I'm going on 5 years for my project and I remember when I was in your exact position. It's never fun to be criticized or have others tell you why your work isn't good enough, but, I took everything they said to heart because the key point to game development is building the ideal game that you yourself would want to play. Then you just need to find that tricky footing in the middle ground where you meet the players expectations and your expectations half way. It's tricky but something very unique and special will come from this. So what I'm trying to say is that don't ever let anyone's negative opinions get you down or even take your work away. Learn from it and grow but never let others take your work and make it theirs. Perfect example is what Mass Effect fans have done recently.
Hang in there.