In the gaming industry, one of the key elements influencing the final form of a target application is time. With limited time, our options also become limited. Any ‘refinements“, additional interactive elements that attract the user’s attention, ‘improvements’ – all this with a limited time, always in the priority hierarchy below the main goal . For short-term fatalities we need to focus primarily on the performance of our core tasks, as well as on the quality of our products. Often, secondary mechanics take a back seat. Even though they are often small, insignificant elements, they can ultimately make a big difference in getting our product delivered. So is it worth investing more time in your production once your target goals are met?
Implementation versus Artistic Vision
We always try to prepare the documentation in such a way that we can take into account all the additional factors that were not initially included in the concept. We are interested in identifying violations related to our vision at an early stage and discussing cases that provide a concrete solution. However, we understand that everything is impossible to predict. It is difficult to fully imagine the concept, which is still only on paper. Often the full picture it only comes out at runtime – especially when the person ordering the app has not previously had much experience in the growa industry. Then it turns out that” something else will come in handy “and”there must also be this.’
From our point of view, this is usually not a problem, but you should keep in mind that any added offer may affect the deadline and estimate. Sometimes some sentences are so banal that we can add them at any time. However, there are also some that take much longer. The situation looks different even if we receive very small offers, but in large quantities. Someone might ask “but what is the problem to add this here’” No one, but if we add new elements that number in the dozens, it starts to threaten our estimated deadline, and we need to keep this in mind.
Often the offers and offers we receive are really very good, and it would be great to see them in the final app, but what if the allotted time doesn’t allow us to do so?
Software Updates
Game development doesn’t end with a release date, and releasing an app doesn’t mean you can’t add new items in subsequent updates. For an app that is fully aligned with your vision and goal, you don’t need to release new updates every moment, but you can think about them. What could have been done better? How can we make our product more valuable? However, the most important question is: What do our target users want from us? Launching a product on the market often leads to the creation of a community around it. People who really care about making our product better, who see the potential of this production. You need to listen to such people. You should understand that being a game developer means making a product for someone else. This someone can be a single customer or thousands of people who leave feedback about your products. Our app is created for them, so we should be most concerned about their offer. You need to listen to the community, evaluate opportunities and all the pros and cons associated with the introduction of these offers. If they make sense and should improve our product, why not introduce them?
It is thanks to this connection between the target user and the developer that we can create a truly sustainable community that will get a sense of participation in the implementation of this game. This is very valuable, as it allows us to extend the service life of our products and gain a lot in the eyes of our users as a studio. This ‘co-creation’ of production data together with developers is due to the high popularity of games released in the form of ‘early access”. This way, developers can maintain feedback taken from the game community center on an ongoing basis during development. Because of this, they tend to be tied to a specific studio, which also increases the popularity of future productions. By releasing a targeted game without early access, you have to take into account the fact that you get caught in the eye of people looking for flaws – not surprising, because it’s easier for us to notice a defect than to evaluate a part of a well-functioning gameplay. When the gameplay runs smoothly, we then go deeper in the story world, and any shortcoming or difficulty we encounter leads to frustration, knocking us out of this state. Therefore, it is easier for us to always see the disadvantages than the advantages, because they are a factor that affects the Flow of gameplay. However, early access is a long process that sometimes takes years. This approach requires a lot of time, a lot of money, and a real community – because there is never a guarantee that it will form around your production. If you can build a fandom around it it becomes one big sandbox, and players see more and more possible improvements in it as they play, striving for perfection that at some point we can’t achieve. So I believe that you should take care of your product, lead it, listen to your community, but you should also know how to finish it in the right condition and at the right time to be able to move on.
‘If I had even more time…”
Anyone who works in the industry has heard this more than once, and anyone who is only interested in games, more than once on the day of the premiere, had the opportunity to make sure “that”something was not delayed here.’ Sometimes it happens that even large studios how Ubisoft, CD Project, EA on launch day can surprise us very negatively. I personally remember the experience after the first launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity and Cyberpunk 2077 – I was very disappointed, but also a little surprised. Why? Because these companies couldn’t withstand the pressure of time that they imposed on themselves. No one told them to release these games in this state – no one told them to announce their launch day on that particular day. They themselves overestimated their capabilities, and the hype he’s already sold out . The car was overclocked, and it was no longer possible to stop it – people paid for pre-orders. The launch of this game was postponed many times, and any information about the subsequent postponement of the date was very disappointing for those waiting. Despite these repeated broadcasts, we are well aware of the state of the game on launch day… time is all they need. After all, these companies have gifted people in positions, large headquarters, many people working in them or investors – but still, time has surpassed them.
So it doesn’t matter if you are a big company with a lot of experience or maybe a small studio – never overestimate how much time you need. I am sure that developers who release broken games are well aware of most of the bugs in them. The problem is that no one managed to fix them. Some investors, of course, do not help such companies and just want to make a profit from sales as soon as possible. It’s hard for them to be surprised, they want to finally see the fruits of their investment as soon as possible. You just need to remember that making gamesis not a sprint ‘it’s a marathon.
Bottom line: aboutVR / AR / MR / XR design
When creating software for larger communities, it is always useful to take into account the opinions and suggestions of target users. You have to remember that it’s made for them, and it’s their attention that should mean the most to us. You should also take care to guarantee technical support related to the application that we provide, as well as prepare the team for possible quick updates after the launch itself. It’s another matter to test one company’s app, and another-when suddenly thousands of people start these “tests”. users – there is always a chance that our testers have not encountered this error before, and you should be prepared so that such potentially errors can be quickly corrected later.
Every developer and investor should also be careful not to tie loops on themselves, impossible deadlines. Nothing annoys players more than the postponement of the long-awaited release. It is better to prove a satisfactory product later than to make it available in a deplorable state in a faster time frame.
By launching our product on the market, it would be responsible to include in its budget the possible period of support for our application. Technology is changing, the world is moving forward, and with it the demands of the market. Therefore, it is worth considering in the budget not only the cost of the production itself, but also the prospect of its further development.
