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I CAN'T NOT MAKE GAMES.
I have enough lockerspace to hold an episode of Friends.
"We'll make a toast to absent friends and better days,
To remembering and being remembered as brave
And not as a bunch of whining jerks!
Don't lose your nerve.
Do not go straight
You must testify
(or I'm going to come to your house and punch you in the mouth)
cause CLOWNS MUST STAND."
- TW/IFS, "All The World Is A Stage Dive"
I have enough lockerspace to hold an episode of Friends.
"We'll make a toast to absent friends and better days,
To remembering and being remembered as brave
And not as a bunch of whining jerks!
Don't lose your nerve.
Do not go straight
You must testify
(or I'm going to come to your house and punch you in the mouth)
cause CLOWNS MUST STAND."
- TW/IFS, "All The World Is A Stage Dive"
Iron Gaia
As the only human awake on board a space station controlled by an insane AI with delusions of deification, you must unravel the mystery of your own identity and discover: "What is the Iron Gaia?"
As the only human awake on board a space station controlled by an insane AI with delusions of deification, you must unravel the mystery of your own identity and discover: "What is the Iron Gaia?"
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Backstage Review
author=iloveflash
Firstly, stop sucking your thumb. This isn't a day care and I nor anyone else here is certified to hold your hand.
Secondly, the only reason people are ganging up on you is because you're asking for it. The first thing that came out of your mouth was: "You know, in my experience, this review is going about itself all wrong." I so wish Solytare would've said "You're welcome" and just stalked off. You've got a lot of nerve trying to tell someone in your audience that they're inadequate because, oh, you don't like their opinion. Are you so afraid of the thought that someone in the universe does not appreciate your one, precious month work? You need to do some soul searching, man.
Thirdly, I've tried and failed to come up with a way to explain criticism any better to you. Ultimately, you as the developer have the right to dismiss anything and everything your audience says, but I honestly don't see how that will help you improve. Speaking from experience, I think you should meditate. Meditate on the 5/5's; meditate on the 1/5's and 3/5's. Mediation never hurt anybody. What gave your audience these impressions? Listen to them and take their opinions to heart, otherwise the only person who will be able to grade your work is yourself, and I believe that is the lowest kind of standard you ever want to set.
Call me a dipshit, but I think every opinion shapes your work just as much as you did.
hey iloveflash....9 full calendar years later I have done some serious deep reflection on this post... and you're right. In hindsight...
I definitely meant to say "suck my cock", not "go fuck yourself". XD
It'd have been funny as shit if that adorable little puritan Solitayre had just fucked right off after I called him on how bullshit his review was.
I'm not afraid of shit you dumb fucking cunt.
Also another tragic failed opportuntiy: I should have said "Your mom pales in comparison to the original". It's nonsensical but snappy!
You absolutely are a dipshit if you think ANY artist's reviews and critiques shape their work even 5% as much as they, the artist, do.
Wow this was fucking gratifying. God bless alcohol, and drugs. The mapping in Backstage is not great, the CBS......isn't, really, though I tried....the CMS...really isn't...although I tried....the sound design and music are great except for those brief parts where they're terrible...the maps were pretty damn good for an 18 year old Devon...the writing...was very derivative of Silent Hill, but much better executed, because it wasn't in Engrish. Wilfred-the-Hero co-ceator Brandon Abley's review of this game, no longer extant on the internet, was honestly more fair and accurate than anything else anyone's written about this old piece of juvenilia. He gave it what-for where it needed it--the CMS, particularly bad sound design chocies--but he also appreciated what made it great, the overall excellent atmosphere and the quality of the storytelling. It's good that I had solid, honest, non-salt-based feedback like that over the years so that I could live for the past 10 years or so as a professional writer and game designer. It's a good thing I never paid attention to troll reviews like this, or I might not have had the good fortune to be a successful professional creative from 2011 to 2017.
Iron Gaia Review
took you three months to get back to me kiddo, what're you, running on ME time? holy fucking shit I'm completely wasted and stoned I'll make this post coherent and sensical when I sober up. I just saltblasted an old 1.5 star review of Backstage which was probably ill advised but I am flying. Kind of regret that salty, salty discharge from my proverbial vagina, but it's too late to turn back on it now.
Wow. You put me amongst some illustrious company, sir. Alter Aila looks amazing and is incredibly popular. A Blurred Line is still finally my favorite RM of all time. I am not worthy of such illustrious company. Not worthy!
