Effective planning tips to help deliver indie success

Blossom Arcade founder Sophie Smart shares production planning advice for indie game developers, drawn from a Self-Publishing Toolkit session at London Games Festival. She warns that a scope document listing features is not a real plan — a proper plan requires milestones, goals, and time estimates tied to budgeting. Smart advocates for the Scrum framework, which uses sprint cycles, daily standups, and regular playtesting to keep teams aligned and always have a playable build. She cautions against Waterfall methodology, explaining how its sequential task structure can collapse when team members are unavailable, leaving disconnected, unplayable game sections — a state she calls 'production hell.'