Chapter 2.1: Development Misery and How to Avoid It

Overview

Sean Timarco Baggaley

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It is common to hear of the great successes in our industry: the celebrities who have made millions from games and produced strings of hits. Yet, success is often not a good teacher. Many early game developers were successful as much through blind luck and serendipity as through judgment and management skill. In the 8-bit days, when development teams could be as small as one person, "management" was a dirty word, and formal business practices, aside from hiring an accountant, were rare.

Today, the industry has changed beyond recognition. Even the smallest of mainstream games can cost millions of dollars, and a developer wishing to go it alone is embarking on a dangerous path.

Success is well advertised, but failure hires no PR companies. This is a shame as many of the mistakes made in our industry—and others—get forgotten in a rosetinted haze of hype. Yet, without being aware of the mistakes, it is difficult to learn from them.

The statistics—only one in five new businesses, regardless of industry or market, succeeds—speak for themselves. The games industry today is already a risk; going it alone adds even more.

And yet many people still do it for the same reason why people play national lotteries: the rewards might be rare, but when you win, you can really win.

Success speaks for itself, so this article highlights the mistakes, the traps, and pitfalls that can beset the unwary.