The 2013 In Review Contest [Reviews: 94]

At the start of this review I was pretty much getting ready to rant to Giz about the laziness of suggesting that the author shouldn't bother to fix the map and battle issues. Then I got to the end with the point of the review and it hit hard in retrospect.

As much I like to rant about the fact that you literally can't find a hobbyist game making community these days that doesn't have its sights set on making money (compared to just a decade ago where the idea of making money with a small game was mostly an absurdity), I was completely oblivious to the fact that pushing for polish and usability starts to degrade some of the advantages of not being beholden to anyone else.

Of course at the same time this is only the second review the game has gotten (despite being a complete 20hr game), and it had a weekly game talk thread where no one even got around to talking about it. There's much ado about the fact that the OHR community is largely developers, and consequently not much use for getting your game played by an audience- more just for developer-to-developer feedback. But it makes me wonder if there is even an audience for this type of rough and tumble amateur game anymore. People have so many choices for entertainment now (including free) that kids with a PC and no money can just as easily go play some League of Legends instead of goofing around with some guy's work of love that's based on 20 year old games they never played.

Maybe in the end it really doesn't matter when the author had fun making it. Think about that. Could you spend the time required to make a 20 hour RPG just for yourself and no one else?

(I don't think I made any points that Giz himself didn't do better, but that review really did kind of affect me.)

This review

It made me think.

It made me realize something. I start projects. I come up with game concepts. I start designs. Make maps, make the characters, make monsters...I want it to look perfect. I want it to function perfectly. With my consummating desire for perfection, I forgot something. I forgot to have fun, and pour that energy into my projects.

I focus on perfection, flow, logic, all those sorts of things. I invest myself into the resources, but I forget to invest myself into the game world itself. I don't (Intentionally) put in clever, humorous bits to make sure my audience doesn't get bored or make the game too grimdark/edgy. I don't make characters likeable/relateable/different. I see that I haven't been breathing life into them like I should. I can see the design, but I can't see the actual world itself.

tl;dr: I'm just making a game, I forgot to have fun with it.

;)

dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x

This review

It made me think.

It made me realize something. I start projects. I come up with game concepts. I start designs. Make maps, make the characters, make monsters...I want it to look perfect. I want it to function perfectly. With my consummating desire for perfection, I forgot something. I forgot to have fun, and pour that energy into my projects.

I focus on perfection, flow, logic, all those sorts of things. I invest myself into the resources, but I forget to invest myself into the game world itself. I don't (Intentionally) put in clever, humorous bits to make sure my audience doesn't get bored or make the game too grimdark/edgy. I don't make characters likeable/relateable/different. I see that I haven't been breathing life into them like I should. I can see the design, but I can't see the actual world itself.

tl;dr: I'm just making a game, I forgot to have fun with it.

This review

It made me think.

It made me realize something. I start projects. I come up with game concepts. I start designs. Make maps, make the characters, make monsters...I want it to look perfect. I want it to function perfectly. With my consummating desire for perfection, I forgot something. I forgot to have fun, and pour that energy into my projects.

I focus on perfection, flow, logic, all those sorts of things. I invest myself into the resources, but I forget to invest myself into the game world itself. I don't (Intentionally) put in clever, humorous bits to make sure my audience doesn't get bored or make the game too grimdark/edgy. I don't make characters likeable/relateable/different. I see that I haven't been breathing life into them like I should. I can see the design, but I can't see the actual world itself.

tl;dr: I'm just making a game, I forgot to have fun with it.

This review

It made me think.

It made me realize something. I start projects. I come up with game concepts. I start designs. Make maps, make the characters, make monsters...I want it to look perfect. I want it to function perfectly. With my consummating desire for perfection, I forgot something. I forgot to have fun, and pour that energy into my projects.

I focus on perfection, flow, logic, all those sorts of things. I invest myself into the resources, but I forget to invest myself into the game world itself. I don't (Intentionally) put in clever, humorous bits to make sure my audience doesn't get bored or make the game too grimdark/edgy. I don't make characters likeable/relateable/different. I see that I haven't been breathing life into them like I should. I can see the design, but I can't see the actual world itself.

tl;dr: I'm just making a game, I forgot to have fun with it.