Comments on: What “Almost Finished” Really Means

By: GameProducer.Net » The 7 Worst Game Design Mistakes

GameProducer.Net » The 7 Worst Game Design Mistakes — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:56:26 +0000

[...] changes are necessity, leaving big design totally open will most likely belong to category called “almost finished” – something that probably won’t ever be [...]

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:18:26 +0000

That happens.

I also said in February 2006 that the Edoiki project “should be completed in 2-3 months”. Almost 12 months has passed and we are still not near “almost finished” ;)

By: carey

carey — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:10:01 +0000

i would say that you’re wrong but your not. you are dead on. ive been working on this game for a while and after a month i said that it was 75% done. i am currently on my 5th month working on it. it was supposed to only be a short game, but things change :)

By: Impossible

Impossible — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:42:07 +0000

Generally I take any estimate I have and double or quadruple it. Boxen was “almost done” for about 6 months… and even though its been released it is still is “almost done” as we redo the artwork and perhaps the gameplay.

A previous game was “almost done” except for content, for about 6 months. In reality the game was about 10%-20% done and would have taken another 2 or 3 years to finish (and end up with a decently fun product.) That game was cancelled after about a year of development.

By: GameProducer.Net » Archive » The 5 Rules of Choosing The Right Webhosting Service

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:49:20 +0000

[...] Some people buy a really fast (and expensive) dedicated server “in case they need it some day in the future”. It’s different to prepare for week or month in advance, but don’t make the mistake to purchase an expensive upgrade because your product is almost finished and you need to “prepare for the launch”. [...]

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 07:14:20 +0000

@Pogacha: so true, besides this there are lots of other factors people ignore (vacations, sick days, general tasks, checking email (!), etc. etc.).

@Jake: I’ve have done similar work: project work for years. I’m going to bring an article (this month) about project duration estimation hopefully it can be of some help.

By: GBGames

GBGames — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:42:50 +0000

“Please do me a favor and show me that I’m wrong here.”

I would, but my one month project is going to go into its ninth month, and I would feel a bit hypocritical. B-)

By: Pogacha

Pogacha — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:20:29 +0000

I think that the most common problem is that people count only task they know, but there is a big list that will apear after that. If this is your first game there is no way to know how much more time it will cost. In my case I’m in the last month since 6 months, and now I can’t imagine what will stop me this month to finish it.
For example taking Screen Shoots take me 20 hours … can you belive it!? I didn’t count this as a task!, so not only bugs and updates can stop the release.
A good thing that I’m doing is taking notes about the tasks that apears and how is the progress curve.
My next game will have the version 0.5 when it’s finished XD.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:05:58 +0000

When I was finishing Derelict, I was perpetually “about a month from being finished” – for 12 months.

By: Dan Marshall

Dan Marshall — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 12:49:19 +0000

Gibbage is going to go Gold next weekend. Definitely definitely definitely it is. I don’t mean “in two weeks’ time”, I mean this time next week I’ll do the final compile and burn it to disk.

You’re right, though. I’ve been saying it’s 95% done since about october. Which clearly wasn’t true at all.

But it is now.