This is true, in a narrow sense.

Countless times though, talented people need stimulation to finish something. Tools provide that. Indie games take years to make too, many of the best ones 4-7 years, entering "early access" as essentially finished products.

Authoring tools give someone with a diverse set of skills time and space to figure out something, usually in the context of originality. It is also a rehearsal for the successful game that may very well be done in a fury in six months at the end of seven years.

I agree: sometimes, making tools during a game dev process gives you a LOT of insight on what is going wrong in a project. Happened many many times to me :)

Building tools is an integral part of building games.

You can sometimes use generic tools but it is often preferable to have a custom level editor, even better when it runs directly inside the game.

I think we get stuck building tools as a form of procrastination because gamedev is so hard and open ended. If you find yourself building tools instead of getting on with what you set out to do, you’ll probably come up with justification like your comment, but scrutiny will reveal it’s just procrastination.

The trick is to avoid trying to "future-proof" your tools. You have to treat them as quite disposable, not polished gems.

Add features as you need them and build components that you can salvage for your next tool.

Maybe jig would be a better description. They are more focused on the workpiece and the outcome, a part may have multiple steps that it undergoes and a jig assists in its production.

Just realized I have Dead Cells in my Steam library. Paid for it and didn't even try it out. I buy way too many games...

If you have some free time, you may want to give it a try, it is really good :)

Deserves a controller if you have one.