Why I Scoped My First Game Down to (Almost) Nothing
Game Dev #gamedev#scope#motivation
Every first-game guide says "make something small." I ignored them, failed, and came back to build the smallest possible thing. It shipped.
My first “game” was going to be an open-world roguelike with crafting. You can guess how that went.
The reset
I deleted it and gave myself one rule: one screen, one mechanic, one win condition. No menus, no save system, no art pipeline.
The result was a tiny avoid-the-blocks game I finished in a weekend. It’s not impressive. But it exists, and finishing taught me more than six months of not-finishing ever did.
The lesson
Momentum beats ambition when you’re starting out. A done tiny thing is worth ten unfinished big ones.