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[Donutttt]

Hi all,

I've heard a lot of people say that you shouldn't ever give up on a game. But I'm at the point where the code I wrote in the past is now so unmanageable that continuing forward seems so so difficult. After a year of developing the game in my free time I realise the scale was so much beyond what I had originally thought. I'm at the point of wanting to just start a very small and simple game and actually finish it, rather than continue with the mess of a game I have now. Has anyone got any input on this?

[ThemsAllTook]

I've heard a lot of people say that you shouldn't ever give up on a game.

That seems like terrible advice to me. If the game isn't fun and never will be, or if the project in unmanageable, or if you've simply lost interest and are ready to move on, there's absolutely nothing wrong with shelving or scrapping a project. It's good to be wary of starting hundred things and never finishing one before you move on to the next, but not everything you start is worth finishing.

Starting a new small project and finishing it doesn't necessarily mean abandoning your current one. Maybe you'll learn things in the new project after it's done that you can apply to the old one and revitalize it. Finishing one small game is of much more value than working on a large one and never getting anywhere.

[WildFactor]

In our society giving up is seen like a sign of weakness.
In fact it's the opposite most of the time. Buisness man know that and "cut the loss".
You also have to weight how much time you've invested. If your current project need only one month (without lying to yourself) to be finished, yes it might be worst to push to finish it. But if your project need another 6 months and you feel it's going nowhere, you should cut your loss and invest your time in another project.

You see that in poker. Beginner want to bet what ever the cost and the probability of winning. They don't want to look weak. Pro know when they can't win and fold to reduce their loss as much as possible.

Also remember the rule 80/20. 20% of your time to do 80%, and for the last 20% you will need to spend 80% of your time (polish). So you may think you'rr close to the end, you may in fact be very far.


By pushing you too hard you might loose your motivation. This is the worst that can be happening !
So I second ThemsAllTook, you should probably start a new smaller project.

[ASnogarD]

Its ok to give up on a game as long as you gain a lesson from it, in my opinion.

It becomes a issue when you start and give up many times, the lack of completion is very disheartening and makes it very hard to motivate yourself to start again... you are not getting any reward.

This is why planning your game and working with small goals helps a lot, by planning you can theoretically see the hurdles early, and with small goals you gain small victories which helps with motivation.

[digsource]

Yes.

If it really is a great idea and you just have no way of implementing it yet just stow it away for later and work on another.
Jonathan Blow said he made like a hundred or even a thousand prototypes that were never released or he just gave up on before he decided Braid was going to be the game he's gonna publish.

But if your idea is "an MMO where you---" STOP. Don't ever work on it.

[ironbelly]

Don't fall for the sunk cost fallacy If you're not familiar with it, looks it up! It's good reading!

[OccamsRazor]

Pushing forward with a game you no longer believe in is a great way to ruin your motivation and love of development.

If you really love the core concept, but find that the game you're making with it is just too much, try and find a way to scope it wayyy down. Take the core concept and use it, re-use whatever assets you can, and recreate those you can't.

But if you'd just rather work on something new, then go for it! Pick something smaller, and start prototyping.

[Donutttt]

Thanks for all the advice - really, very helpful. For now I'll think I'll wait and see what VERY small idea I can think of to make. I certainly feel positive about that, so thanks for the helpful words.

[Xenophyn]

Like ironbelly said, the sunk cost fallacy is a trap. Plus, in this case, it's not even true - you get value out of working on projects, even if they don't complete. You get education and skills! I'm sure your next project your code will be a little leaner, a little more organized, you'll find shortcuts to long processes you didn't consider the first time around.

Start again. This time around, it'll probably take you half the time, and be a whole lot better than the first go around.

[Dacke]

But it's also important to be able to buckle down and follow through. It's all too easy to always start a new project and never finish anything. Which is where the "make sure to finish"-advice comes from. It can teach you to do the work, accept imperfections and have something to show off. But the advice about finishing really only applies if the project in question is of reasonable scope.

[Canned Turkey]

Writing is re-writing.
Don't feel bad about scrapping a project.
Although, if you have never actually finished a game at all, you might want to consider why that is, so that next time you won't have to scrap it.

[saluk]

If you have trouble finishing, start smaller projects. If you have trouble finishing, start smaller projects than those. Iterate until you can finish - then start expanding up again.

[halk3n]

Hi all,

I've heard a lot of people say that you shouldn't ever give up on a game. But I'm at the point where the code I wrote in the past is now so unmanageable that continuing forward seems so so difficult. After a year of developing the game in my free time I realise the scale was so much beyond what I had originally thought. I'm at the point of wanting to just start a very small and simple game and actually finish it, rather than continue with the mess of a game I have now. Has anyone got any input on this?

I think you should retry. That means to rebuild it from the ground up again. Though not now, you should make that simple game first and then come back.