The Long Game: Building Games in a World of Instant Gratification
If you’ve ever tried explaining to someone that making a game takes years, not weeks, you’ve probably been met with the same reaction I get: wide eyes, a pause, and then a polite but confused, “huh can’t you just… you know… make it faster?”
No, nope, we cannot.
Making a game is like trying to build a house with a toddler shouting design changes every five minutes. Sure, it’s technically possible to slap it together quickly, but what you’d end up with is a lopsided mess that leaks when it rains. Good games—ones that people actually want to play—take time. A lot of it.
Why Does It Take So Long? Examples Speak Volumes
Stardew Valley:
Development Time: 4 years.
Developer: Eric Barone (solo).
Stardew Valley wasn’t rushed. Eric meticulously crafted the game, doing everything himself—from art and music to coding and writing. The result? A game loved by millions for its depth, charm, and replayability. Imagine if it had been rushed; it wouldn’t have become the farming simulator gold standard.
Hollow Knight:
Development Time: 4 years.
Developer: Team Cherry (small indie team).
Hollow Knight is often praised for its vast, interconnected world and intricate mechanics. This wasn’t something you could cobble together over a long weekend. Each character, boss fight, and area was iteratively designed, tested, and refined.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
Development Time: 5 years.
Developer: Nintendo (large team).
Even with a large team and resources, Breath of the Wild took five years. This time allowed for a massive open world, innovative mechanics, and the meticulous polish fans expect from a Zelda game.
Social Media vs. Game Development
The problem is, we live in a world where everything needs to happen *right now*. Social media delivers dopamine hits at lightning speed: swipe, like, scroll, repeat. Waiting five seconds for a video to load feels like an eternity, and let’s not even talk about the chaos that ensues if your Wi-Fi buffers.
Contrast that with game development, where progress can sometimes feel slower than leveling up a character in an old-school RPG. One day you’re celebrating because a single button finally works as intended, and the next you’re redoing three weeks of work because someone, ahem, forgot a semi-colon in the code. It’s not glamorous, and it’s certainly not fast, but it’s how great games are made.
Why We Take the Long Road
At Quirky Studios, we’re not interested in rushing out a half-baked game. Sure, it might save us some sleepless nights, but it wouldn’t feel right. We want to make something that’s not just fun but also meaningful—something that can sit on a shelf (or, more accurately, a blockchain) next to your other favorite games and hold its own.
This takes time because great games are more than just code and assets. They’re about creating worlds players want to live in, characters they care about, and mechanics that keep them coming back. It’s like cooking a proper meal: you can’t just microwave a gourmet steak and expect it to taste good. (Not that we’re comparing ourselves to chefs, but you get the idea, I can barely make mac n cheese.)
The Real Reward
Here’s the thing: slow progress can be frustrating, but it’s also where the magic happens. Every small step—whether it’s designing a new card for our TCG or tweaking a mechanic until it feels just right—brings us closer to the game we’ve dreamed of making.
So, if you’re wondering what’s taking so long, just know this: we’re doing it the slow, steady, *right* way. Because good things take time, and great games? They take a little longer.
Why You Should Stick Around
If you’ve ever wanted to peek behind the curtain of game development—or if you’re just tired of social media's instant gratification and want to see what patience can create—you’re in the right place. Follow along as we build our TCG, one meticulously crafted piece at a time. It might not be fast, but we promise it’ll be fun.
– The Quirky Studios Team