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[nickmarks]

http://videogameartist.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/your-game-sucks-make-people-play-it/

[BlueSweatshirt]

You put things a bit crudely, but it's great, honest advice. Bookmarked~ 

[nickmarks]

haha. Often get the crude remark. I am very blunt I guess:) Glad you liked it.

[Sankar]

Its a great piece of advice: Playtest,

I feel many indie developers don't realize how important play testing is.
Game companies are somewhat guilty of this, many companies try to look like mythical entities, never releasing "behind the scenes" material.

I think that worst than a hash criticism is being totally ignored, probably.
I feel many developers struggle to get enough attention, is hard to make decisions based in 1 or 2 points of view, specially because people tend to give opinions in a "wave" manner.

[leonelc29]

RSS feeded.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i think it's generally good but i'd make a couple of points that article didn't get into

- it's okay if not everyone likes your game, or even if most people don't, as long as *some* people like your game. when you're making a niche game it's to be expected that a lot of people won't like it, but a small subset of people will love it. and that's fine, you don't have to try to please everyone by trying to "fix" every little thing that someone doesn't like about the game. try to please the people who play that type of game normally, not the people who don't. for instance, if you're making a jrpg, don't try to please people who hate jrpgs and never play them, that'd be a disaster, just try to please people who play jrpgs and love them

- similarly, you'll often get contradictory advice. for instance, some people who think a boss is too easy, and others who think it's too hard. in those cases you can't really do much about the problem (except to add difficulty levels). or someone might think that there is too much explaining going on, and that they'd prefer to discover things themselves, and others might feel as if the game isn't explained enough and they can't figure out what to do; you can't often please two opposite types of people, so make sure you take a stance and decide which half of them you're going to please, rather than always trying to please both

[Shackhal]

To me, the most important part in a play test is to be completely honest and objetive. If the game sucks, you have to say it. But, with a feedback:

"The game sucks. It fails in that, in that, in that, in that....""Oh, and in that too"

Hurts, but it will make your game a shining diamond