It’s funny this whole game development lark, always a roller coaster ride no matter how much you prepare. A rush through anticipation to see the smile on a happy players face and the purest fear that your creation will simply be no fun. We’re running an agile development methodology that forces us to put the game in front of players every two weeks, and we’ve been brave enough to set ourselves a pre-Christmas deadline of presenting in front of a rather large audience.

With only two sleeps to go until we show the game off, these emotional highs and lows are thrashing against each other big time. It can be hard to silence those little guys on your shoulders when you’re trying to put the finishing touches on your baby, but I’ve come up with a simple strategy to deal with pre deadline jitters:

The end of a game project is like landing a plane. Keep your eye on the end of the runway and you’ll be fine. Look at the ground and you’ll crash!

It’s all about keeping things in context. Think about how much you believed in your game when you started out on the project? You should feel the same way now, embracing it’s long term vision while appreciating that every little piece that clicks into place is bringing you closer to that vision’s reality. Most important of all is the fact that by putting your game in front of people you’re making the most significant step towards a successful end-product, as either love it or hate it your audience are going to point you in the right direction.

So if you’re getting a little stressed out about the deadline, just take a moment to remember why you’re doing what you do and how awesome this thing is going to be. And remember, keeps you eyes on the end of the runway.