You Only Have So Many Games In You

Jonas Tyroller said it in a video from one of his interviews1... something along the lines of… and I’m paraphrasing here, that he has maybe only 10 games left in him. For the rest of his life.

That number hit different than I expected.

It’s been a few weeks. Took the family to the UK for the kids spring break, got to speak at Cambridge with my wife at the School of Fine Arts which was an amazing opportunity and experience, and honestly needed the reset. Back now and into the swing of things again. I had a lot of time to think during the flight and watch bad movies like the new reboot of The Running Man. Not that the original wasn’t bad, but maybe nostalgia is creeping in and affecting my judgement here.

10 games in him. Not playing 10 games, but making 10 games. But now that I think of it, you could probably apply that to playing games too… if it takes you years to finish a game, which in my case that’s true. but he’s talking about making only 10 games left in his lifetime.

Do the math. If each game takes 3-5 years, and you’re not doing this full-time, 10 is generous. Most indie games actually take a lot longer. 5-10 years maybe when you factor in part-time dev, life stuff, setbacks. In the case of Project Zomboid, they’ve been in production, early access, for a good 14 YEARS! This is the trend lately for games it seems.

Suddenly each project isn’t just “the thing I’m working on.” It’s a significant chunk of your finite creative life. One of maybe ten. Maybe fewer. I’m pretty much mid-life at 46, so I’m already getting a late start in this pool of young hungry indie game developers. Realistically I probably only have about 5 games in me. Maybe less.

Here’s where it gets uncomfortable for me when I really try to apply that to my life. All the advice says make small games, fail fast, learn cheap. Ship something in a month. Then ship another one. Get your reps in so that when you make your “dream” game it actually hits.

But if you only have 10 games in you... do you want 8 of them to be throwaway learning projects? The tension is real. Protect your time for the work that matters vs. don’t bet everything on your first game before you’ve learned the hard lessons. Chris Zukowski of how to market your games said something like, and I’m paraphrasing again so fact check me, around 80% of game devs and that includes studios and startups, only ship one game.

ONE. That’s it.

Most people don’t get to two, let alone ten. That’s because they end up failing on the first go. You put all of your sweat and blood... and mistakes... all into one basket and it doesn’t hit. It doesn’t perform as expected, and you think you suck. You think that was your chance. You think that’s it, You think what’s next? What can I hit it big on next?

The thing is... if you’re looking to hit it big, that might be the wrong reasons to get into game dev. Yes it’s one of the most lucrative businesses in more recent years, surpassing film. But it’s not for the light hearted. We do this because we can’t stop. We do it because we would do it otherwise. It’s just something that’s in us. Not just game devs but creatives in general.

So what does that mean for our game? I don’t have a clean answer here. I’m not sure there is one. But thinking in terms of “how many do I have left” is clarifying. It cuts through a lot of noise.

For the game my brother and I are making... it’s not about small vs. big. It’s about scope discipline. Make something we believe in and want to play, but watch out for scope creep. Keep it manageable for two people. Don’t let it balloon into a 7-year death march, but also don’t strip it down to something we’re not excited about just to ship faster. Of course failing in the process and iterating, but hopefully coming out with something in the end that we feel proud of.

In any case, I’ve been re-thinking how I spend my time lately, like I always do, deleting side projects and what not. Coming up with a roadmap for the next few years to provide some clarity. Prioritizing what actually matters. It’s an honest and scary exercises I like to do every year and this framing is part of that.

How do you think about this? Do you protect your time for the “real” projects, or do you believe in the small-games-first path? I’m genuinely unsure which is right.