#Metatopia Reflections & Thanks
Friday – Humbled
Saturday – Disheartened
Sunday – Feeling Good
First I want to take the time to thank every play tester that took the time to play #StufftheUniverse and #ClickClickBang this weekend with me. Your time, input and respect was greatly appreciated. Individual names (First + Last Initial) are listed below. My thanks again.
I would also like to thank the staff of #Metatopia. If you are a developer or have an idea and live within a few hundred miles of NJ come to the DoubleExposure event. The staff is beyond helpful, the speakers are insightful and the events are planned out well.
Special thanks to Viny for answering about many questions from me before the event and for the incredible work I saw him do on filling other developers games with play testers. I heard stories from other developers over lunch/dinner/drinks were incredible about Viny and from first hand experience in dealing with him I know it's true.
Additionally my thanks to Andy and Avonelle “Avie” as well. Saturday was a tough day as you put yourself and your baby (game) out there. You hear feedback and feel your baby take lump after lump and it's tough. When I was challenged I ran into Andy. He put that smile back on my face and I am grateful to him for that.
Today when I ran into Avie, she took the time to tell me what people felt of #StufftheUniverse. She told me that when people that left the play tests they felt the game was well done, but it didn't hit the light/medium family market or theme commitment. #StufftheUniverse was more of a heavy strategic game feel with a lot of rules.
This was was good to hear and lifted my spirits, and I told her when I was receiving the feedback (verbally) I felt it was a more negative then positive set of reviews. She said I was not hearing them correctly and I should re-read the questionnaires I asked them to fill out and let it digest as that was not their feeling at all. It's nice to hear that and ingratiated me to her for making me feel better about it.
Now onto the reflections:
If you've ever been to a major event, with panels and events, and then tried to pack your schedule for the entire day, while running something, you'll understand when I say it's a daunting task. Friday was packed with goodness, panels to play tests, dinner and networking with some great people; Saturday was play test heavy with some panels as well as trying to breath and Sunday was play test centric of my games and many others.
As for me play testing with developers, and brutally honest people was interesting as I've always worn my heart on my sleeve. I learned that I originally took too much of my players input (early play tests – prior to Metatopia) and that I need to learn which feedback is appropriate feedback and which isn't.
A presenter, Matt Fantastic, paraphrased a quote regarding input (PROFANITY BELOW):
“If multiple people are telling you something's fucked up in your game; it's fucked up! If they tell you how to fix it, tell them to go fuck themselves.”
I found it offensive at first due to the language, but after a second it hit me. If everyone is saying “this is broken” guess what, “IT'S BROKEN FIX IT”; however as they can't see how the entire game works nor do they know every aspect/breath of the game you have to sit there smile and maybe reply “That would be interesting” or something along that line rather then just incorporate it to see how it tests multiple times and seeing that it's not the direction you're going. My cap's off to you Matt for kicking me in the ass on it, even if you didn't realize it.
I had the opportunity to work with more then 16 people on #StufftheUniverse. Their feedback helped me adjust the game to bring it more into alignment of where I wanted to bring it during the weekend. Overall 7 hours Friday night into Saturday morning and 6 hours Saturday night into Sunday morning. Not all of the changes worked, but #StufftheUniverse is moving in the right direction. Thank you wifey for not throwing me out of the house for being crazy rushing around all hours during normal sleep hours.
I had the opportunity to work with 7 awesome people on #ClickClickBang. Feedback was the game is really good to go, just get it out the door. Who knew creating a game about killing your friends with a revolver to win your freedom would be hilarious to people. Tons of laughs, sighs and slaps of their foreheads in disbelief in making a snap decision that hurt themselves but all had a great time. For a bar or party crowd it's a quick enough to be played in 8-10 minutes packed with simple mechanics to play over drinks or to break the ice. Time for some base art and to drop it off to a publisher for submission and hi ho hi ho off to the race I go.
Again, my thanks to everyone especially the play testers who put their time into trying my games.
Stuff the Universe - Play Testers
Alison C
Bryce W
Dan E
Donald E
Geoffrey E
Howard R
Linda F
Lyle (missing last initial)
Seth A
Matthew M
Michael O
Michelle I
Mike R
Mike C
Phil W
Russell M
Rachel F
Tania S
Zach R
Click Click Bang - Play Testers
Anastasia (missing last initial)
Amy D
Bryce W
Bryce's Sister
Lyle (missing last initial)
Seth A
Teika W