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What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

dylanwilson.net

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Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#121

Post by tpxl »

the_af wrote: post #90
dkersten wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what commitments you made to your users. It could be as simple as just abandoning the project or it could be something more elaborate like handing it over to someone else.

But why do you have to think about this "as soon as you have your first user"? Not every project is a business and not every project needs an "exit plan". Not everyone doing a project needs to think in entrepreneur terms.

If people are interested in your project, it's courteous to let them know what's going on, even if just to tell them the project won't continue.

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#122

Post by the_af »

tpxl wrote: post #121
the_af wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why do you have to think about this "as soon as you have your first user"? Not every project is a business and not every project needs an "exit plan". Not everyone doing a project needs to think in entrepreneur terms.

If people are interested in your project, it's courteous to let them know what's going on, even if just to tell them the project won't continue.

I fully agree. I'm just questioning the use of entrepreneurial terms such as "exit strategy", especially early in the life of your project.

    "What are you doing?"
    "I'm painting, some people bought my pictures"
    "So what's your exit strategy?"

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#123

Post by notadonut »

"failure disguised as success" is a profound insight.

The Silicon Valley version of this is raising a lot of money when you don't have product-market fit or the right co-founder or both. Getting other people to commit millions of dollars to a bad idea or the wrong team is a great way to waste years of your life. It leads to what I call perverse persistence -- not letting go until long after you should have.

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#125

Post by dkersten »

the_af wrote: post #90
dkersten wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what commitments you made to your users. It could be as simple as just abandoning the project or it could be something more elaborate like handing it over to someone else.

But why do you have to think about this "as soon as you have your first user"? Not every project is a business and not every project needs an "exit plan". Not everyone doing a project needs to think in entrepreneur terms.

The “exit plan” could be as simple as “do nothing and abandon it”. You don’t “have to” do anything and are under no obligation to do anything, however decency says that in some circumstances you probably should.

When you have people using your stuff, you have to decide whether you care about them or not. It’s ok not to care, you don’t owe anybody anything, but if you lead them on or give them the impression that you do, then they are invested in something because of it and it would be pretty shitty to just disappear. You still can, if you like, but you should at least do it consciously.

If you have people the impression that you would support something then you need to be clear with them that this isn’t actually the case, otherwise you’re a bit of a dick for leading them on. It’s perfectly ok to just throw something out to the world without supporting it in any way and it’s also ok to step back from something you did once support, but you should at least communicate this so people don’t get the wrong impression.

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#126

Post by dkersten »

the_af wrote: post #122
tpxl wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If people are interested in your project, it's courteous to let them know what's going on, even if just to tell them the project won't continue.

I fully agree. I'm just questioning the use of entrepreneurial terms such as "exit strategy", especially early in the life of your project. "What are you doing?" "I'm painting, some people bought my pictures" "So what's your exit strategy?"

The terminology doesn’t matter. It’s used here because this is a very entrepreneurial audience and most people understand what is meant by it. I don’t think anyone means to imply that you need to treat your hobby/side projects like a business.

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#127

Post by zarfius »

kabacha wrote: post #119
zarfius wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had goals. Some of those goals I did reach but having goals and knowing how to reach them are very different things. Thanks for reading.

Sorry didn't mean to offend you. However I'd urge you to stay optimistic — you made a great thing that inspired and taught a lot of people and probably had a lot of fun while making it! Not everything needs to be measured in shekels. The only mistake you seem to have made is that you didn't quit soon enough which is a story as old as the idea of collaborative project itself and I think people will continue making it.

No problem. You're absolutely right. I did have fun making it and learned a lot in the process. No regrets.

Goals change over time. Even now I'm making new goals that will no doubt be a bit different in years to come.

Re: What I Learned About Failing from My 5 Year Indie Game Dev Project

#128

Post by the_af »

dkersten wrote: post #126
the_af wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree. I'm just questioning the use of entrepreneurial terms such as "exit strategy", especially early in the life of your project. "What are you doing?" "I'm painting, some people bought my pictures" "So what's your exit strategy?"

The terminology doesn’t matter. It’s used here because this is a very entrepreneurial audience and most people understand what is meant by it. I don’t think anyone means to imply that you need to treat your hobby/side projects like a business.

Well, the terminology matters to me. The language we use tends to frame how we think about issues. I find the language of entrepreneurship distasteful when used outside a business context.
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