First off, when it comes to developing games I like to see it as a multi-step process for you to hype up the players but to also show that there is something in the works on your end. If it catches players’ attention, they would be interested and would want to keep a check on the project/lookout for updates by having some sort of method to view this progress, wither it be following your twitter account or joining your discord.
When it comes to making the game itself, its best to address the core mechanics first, make a prototype / try to get the main concept of the game done with simple blocks, allowing you to see if its possible without going through the trouble of making a bunch of assets, but then end up scrapping the project later on. Now obviously you don’t want to just do programming altogether, or modeling all together before doing the other one, you should keep some sort of balance between the two. Once you get a prototype, start making the actual game, however don’t overload on content, leave that for the updates. If you try to stuff so much into 1 game or 1 build for the first time before launch and players were to join, they may feel overwhelmed or lost. You want to allow your self to have limits, meaning you should be okay with launching a game with the core mechanics and some details here and there, but not every idea you may have that’s an extra. However, you don’t want to lose track of all those details, so keep them somewhere safe and keep them as ideas for possible updates, this allows you to have content for possible player retention if your game does well.
A prime example of this would be, if I was to open an FPS game, I wouldn’t want to make 10/15 maps on release, I may start out with like 3-5, allowing the players to get used to those and add maps over time if players want to see more content than what is provided.
When it comes to actually release your game, take your shot if you made it all the way through with a finished product/working product. You don’t want to hold back, especially after all the progress you did. If it does well, then you should be proud, but if it doesn’t, you shouldn’t let it hold you back from development. A lot of developers go through trial and error before landing onto 1 specific game or idea that does really well / grabs the most players’ attention.
This is just some of the advice I have, hope it helps 