Why developing smaller games is great

A few days ago I read about "Size Doesn’t Matter" in the #idevblogaday blog roll. Since i feel infected by the idea of small scope games at the moment i'd like to share my thoughts on why it can be a great catch for indie developers - especially newcomers like me. This is my first article on indie (iPhone) game development so please bear with me here ;-).




















We all know that developing small games usually takes less time than bigger ones and that there are plenty games out there that work great with just little scope. I asked myself what benefits there actually are to develop smaller games.
This is what i came up with:

1. Be more creative and have more fun creating games.
   If you have worked on a lengthy title before, you know what i mean, it just gets less fun the longer you work on it. With smaller games you still have to do your polish work but you'll be working on the next title or prototype sooner than later.
   
   
2. Release more.
   Releasing a new title brings that great feeling with it. You put it out there, people are playing it and you get some feedback for you work and feel that you accomplished something. Working on small titles willl give you that feeling more often because you'll just release more often.
   
   
3. Quicker Prototyping.
   This might not be true for every concept but usually if you have a smaller game you should be able to prototype it quicker because there are less questions that need be answered.
   
   
4. Good for your wallet.
   Since it takes less time to create that game you can keep the costs low. Less designer work, less sound work or purchases, less development, less testing, less concept work, less changes, less ...
   
   
5. Better Cross-Promotion.
   By having more but smaller titles you have more power to cross promote your own games
   and have one of your games free for a while. In my opinion NimbleBit shows this in perfection.
   
   
6. Faster Feedback.
   If you are a newcomer or new to a certain game genre it's good to get some feedback if you are on the right track. My first title took 5 months to release and all that happened was that i learned about 4 months too late what went right and what wrong. Although the game turned out well, the time i spent on the game didn't get into my pockets just yet. After all i rather would have created two or even three games in that time.
   
   
7. Day-Job Compatibility.
   Another reason for smaller games is that it works better with your dayjob. With a bigger project you might get into a state where you just feel it's dragging on and will probably never finish. And you might be right, you might just not have the time or patience to finish it. Think smaller.
   
   
8. Make it shiny.
   With less content that needs to be in the game you'll have more time (and patience) to polish your game and make it a better user experience as you would be able to working on a larger game.
   
   
9. Easier to grasp.
   By having a smaller game with less content you're likely to have less that needs explaining. The game will be easier to grasp and might not need any explanation at all.
   
   
10. Better for your nerves.
    Since you have a smaller scope, there's less to worry about and your game has should have less bugs. Also it might be easier to test. Less testing and bugfixing is not only time-saving, it also doesn't interfere as much with the work you actually wanted to get done and leaves you in a happier state of mind.
    
    

Despite all the advantages of smaller games i still don't think it's that easy to make a well working game with just little content. If the idea isn't good enough it won't stand all that cutting away of features. In the end it might just miss that extra mode or a bunch of levels to make it work.