𝑇𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝘩𝑖𝑐𝘩 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑘𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑘𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑠𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝘩𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓) 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛… 𝑡𝘩𝑒 “𝑤𝘩𝑦? … 𝑊𝘩𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑠?”

𝐼𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝘩𝑜𝑏𝑏𝑦, 𝑎 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 “𝘩𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑠” 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒) 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡, 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦…

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝟺𝑘 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟… 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝘩𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛; 𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑠, 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝘩𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑠𝘩𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑠/𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛.

𝐷𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝘩𝑖𝑔𝘩, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑠𝘩𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝘩 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝘩 𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑆:𝐺𝑂 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠… 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒…

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐴 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒.

𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤? 𝑇𝑜𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐𝘩 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡.
𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟,
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑,
𝐼𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

Sometimes a game doesn’t have to be good to be captivating.

How many examples of the art drawing you in but the gameplay being lackluster have you found?
Indies, particularly, suffer from this but that doesn’t mean developers shouldn’t experiment with the medium and bring to life ideas that sound great on paper but not so much on screen.

Maybe the gameplay loop is repetitive, the combat boring or the mechanics overdone… indies can defy this though by having immense soul; something that triple A studios with their thousand employees and processed assembly line of production generally do without.

So go on and experiment, youthful, downtrodden and impoverished developer and let us see what you have in store. Like a famous poet writing terrible prose to start off or a painter not understanding what color goes where – you must first try in order to find out, if this is your calling after all.