【SUPER METBOY!#10】Deadlines for Indie Game Development

Hello, everyone. It's Kou from Flyhigh Works.

Today, we are presenting 「SUPER METBOY!」, which has been positively received and is currently available on Nintendo Switch and STEAM

In issue#10Asaba Aki, Lead Game Designer from Rebuild Games, will talk in-depth about the "Deadlines for Indie Game Developmentrelated to the SUPER METBOY!

 

■Deadlines exist to complete the game

Most indie games are developed using the developer's capital and risk.

 

That results in the developer prioritizing the game's quality and making up rough schedules. 

 

To proceed with risk and the motivational thinking of "I want to make it the way I want" or "I want to make it better," there are too many things I want to do, so completion is a long way off and boundless.

 

In the case of team production, maintaining all team members' motivation, etc.,  is a burden of team management, which can be weighing.

 

Now that is when the deadline(=appointed date of release)becomes an essential key point to judging the quality agreement. 

 

We use our judgment and do as we please when creating games in indie game development. However, I think it would be ironically troublesome to complete a game without an enforced legally binding deadline. 

 

 

■Deadlines are a method of materialization

 

Deadline is not just a word for a deadline for a product. 

 

In the case of indie game development, there are initiated deadlines from the outside, such as event exhibitions, contests, etc., so these schedules typically do not change. 

 

An enforced legal binding deadline sets a position where there is no choice but to complete development because there are no personal excuses.

 

By legally critical milestones for deadlines, it is possible to calculate backward the remaining work/tasks.

 

In other words, it's inexpensive to decide to「 abandon large-scale work/tasks」.


When sorting out "what you can do," "what you cannot do," "what you should do," and "what you do not have to do," in this way, it becomes clearer "what you should really do." 

 

■Regrets will flow into the next production 

Although this is not confined to indie games, I think it is essential to decide 「what not to do」.

 

Of course, decisions are made with deadlines shielded from heavy work, and distinct issues, regrets, etc., appear. However, I try to find a straightforward solution and use that as motivation for the following.

 

Anyway, move forward with the decisions made, and make the best of regrets with the following work!

 

A few more words from the developer

Lead Game Designer Asaba Aki

Do not wait until the deadline to do something; instead, use the time to explore all the fun/interesting possibilities in your heart. 

The inability to make straightforward decisions may simply be from me being inexperience.

 

However, I think it's refreshing to make it through repeatedly staying up all night to barely just in time to meet the deadline is may be close to the game development scene back in the day that I admired.

 

That may be the reason why I enjoy indie game development.

 

 

Afterwords

 

That's it for the【SUPER METBOY! #10】presentation.
What do you think of it?

Here are the【SUPER METBOY!】STEAM Store and eShop pages. Feel free to check them out if you're interested! 

www.nintendo.com

store.steampowered.com

And, Flyhigh Times is now accepting anonymous fan mail on our Marshmallow page!

If you have any impressions/thoughts on the article or questions you would like to ask the developer or production team, please send them our way!

flyhightimes.jp