Many people learn to code because they want to write a computer game. More often than not, they want to re-write their favourite game, but making it a little easier! Unfortunately the gap between a personal project, open source game, and professional offering is substantial, with the lack of polish obvious at every turn. In this talk, Steven Goodwin, a game developer of 20 years standing (and 3 books on the subject), dissects each discipline (art, music, writing, and code) to explain where polish should be added and why it’s so rare to see games as effective as they could be.