Well I cannot say anything else as I discovered Rmk only lately, but being and old gamer, I appreciate old-style rpgs, the references to System Shock and so on.Funny story? I never heard of System Shock till after I released the final complete build of Iron Gaia. But I played in between making this and making virus
I mentioned Alter Aila and a Blurred Line in the beginning as I liked them too, despite being not without flaws.
But, I'll say that again, I had fun, so that's all. Many other boring fantasy jrpg instead were a chore to play, but this is not the case.
Wow. You put me amongst some illustrious company, sir. Alter Aila looks amazing and is incredibly popular. A Blurred Line is still finally my favorite RM of all time. I am not worthy of such illustrious company. Not worthy!
Iron Gaia Review
Maps are average for the most part, and due to the used of the default futuristic chipsets there's not much to say about that. Even with that I didn't mind the design of the locations, even if it's true that Max McGee did a far better job in his other games. But I did mind the minigames as I hated them (especially the hacking minigame, the shoot-em-up one was not so terrible).
Call me Legion! (muahahahaha)
Ahem.
Addict, thank you so very much for this wonderful review. In my early 30s, with over a decade of experience as a creative professional under my belt, I am still AMAZED every time I learn that someone unironically enjoyed a game made mostly made back when I was as a 17 year old kid who didn't know nothin' bout 'nothin, least of all game design.
Amazed, and deeply touched.
At this point this game has been reviewed so many times that I know what the most common gripes and what will be praised most often.
Things People Don't Like: The 99 empty rooms that comprise 99% of the "world map", having to go to a terminal to use your menu/save in the beginning, the minigames, the way the focus of the game suddenly swings from being focused on the story and characters to a bunch of minigames before swinging just as abruptly back to a tight story focus, Coheed & Cambria.
Things People Do Like: the survival horror-esue atmosphere esp. at the beginning, the unique setting of the station or the novelty of the plot, the journal flashback, the writing and plot and direction of the story in general, Coheed & Cambria.
Clearly there is something about Iron Gaia that is worthy of your praise, but I personally can't see it. I love when people love it, because I put a TON of work into it. But that work was sloppy and amateurish. Personally I find the original Iron Gaia to be an embarrassment on almost every level:
The mapping is shite, the writing (dialogue) is even worse, at least one of the minigames (the shooting one) was a failed attempt at abusing the RM2k engine, the soundtrack is painfully embarrassing 90s midis mixed with painfully embarassing FF7 midis mixed with just-plain-grating tracks, I made some stupid decisions when designing some of the game's skills (although I was rather limited by the non-existence of scripts or plugins at the time), and most characters have three different facesets, often with none of them matching the sprite they belong to, because I couldn't tell the difference between an "emote" face chip and a "whole other character" face chip.
There are a few things I'm proud of. I'm proud that there's not one ending, but three (did you get all three???) and I'm proud of the first two of those endings and all they both imply. I'm proud of the characters and the general in-media-res shape of the plot, even if the dialogue was often cringe-inducing and clumsy. And finally, I'm proud of the world building which inspired a failed sequel, a successful gaiden, a LARP and LARP Campaign that ran near-continuously from 2005 to 2016, and finally and most recently this crowdfunded tabletop roleplaying game.
Of all the things I have made over the years, this is both the first thing I made that was lauded, and it has been lauded more than anything I made. Or more succinctly, I guess...
author=The RPG Maker Addict
is still one of the classic and best futuristic games due to the great atmosphere and storyline.
So much for creators being able to evaluate their own work, right?
Because while I look at it and and can see only old shame, clearly I'm in the minority.
I am working on a remake.
Weird and Unfortunate Things are Happening Review
Iron Gaia: Virus Review
For the record...I don't think NTC3 did anything wrong whatsoever. His review is a fine review, really. I just...5%...20%...whatever. My point was just that most RM games are quite bad and IGV doesn't even have to be all that great (although of course I think it is) to be among the better ones. But anyway NTC3's review was fine he and I are cool. It's not even all that negative of a review, it's just pretty typical "fan of original disappointed with sequel" stuff that creators have to get used to.
Corfaisus I have been advised to ignore you so *ignores*. One less thing to worry about. And I still will continue to feel like my hilarious expose of your over-the-top hypocrisy (*calls people full of themselves while making hilariously unfounded self-aggrandizing posts all over the place*) was my magnum opus of forum posting. And whatever you have to say in response to this...I won't see it. Ever! Yay!
