Let me tell you about how creating one of the most mechanically simple games I ever made saved me from quitting indie dev. It wasn’t because it was the most entertaining or best game I ever made.

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Another late night staring at the code. It took 6 months but finally the first 4 bad guys are in and working well. But I don’t love them. I haven’t even started the achievement, upgrade, or microtransaction system and already I’m sick of this game. After reading that can you just feel the burnout setting in. I know I could. I was at a breaking point.

I was at that point when a friend approached me with a game idea to help teach children with autism. After listening to him describe it I saw it as a simple game with one EXTREMELY simple mechanic. I’ve always liked doing teaching games and I needed a change, so lets do it. Best choice I have made in a long time.

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With a simple game in mind that only had 1 mechanic I dove in. We Learn: He She and They was born. The user had to drag a picture to the correct drop off spot out of the 3 possible drop off spots. Within no time I had that in and working and I mean working solid. I couldn’t break it in my wildest attempts. Thats when the real work began.

I started to all all of the things surrounding a game. Pretty and functioning menus with nice animations and transitions. Little easter eggs like clouds that spin when clicked. 16 different encouragements with sound, for when the user dropped off the target to the right or wrong spot. Level end trophies, also with sound. I think you get the idea there was still a lot of work to do after the main game was playable.

But the nice part is, as I added these things I could see the game becoming more full and more complete. I could see the nice polished final product I was creating. Instead of in past games, where I still had 6 months of just basic gameplay features to add. It wasn’t clunky, it wasn’t buggy, I gave the user clear cues and solid feedback. The game felt complete.

The benefits were and still are amazing. It may not be the most fun game I’ve made but it is the one I am most proud of. It got me excited to be a game dev again. It got me active in the community again and proudly talking about my game even though it may not have the level of gameplay typically shared. As a matter of fact check it out on iOS or Android.

If you are like me up there in that background section. Feeling the burnout lingering right there, speaking up behind you. I suggest you try the same. Come up with a very simple game… simpler… even simpler… yup that kind of simple, and dive in. Once you quickly get the game play in polish it, add all the surrounding things a complete game has. Then let me know how you feel after doing that. I bet you are going to want to share it and I’d love to hear about it.