It's Not Quite Done
Everything is basically working. The graphics are in place, the gameplay is 10x better than the prototype, and your app seems ready to launch. Except it’s not—not quite.
If you expect to get everything right in one draft, think again. It’s easy to forget that the first totally working version of your game is still just the first version. You may have already gone through several graphical revisions, revamped and polished your code more times than you’d care to remember, and it would be so easy and seem so natural to let all your beta testers know they’ll have something to explore in a day or two.
Recently, we realized (or more accurately, took to heart) that the first working version is never the last. Just another one of those start-up lessons we had to learn.
It’s functioning, you’ve squashed most of the big bugs, you’re mostly pleased with the design, and the gameplay seems as addictive as you intended. Why delay the launch?
Because this is the first time you actually get to hold your software in your hands. Looking at designs in Photoshop is totally different than seeing it on your device’s screen. And even that is immensely different than interacting with it. Now that you can you play with your work, it’s time to add the charm and polish that is almost impossible to plan for.
This is something we’re prepared for from the beginning. We don’t get demoralized now when we have a ton of tiny little adjustments to make. We have this time set aside in the project checklist straight from the start.
Instead of seeing all these small jobs as obstacles in the way of launch day, we see them as opportunities to add that extra special something every good game possesses and what will ultimately set it apart.