There really is something to this whole "Ignorance Is Bliss" thing.
Corfaisus I have been advised to ignore you so *ignores*. One less thing to worry about. And I still will continue to feel like my hilarious expose of your over-the-top hypocrisy (*calls people full of themselves while making hilariously unfounded self-aggrandizing posts all over the place*) was my magnum opus of forum posting. And whatever you have to say in response to this...I won't see it. Ever! Yay!
There really is something to this whole "Ignorance Is Bliss" thing.
Iron Gaia: Virus Review
author=Corfaisus
I just have to say that people who are this full of themselves have no right to call themselves artists of any sort because such a thing requires one to identify and acknowledge the faults in their creations and to humbly take responsibility for such shortcomings. And this is how it's always been.
author=Corfaisus
people who are this full of themselves
author=Corfaisus
full of themselves
author=Corfaisus
full of themselves
author=Corfaisus
I've got a new idea for a game! It came to me while I was sitting on the toilet. I project it to be the next big hit and one that will shake you to your core. One that demands emotional investment. It's gonna be meta and minimalistic as fuck.
It's going to push your suspension of disbelief to the limits as you encounter moments like "Be right back, I've gotta go let the dog out." followed by 20+ seconds of absolutely nothing. Afterward, you'll get a message like "Okay, I'm back. Thanks for waiting."
I smell Misao.
author=Corfaisusauthor=slashphoenixThe difference is that my games don't revolve around the childish notion of "saving the world"/"being a hero" and the personal, unfulfilled, Mary Sue power-fantasy that comes with it.
And Corf mocking a game for being about saving the world is... like... some level of meta-blindness that I can't comprehend.
author=Corfaisus
C'mon now, just because you don't get my brilliance doesn't make my games not good.
author=Corfaisus
Check out some of my games, and no, I'm not joking. I don't waste my time making anything that I know is going to be garbage.
author=Corfaisus
I'm not a lazy twat so I've developed the discipline necessary to see a project through to the end, regardless of length or what I'm "not comfortable with" (which is a list that's shrinking every day because I'm daring to step outside of my comfort zone constantly, and I've been fortunate enough to never be put into a position where I can fall back on previous successes). Regardless of using RTP, I actually put a lot of thought into all that I do and I'm not afraid to scrap a whole thing just to make it better.
author=Corfaisus
You know what's truly horrifying? One person buying your game and that's it. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that they dropped a whole $25 in my lap "for all the good I do at RMN", and I know simply completing the game is success enough in my own right, but we've got bills to pay and mouths to feed. My hopes of getting noticed and making some real dough now rests at the mercy of big-name youtubers like Game Grumps, PressHeartToContinue, and Pewdiepie (all of which I've sent a message to).
I don't need to get rich, but my family could really use that money, you know. I mean, God, I skipped out on spending time with my extended family at my grandparents house on Thanksgiving so I could keep an eye on who all was purchasing the game so that I could, you know, give them what they want ASAP.
author=Corfaisus
I just have to say that people who are this full of themselves have no right to call themselves artists of any sort because such a thing requires one to identify and acknowledge the faults in their creations and to humbly take responsibility for such shortcomings. And this is how it's always been.
author=Corfaisus
people who are this full of themselves
author=Corfaisus
full of themselves
author=Corfaisus
full of themselves
author=Link_2112
All this coming from a guy who is making a 2k3 RTP epic about dragons. Yeah.
Iron Gaia Review
But...who made the original one that was in the wrong place?
I honestly don't even know if the one I first saw was the one you made or the erroneous one that was there before that. I'd need a timeline for that. But I am not disappointed that it remains a mystery. I like mysteries.
Actually if I recall correctly the page I was aware of was always in Videogames...so I don't think I even knew that there was another Iron Gaia page until now. Mysterious.
I honestly don't even know if the one I first saw was the one you made or the erroneous one that was there before that. I'd need a timeline for that. But I am not disappointed that it remains a mystery. I like mysteries.
Actually if I recall correctly the page I was aware of was always in Videogames...so I don't think I even knew that there was another Iron Gaia page until now. Mysterious.
Iron Gaia: Virus Review
First off, thank you for the detailed and in-depth review. It was certainly not a pleasure to read but nonetheless I appreciate the effort it must have taken to set down in writing.
I fervently hope no one, not one soul, actually ignores this game because of your recommendation they do so.
