Deciding on your next game

So, I'm pretty much at the end of making my current game in Unity after a year working on it (Yay!). Basically, I'm just fine tuning the gameplay now.

Unsurprisingly, I'm now getting excited about what to start work on next. I've got a few ideas, but two in particular that I'm most enthusiastic about. I've created both projects and done a little work on both, but so far neither is standing out the main one I want to commit to.

In theory, I'd love to work on both, and I'll probably do one when I finish the other, but obviously for practicality I should really pick one and focus on getting it done first.

I'm guessing a lot of people on this forum have been in a similar situation. So, how do you all pick which project to do out of your list of ideas?

 

I choose based on how excited I am for the projects, which one addresses a bigger hole in the market, which project would be faster to complete, or which project would be more appealing to players. I weigh all those (not very scientific, just things I think about).

Alternatively I've run ideas by friends, or even early screen shots or prototypes, and used their interest levels.

 

I view each project as a stepping stone towards the next. I want to iterate on the things I learned from previous, do them better, and add in a few new things as well. So from all of my ideas that I just have to do, I try to find one that best fits within that frame.

My main focus right now is learning though. May be different priorities if I was trying to make a living from games right now.

I don't recommend having two projects going on at once. Nobody can multi-task and whenever you pull attention away from one thing, everything else gets that much less. I think it's a bad habit people use as form of procrastination. JMO and all, but it's also lke a natural law. Most prey animals stay in groups cause it's hard for predator to focus if there is more than one thing moving.

 

If you're doing this as a hobby, make what excites you. Also, there's an argument for something called "slow multitasking." If you have two ideas, it might not be a bad idea to work on both. As you work on one, it can spark new ideas and creative directions for the other, and it can help prevent the burnout that can occur when you're working on just one thing.

If you're doing this as a business, make what excites you -- and what market analysis suggests will have better financial chances. Ryan Clark has a lot of good videos, such as How To Consistently Make Profitable Indie Games. Simon Carless's Video Game Deep Cuts newsletter consistently has some great insights on the indie market. (Read his articles on Gamasutra if you don't want to sign up for the newsletter.)

 

@G_Trex
New ideas are everywhere. If you feel confident on your current project.
My suggestion for your next move is to focus on marketing and sell it.
Instead of start making another game project. New project required strong purposes.
Learning how to sell is very important unless you are just making games for fun.

 

I said this in another thread, but this is generally how I handle my ideas. You can really apply this to a brainstorming session instead of just out of the blue ideas.