Resist the Pressure to Move Quickly.
I had a very rough development timeline sketched out until the first play test. Which the timeline puts near the end of January.
January may be possible, but it’s an aggressive timeline. Especially since I'm a noob that doesn't really know what they're doing. It’ll probably more like February before I start building the level in the first place.
This development timeline is arbitrary in the sense that there's no reason I need one. I don’t have a deadline to meet. There's no publisher pressuring me. And it’s based on my ZERO experience with building and releasing video games.
Over the past couple of weeks I've made pretty good progress & got to the point where I thought I just might make that January play test. But now I'm coming to areas that are gonna force me to slow down and learn new things.
Which is good! I'll come through it as a better developer, and the next time won't take as long. But it does put that January play test back at risk. That shouldn't bug me but it kinda does.
Having said that...
Building games is hard. As a noob this one could take me years to finish. But I REALLY WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME before I die. So there is an urge to move quickly.
Having some kind of plan is important, so that you can track what's done and what's not. And putting a date on things helps highlight where you're scoping powers are strong vs. weak. But a plan doesn’t always mean a deadline.
One gamedev skill I'm apparently good at is putting pressure on myself. I have to remember that the timeline is arbitrary, that I started this to learn things WITH NO UNDO PRESSURE, and that skill building is a good use of time.
If you'd like to weigh in on the topic, I'm chatting about it on Bluesky.