While I can't mathematically prove to you that IG:V is better than Iron Gaia with an equation or something, it is something I know to be true with about the certainty that I know that ten times out of ten if I drop an apple out of my hand on earth, it will fall to the ground.
I don't agree with this review. I can't engage in a point by point refutation because this game is nine years old. I don't know as much about it as I did when I made it. I am also sure this review must contain some valid points. You point out some errors in gameplay execution that I can't dispute. I just disagree (to the death!) that those errors spoil the overall experience.
I'm going to try not to get emotionally upset over this review in a way that makes me not just want to stop making games forever, but wish I had done so a decade ago, just for a change! I've never NOT gotten upset over a strongly worded negative review before, so it might be a nice change of pace.
Unfortunately, this requires me not to actually read the review all that closely, as close reading and rereading would almost certainly lead to me getting upset.
So I'll just say one thing that struck me as darkly funny. And be aware that the following:
a) is extremely cynical, informed by ten years of experience with the output of the RM engines
b) as I say below, should not be mistaken by anyone for my defense of IG:V which as mentioned above is "Sir Not Appearing In This Film"
Bro please do play a LOT more games made on this engine and then try writing this sentence again. Whether you're talking about RM2k3, RM2k(3), or just RM generally, IGV doesn't just compete with many other games made in this engine, it curb stomps the vast overwhelming majority of them into the ground. And that statement doesn't even require IGV to be a good game.
However disappointing you found this sequel, understand that the vast majority of games made in RM are unplayable piles of drek. However disappointing you found IG:V, I fucking guarantee you it is still in the TOP 5% of RM Games ever made.
You don't realize what an incredible accomplishment it is--statistically speaking at least--to produce even the most mediocre RM game, especially if it's complete when the 90% of the engine lifetime output is not just unplayable garbage but scraps of unplayable garbage. None of this is meant to elevate IG:V's relative status in anyone's eyes. It's just fact.
Let me clarify: if ANYONE AT ALL thinks I am putting down an RM game you like with the above, I am not. Any RM game anyone reading this likes is already in the not-that-illustrious all time top 5% of RM games along with IG:V.
Final thoughts:
This is so not even slightly true that I'd lol if i wasn't so baffled. You're the first person I've ever heard disliked that minigame, and that's something I learned in 2015.
well you can control how many nanites you put in your hacking skill
Man, a guy literally CAN'T WIN. I took this EXACT feedback and fed it directly forward into Journeyman, replacing all of the "out of the player's control" dice rolls in that game for that game's equivalent of camera hacking with directly-controlled-by-the-player minigames instead and that exact decision directly lead to the game getting panned so viciously that I literally fucking cancelled it.
It's so infuriatingly sad that it's actually kind of funny: one literally CANNOT WIN. In this day and age, "you can't please everybody" has become "you can't please anybody".
Peace out.
- Maximilian Q. McGee Esq. (Legion|DTO)
I fervently hope no one, not one soul, actually ignores this game because of your recommendation they do so.
While I can't mathematically prove to you that IG:V is better than Iron Gaia with an equation or something, it is something I know to be true with about the certainty that I know that ten times out of ten if I drop an apple out of my hand on earth, it will fall to the ground.
I don't agree with this review. I can't engage in a point by point refutation because this game is nine years old. I don't know as much about it as I did when I made it. I am also sure this review must contain some valid points. You point out some errors in gameplay execution that I can't dispute. I just disagree (to the death!) that those errors spoil the overall experience.
I'm going to try not to get emotionally upset over this review in a way that makes me not just want to stop making games forever, but wish I had done so a decade ago, just for a change! I've never NOT gotten upset over a strongly worded negative review before, so it might be a nice change of pace.
Unfortunately, this requires me not to actually read the review all that closely, as close reading and rereading would almost certainly lead to me getting upset.
So I'll just say one thing that struck me as darkly funny. And be aware that the following:
a) is extremely cynical, informed by ten years of experience with the output of the RM engines
b) as I say below, should not be mistaken by anyone for my defense of IG:V which as mentioned above is "Sir Not Appearing In This Film"
author=NTC3
...fails to live up or to the original Iron Gaia or to compete with many other games on this engine
Bro please do play a LOT more games made on this engine and then try writing this sentence again. Whether you're talking about RM2k3, RM2k(3), or just RM generally, IGV doesn't just compete with many other games made in this engine, it curb stomps the vast overwhelming majority of them into the ground. And that statement doesn't even require IGV to be a good game.
