I'm wondering if Indie game designers play their own games. Do they, like for fun?

Probably not, I mean they created the game. Wouldn't they know the easy ways to win or progress.

You'd have to in my opinion.  Many of the games I've half made, never fully completed, it was a necessary step in development.  Otherwise how you would know if it played well?

As any game developer/designer you will play your own game hours over hours over hours, especially when you are in a smaller team without dedicated QA. I dont know about AAA titles from bigger studios (a lot) but even there the designer will have to QA the game to check if it fits to whatever he/she has thought it should but QA is foremost done by automated tests as I know (they start the game and simulate a fixed procedure to see if single steps match to what they are intended to)

I personally start my project(s) every day after the daily checkout to see if something changed and find new bugs and happenings that should be fixed for the next day. This results in Steam game times from arround 50 to 100 hours in the decade of development time even if I didn't play the game after release (if it isnt something I really really was proud of)

It is true that you will know your game better as any player after release for the first few months/years (depending on the extents of your game) what will decrease the interest in playing after release depending on the kind of game. A more action or story driven game with smaller size has had a lower interest as the medival city building simulator I worked at.

In general I would say, if the game is fun and you don't remeber anything, then chances are high that even a game developer/designer will play its own games

As for AAA, the amount of playing your own title during development varies heavily between disciplines (testers > designers > artists ~ programmers) and it varies even more between individuals.

For engine programmers, 98% time it's enough to launch a test scene or load a suitable mission, watch the logs, make a capture or step a bit for a few minutes and turn it off again (your local version will most likely crash or manifest artifacts anyway :D) Tools programmers might not play the game too much either. Gameplay coders do much more, for obvious reasons.

After release, many AAA employees play the game through for the first time. And many don't.

As far as indies go, I believe most will play it after release.

I do PR and promote, it looks like playing, but it's work.  I have to create alts to play.

2 minutes ago, swiftcoder said:

As an indie with some creative freedom, why would you make a game that you didn't want to play?

I am a perfectionist I see irregularities and start moving the build around