BIGMercenary has 41 chronicles

1. How would you feel?
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Feb 04 2008

   Let's say you decide to create a game. You want to make it a game about what YOU want. The main character(s) do what YOU want them to do. Or say it's a racing game: YOU add the cars YOU want to.
   Now let's say you put upwards of almost two years of effort into creating this game. You've got an entire team behind you, major financing, support, hype, innovation, everything. It's getting good previews so far.
   
   It gets delayed a little because you want to make it better and people get pissed because of it.
   
   Then the day comes and your game is in store shelves. Next thing you know your the most hated person on the planet. Pathetic players of YOUR game with nothng better to do than talk bad about it constantly post things on the internet that downplay your hard work:
   Some glitch in the game that could be easily fixed with a patch. Races are too short. Puzzles are too easy. Storyline is too short/too long. It's a ripoff of another game. Everything in the book that they can think of.
   
   Your game stills sells well but not as well as you had hoped because of the ones who spreaded a negative word.
   
   How would you feel?
   
   (This is just something for all those who play a game and look for every single fault in it without enjoying it. Or the morons who compare Forza to GTA: San Andereas.)

   
   

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BIGMercenary has 4 comment s on this chronicle.

1. GoblinBob
   Posted On Feb 10 2008

   I feel your pain. I've been designing games for over a quarter of a century, and believe me, its never easy to listen to folks who "...downplay your hard work."
   
   The thing is... you might as well try to get used to it! It's always gonna happen, and it will never get any easier!
   
   You'd like to think that most people read Forums hoping for informed, intelligent opinions, but unfortunately, this is usually the exception, not the rule.
   
   And regardless of their opinion, reviewers are just people. One reviewer will praise you for being original, and another will condemn you for being derivative. Some can’t resist trying to pigeonhole your efforts, i.e., forcing it into their preconceived notions of some existing game they like (or don’t like). Still others will never even bother to try to discover what's new or unique about the game. Instead their reviews are really just rants based on press releases, gossip or snapshots alone.
   
   Because lets face it, many reviewers don't begin to understand the enormous work involved in the design/development process....i.e., asking and answering all the of thousands of difficult questions that turn an "idea" into something real.
   
   Yet you can always tell if the reviewer understands the game design process; those that do usually write thoughtful, intelligent reviews full of insightful observations.
   (These are always great to read, whether they love your game or hate it.)
   
   To BIG MERCENARY:
   Stay true to your self, and your vision. And try to NOT let it get to you, its not personal.
   
   To Online "Reviewers":
   I know everyone’s busy, but on behalf of all those out there who pour their
   life’s blood into their work, please take the time to sit down, play, and really understand a game before you write about it.
   
   SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GAME DEVELOPMENT!

2. DecipherOne
   Posted On Feb 06 2008

   If a game is good then it really won't matter what a few disappointed fans have to say. The game will speak for itself. Also with software and games(especially games on the pc not so much for consoles as there are well known standards for those) it's pretty common for some bugs to make it through an initial release and educated people are aware of this. It's usually uneducated people that have nothing better to do that sit around criticizing every little detail complaining about things that they thought a designer should have done ect..(although sometimes the points might be valid), and for the majority of people, if the game is good, they will take the game experience over the word of these people any day.
   
   This isn't such a big deal for well established ip's and the like. For indie game developers or new ip however this can be an issue, but there are ways to combat this, such as having a playable demo available to the public and also making sure that you have someone to handle pr correctly.
   
   Another thing that you must realize is that some people just like to bitch. At least in America it's a capitalistic society and some people expect to have their every need catered too as a consumer. Once again most people aren't like that, but you are always going to have that group of people who just aren't satisfied with anything. So, you just have to learn to take the good with the bad. If someone bad mouthed your product, you just have to remember not to take it personally. If you as a developer felt that you did the best that you could and are satisfied with the product, it's my belief that the sense of accomplishment you get from that should be enough. As long as you can cover your development costs and have a little bit of extra money in your pocket afterward, it shouldn't be about the sales. Sure, it's a business, but this is true about any business and having passion in your life is more important the opinions of people who may or may not share the same ideas as you. Diversity is what breeds creativity and evolution you may not like, but you got to deal with it.

3. BIGMercenary
   Posted On Feb 05 2008

   What car? I don't even have a license.

4. BEN
   Posted On Feb 05 2008

   Yeah, I hear you on this, but sometimes you also have to consider the value of having the game release on time. So many games give a release date that is not possible to accomplish, which I don't understand. It seems like the development companies would be better off being early than late, huh?
   
   Anyways, thanks for the rant and let's see some of your cars posted in your profile!