# 19 — Post-Mortem Template



> *You shipped a game. Or you walked away from one. Either way, you learned something — but only if you write it down.*
>
> *This is the most important document in the playbook. Not because it's the longest, but because it's the one that makes your **next** game better. Be honest. Be specific. Future-you is reading this.*

---

## How to Use This Template

1. **Fill it out within 1–2 weeks of launch** (or the decision to stop). Your memory is freshest now.
2. **Don't skip the uncomfortable parts.** The sections that make you cringe are the ones with the most value.
3. **Reference your earlier playbook docs.** Compare what you *planned* to what *happened*. The gap is where the lessons live.
4. **Keep it private or share it** — your call. But honest post-mortems shared publicly help the entire indie community.
5. **Revisit this 6 months later.** Some lessons only crystallize with distance.

---

## 1. Project Overview

| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| **Game Title** | |
| **Genre / Subgenre** | |
| **One-Line Description** | |
| **Development Time (Planned)** | |
| **Development Time (Actual)** | |
| **Team Size** | |
| **Engine / Framework** | |
| **Primary Language** | |
| **Key Libraries / Tools** | |
| **Target Platforms** | |
| **Platforms Actually Released On** | |
| **Release Date** | |
| **Final Price Point** | |
| **Total Revenue (optional)** | |
| **Project Status** | ☐ Shipped  ☐ Early Access  ☐ Abandoned  ☐ On Hold |

**One-paragraph summary of the game:**

> *Write 2–3 sentences. What was the game? What was the core experience you were trying to deliver?*

**One-paragraph summary of how development went:**

> *The vibes version. Was this a smooth ride or a death march? Would you describe this project as fun, exhausting, educational, painful, or something else entirely?*

---

## 2. Timeline Comparison

*Pull out your original timeline from [02 — Pre-Production Planning](02_pre_production.md) and compare it to reality.*

### Milestone Comparison

| Milestone | Planned Date | Actual Date | Delta | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-production complete | | | | |
| Prototype / vertical slice | | | | |
| Core mechanics locked | | | | |
| Alpha (feature complete) | | | | |
| Beta (content complete) | | | | |
| Polish / bug fixing | | | | |
| Marketing push begins | | | | |
| Launch | | | | |
| First patch | | | | |

### Where Did the Schedule Slip?

> *Identify the biggest gaps between planned and actual. Be specific — "art took longer" isn't useful. "Character animation took 6 weeks instead of 2 because I underestimated the number of states needed for the combat system" is useful.*

1. **Biggest slip:**
2. **Second biggest slip:**
3. **Third biggest slip:**

### Why Did It Slip?

- ☐ Scope grew beyond original plan
- ☐ Underestimated complexity of core systems
- ☐ Art/audio took longer than expected
- ☐ Technical problems / engine issues
- ☐ Life events / burnout / health
- ☐ Perfectionism / over-polishing
- ☐ Unclear vision led to rework
- ☐ Other: ___

*💡 Reflection: If you could send a one-sentence schedule warning back to day-one-you, what would it say?*

> 

---

## 3. Scope Comparison

*Compare your original feature list from [02 — Pre-Production Planning](02_pre_production.md) or [03 — Game Design Document](03_game_design_document.md) to what actually shipped.*

### Feature Comparison

| Feature | Originally Planned? | Shipped? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |

### What Was Cut?

*List features you planned but didn't ship. For each: was cutting it the right call?*

1. **Cut feature:** — *Right call?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why:*
2. **Cut feature:** — *Right call?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why:*
3. **Cut feature:** — *Right call?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why:*

### What Was Added (Unplanned)?

*List features that weren't in the original plan but made it into the final game.*

1. **Added feature:** — *Worth the time?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why it got added:*
2. **Added feature:** — *Worth the time?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why it got added:*
3. **Added feature:** — *Worth the time?* ☐ Yes ☐ No — *Why it got added:*

### MVP Assessment

- **Was the MVP achieved?** ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Partially
- **Did the MVP definition change during development?** ☐ Yes ☐ No
- **If yes, was the new MVP bigger or smaller?**

### Scope Creep Analysis

*Rate your scope discipline (1 = total creep, 5 = laser focused):* ___/5

> *Where did scope creep hit hardest? What was the trigger — player feedback, a cool idea at 2am, "just one more feature"? How would you guard against it next time? Compare to your scope boundaries in [02 — Pre-Production Planning](02_pre_production.md).*

---

## 4. What Went Right (Top 5–10)

*Celebrate the wins. You made decisions that worked — document them so you repeat them.*

*For each item: describe what it was, why it worked, and whether you'd do it again.*

