Whether you’re working on a product, a game, a business, or a random project, it’s immediately apparent when creators have a strong desire to work on their project and make it awesome.
Conversely, one of the most difficult aspects of game design is over-ambition. It’s really easy to get excited about features you could implement in your game. You don’t want to avoid adding good ideas, but you also don’t want to add so many that you never actually get around to shipping the game.
I was recently looking at games on Steam’s front page for VR software. I noticed the third tile in their front page gallery was for an extremely simple jigsaw puzzle game. I felt a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to put much time into Space Capitalism Simulator as of late. I was also envious that a product, which was relatively quick to make, was featured on the front page of Steam’s VR section.
It’s not a game I would play for more than a few minutes, but it inspired me to open up my game and fast-track the game’s launch. I started pulling features, deleting rooms, and tweaking the story. In one session I was able to give the player a goal, implement that goal, and lay out the steps I need to complete the paths to each goal.
TLDR? It’s great to be passionate about your project. Try not to add too many extra ideas. Just focus on making it fun.