The Importance of Deadlines

Last year the four of us were working on Loc and just before school began I stumbled upon the IGF submission to student category. That became the first real, hard, deadline that we wanted to hit. Before that we had set deadlines for ourselves, but there was nothing really motivating us to buckle down to reach it. The IGF entry was exactly what we needed, an external pressure with a date we could not miss October 30^th.

So while doing all the crazy work for school, the essays, the projects, etc, we worked on Loc to get it to a better playable state then what it was in. And 4 hours before October 31^st we submitted.

The amount of growth that Loc underwent during that time was enormous, a huge learning experience that broadened so much of our skill set. It didn’t really matter that we didn’t win anything, because right away we learned that at that stage Loc was incomplete, and everything else we were up against was polished to a T.

And now, a year later we find ourselves working on another game and striving for another deadline. December the 15^th is the last call for entrants into the Boston Indie Showcase. This year they are focusing on Mobile development, which is precisely what we are doing. Those chosen get a free table at PAX East, which is worth $1,500, along with the very good chance of media coverage.

So 1 day down, 66 more to go.