However disappointing you found this sequel, understand that the vast majority of games made in RM are unplayable piles of drek. However disappointing you found IG:V, I fucking guarantee you it is still in the TOP 5% of RM Games ever made.
You don't realize what an incredible accomplishment it is--statistically speaking at least--to produce even the most mediocre RM game, especially if it's complete when the 90% of the engine lifetime output is not just unplayable garbage but scraps of unplayable garbage. None of this is meant to elevate IG:V's relative status in anyone's eyes. It's just fact.
Let me clarify: if ANYONE AT ALL thinks I am putting down an RM game you like with the above, I am not. Any RM game anyone reading this likes is already in the not-that-illustrious all time top 5% of RM games along with IG:V.
Final thoughts:
author=NSTC3
Ironically, the whole seems a response to complaints about the horrible hacking minigame in the original
This is so not even slightly true that I'd lol if i wasn't so baffled. You're the first person I've ever heard disliked that minigame, and that's something I learned in 2015.
author=NSTC3
Hacking terminals ... making for horrible gameplay due to hacking being entirely percentage-based and out of your control
Man, a guy literally CAN'T WIN. I took this EXACT feedback and fed it directly forward into Journeyman, replacing all of the "out of the player's control" dice rolls in that game for that game's equivalent of camera hacking with directly-controlled-by-the-player minigames instead and that exact decision directly lead to the game getting panned so viciously that I literally fucking cancelled it.
It's so infuriatingly sad that it's actually kind of funny: one literally CANNOT WIN. In this day and age, "you can't please everybody" has become "you can't please anybody".
Peace out.
- Maximilian Q. McGee Esq. (Legion|DTO)
Iron Gaia Review
HOLY SHIT. I'm aware of the Iron Gaia TV Tropes page, have been for years, and ironically I was about to link you to it. So it's very interesting that you've solved that longstanding mystery of who made the TV Tropes page. I've been quite curious about that for a while. Other fans of the game have made edits to it if I'm not mistaken.
I'm not sure what was going on with the link to my reviews it just kind of appeared at the head of your post without context.
Rambling:
I'm going to omit a rant here on bla bla bla IGV is better than IG. Save that for your review of it I guess. Generally speaking I think it has a lot of objectively observable improvements and innovations, i.e. better graphics, writing, and certainly mapping, better music and sounds, better directed cutscenes, on-touch encounters instead of random encounters, a fairly in-depth character customization system, a better save system, a better battle system, on-map gameplay, etcetera. All of these things are things I've iterated on in subsequent projects, so their implementation definitely wasn't perfect in IGV, but it's a big step up overall beyond IG1. Believe it or not that was the short version.
Anyway I'm looking through the Magnum Opus Dissonance TV Tropes page. Generally speaking--there are many glaringly obvious exceptions, too many to list--I consider creators to be smarter than consumers, particularly where their work is concerned. The exceptions are in cases where the creators themselves are idiots, i.e. the George Lucases and Dennis Dyacks of the world. Other exceptions are works from a long way in the past when consumers were less dumb. In the film category, for instance, the "dissonance" given is often that a project creators thought was their greatest didn't do well at the box office. I think we all know that how much money a movie makes means literally nothing besides how much money that movie makes. Even in the literature category, a work being "well known" is often what creates the "dissonance" with its creator's expectations.
Anyway, true fact: I don't consider any of my complete RPG Maker games to be my magnum opus. Or for that matter any of my written works. Anything that might attain "magnum opus" status in my mind is still incomplete.
Ok, so here's the thing in my thinking. I don't get paid for doing this, so I don't want to have to compromise between artistic integrity and popular acclaim. I want the games to be true to my vision, yes, and I also want them to be beloved and showered with praise. That might even sound selfish or entitled...until you think about the hundreds and thousands of people paid literally millions and millions of dollars in our culture to make things that are obviously, screamingly, objectively worse than Iron Gaia. I mean if I wanted to really depress us both I could look up a long list of games that just about anyone would agree were worse than IG and then figure out approximately how much the people involved were paid to make them. But that's a lot of research just to confirm the obvious tautology that life isn't fair.
I don't think it's unusual to want both. I think it's a mistake to phrase it as an either or. Just about every creator wants to have the integrity of their artistic vision preserved--although most have a price at which they will compromise that and I don't doubt that I do as well. And every creator wants to receive the acclaim they deserve and to have their work reach the widest audience possible.
