Albert Einstein once said: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”. Even though this is totally true, one can learn from others and avoid making the same mistakes. This also applies to crafting a new game therefore, we have summed up a couple of mistakes you might want to avoid for your game.
Systems not ready – if your game requires an external connection to for example a server, then make sure these systems are ready for launch. It has happened that after launching a game, the servers were not able to perform as intended, resulting in killing the momentum and eventually losing many gamers.
Neglecting testing – have you done sufficient testing before launching the game? Did you test it on all possible devices, languages and internet connections? Overlooking some major testing elements could potentially lead to failure of the game. Of course it’s impossible to have a flawless game, nevertheless try as much testing as possible to avoid huge bug fixes and unhappy customers.
No user feedback – user groups can be very useful to receive valuable input for your game. There are different moments you can ask for user input, for example at the start and after the first prototype. This information could prevent choosing the wrong direction and ending up with a game which has poor customer reviews.
Wrong pricing – good market research leads to the right pricing for your products. How does your competition price their games and how much is your target audience willing to pay? Answer these critical questions to avoid disappointing results when trying to market the game.
Mistakes in the story – gamers can be very critical and a mistake in the storyline could lead to disappointing reactions. I think most of us can remember the feeling when you notice something not making sense in a movie. Weaknesses in the story can give the consumer a depreciating feeling of the whole product.
Repetition in graphics – finding the same face over and over again in a game is hurting the overall reality. Did you build in enough variation in the game to prevent gamers from feeling repetition?
Missing the rights – if you are using music or other intellectual property it is essential to check if you have the rights to do so. It would be quite painful when the owner of the IP knocks on your door just when you are celebrating the success of the game.
Budgeting – also very painful is having to stop your project because you ran out of funding. Do your research and try to build a solid budget plan and reserve some room for error so you can finish your awesome game.
Do you have any additional mistakes to add to this list? Please let us know in the comments section below.