Sorry but this is a Dunning-Kruger type of post. It's good that you're making progress on your game and increasing your knowledge but you're falling in the trap of thinking that you can guess what the entire picture looks like just because you've seen a glimpse of its corner. Some things are relatively simple to code by themselves but inserting them in a giant machine full of many different parts made by many different people and then ensuring that everything plays well with each other... well that's never easy. That's the kind of thing you don't learn to overcome by reading theory but can only be acquired through experience. I'm referring to software here since that's the focus of your post but the other point is that art/music/design is magnitude harder to learn and can also only be acquired by grinding a lot. You always have to "just put the time in" but it's called difficult because the vast majority of people attempting it fail.
At the end of the day, it's easy to tape up a simple game, alone, with store assets and a pre-made engine but making a good high quality game that can compete with what's out there on budget/time is difficult... If it wasn't, everyone would do it.
I think the issue is that as difficult as game design can be, it's still not as difficult as many within the industry make it out to be. And it should be noted that many of the biggest successes in recent history either started or were overwhelmingly single person efforts. Things like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Papers Please, Undertale, FNAF, Spelunky, Braid, and plenty more. And no, these games aren't the pinnacle of game design, and they're not for everyone. They're also the exception for success. But the idea that it's some gargantuan task that cannot be achieved, considering just how many have happened over the past 15+ years? Well, it's just a bit silly to discount it. And sure, many will fail. Most will probably barely get any traction (just take a look at itch.io to see what I mean there). But if you're a creative type and you want to make something, why not try? Hell, even if you're not a creative type, why not try something? There are more resources now than ever before. So why not cut your teeth on something and have a little fun making what you want?
Because "design" is the easiest part. You can do it in fucking excel. I know because I've done it.
Art direction is hard (can't do it) writing is hard (have done it) writing dialog is worse (only Tarantino does it)
The problem is with vision because of crisscrossed incentives. Wherever money conflicts with design money wins 7-3. The stronger the vison and the tighter your controls thereof the better you can do, but designing a "great X genre game" is relitively easy. Designing it within budget, space, time, licencing, producer demand, and purchasibiluty requirements is harder. Take X-Com. The best version of Xcom is Long War and Long War 2. Designed by unpaid amateurs. How can they manage it? Cause ALllllllll the bullshit disappears, from needing to appeal broadly, to having DLC hooks, to being "accesible" all of which throw numerous kinks in the process.
Or 40k. The rules are shackled by their archaic production model, as well as being hamstrung by a number of rules only kept around to keep the models selling. The fan versions beat it to pieces by virtually every metric.
Sorry but this is a Dunning-Kruger type of post. It's good that you're making progress on your game and increasing your knowledge but you're falling in the trap of thinking that you can guess what the entire picture looks like just because you've seen a glimpse of its corner. Some things are relatively simple to code by themselves but inserting them in a giant machine full of many different parts made by many different people and then ensuring that everything plays well with each other... well that's never easy. That's the kind of thing you don't learn to overcome by reading theory but can only be acquired through experience. I'm referring to software here since that's the focus of your post but the other point is that art/music/design is magnitude harder to learn and can also only be acquired by grinding a lot. You always have to "just put the time in" but it's called difficult because the vast majority of people attempting it fail.
At the end of the day, it's easy to tape up a simple game, alone, with store assets and a pre-made engine but making a good high quality game that can compete with what's out there on budget/time is difficult... If it wasn't, everyone would do it.
I think the issue is that as difficult as game design can be, it's still not as difficult as many within the industry make it out to be. And it should be noted that many of the biggest successes in recent history either started or were overwhelmingly single person efforts. Things like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Papers Please, Undertale, FNAF, Spelunky, Braid, and plenty more. And no, these games aren't the pinnacle of game design, and they're not for everyone. They're also the exception for success. But the idea that it's some gargantuan task that cannot be achieved, considering just how many have happened over the past 15+ years? Well, it's just a bit silly to discount it. And sure, many will fail. Most will probably barely get any traction (just take a look at itch.io to see what I mean there). But if you're a creative type and you want to make something, why not try? Hell, even if you're not a creative type, why not try something? There are more resources now than ever before. So why not cut your teeth on something and have a little fun making what you want?
Because "design" is the easiest part. You can do it in fucking excel. I know because I've done it.
Art direction is hard (can't do it) writing is hard (have done it) writing dialog is worse (only Tarantino does it)
The problem is with vision because of crisscrossed incentives. Wherever money conflicts with design money wins 7-3. The stronger the vison and the tighter your controls thereof the better you can do, but designing a "great X genre game" is relitively easy. Designing it within budget, space, time, licencing, producer demand, and purchasibiluty requirements is harder. Take X-Com. The best version of Xcom is Long War and Long War 2. Designed by unpaid amateurs. How can they manage it? Cause ALllllllll the bullshit disappears, from needing to appeal broadly, to having DLC hooks, to being "accesible" all of which throw numerous kinks in the process.
Or 40k. The rules are shackled by their archaic production model, as well as being hamstrung by a number of rules only kept around to keep the models selling. The fan versions beat it to pieces by virtually every metric.