Today is the last day of the #AprilTTRPGMaker Challenge, and I figured I'd quickly go over some of the tips and hints I've discovered during the development process.
Remember that whole cliche about missing 100% of the shots you don't take that floats around from time to time?
It's not just a cliche. I've seen a lot of people work on really good projects and ultimately abandon them.
I mention that you should keep going when it's rough, but it's not even always a rough patch that leads people to give up; it's not having passion or commitment.
Passion is important, but it's fleeting. If you want to make a game that you can distribute and, if you so desire, make money off of it, you need to keep going in the droughts.
Commitment is even more important. Work on your games frequently. Don't just say "when I feel like it" because you'll be surprised how long of a window can pass between feeling like it.
I attribute most of my success as a game designer to my time as a game reviewer. I've read through the rules of at least a hundred games over the years, and that gives me a really good baseline to work with.
Most of my games are not so much generative–based on entirely new ideas–as iterative, taking my favorite ideas from many different contexts and applying them to one core that I've recreated from scratch.
In addition, I loosely follow industry trends and others in my immediate circle to see what works for them and what doesn't. When everyone's doing something, it may be a good idea to do it too, or it could just be a trend. Watch carefully and see if you can find something that works for you.
If you don't, who will?
I'm sympathetic to people who have playtesting issues. From my experiences, I've seen several games that are very strong (I don't want to name them here and potentially embarrass their creators) that have been released with very little playtesting relative to the big industry giants like D&D or Pathfinder.
But you need to play your game. If it feels like a job while you're playing it, you've probably done something wrong. That's not to say you don't test while playing–look for the issues that naturally come up–but you need to know whether or not your game is fun.
I'm perfect at this one, with a few rare exceptions. The few times I've released on a deadline have usually been when I've delayed a completed thing so I can release it when I said I would.
You want to make sure that you're putting out quality, not just quantity, and it's tempting to release games without really considering the way they will be received or how it will impact your brand.
You can release stuff before it's finished, especially in this day and age of digital distribution where you can fix any issues and iterate. However, you want to make sure that it's clearly known that your work is still incomplete, and that your playtesting material is still coherent enough to look like a game (rather than a loose collection of drivel).
velotha's flock was a passion project, born of experimental free-verse poetry and an odd obsession I had with were-ravens for a while. It was my first game I published in a long time, and it rebooted my development process and ultimately started a trend of events that led to general self-improvement on my part.
Things you're passionate about are easy to work with and on. You'll find that the work goes quicker and you produce a better quality product because you really want to do it. If you're working as a team, it's important to communicate your vision and really put it out there for people.
Note that passion isn't a necessity, but you shouldn't just abandon it entirely. When there's something that's eating at you, work on it. My setting The Legacy of Eight got incredible feedback, and I'm aiming to eventually return to it as I finish my current projects.
It was the product of frantic midnight scrabblings and rapturous moments of contemplation.
There's something to be said for maintaining your inner course and going with your gut. It's probably 80% of my design philosophy (or at least design practice). I can tell you with certainty that I made many decisions in starting Hammercalled that got a fair amount of push-back, but I was also able to find people who agreed with my decisions (as well as good games that did the same things I was moving toward).
When you listen to others, you're going to make better games. This is because there is no platonic ideal for a game. I made sure that while I listened to people I recorded their feedback and brought it into the development process–even if I didn't agree or if I was still going to go with what I had. 
Learn from others, because they might know more than you do, or at least an equal amount of different information and wisdom that can bolster your own.
Image via @kiranansi on Twitter
