All in the timing

MrBond's picture

Hello everybody,

Given the events of the past month (plus general observations in the past few years), I've come to an understanding that timing plays a strong part in a project's success or progress.  Let's start with the most recent:

Earlier this month, I moved from an apartment to a house.  March in the Midwest generally has horrifically volatile weather, and this year was no different.  But, the timing worked - the week of my move was perfect weather - sunny and warm!  It made the move go smoothly, and I am happily settling in and getting loads of ideas (to be done at the right time).

On the game dev front, take a few years ago, prior to the 'indie renaiassance'.  The usual AAA titles, ho-hum.  Then, a bunch of fresh, smaller games - Braid, and Super Meat Boy, and Minecraft (and a whole bunch of others).

Ah, Minecraft - perfect timing for that one in particular.  While certainly not the first of its kind (admittedly taking inspiration from Infiniminer, amongst others), it came at the perfect time, and with the perfect distribution model.  Even though it was still in alpha, it sold pretty darned well.  And even better, once it hit beta.  And just as well, at release.  And...well...then Mojang got bought out by Microsoft, for a cool 2.5 billion.  Which itself was (likely) good timing for those involved.

And let's not forget Steam Early Access!  All about timing - those games that are far enough along (or not so far), with enough interest from fans, sold early in the hopes of raising funding to finish the games and develop communities.  Of course, it doesn't always go so well, reflected by Valve's recent tuning of the Early Access guidelines.  At any rate, the introduction of a new distribution model certainly helped out the indies with good enough timing to have their games ready - or, at least, have a target in mind for their early release.

Closer to home, I've found that controlling the timing can help a great deal, too.  Not just for getting things done, but for not losing my mind in the process.  That said, we're anout 1.5 years into our incorporation process - and it's nearing the end, too!  Come this June, we will submit our final paperwork and finally have an official entity.  It was delayed several times, for many different reasons, but we've recognized that forcing it would have been worse than waiting.  I'm glad we're fortunate enough to have that option.

And, in proper form, you can read the latest from Tormod and Boris.  Both of whom, as timing has it, have had a lot of very cool events happen to them recently, too!  (The latter of which is "The Analyst"!)

That's all for now.

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