doubt if I did, I'd be a millionaire by now


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Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
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Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 7th Apr 2014 09:13
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I also spend a lot of time on polishing. 80/20 is the common one. Some say it's 90/10. If your game lacks that little extra it might not even sell but then some polish is mostly unnecessary, especially in AAA development. A lot of polish is basically making things less noticeable or feel right. The player will not know how much time you spend on it but if you didn't then they would notice the lack of polish.

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BatVink
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 7th Apr 2014 15:57
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Quote: "It's the 80-20 rule. You typically spend 80% of your time on 20% of the game and vice-versa."


That one.

One way to combat this is to make sure you have a V1 and V2 list. If you have an idea that you didn't plan to do originally, put it on the V2 list and forget about it. You'll find it much more rewarding to work on the V2 list once V1 is published. You'll then have more time to polish.

The second way to combat the problem is to set a deadline and stick to it. If the game works, then you need to learn the art of publishing a game that isn't quite as visually perfect as you'd like. This is why competitions are always successful in producing finished games from people who would never usually finish one.

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Ched80
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Posted: 8th Apr 2014 07:48
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I usually find when you think the game is 90% done, you're only half way!

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Satchmo
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Posted: 9th Apr 2014 01:22
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Hah sounds about right. I'm not used to getting far enough into the development of a game that I start polishing, which is why I haven't experienced this before I guess. AppGameKit and this competition has forced me to think on a much smaller and more realistic scale. I would never have imagined being able to finish a project in 2 months, usually I would lose interest around the 3 or some month mark and move on. I'm close enough to completion on my competition entry that I wouldn't dare stop, it's a nice change.

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Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
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Posted: 9th Apr 2014 09:49
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I do polish all the time. I find it easier to polish something while it is fresh in my head rather than going back to old code. Whenever I find something that I want to improve on I write it down and fix it soon so I don't have to think about it any more. Sure, I've been working on RTA for almost 2 years now.

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ThrOtherJoJo
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Location: California
Posted: 9th Apr 2014 22:52
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One of my problems was designing a game that would take 6 to 8 months to complete. And when I hit the 3 month mark I would get depressed because I started to feel that I should have something out by now.

So what I decided to do was create small little nuggets that takes 1 to 2 months to complete. At least then I would have something out.
And then maybe if I could start developing full time, then that 6 month project wouldn't be so bad.

But polishing will take up a lot of time. The biggest problem I have is knowing when to stop polishing. I nick-pick too much. I'm my own worst critic.

I need to go back to way of thinking when I created Joeisms. I didn't care too much about how things looked. I just went with what came to me first and implemented it.


@Batvink
You are spot on with the v1 and v2 list. This has allowed my current project to get further along in development. I'm planning a April 21st release for the first version.

Joeisms
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Impetus73
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Location: Volda, Norway
Posted: 11th Apr 2014 13:41
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I find that designing levels are the biggest time eater. When all works, and the graphics are nice, you still have to make those 100 levels... all unique, playable and inspiring... yea....

----------------
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Did Amiga / AMOS programming in the 90's.
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Brendy boy
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Location: Croatia
Posted: 21st Apr 2014 23:23 Edited at: 21st Apr 2014 23:43
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After you finish the first 90% of a project, you have to finish the other 90% - Michael Abrash

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