Indie Game Studio Desk
Indie game studios and small game teams
Milestones, tasks by discipline, bugs, playtests and wishlists for a small game studio.
Use this templateIndie Game Studio Desk
Start the week on the Dashboard: the next milestone's progress, crash and blocker bugs, and wishlists from the latest playtest. Tasks move Backlog to Done on the board; bugs move New to Verified. Mark done and Mark fixed stamp the day. A milestone is Hit only when its Done means list is true in the build.
Start here: how this workspace runs
Dashboard
Bug triage and the milestone build
Playtests, demos and wishlists
Tasks
Every piece of work by discipline, with its milestone, owner, estimate and due date.
| Task | Status | Discipline | Milestone | Owner | Estimate (days) | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grappling hook swing physics | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Tobias Lindqvist | 6 | Oct 9, 2026 | |
| Lighthouse level greybox | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Imogen Reyes | 4 | Oct 12, 2026 | |
| Fox protagonist run cycle | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Zuri Okonkwo | 3 | Oct 15, 2026 | |
| Tide cave ambient loop | In review | Vertical slice and festival demo | Felix Moreau | 2 | Oct 20, 2026 | |
| Demo save and resume | In progress | Vertical slice and festival demo | Tobias Lindqvist | 3 | Oct 21, 2026 | |
| Store page capsule art | In progress | Vertical slice and festival demo | Kenji Arakawa | 4 | Oct 23, 2026 | |
| Opening cutscene script pass | Next sprint | Content complete, act one | Imogen Reyes | 2 | Oct 25, 2026 | |
| Controller rebinding menu | Next sprint | Content complete, act one | Tobias Lindqvist | 4 | Oct 27, 2026 |
Milestones
The publisher milestones, what done means for each, the payment attached and progress so far.
| Milestone | Status | Target date | Hit on | Publisher payment (USD) | Payment received | Wishlists at this point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype greenlight | Hit | May 21, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | $40,000 | Yes | 0 |
| Vertical slice and festival demo | In progress | Oct 30, 2026 | — | $60,000 | — | 4,850 |
| Content complete, act one | Planned | Jan 21, 2027 | — | $75,000 | — | — |
| Early access launch | Planned | May 21, 2027 | — | $90,000 | — | — |
Bugs
Every bug with severity, platform, build, steps to reproduce and the milestone it must be fixed by.
| Bug | Status | Severity | Platform | Found in build | Fix by milestone | Found in playtest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crash when hook attaches during a cutscene | Fixing | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Save file lost after quitting from the pause menu | Confirmed | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Fox clips through the dock railing | New | 0.4.3 | Content complete, act one | Public demo soft launch | ||
| Music drops out after alt-tab | Fixed | 0.4.1 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Studio friends couch test | ||
| Text overflows the settings menu in German | Verified | 0.4.0 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Studio friends couch test | ||
| Frame drops in the tide cave on handhelds | Confirmed | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Gull shadow flickers at dawn | Won't fix | 0.3.9 | Content complete, act one | Studio friends couch test |
Playtests
Every playtest from couch tests to public demos: testers, fun score, would-buy and wishlist adds.
| Playtest | Status | Kind | Test date | Testers | Fun score (1 to 10) | Would buy (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio friends couch test | Report written | Oct 5, 2026 | 9 | 7.4 | 56% | |
| Closed key test, 0.4.2 | Report written | Oct 17, 2026 | 140 | 7.9 | 61% | |
| Public demo soft launch | Running | Oct 20, 2026 | 620 | — | — | |
| Festival demo week | Scheduled | Oct 30, 2026 | 0 | — | — |
A small game studio lives between two deadlines: the publisher milestone that pays the bills, and the launch that has to find players. This workspace keeps the work, the bugs, the playtests and the wishlists in one place so the whole team sees the same picture.
The four tables
Tasks: every piece of work, tagged by discipline (code, art, animation, audio, design, writing, QA), tied to a milestone with an owner, estimate and due date. Cut tasks stay visible but leave the progress count.
Milestones: what the publisher has agreed to pay for, with Done means written out, the payment attached, and wishlists at that point. Progress and Open bugs roll up from tasks and bugs.
Bugs: severity, platform, build, steps to reproduce, the playtest it came from and the milestone it must be fixed by. Mark fixed stamps the day; QA moves it to Verified.
Playtests: from couch tests to the festival demo, with testers, a fun score, would-buy percentage, wishlist adds and the top findings.
A normal week
Monday triage (30 minutes): every New bug gets a severity and a milestone; crash and blocker bugs get an owner the same hour.
Each person works from Tasks, My tasks view. Move cards as you go; In review means someone else must look.
Wednesday build: the build number goes on every bug found in it.
Friday: the studio lead reads Progress on the current milestone. Below plan means cutting scope, not adding weekends.
After each playtest, fill in the numbers and top findings within two days and file the bugs from it.
