Game Project Completed: How Successful Indie Game Developers Finish Their Projects

by Thomas Schwarzl

How do you become a successful indie game developer? Excellent programming skills, smart game design and fancy graphics don't make you a successful game developer. It's the ability to complete a game project which brings you success, confidence and joy. Dominating the inner game of game making is what separates the pros from the wannabes. It's about staying focused, motivated and efficient as well as about thinking as a salesperson, not just as a designer, a programmer or an artist. This book shows you plenty of tricks how to prevent human nature from ruining your game project. Simple issues like embarrassment, procrastination or perfectionism can become death traps for your success. So you should be aware of these perils to avoid them or to cope with them. Most game development books address design, coding, graphics or similar topics. They teach how to make games. This book does not show you how to make them. It shows you how to finish them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Games, Game Design, Technical

114 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2014

Reviews

[Beatrice Lapa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm already doing most of what's in the book before I even got myself a copy. It's just really good to know that my methods have been validated by a published author and someone who has been in the industry for more than a decade. :D

And don't worry Mr. Schwarzl, I may have suffered a major setback (in the form of two thieves, one using the title "landlord") while creating one of my games, but I promise it will not see the same season.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great encouragement for someone who always finishes 75% of his games.

This book comes across more like a “self-help” book, but specifically for someone who’s in a specific situation - needing to wrap up building a game. There is a ton of great advice for different levels of indie developers, and it’s encouraging to see an entire book covering a topic that seems to bite me after 100 hours of game development.

[Vanz Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some part of this book is basic things, so many people may already know about it. But, Basic things are proven to be right.
So, I enjoyed reading this book and want to keep it close to me for the case I forget the basic things which I think is important.

[Hesam m · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas has a friendly, easy to read writing style which helps to deliver the most from the least words. This book doesn't try to tell you 1000 ways a project can go wrong, however it tells how to prevent all those ways while staying motivated and goal-oriented.

[Ahmed Moudabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good general overview of how to finish game projects but doesnt really go into detail, so its pretty short. Reccommend starting on last chapter before reading it because it proposes IRL lifestyle changes.

[Candy Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

i recommend this book for newbies in game dev, it exposes multiple topics that you will encouter in your way.. thank you Thomas, i really enjoyed reading it

[Zack Zefferini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book.

[Francesco Corso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but fairly obvious. There's nothing groundbreaking in here. Pretty well put together though and fairly short to boot.

[John Janowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Lots of great advice and a helpful read to stay motivated in making games or just in life in general!

[Osama Alsalman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book, you can get many nice tips from it. However I took 2 stars out for the book fillers, which are stuff that most of us know and are not that beneficial.

[Daniel Selbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short self help book

For those of you expecting key elements to finishing a game on a technical level, you won't find it here. This is more of a self help book that deals with the emotions you may experience and gives you tips on dealing with them. Given that, I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to not just those working on a game, but to any entrepreneur working on a project.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and to the point. Good tips to keep in mind.

[Reik Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice advices and it gives you confidence. The book is short and well written, a must read, at least for beginners in the industry.