Coping with Reviewer/Public Opinions on Your Game/Art

Jakob Gavelli

Heya,
It's a topic I've been thinking about alot and I haven't seen it talked about much here, or maybe I've missed it.
I was just wondering how you guys cope with reviewers, or the public, commenting on your art.
I've been in this bubble where I only get critique from others in the industry and I take great pride in how I treat that critique and process the information to learn and get better.
 
But now I find myself in this position where my studio is working on its debut title. We've published some videos, gotten some press, we'll be on the showfloor of E3. This should be a dream come true for us 4 guys, right? 

Up until this point the game has only been seen by people who were actively searching for it. Now it's appearing in news feeds and people who weren't looking for it are now seeing it. And some comments are just fucking brutal. 

Maybe I could let it slide if I was part of a larger team, but being responsible for all of the art except for the character/rigg/animation, and some set dressing, its hard to not take that shit to heart! xD

Sorry, I'm ranting, wasn't supposed to be some sort of advertisement or personal thing. So how do you cope? Just ignore it, or try to find some nugget of information among the vile spew, or what? ^^

MiAlx

Alcohol. 

Jokes aside, I have not been in that exact position, except for when someone on youtube commented on something I worked on specifically in the gameplay demo video of Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. He was basically calling me retarded and some other a bit more venomous things. I mean, I did get pissed when I read the comment, but I quickly realized that there is no point in giving any regard to these kind of comments. The only negative comments that count are the ones that calmly explain what they don't like.

Also I believe that the people that comment on gaming sites, youtube etc. are basically the hardcore, invested and often young gamers. The everyday gamers are the majority and are therefore statistically more sensible. 

MrFunk

Fortunately enough we have community managers watching our forums for general mood and constructive criticism. I personally stopped reading and caring for most comments a long time ago, since all that gamers tend to do is complain ( it feels like it at least ).
Just don't take the hate to heart, because there is always going to be someone hating your game for whatever reasons

AtticusMars

If you're responsible for the art direction in the game it's probably a good idea to pay attention to the general reception it's getting. I wouldn't go to the Kotaku looking for insightful commentary though...

If you have the luxury of ignoring it, I would.

MagicSugar

"Perfect is good but done is better."

audi100

It's easier to tear something down (admittedly more fun too =P ) then to build it up. So people choose the easy route and the internet acts as a catalysator pushing this to the next level. I would not give a shit about unfiltered comments that only bash, because most people who spit it have never really worked hard on something on their own.

As has been mentioned already, apply a filter so that you can concentrate on the reviews that mention why something feels bad in their eyes (ideally in a non insulting manner).

Mstankow

Just enjoy the hate if it comes.

ZacD

A critique from a fellow artist is 100x more valuable than 100 random comments on the internet. The only way you'll get meaningful feedback from the internet like that is to look at reviews and seeing if there's any strong trends, because 95% of the comments are going to be just noise. 

Also don't be too hard on yourself, if you are doing everything but characters, there's no way you could possibly be the best at everything. Understand you had to make tough compromises and be proud of the work you did. 

MM

i been in this position few times and i try to be very objective in reading/listening to such feedback irrelevant of where it comes from.
you would be surprised how useful some non-artist or layman feedback can be. there are times when someone random will point things out that are totally on point and SHOULD actually be helpful to the artist. obviously you have to be smart about it and understand who is trolling or who is just being bitter about it, for example someone's hatred towards "meat games".

so just be objective about it and try to leave your emotions in the back burner as much as possible. keep in mind that artists or game developer are only a small portion of our products end users. so any and all feedback should be given appropriate importance.

Kevin Albers

It's difficult, unless you simply go the route of ignoring everything random laypeople and reviewers say. If I had my way, I'd have someone else go thru all the comments, and gather the actual bits of information, leaving behind all the hate, worship, personal oddness etc, and then I'd read that summary of the comments.

I'm getting close to being ready to launch my current indie project, at least in the form of a kickstarter pitch or somesuch. It's a bit stressfull knowing that anything I put out there is going to be torn to shreds by at least some of the people who comment on it. Perhaps I'll take my own advice and hire someone from taskrabbit to convert any comments into a non-hate-spewing format I can read without feeling terrible.

Failing that - alcohol, at least as a short term coping approach.

Melazee

Is it Clover Island? I think it's because you are being compared against a similar AAA title in that genre (Ratchet and Clank). It's going to be difficult as Ratchet had a huge team, and you guys are only a small team. However, people will still compare no matter what (most people don't realise or care about the size of a team making a game sadly, only the end product). It comes with making a game similar to a big existing IP. It will happen no matter what you do.

I say, don't take it to heart! Keep doing what you are doing, I know I'll buy your game I was planning a fanart actually! I'm happy platformers are making a comeback! I'm also a fan of the style in Clover Island, lovely environments. 

EDIT: Just saw the new footage! It's come on a long way, great stuff! Excited

xvampire

looks amazing !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kry5T4U-2Nk

while artist/expert comment is important, in the end public opinion and reception is matter most, 
if i put it in frank way :they are the one who will  pay your company's salary.

