I'm removing leaderboards from my game apps.
Implementing them took 6 months of my life and almost drove me mad, yet they add absolutely nothing to the core of my game.
Leaderboards don't make a bad game good. A good game makes a game good.
Instead of wasting my time and sanity implementing them, i could have made a new game or updated the core game with cool new features.
I convinced myself leaderboards were essential because... all the other free casual app games seemed to have them.
Now that i finally got my head out of my a$$, i realize the average person doesn't give a shit about leaderboards. Only absolute pro players care about worldwide scores.
Why the F*ck did i waste ~6 months of my life wrestling with plugin providers, wasting money and time for a feature that caters to such a minority of players which i didn't even have yet because my app wasn't viral or popular!?!?!?
I love games, i believe i will eventually break through in the market and at least make a living with my games.
I'm technically skilled, but I'm not passionate about technical programming, or spending that many hours sitting in front of a monitor.
But starting from the bottom i have no money to hire devs, and games is not something you can outsource cheaply.
Over the last few years i've learned all the skillz necessary to create an Minimum Viable Product game, from conception to publishing. I learned the game development tool Unity3D, I minimized the amount of PURE programming i have to do, i spent hundreds on plugins to help make a better CORE game.
In fact i actually do ENJOY programming the LOGIC of the gameplay itself.
but I lost my way... I started working on "bullet point features" that took way more time than they're worth, and that the average customer would not give 2 shits about.
Even though i succeeded in implementing the stuff eventually it obviously didn't do shit for me at the end, and only recently it finally dawned on me to... F*ck it! just remove the goddamn leaderboards!!!
If i ever do go viral and start making money, THAT'S WHEN I CAN HIRE SOME PASSIONATE NERDY PROGRAMMER WHO'D LOVE NOTHING ELSE BUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO IMPLEMENT LEADERBOARDS INTO A POPULAR VIRAL GAME...
so wtf is thread about... you're looking for a fastlane, you see an opportunity, an industry you may like on the surface but hate the nitty gritty details. so LEARN ONLY WHAT YOU NEED TO CREATE THE MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT. Think carefully about wtf you're spending your time on.
DONT FIGHT A LOSING BATTLE TRYING TO DO SHIT YOU HATE WHEN SOMEONE OUT THERE LOVES THAT SHIT WITH A PASSION. HIRE THAT PERSON THE FIRST CHANCE YOU GET. DELEGATE. DELEGATE. DELEGATE.
but while you're broke, just learn what you NEED to learn, no more no less. It's hard enough work as it is.
I wasted a whole shit of time, some money, lots of stress and hitting walls with shit that i now realize doesn't really mean shit for my products, at least not in the starting stages... but i learned my lesson... i definitely learned my lesson the hard way...
Know what MOST of your market wants, don't waste time PERSONALLY catering to a minority if you have to learn more shit you're not passionate about.
Leave something for the passionate people to work on when u hire them in the future
That's how it's supposed to work!
rant over sorry
Implementing them took 6 months of my life and almost drove me mad, yet they add absolutely nothing to the core of my game.
Leaderboards don't make a bad game good. A good game makes a game good.
Instead of wasting my time and sanity implementing them, i could have made a new game or updated the core game with cool new features.
I convinced myself leaderboards were essential because... all the other free casual app games seemed to have them.
Now that i finally got my head out of my a$$, i realize the average person doesn't give a shit about leaderboards. Only absolute pro players care about worldwide scores.
Why the F*ck did i waste ~6 months of my life wrestling with plugin providers, wasting money and time for a feature that caters to such a minority of players which i didn't even have yet because my app wasn't viral or popular!?!?!?
I love games, i believe i will eventually break through in the market and at least make a living with my games.
I'm technically skilled, but I'm not passionate about technical programming, or spending that many hours sitting in front of a monitor.
But starting from the bottom i have no money to hire devs, and games is not something you can outsource cheaply.
Over the last few years i've learned all the skillz necessary to create an Minimum Viable Product game, from conception to publishing. I learned the game development tool Unity3D, I minimized the amount of PURE programming i have to do, i spent hundreds on plugins to help make a better CORE game.
In fact i actually do ENJOY programming the LOGIC of the gameplay itself.
but I lost my way... I started working on "bullet point features" that took way more time than they're worth, and that the average customer would not give 2 shits about.
Even though i succeeded in implementing the stuff eventually it obviously didn't do shit for me at the end, and only recently it finally dawned on me to... F*ck it! just remove the goddamn leaderboards!!!
If i ever do go viral and start making money, THAT'S WHEN I CAN HIRE SOME PASSIONATE NERDY PROGRAMMER WHO'D LOVE NOTHING ELSE BUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO IMPLEMENT LEADERBOARDS INTO A POPULAR VIRAL GAME...
so wtf is thread about... you're looking for a fastlane, you see an opportunity, an industry you may like on the surface but hate the nitty gritty details. so LEARN ONLY WHAT YOU NEED TO CREATE THE MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT. Think carefully about wtf you're spending your time on.
DONT FIGHT A LOSING BATTLE TRYING TO DO SHIT YOU HATE WHEN SOMEONE OUT THERE LOVES THAT SHIT WITH A PASSION. HIRE THAT PERSON THE FIRST CHANCE YOU GET. DELEGATE. DELEGATE. DELEGATE.
but while you're broke, just learn what you NEED to learn, no more no less. It's hard enough work as it is.
I wasted a whole shit of time, some money, lots of stress and hitting walls with shit that i now realize doesn't really mean shit for my products, at least not in the starting stages... but i learned my lesson... i definitely learned my lesson the hard way...
Know what MOST of your market wants, don't waste time PERSONALLY catering to a minority if you have to learn more shit you're not passionate about.
Leave something for the passionate people to work on when u hire them in the future
That's how it's supposed to work!
rant over sorry
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