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[djr]

For me it's the slog. It's the most high risk time where you are prepared to throw away features because you're bored and every new game idea seems better than the current game. It comes at different times on each project but it's always there waiting to get you. The beginning and end are such highs though.

[skaz]

The beginning and end are such highs though.

Yeah starting a project is awesome. Can't tell about the ending though :p

[djr]

Yeah starting a project is awesome. Can't tell about the ending though :p

  I've got to admit I've started an order of magnitude number of projects than I have finished. In fact I've got half way through more projects than I've finished. It can be pretty brutal sometimes though.

[Lares Yamoir]

I would say the scariest part is showing the game to people. Either it's still in development and you aren't sure whether people will "get" what your intention/goal is, or it is done and people can test it. In the second case, the worst thing would be if nobody cares to play it.

[djr]

I would say the scariest part is showing the game to people. Either it's still in development and you aren't sure whether people will "get" what your intention/goal is, or it is done and people can test it. In the second case, the worst thing would be if nobody cares to play it.

It's quite sad that you learn to recognise when someone is just saying nice things but is sparing your feelings and someone giving you genuine positive feedback. It seems harder to learn when someone is being overly negative because they are jealous or just a bitter little shit. Maybe it's because we show the game expecting people to hate it?

[Grhyll]

Scariest part of making a game is not finishing it. At least for me, that fear extends to any project I work on. You know? talented people are everywhere, but my utmost respect and admiration goes to anyone who finishes what they start.

I fully agree with this Like the last 5% of the dev are in fact 50% of the work. You've done everything that was exciting, that had a visible impact on the game, and you're left with all that small polish, those bugs... I'm planning on publishing an article next week about this :D

[Niocursed]

The scariest part for me is to design and implement a core mechanic, which I think is amazing, but what if people do not like it? Most of the game design would then be irrelevant because it is designed around this one mechanic. Showing the game early to people can minimize the risc of this happen, but you never truely know when the game is released to the masses.

My second thing is making a technical error that makes the game crash or work really badly. We had a launch of one of our apps in my company, and we forgot to exclude inferior devices. That really hurt our launch with a lot of angry users  

[Lares Yamoir]

It's quite sad that you learn to recognise when someone is just saying nice things but is sparing your feelings and someone giving you genuine positive feedback. It seems harder to learn when someone is being overly negative because they are jealous or just a bitter little shit. Maybe it's because we show the game expecting people to hate it?

I guess it's easier to figure out, because most of the time, the people talking positively about your game, for the sake of sparing your feelings, don't look at the game in depth. They'll often point out things, that are necessary to make a good game, but don't define a good game. The bottom line of quality, so to speak. Stuff like "Oh yeah I liked the graphics" or "the theme is kinda cool". On the other hand negative feedback doesn't need to have an in depth reason. If something minor bothers the player to the point where he/she doesn't like to play the game, than that's that.

[NoLocality]

I guess it's easier to figure out, because most of the time, the people talking positively about your game, for the sake of sparing your feelings, don't look at the game in depth.

I've seen this as well and am guilty myself of holding back things that I truly think the dev should hear purely to not sound like an ass.

I remember a thread on these forums from long ago where somebody had others post their games and he would tell them bluntly why their game sucked.  It was funny as hell and I don't think anyone walked away with hurt feelings.

I'm tempted to revive this and start a thread where anyone can toss their beloved creation up on the chopping block and the peanut gallery can mercilessly tear it apart. 

This would hold a LOT of value as those being "roasted" would definitely come out thicker-skinned (what critic can make a dent after being torn apart by your peers?), might take to heart some of the more constructive criticism and improve on some level or another and all in all it sounds fun and entertaining.

If anyone knows of the old thread please link it...I can't find it for the life of me.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

this ? Game Name Clinic. I will rate your game's name ?

[NoLocality]

this ? Game Name Clinic. I will rate your game's name ?

I'm afraid that's not it.  I think the thread title was something like "Post your game, I'll tell you why it sucks" but as I search using those words nothing comes of it.

Maybe it degraded into a flame war and was removed.    If so that's a shame 'cause from what I remember people were having a blast.

It would go something like...

Person 1-"Do mine next!"...links their devlog.

Thread starter-"Tired and uninspired pixel graphics, focus is away from the action and the concept has been repeated into oblivion."

Person 2-"My turn, hold nothing back!"...links devlog.

Thread starter-"Your jumping mechanic is absolute ass, literally no one going to get exited about yet another infinite runner and if you're going for the anime ascetic at least have the decency to ensure your protagonist is underage."

The critiques were about half constructive-half opinion but always vicious and always funny. 

I think this could be fun but I'd encourage the whole populous to heckle those brave enough to post what they got, that way participants could get a wider range of brutal criticism and thus thicker skin for that merciless big ol' world out there.

[diegzumillo]

Without wanting to derail the thread too much, I think there's something interesting going on in these "roast" threads. A harsh criticism can be tough in normal circumstances, but if you expect only that it seems to negate its ill effects. I think that's pretty cool. Or stupid. I don't know, I'm kinda tired right now.

[Grhyll]

I want this too

[oahda]

Would be nice to have a thread like that that's completely serious, tho, because when things are said in a bit of a joking and sarcastic fashion, it might be difficult to know when something is actually bad, or whether the person is saying it just to be funny (like the anime thing above).

[Schoq]

here's the tread https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=44647.0

[NoLocality]

here's the tread https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=44647.0

That's the one!  Thank you Schoq.

Would be nice to have a thread like that that's completely serious, tho, because when things are said in a bit of a joking and sarcastic fashion, it might be difficult to know when something is actually bad, or whether the person is saying it just to be funny (like the anime thing above).

You're speaking some truth there Prinsessa, also the whole roast for the sake of roasting has potential for derailing what could be a constructive practice.

Honestly though I'm leaning towards encouraging silliness/viciousness purely because it encourages a more laid-back/informal conversation...an overly serious conversation has potential to be intimidating in it's own right when someone stumbles across the thread and observes people walking on eggshells and sparing each others feelings, then we come full circle back to the "let's not say what we feel needs to be said" problem that's seen on most devlogs.

I think we can have our cake and eat it to though...I'm gonna put in a rule for "roasters" just for this problem.

Roasters will be required to specify what is serious and what is not using prefaces like this...


Roastee-"Okay here is mine, have at it guys."...links devlog.

Roaster 1-"CONSTRUCTIVE: Your game is to fast from what I am seeing, I'm getting the impression you are going for a more casual experience and I think slowing the pace down will make it infinitely more enjoyable.  No need to go gung-ho/Dark souls difficulty in a game about hamsters navigating a tube-maze.  
DESTRUCTIVE: Another maze game in a world flooded with maze games...you'd better pull some fucking 'hook/gimmick/anything to differentiate itself' out quickly before me and the rest of the world dismisses this as the uninspired clone it's shaping up to be."

Neither destructive nor constructive are mandatory but differentiating which is being put forward is.


Also my apologies for derailing this thread  ...I should shut up and just do this heh.


Edit: it's done... https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=52534.0 

[oahda]

Yeah, that works.

[Darion]

Tbh as someone who just started working on their first game, the scariest part is thinking I may never finish one.

[ahmedmohi]

To me , always felt that the problem isn't lacking ideas but in having too much ideas that no one do anything , especially in meetings or brainstorming sessions every1 says ideas and we don't agree on something so the deadlines keeps pushing 

[TGHoly]

My biggest fear is to release the game and never have a single sale/play.

Same to me.... truly even not yet release I still fear that no one even notice that my game exist. XD