I feel like finishing a game from a programming standpoint can have a different meaning to me as well as anybody else.

I know it is very important to finish your game before starting a new game.

In my example: I have been working on a simple arcade shooter game. I'm pretty sure I finished the game.

To me, finishing a game means adding everything I wanted the game to have from the beginning I started the project and had these ideas in my mind: AI, collision, main menu, game over and victory screen.

I like to hear your definition of what finishing your game means to you. I can definitely learn more from you guys!

As a indie game dev... um, wanna be..., to me finishing a game means that the game is available for download (hopefully for a price) by the target audience. Anything else is falling short. So far I've fallen short.

To me it's more than implementing everything I had imagined at the beginning I guess. As you progress you'll notice that you like some things more or less than you thought they would. You'll come up with new ideas that you'd like to try out or old ideas you'd like to improve upon. As a hobbyist game programmer I don't feel like any of my games are finished, but I'm guessing having a game released that people play because they think it's fun would come close to that feeling. Blizzard representatives frequently state that some of their games are never finished. I think I feel the same way: a never ending cycle of improvements to be made.

It's weird, I can tell you what's not finished, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what finished actually means to me. Maybe time will tell.

As a indie game dev... um, wanna be..., to me finishing a game means that the game is available for download (hopefully for a price) by the target audience. Anything else is falling short. So far I've fallen short.

Interesting statement! Nice to hear from an indie game developer. Good luck on your project! It is important to be self-motivated!

To me it's more than implementing everything I had imagined at the beginning I guess. As you progress you'll notice that you like some things more or less than you thought they would. You'll come up with new ideas that you'd like to try out or old ideas you'd like to improve upon. As a hobbyist game programmer I don't feel like any of my games are finished, but I'm guessing having a game released that people play because they think it's fun would come close to that feeling. Blizzard representatives frequently state that some of their games are never finished. I think I feel the same way: a never ending cycle of improvements to be made.

It's weird, I can tell you what's not finished, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what finished actually means to me. Maybe time will tell.

Interesting. Nice to hear a statement like that from Blizzard. Respect.

As a professional developer, I don't think I've ever heard anyone talking about "finishing" a product.

You "release" it, but that is not the end of the line by far, you still have to market it, support it with updates, possibly run servers, answer user questions, maybe work on version 2.0, fix bugs on new hardware, etc, etc.

Then after a couple of years you might "stop supporting" it when you get too tired of it.

But you never "finish" software in general...

As a professional developer, I don't think I've ever heard anyone talking about "finishing" a product.

You "release" it, but that is not the end of the line by far, you still have to market it, support it with updates, possibly run servers, answer user questions, maybe work on version 2.0, fix bugs on new hardware, etc, etc.

Then after a couple of years you might "stop supporting" it when you get too tired of it.

But you never "finish" software in general...

NIce to see from a professional in the industry. Nice points, thanks!

For me, I'd say it's a mix of Olof and Mussi's responses.
When I begin a game, I consider the foundation of it - what I feel makes it unique in both atmosphere an gameplay. From there I more or less branch off in every direction and seek to explore every possibility using the atmosphere and gameplay, so that the player can learn on their own just what they are capable of. Typically it's me sketching new ideas and their functions into a day planner or something, but as I test it, and ask for advice from other, one of the key things I look for is proposed changes.
If an element in the game seems more like a matter of luck than anything in such a way that it seems impossible or frustrating, I remove it or look for ways to better it. Sometimes I have an initial idea of how I'd like something to look, and it ends up not fitting into the game as well as I had hoped.
When I feel that the game is polished, and appears stable, and runs efficiently, then I feel it is able to be released. The main game is complete in my eyes.
However, much like Olof said, I may still support it, design add-ons, extra levels, fix missed bugs, and tons of other things.
When I've exhausted my ideas, when I feel like it is time to move on, then the game is truly finished once and for all.