### 1. Best Technical Decision

**What:**

**Why it worked:**

**Would you do it again?** ☐ Absolutely ☐ Probably ☐ Situational ☐ No

---

### 2. Best Design Decision

**What:**

**Why it worked:**

**Would you do it again?** ☐ Absolutely ☐ Probably ☐ Situational ☐ No

---

### 3. Best Workflow / Process Habit

> *Examples: daily standups with yourself, weekly builds, playtesting every Friday, strict work hours, task tracking system.*

**What:**

**Why it worked:**

**Would you do it again?** ☐ Absolutely ☐ Probably ☐ Situational ☐ No

---

### 4. Best Tool Choice

> *A library, an editor, an asset tool, a project management app — something that paid for itself in saved time or quality.*

**What:**

**Why it worked:**

**Would you do it again?** ☐ Absolutely ☐ Probably ☐ Situational ☐ No

---

### 5. Something That Surprised You Positively

> *An unexpected win. A mechanic that players loved that you almost cut. A system that came together faster than expected. A community that formed around your game.*

**What:**

**Why it was surprising:**

**What you learned from it:**

---

### 6–10. Additional Wins

*Add more if you have them. No win is too small to document.*

6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 

---

## 5. What Went Wrong (Top 5–10)

*This is where the real learning happens. Be brutally honest — this document is for you.*

### 1. Biggest Time Waste

> *Something you spent significant time on that didn't meaningfully improve the game. Custom engine features nobody noticed. A content system you rebuilt three times. A week lost to a bug caused by premature optimization.*

**What:**

**Time lost (estimate):**

**Why it happened:**

**What you'd do differently:**

---

### 2. Worst Technical Decision

**What:**

**Why you made it at the time:**

**What it cost you:**

**What you'd do differently:**

---

### 3. Biggest Scope Creep

> *The feature that grew teeth. It seemed small when you started and consumed weeks.*

**What:**

**Original estimate vs actual time:**

**Why it grew:**

**What you'd do differently:**

---

### 4. Worst Estimation

> *The task where your time estimate was most wrong. What made it hard to estimate?*

**What:**

**Estimated time:**

**Actual time:**

**Why the estimate was off:**

---

### 5. Something You'd Never Do Again

> *A process, a decision, a shortcut, a tool — something you'd tell any developer to avoid.*

**What:**

**Why it was bad:**

**What to do instead:**

---

### 6–10. Additional Mistakes

*More pain, more gain. Get it all out.*

6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 

---

## 6. Technical Post-Mortem

*Dig into the engineering. This section is most useful if you reference your [04 — Technical Architecture](04_technical_architecture.md) and [05 — ECS Patterns](05_ecs_patterns.md) docs.*

### Architecture Review

**Overall architecture satisfaction (1–5):** ___/5

**What ECS patterns worked well?**

> *Which systems, components, and patterns from your architecture doc proved their worth? What was clean to extend and debug?*

**What was over-engineered?**

> *Systems you built for flexibility you never needed. Abstractions that added complexity without payoff. "I built a full event-driven dialogue tree system for a game with 12 lines of text."*

**What was under-engineered?**

> *Systems you hacked together that bit you later. Things you should have designed properly from the start.*

**If you rebuilt this game from scratch, what would you architect differently?**

> 

### Performance

- **Target frame rate:** ___ fps
- **Achieved frame rate (average):** ___ fps
- **Worst performance area:**
- **Did you hit your performance targets from [04 — Technical Architecture](04_technical_architecture.md)?** ☐ Yes ☐ Mostly ☐ No

**Biggest performance lesson:**

> 

### Libraries & Dependencies

| Library / Tool | Worth It? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |

**Libraries you wish you'd used:**

> 

**Libraries you wish you hadn't used:**

> 

### Code Quality

- **Would you be comfortable showing this codebase to another developer?** ☐ Yes ☐ Parts of it ☐ No
- **Biggest technical debt you shipped with:**
- **Test coverage satisfaction (1–5):** ___/5

---

## 7. Art Post-Mortem

*Compare to your plans in [06 — Art Direction](06_art_direction.md) if applicable.*

### Art Style Assessment

- **Art style chosen:**
- **Was it achievable for your skill level?** ☐ Yes, comfortably ☐ Yes, with effort ☐ Barely ☐ No, had to compromise
- **Would you choose the same style again?** ☐ Yes ☐ Modified version ☐ No
- **If no, what style would you choose instead and why?**

### Time Spent on Art

| Art Task | Estimated Time | Actual Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Character art | | | |
| Environment / tileset art | | | |
| UI / HUD | | | |
| Animation | | | |
| VFX / particles | | | |
| Marketing art (capsules, banners) | | | |
| **Total** | | | |

### Asset Pipeline

**What worked in your pipeline?**

> *Tools, formats, naming conventions, folder structure, workflow steps that were smooth.*

