The Paradox of Creation

How might you make a successful game?

What is success? Can a game be a failure?

Is it making more than it cost you to create? How much more? And is it enough? What is enough?

Or is it having enough players? Or players who enjoy it? And how do you decide if they’ve enjoyed it? Is it ratings and reviews?

How do you recognize success? Is it in comparison to games that are unsuccessful? And by what measure are they unsuccessful?

Is the game that isn’t finished better or worse than the game that is? Is something better than nothing?

When you set out to make a game for the first time, did you say, “You, player, what do you want?” or did you think, “I’m going to try…”?

Is a game art or commerce? Is it a commodity or a luxury?

Do you decide? Or does something else?

What is a player? Are you a player or a developer? Can you be both? Or can you be neither?