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So, I'm taking from this that the moral is to always do your best work no matter if you think it's a just a toy or if you actually want to sell it. Sometimes t

So, I'm taking from this that the moral is to always do your best work no matter if you think it's a just a toy or if you actually want to sell it. Sometimes toys accidentally become products.

codeulike 12y ago
Nope, because its quite rare for toys to accidentally take off like this. If you 'always do your best work no matter if you think it's a just a toy or if you actually want to sell it' you'll just waste loads of time polishing things that no-one will ever see.
- yen223 12y ago
  Survivorship bias. There's probably a million developers out there who poured their heart and soul into their game, only to have it languish with single-digit sales figures. Uh, not to discourage anyone or anything.
dakotasmith 12y ago
Your comment reminded me of Chris Dixon's idea that big things start out looking like a toy. http://cdixon.org/2010/01/03/the-next-big-thing-will-start-out-looking-like-a-toy/ http://cdixon.org/2010/01/03/the-next-big-thing-will-start-o...
slowmovintarget 12y ago
I thought the take-away could be something a bit more specific, like, make your games fun to play. Al Lowe gave that interview a little while back and it showed up here on HN. He said he was a little sad that people didn't make funny games any more. Well, sometimes they do, and it turns out, people are willing to buy them.
- missn 12y ago
  Second that. A friend made a platformer for an incubator called "Runnin' Around With No Shirt On" where it's basically about a (shirtless) guy running around in hell (and dodging all the basic platform obstacles like spikes, moving platforms, etc.). The goal of the game was to defeat Satan in order to get his shirt back. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever played but I couldn't go one second without laughing at how ridiculous and how much fun it was to play. I love "serious" kinds of play and games with these awesome narratives but sometimes you just want something funny and fun to play!

So, I'm taking from this that the moral is to always do your best work no matter if you think it's a just a toy or if you actually want to sell it. Sometimes toys accidentally become products.

codeulike 12y ago

Nope, because its quite rare for toys to accidentally take off like this. If you 'always do your best work no matter if you think it's a just a toy or if you actually want to sell it' you'll just waste loads of time polishing things that no-one will ever see.

yen223 12y ago
Survivorship bias. There's probably a million developers out there who poured their heart and soul into their game, only to have it languish with single-digit sales figures. Uh, not to discourage anyone or anything.

dakotasmith 12y ago

Your comment reminded me of Chris Dixon's idea that big things start out looking like a toy. http://cdixon.org/2010/01/03/the-next-big-thing-will-start-out-looking-like-a-toy/ http://cdixon.org/2010/01/03/the-next-big-thing-will-start-o...

slowmovintarget 12y ago

I thought the take-away could be something a bit more specific, like, make your games fun to play. Al Lowe gave that interview a little while back and it showed up here on HN. He said he was a little sad that people didn't make funny games any more. Well, sometimes they do, and it turns out, people are willing to buy them.

missn 12y ago
Second that. A friend made a platformer for an incubator called "Runnin' Around With No Shirt On" where it's basically about a (shirtless) guy running around in hell (and dodging all the basic platform obstacles like spikes, moving platforms, etc.). The goal of the game was to defeat Satan in order to get his shirt back. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever played but I couldn't go one second without laughing at how ridiculous and how much fun it was to play. I love "serious" kinds of play and games with these awesome narratives but sometimes you just want something funny and fun to play!