Indie game scope checklist: decide what to cut
Scope is the work you commit to finishing, testing and supporting. A feature costs more than its first implementation: it adds content, interfaces, dependencies and regression work. Review that whole cost before committing to a date.
Start with the smallest complete game
Write the core experience in one sentence. Keep the features that make that experience work from start to finish. Put attractive additions in a separate list rather than treating every idea as a release requirement.
- Can the player complete the central loop?
- Are onboarding, settings, save/load and failure states accounted for where needed?
- Which feature would change the player promise if removed?
- Which features are only justified by “other games have it”?
Estimate the whole chain of work
Break a representative feature into implementation, content, integration and testing. Measure one item before multiplying it into a large world. Treat uncertain estimates as ranges and reserve capacity for rework.
- What shared system must exist first?
- How many content items must be created and reviewed?
- Which other features need to be retested?
- Who maintains the feature after launch?
- What evidence supports your estimate?
Choose keep, defer or cut
Keep work required for the player promise or a concrete release requirement. Defer useful additions that can ship independently. Cut work whose benefit does not justify its total cost. Do not solve an overloaded plan by silently removing all testing time.
- Keep: core loop and release-critical work
- Defer: independent improvements with a clear future reason
- Cut: features that add cost without proving the experience
- Assign each retained item an owner and observable completion criterion
Commit to the next playable outcome
Choose one milestone small enough to review against actual capacity. Limit work in progress and reassess scope after a playable build or a changed constraint.
- Name the next playable outcome.
- Choose the smallest tasks that prove it.
- Write a definition of done and a playtest question.
- Review planned work against completed work before expanding scope.
Turn the plan into a roadmap
Use the free roadmap template to connect phases, milestones and tasks. You can keep the spreadsheet or create a new GameInDev project with its 42 starter tasks.
Get the roadmap template →