Indie Game Scope Validation & Feature Prioritization
Validate indie game scope against team capacity, budget, and timeline to prevent project failure
What You Can Do
You can validate your game's scope against concrete constraints like team size, budget, and delivery timeline. The skill maps feature complexity to team velocity, identifies critical dependencies, and helps you make ruthless trade-off decisions to ship a viable product rather than an incomplete overscoped project. You'll get a prioritized feature roadmap with realistic delivery estimates and risk assessments.
Features
Calculate realistic team velocity based on team size, experience level, and available hours per week
Assess each feature's implementation cost (story points/hours) and dependencies to identify scope creep triggers
Generate delivery estimates for feature sets and identify which combinations fit your deadline
Cross-reference scope against production budget and identify cost overrun risks
Map feature prerequisites and technical blockers to prevent mid-stream integration surprises
Flag high-risk features, unproven tech, and schedule pressure points before they derail your project
Generate executive summaries and trade-off matrices for pitching timelines to publishers or investors
Recalibrate scope and timelines when actual velocity data becomes available during production
Example Output
Scope Validation Report for "Pixel Dungeon Roguelike" (4-person team, 9-month timeline)
Team Capacity: 6 story points/week per developer = 24 points/week total capacity. 9 months = ~36 weeks = 864 total story points available.
Feature Breakdown:
- Core roguelike loop (procedural dungeons, combat, progression): 240 points ✓ Fits
- 8 playable classes with unique abilities: 180 points ✓ Fits
- Multiplayer co-op: 320 points ⚠ Blocker — Cuts other features by 4 months
- 5 boss encounters: 80 points ✓ Fits
- Cosmetic skins: 120 points ✓ Nice-to-have
Recommendation: Scope for single-player core + 4 classes (v1.0 at month 8). Add co-op and remaining classes post-launch or extend timeline 3 months.
What's Included
- SKILL.md: Complete scope validation framework and workflow
- Capacity Planning Template: Team velocity calculator (developer count, seniority, available hours, sprint length)
- Feature Inventory Checklist: Game feature taxonomy with typical complexity estimates (core loop, combat, UI, multiplayer, etc.)
- Dependency Mapping Worksheet: Dependency matrix and critical path analysis for your feature set
- Risk Assessment Scorecard: Flag technical unknowns, scope creep patterns, and schedule pressure indicators
Who It's For
- Indie game producers managing 1–15 person teams with fixed timelines and budgets
- Game directors making scope trade-off decisions during pre-production or mid-development
- Studio leads pitching realistic timelines to publishers, investors, or stakeholders
- Project managers reassessing scope when team velocity or available hours change
- Solo developers or small teams validating whether a game concept is achievable solo
Best For
- Pre-production scope freeze — validating game concepts before green-lighting production
- Mid-development pivot — reassessing scope when actual velocity data reveals schedule risk
- Feature request impact analysis — quickly assessing whether new features fit the timeline
- Stakeholder communication — generating defensible timelines for pitches and updates
- Post-mortem planning — understanding what went wrong and how to scope the next project correctly
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