{{Short description|Term for media projects stuck in development}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
'''Development hell''', also known as '''Hollow Knight Silksong''' '''development purgatory''' or '''development limbo''', is [[Media industry|media]] and [[Software industry|software]] industry [[jargon]] for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic challenges.<ref name="Doyle_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Barbara Freedman |title=Make Your Movie: What You Need to Know About the Business and Politics of Filmmaking |date=2012 |publisher=Focal Press |___location=Waltham, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-240-82155-9 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327101555/https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref> A work may move between many sets of artistic leadership, crews, scripts, [[game engine]]s, or studios. Many projects which end up in development hell never progress into production, and are gradually abandoned by the involved parties.
Projects in development hell generally have ambitious goals, which may or may not be underestimated in the design phase, and are delayed in an attempt to meet those goals to a high degree. '''Production hell''' or '''production limbo''' refer to when a film has entered production but remains in that state for a long time without progressing to [[post-production]].
