Is finding the fun all about luck?
Do you think “Finding the fun” is all about luck?
Have you worked on a game where it feels like you are not moving forward?
Do you know how to effectively turn information into knowledge?
I've seen many game dev studios with a great idea, strong team, and a burning passion for making games get stuck in an endless loop of iterations where everyone is putting in huge amounts of effort but somehow the project doesn't move forward.
There is a phase in game development, sometimes called "Finding the fun". This means connecting all parts of your idea together into something functional enough to prove that the idea is good and that the original vision is worth pursuing. This is not something you can quantifiably measure but rather you'll instinctively know. And when you let other people try it, they just feel it too.
As game creators, this is our ultimate goal. We learn complex software, programming languages, and development methods. We spend days, weeks, and months mastering our craft, ultimately to accomplish this simple goal.
We want to create something fun!
We all love those anecdotal stories about classic games where the developers faced the "all is lost" moments. A classic game that was a big mess of pieces that didn't fit together, but somehow, something just clicked, the pieces fell into place, and the vision was realized. I think we can all relate to the feeling and are grinding along, hoping that the pieces in our project fall into place, just like in these stories
Listening to these stories, you might think that finding the fun happens by accident. You might think that you can work on your game, make changes, add features, tweak properties, and then all of a sudden, there you see it. A glimpse of that elusive beacon we are all looking for. The path towards the fun.
And once you find it, it'll light your way forward. Every decision will be easy, the timeline becomes clear, and you sail on calm seas towards a commercial release.
Sure, finding the fun sometimes happens by chance. Just like winning the lottery happens by chance. And often, especially with studios working on their first game, this feels like trying to win the lottery. But in reality, its not about luck.
Finding the fun is a skill that can be trained.
I've been lucky enough to work on many game projects where we both found the fun, and didn't. And I can confidently say that finding the fun is not about luck. It is a skill. And just like writing code, designing systems, and making art, finding the fun is a skill that can be trained.
The skill that enables you to find the fun is confidently turning information into knowledge.
It's easy to throw together a prototype, present a design document, or pitch a concept. But what do you do with the result? Do you know the value of the result and what to do with it? Every one of these activities answers questions. Did my playtesters have fun with my prototype? Did my design address any pain points or did I get any valuable feedback after my pitch?
As game developers, it's easy to gather a huge amount of information. But it's what you do with information that is the key. Information can be valuable when you learn something that you can build on. Information can also be dangerous, where if you act on it, you damage your product and move further away from your goal.
The skill to hone is to confidently be able to turn information into knowledge that lets you take deliberate steps towards finding the fun instead of hoping to win the lottery.
