10 Simple Video Game Features (That Are A NIGHTMARE To Develop)

This has to be the most vague, intangible item on the list, but it’s by far the single most difficult thing to create, when it comes to games, due to the very nature of “fun” being totally subjective.

For example, I find trying to flush various objects of increasing size and density down the toilet without flooding the place fun, but my ex-wife did not.

Depending on how simplistic your unique selling point is, your prototype could take as little as a few days to work out if it’s fun or not, but sometimes it takes significantly longer - you might need art, or animations, or even effects in that prototype before you can gauge whether or not it feels fun to play, and by that point, you could’ve spent weeks or even months on it. It’s a real gamble.

This is why sometimes, you’ll see a triple-A game with a budget of $400mil come out, and it’s gorgeous-looking, technically impressive... but unbelievably dull.

By the time you’ve developed the myriad of systems and brought them all together, you’ve already spent a fortune. Why let something as minor as “fun” see that project scrapped?