Jakob Gavelli

Alcohol seems like the way to go, I guess. xD I guess just ignoring the blanket statements of just vile shit is a good way to cope.
Ofcourse there's some comments that are well put and constructive, even though we're often dealing with subjective things. 

I've also noticed that there's a huge difference between comments on a review site, such as IGN or Gamespot, and developers sites such as Sonys website. On Sonys website there's literally 0 negative replies, only praise. Which is great for the ego, sure, maybe not that useful either though. ^^
I don't know if people on such sites are happy consumers looking for games with the intent of purchase, it's also less anonymous, I guess?
While on IGN or Gamespot people are more anonymous and maybe there's a certain kind of people who hang out and post there. Just speculating at this point, the difference is huge though ^^

I think our game specifically is a really easy target aswell, which doesn't help, haha. Kind of a stupid market to try to get into, the 3d mascot platformer genre, as there's these giant AAA projects and people have really strong feelings about the nostalgia in these kinds of titles. It's as if some get personally offended that we're trying to do a game similar to their beloved franchises  
We have alot of issues obviously, and being 4 dudes and get compared to Insomniac and the other giants out there doesn't really do us any favors, but the end consumer don't give a shit about the number of people involved, or how much it cost to create. All that matters is the quality. So that's no excuse ^^ 

Some of the negative comments are kind of hilarious though, hehe.
But yeah, it's heartbreaking when someone points out something you worked on and calls it shit. It kind of makes you loose faith in the audience that you're ultimately just trying to make happy. Because that's really why I make games and art, to see other people play it and make people happy. 
I guess another way would be to make are and games solely because it makes ME happy, and let marketing and others worry about the business side of things, but that also feels a bit naive. ^.-

Maybe there's no good way to cope with it?

Zack Maxwell

The average person is a barely functional moron, so there will always be negativity no matter how well you make something. But if someone has legitimate criticisms, then I think it should be used to try improving your work. If an artist just ignores all criticism, they'll have a very hard time improving. Complacency is the enemy of any artist

Tits

Don't let it get to you, and I know it's really hard.
I've not struggle with it too much in the past but with the release of SFV Ibuki some people made some effort to track my email / fb / twitter to send me message about how bad the character look.
People on the internet are just way too intense about everything and often think they know better than the people working on those games.
Just learn to be proud of the work you did and don't pay attention to the hater, there will always be some.
I'm not saying to reject critique tho, critique is always good, but there is a big difference in between constructive cristicism and people hating on anything and everything online in the comments section.

Melazee

The 3D mascot genre isn't a stupid thing to get into, trust me! We need more of it, they died a sad death and it's nice to see them make a return. It doesn't matter that there are big AAA companies making the same genre of game. In fact, look at Oceanhorn on IOS! It's a Zelda Windwaker inspired game, and it got very good reception. People wanted that Zelda experience on IOS.

You know, there is a big gap in the iPhone market for 3D platformers *hint hint* 

Joopson

I think generally speaking, just never ever ever read comments on the internet, ever. No good can come of it, in most cases. Look at professional reviews, and things like that, where people tend to at least try to be constructive.

Autocon

Follow the Golden Rule:

Never read internet comments.



except this one...

Kevin Albers

'Maybe there's no good way to cope with it?'

Well, in general terms, I think there is a decent way to cope with potential stress about what your audience thinks and does, which is to try and have plenty of compassion for them and for yourself. The world has plenty of nice people in it, who aren't spending their time spewing negative comments your way, and the people who spew hate usually have their own difficult issues (e.g. insecurity) that you can have a bit of sympathy for.   Also, don't focus too much on the visible nastiness in the form of comments...quickly take note of any useful feedback and then move on to something else. Keep imagining nice people enjoying the stuff you create, and you in turn being happy to have created it for them and for yourself.

leilei

Haters gonna hate; ignoring is great.

Lamont

I learned to stay away from the comments section. But then again there are some good comments in there, that's where community managers come in and deal with that nonsense. It's hard to NOT take it personal. But then you have to look at it like a consumer, which they are and also everyone wants to be a critic. Being vile and negative gets clicks and laughs, almost none of the comments are constructive. I just role my eyes and move on. Don't comment on anything. Because once you do, some jerk will get feelings hurt, report it and then you will get in trouble. This angry "I want everything, f*ck you and die" consumer needs to stop. It creates a very hostile relationship with consumers and content creators.

You can take the golden nuggets in the comments you see now and be like "Oh, I didn't see it like that.." and make adjustments. It's hard being in a vacuum for 2-3 years, some consumers DO have worthwhile comments because they have different way of looking. There are still many courteous people in the world!!

My dream is to drop the release of a game like 1 month before it comes out, but so much money is tied up in hyping stuff, I don't see it ever happening.

Sometimes I play this (because no matter how hard I try to be peaceful, I do have limits):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsXKAtpLm4I