Who owns what
The rule we keep
A milestone is Hit only when every line of Done means is true in the uploaded build. The payment follows the publisher's sign-off, so tick Payment received only when the money lands.
| Task | Status | Discipline | Milestone | Owner | Estimate (days) | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grappling hook swing physics | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Tobias Lindqvist | 6 | Oct 9, 2026 | |
| Lighthouse level greybox | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Imogen Reyes | 4 | Oct 12, 2026 | |
| Fox protagonist run cycle | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Zuri Okonkwo | 3 | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Task | Status | Discipline | Milestone | Owner | Estimate (days) | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grappling hook swing physics | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Tobias Lindqvist | 6 | Oct 9, 2026 | |
| Lighthouse level greybox | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Imogen Reyes | 4 | Oct 12, 2026 | |
| Fox protagonist run cycle | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Zuri Okonkwo | 3 | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Bug | Status | Severity | Platform | Found in build | Fix by milestone | Found in playtest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crash when hook attaches during a cutscene | Fixing | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Save file lost after quitting from the pause menu | Confirmed | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Fox clips through the dock railing | New | 0.4.3 | Content complete, act one | Public demo soft launch |
| Bug | Status | Severity | Platform | Found in build | Fix by milestone | Found in playtest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crash when hook attaches during a cutscene | Fixing | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Save file lost after quitting from the pause menu | Confirmed | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Fox clips through the dock railing | New | 0.4.3 | Content complete, act one | Public demo soft launch |
| Playtest | Status | Kind | Test date | Testers | Fun score (1 to 10) | Would buy (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio friends couch test | Report written | Oct 5, 2026 | 9 | 7.4 | 56% | |
| Closed key test, 0.4.2 | Report written | Oct 17, 2026 | 140 | 7.9 | 61% | |
| Public demo soft launch | Running | Oct 20, 2026 | 620 | — | — |
| Milestone | Status | Target date | Hit on | Publisher payment (USD) | Payment received | Wishlists at this point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype greenlight | Hit | May 21, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | $40,000 | Yes | 0 |
| Vertical slice and festival demo | In progress | Oct 30, 2026 | — | $60,000 | — | 4,850 |
| Content complete, act one | Planned | Jan 21, 2027 | — | $75,000 | — | — |
Crash and blocker bugs
| Bug | Status | Severity | Platform | Found in build | Fix by milestone | Found in playtest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crash when hook attaches during a cutscene | Fixing | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Save file lost after quitting from the pause menu | Confirmed | 0.4.2 | Vertical slice and festival demo | Closed key test, 0.4.2 | ||
| Fox clips through the dock railing | New | 0.4.3 | Content complete, act one | Public demo soft launch |
In review
| Task | Status | Discipline | Milestone | Owner | Estimate (days) | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grappling hook swing physics | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Tobias Lindqvist | 6 | Oct 9, 2026 | |
| Lighthouse level greybox | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Imogen Reyes | 4 | Oct 12, 2026 | |
| Fox protagonist run cycle | Done | Vertical slice and festival demo | Zuri Okonkwo | 3 | Oct 15, 2026 |
Milestones ahead
| Milestone | Status | Target date | Hit on | Publisher payment (USD) | Payment received | Wishlists at this point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype greenlight | Hit | May 21, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | $40,000 | Yes | 0 |
| Vertical slice and festival demo | In progress | Oct 30, 2026 | — | $60,000 | — | 4,850 |
| Content complete, act one | Planned | Jan 21, 2027 | — | $75,000 | — | — |
How to read the numbers
Bugs pile up fastest right before a milestone, which is exactly when the team has the least time. This page is the triage routine and the rules for what blocks a milestone build.
Severity, in our words
Monday triage
Open Bugs, sort New by Reported.
Try to reproduce each one on the platform it was found on. Can't reproduce after two tries: ask the reporter for a clip, leave it New.
Reproduced: set severity, Fix by milestone, and move to Confirmed.
Crash and Blocker: an owner presses Assign to me now and moves it to Fixing.
Won't fix needs a sentence in the bug saying why. Never delete a bug.
Fixing and verifying
The person fixing presses Mark fixed, which stamps the day, and writes the build the fix is in.
Someone else plays the steps in that build and moves it to Verified. The fixer never verifies their own bug.
Milestone build checklist
No Crash or Blocker bugs open against this milestone
Every task in Done means is Done
Build number written on the milestone and in the known issues list
Save files from the last build still load
A full play-through on the slowest target device
Worked example
The closed key test on build 0.4.2 found a cutscene crash and a save loss on handhelds. Both were set to the vertical slice milestone at Monday triage; the crash went to the programmer at once, and the slice build waits until both are Verified.
For an indie game, wishlists before launch are the best early sign of sales, and playtests are how you find out if the game is fun before it is too late to change. This page is how the studio runs a playtest and what it records.
Choose the kind of test
Running one
Write the one question the test must answer in the playtest plan, for example "Do players find the second hook upgrade?"
Prepare the build, keys and a short survey: fun score from 1 to 10, would you buy it, and two open questions.
During the test, watch at least five people play without helping them.
Within two days, fill in testers, fun score, would buy and wishlist adds, and write the top three findings.
File every bug from the test with Found in playtest set, so the playtest shows Bugs found.
Reading wishlists
Record the wishlist count on each milestone as well, so growth between milestones is visible.
Compare adds per playtest kind on the Dashboard chart; a festival week should far outrun an ordinary week.
A drop in would-buy between two builds matters more than any single score. Read the open answers next to it; they usually name the reason in the players' own words.
Checklist before a public demo
Store page live with capsule art, trailer and five screenshots
Demo ends on a clear call to wishlist
No crash bugs open in the demo build
Survey link shown on the demo's end screen
What's inside
5 tables · 16 views · 1 form · 5 row actions · 1 agent5 pages
- Indie Game Studio Desk
- Start here: how this workspace runs
- Dashboard
- Bug triage and the milestone build
- Playtests, demos and wishlists
4 tables
- Tasks7 views · 12 sample rows
- Milestones3 views · 4 sample rows
- Bugs3 views · 7 sample rows
- Playtests3 views · 4 sample rows
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