**What was painful?**

> *Bottlenecks, manual steps that should have been automated, format conversion headaches, iteration time.*

**Tools used for art creation:**

> 

*💡 Reflection: If you could mass-redo one category of art assets, which would it be and why?*

> 

---

## 8. Audio Post-Mortem

### Audio Approach

- **Music:** ☐ Created myself ☐ Commissioned ☐ Licensed/sourced ☐ AI-generated ☐ No music
- **SFX:** ☐ Created myself ☐ Commissioned ☐ Licensed/sourced ☐ AI-generated ☐ Minimal SFX
- **Voice:** ☐ Created myself ☐ Commissioned ☐ AI-generated ☐ No voice

### Quality Satisfaction

- **Music quality (1–5):** ___/5
- **SFX quality (1–5):** ___/5
- **Overall audio contribution to the game feel (1–5):** ___/5

### Implementation

**Audio challenges encountered:**

> *Mixing issues, format problems, memory concerns, spatial audio complexity, music transitions.*

**What worked well in audio implementation?**

> 

**What you'd do differently with audio next time:**

> 

### Budget

- **Total spent on audio:** $___
- **Was it worth the investment?** ☐ Yes ☐ Partially ☐ No

---

## 9. Marketing Post-Mortem

*Compare to your marketing plans in [15 — Marketing & Launch](15_marketing_launch.md) if applicable.*

### Launch Metrics

| Metric | Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Steam wishlists at launch | | |
| First-day sales | | |
| First-week sales | | |
| First-month sales | | |
| Review score (at time of writing) | | |
| Total reviews | | |
| Positive review % | | |
| Refund rate | | |

### Marketing Channels

| Channel | Effort Level | Result | Worth It? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twitter/X | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Reddit | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| TikTok | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| YouTube (own channel) | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Discord community | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Press outreach | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Streamer/YouTuber keys | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Paid ads | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Game festivals/demos | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Other: ___ | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low ☐ None | | ☐ Yes ☐ No |

### What marketing actually moved the needle?

> *Be specific. "A Reddit post in r/______ got 2k upvotes and drove 500 wishlists" is useful. "Social media helped" is not.*

### What marketing was a waste of time?

> 

### Streamer / YouTuber / Press Coverage

- **Keys sent out:** ___
- **Coverage received:** ___
- **Notable coverage:**

### Trailer Performance

- **Trailer views:**
- **Click-through to store page:**
- **Are you happy with the trailer?** ☐ Yes ☐ No
- **What would you change about it?**

*💡 Reflection: When did you start marketing? Was it early enough? Compare to the timeline in [15 — Marketing & Launch](15_marketing_launch.md).*

> 

---

## 10. Time Tracking Analysis

*If you tracked your time (you did track your time, right?), break it down here. If you didn't, estimate as honestly as you can — then commit to tracking next time.*

### Time Breakdown

| Category | Estimated Hours | Actual Hours | % of Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core gameplay coding | | | | |
| Systems / engine work | | | | |
| UI programming | | | | |
| Art creation | | | | |
| Animation | | | | |
| Audio (creation + implementation) | | | | |
| Level / content design | | | | |
| Testing & QA | | | | |
| Bug fixing & debugging | | | | |
| Marketing & community | | | | |
| Project management / planning | | | | |
| Research & learning | | | | |
| Tools & pipeline work | | | | |
| Other: ___ | | | | |
| **Total** | | | | |

### Analysis

**What took way longer than expected?**

> 

**What was faster than expected?**

> 

**Hidden time sinks** *(things that don't feel like "work" but ate hours — context switching, decision paralysis, Reddit rabbit holes, "just one more tweak"):*

> 

**If you had to cut 30% of total development time, what would you cut?**

> 

*💡 Reflection: Did you track time during development? If yes, was it useful? If no, how confident are you in these estimates? Consider using time tracking for your next project — see [07 — Production Workflow](07_production_workflow.md).*

---

## 11. Financial Summary

*Money isn't everything, but pretending it doesn't matter isn't helpful either. Be honest about the economics.*

### Development Costs

| Category | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Engine / framework license | | |
| Art tools (software) | | |
| Audio tools / licenses | | |
| Asset purchases (art, audio, fonts) | | |
| Commissioned work | | |
| Marketing spend (ads, materials) | | |
| Hardware (if purchased for project) | | |
| Living expenses (if full-time dev) | | |
| Other: ___ | | |
| **Total Development Cost** | | |

### Revenue (if applicable)

| Period | Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Launch day | | |
| First week | | |
| First month | | |
| First 3 months | | |
| First year | | |
| **Lifetime (to date)** | | |

### The Math

- **Total cost:** $___
- **Total revenue:** $___
- **Net profit/loss:** $___
- **Effective hourly rate:** $___/hr *(total revenue ÷ total hours from Section 10)*

