5: How to weed out the projects that will never make it

Now it's no secret many projects that you enter into run the risk of never making it. And of course many of those are due to loss of passion or members realizing the goal was much more difficult then they envisioned (we are all learning after all, these things are inevitable). I make no claim that this guide is the stone written rule that dictates if a project will make it or not, these are just the signs of diseased ambition. On few occassions the projects DO make it. Here are some things you should watch out for. Remember THIS GUIDE IS FOR PROJECTS OF PASSION WHERE EVERYBODY IS WORKING FOR FREE AT THE BEGINNING AND LOWER END PROJECTS, WHEN MONEY IS INVOLVED, THINGS GET DONE MUCH MORE CONSISTANTLY ;D!

1: The creator/founder's talents other then story and design. A game founded by somebody who can only say "go make stuff for my vision" is going to fail, no exception. Or at least, out of the dozens of projects I dragged myself through there was no exception. The leader must actively show that he is working just like everybody else, if not much more. He needs to show them that this project is going to get finished with or without them, and it's going to be big, so it's in their best interest to make damn sure they follow through. A "creative director" only leader will quickly lose respect of the other members especially if they're not being paid for it. They will slowly begin to resent that they're spending all their time for somebody who will reap the most credit (as founder).

2: Project Potential. If it's a big ambitious project, how realistic is the end goal. A fighting game like street fighter for example, is a game people very often think is easy to make unless they're a programmer, or experienced with big projects like that, and have an intimate knowledge of what needs to be programmed, they are always going to be giving out orders that make them look noob and unfit to lead this ties in directly with 1, the founder has to know EVERYTHING, they can't be "Creative Director" unless you are aware of all the creative energy you're directing

3: Type of personality. The leader should not be afraid to lead. If a director is too leniant or too lax with what's going on then what you're going to end up with is a mess of patchwork. These songs don't quite go with these levels, this model looks bulky compared to that and this, and it starts to look less and less unified. A leader who is always trying to keep everybody happy in fear of losing them, will quickly find things falling apart.

4: Intelligent planning. If the leader wants EVERYBODY who can do ANYTHING remotely useful from step 1 then that's a pretty big sign of impending failure. What need does the leader have for music without an engine? What good is a sound effect if there is no hit collision? Having a large group of people get together at once is going to make half the team useless. When this happens the team begins to lose focus, starts screwing around and that pisses off people who ARE working. And when the director tries to make the creative team do work, 90% chance is that work done at the beginning won't fit and in order to please them the noob director may try to make it fit which equates to sub standard product at best. Ties in directly with point 3.

More points will be added as they come to mind.