### Financial Reflection

**Was it "worth it" financially?**

> *Be honest, but also be fair to yourself. Very few first games are profitable. The question isn't just "did I make money" — it's "did I invest in skills and a portfolio that will pay off over time?"*

**What would you budget differently next time?**

> 

**Would you go full-time on the next project, or keep a day job?**

> 

---

## 12. Lessons Learned

*Distill everything above into your top lessons. These are the things you'll re-read before starting your next project.*

### Lesson 1

**The lesson:**

> *State it plainly. "Scope to 60% of what you think you can build."*

**The story behind it:**

> *What happened that taught you this?*

**How it changes your approach next time:**

> 

---

### Lesson 2

**The lesson:**

**The story behind it:**

**How it changes your approach next time:**

---

### Lesson 3

**The lesson:**

**The story behind it:**

**How it changes your approach next time:**

---

### Lesson 4

**The lesson:**

**The story behind it:**

**How it changes your approach next time:**

---

### Lesson 5

**The lesson:**

**The story behind it:**

**How it changes your approach next time:**

---

### Additional Lessons

*More than 5? Write them all down. There's no limit on learning.*

6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 

---

## 13. Next Project Planning

*The whole point of a post-mortem is to feed forward. Before the lessons fade, sketch out what changes for next time.*

### Process Changes

**What will you do differently in pre-production?**

> *Compare to [02 — Pre-Production Planning](02_pre_production.md). More prototyping? Tighter scope? Better milestones?*

**What will you do differently in production?**

> *Compare to [07 — Production Workflow](07_production_workflow.md). Different task tracking? Work hours? Build cadence?*

**What will you do differently in marketing?**

> *Compare to [15 — Marketing & Launch](15_marketing_launch.md). Start earlier? Different channels? Better trailer?*

### Skills to Develop

*Based on what struggled or slowed you down, what should you learn before the next project?*

| Skill | Priority | How You'll Learn It |
|---|---|---|
| | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low | |
| | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low | |
| | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low | |
| | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low | |

### Tool / Workflow Changes

**Tools to keep:**

> 

**Tools to replace (and with what):**

> 

**New tools to try:**

> 

**Workflow changes:**

> 

### Scope Calibration

- **This game's scope was:** ☐ Way too big ☐ A bit too big ☐ About right ☐ Could have been bigger
- **Next game's target scope (relative to this one):** ☐ Much smaller ☐ Smaller ☐ Same ☐ Larger
- **Target development time for next game:**
- **Genre considerations:**

> *Are you sticking with the same genre? Pivoting? Why? Is the pivot based on passion, market opportunity, or running from difficulty?*

### The One Thing

**If you could change exactly one thing about how you made this game, what would it be?**

> 

---

## 14. The Honest Questions

*No checkboxes. No tables. Just you and the truth. Write at least a few sentences for each.*

### Did you finish?

> *If yes: how does it feel? If no: why not, and are you at peace with it? There's no wrong answer — unfinished projects teach you things too.*

### Are you proud of it?

> *Not "is it perfect" — is it something you're proud to have made? What specifically makes you proud (or not)?*

### Would you play it?

> *If you found this game on a store page and didn't know who made it, would you buy it? Would you enjoy it? Would you finish it?*

### Was it fun to make?

> *Not every moment, obviously. But overall — did you enjoy the process? When was it most fun? When was it least fun? Is game development something you want to keep doing?*

### Would you recommend this process to someone else?

> *If a friend said "I want to make a game," would you tell them to follow the same path you did? What would you warn them about?*

### What would 6-months-ago-you need to hear?

> *Write a letter to yourself from before this project started. What advice, warnings, or encouragement would have helped most?*

---

## Final Notes

> *Anything else that doesn't fit neatly into a section. Stray thoughts, unresolved feelings, half-formed ideas for the future. Write it down before you forget.*

---

## Post-Mortem Checklist

Before you file this away:

- ☐ Filled out honestly (not just the easy parts)
- ☐ Compared to original planning docs ([02](02_pre_production.md), [03](03_game_design_document.md), [04](04_technical_architecture.md))
- ☐ Identified top 3 lessons that will change your next project
- ☐ Set a calendar reminder to re-read this before starting next project
- ☐ Decided whether to share any part of this publicly (optional but valuable to the community)
- ☐ Celebrated finishing this post-mortem (seriously — go do something fun)

---

*Finishing a game is rare. Most people who start never get here. Whether your game sold a million copies or twelve, whether it took six months or six years, whether you're proud or relieved or both — you did something most people only talk about.*

*Now go make the next one better.*

---

*← Previous: [18 — Post-Launch & Live Ops](18_post_launch_live_ops.md)*

*This is the final document in the Universal 2D Engine Toolkit Playbook.*