Anyway, most of the things that are "wrong" with the Iron Gaia series have nothing to do with the purity of my artistic vision (I feel the need to append an lol to that so, there: lol). They're just mistakes of being a young creator. The reason I don't go back and fix them has nothing to do with this perceived dichotomy between preserving my artistic vision and seeking acclaim. The reasons are completely different and in some cases much more mundane:
As a creative, at a certain point you have to declare something done and then walk away to other projects. At least that is how I feel as a creator. A text cannot be 'living' forever. At a certain point it has to be done, out the door, closed. Way back in 2004, I made the decision that Iron Gaia was done. Not perfect, but done. I've never reversed a decision like that. I think in the modern internet-saturated culture there's a sense that things are never 'done', that projects are always 'living' and the creator is always beholden to them. But I am a bit older than most of my fans I think and in any case I know that my MINDSET is much more old fashioned than my contemporaries and peers. I come from a writing background and that is very much an arena in which a work with all its flaws can be declared finished and done and the creator can move on to other projects.
I am very busy. I am basically half of a two-man tabletop roleplaying game publishing company that is trying to create, publish, and promote about half a dozen distinct game lines. Being a small company means that we handle everything on the creative end, all marketing, all business stuff, and production and shipping. Then there are the dozens of more current RM projects I am still gamely trying to finish. Oh, also I run a LARP for about half of the year. Then there is real life and all the complications it brings. Then there is the consumption of media (i.e. PLAYING videogames) necessary to preserve my basic sanity in the face of all of the above. With all of that, I really just don't have the time to go back and REMASTER Iron Gaia (which would AGAIN be completely unpaid labor which is hard to put yourself down for as a grown-ass adult unless it's something you're really passionate about).
And I'm not really sure what the result would be. I mean, the game has been available since 2004. That's 11 years it's been out. I just don't see myself getting a big audience boost when I announce "check out this new version of an 11 year old RPG Maker game. It's now 30% better!".
Then finally there's the fact that Iron Gaia is made in an ANCIENT engine that I literally am not even sure if I have anymore, am sure I don't know how to get anymroe if I don't have it, that I am not even sure would run on my current, modern computer, and that I am POSITIVE I don't *really* know how to use anymore.
tl;dr the reaosn that IG and IG:V remains unaltered isn't related to the purity of my artistic vision. it's due to time constraints, an unfavorable cost/benefit analysis, technical issues and the fact that sometimes, things have to be over and done with.
I hope that answers your question. : )
I'm not sure what was going on with the link to my reviews it just kind of appeared at the head of your post without context.
Rambling:
I'm going to omit a rant here on bla bla bla IGV is better than IG. Save that for your review of it I guess. Generally speaking I think it has a lot of objectively observable improvements and innovations, i.e. better graphics, writing, and certainly mapping, better music and sounds, better directed cutscenes, on-touch encounters instead of random encounters, a fairly in-depth character customization system, a better save system, a better battle system, on-map gameplay, etcetera. All of these things are things I've iterated on in subsequent projects, so their implementation definitely wasn't perfect in IGV, but it's a big step up overall beyond IG1. Believe it or not that was the short version.
Anyway I'm looking through the Magnum Opus Dissonance TV Tropes page. Generally speaking--there are many glaringly obvious exceptions, too many to list--I consider creators to be smarter than consumers, particularly where their work is concerned. The exceptions are in cases where the creators themselves are idiots, i.e. the George Lucases and Dennis Dyacks of the world. Other exceptions are works from a long way in the past when consumers were less dumb. In the film category, for instance, the "dissonance" given is often that a project creators thought was their greatest didn't do well at the box office. I think we all know that how much money a movie makes means literally nothing besides how much money that movie makes. Even in the literature category, a work being "well known" is often what creates the "dissonance" with its creator's expectations.
Anyway, true fact: I don't consider any of my complete RPG Maker games to be my magnum opus. Or for that matter any of my written works. Anything that might attain "magnum opus" status in my mind is still incomplete.
Mainly; when you create these games, what is ultimately more important to you: your artistic vision/integrity etc. and ensuring that it remains unaltered, or is it acclaim and/or popularity? If it's the latter, then I just want to give you the example of Shakespeare. As we all know, he's one of the greatest playwrights to have ever lived, and yet he had re-written his works in response to feedback from his audience, and sometimes he did so dozens of times. If that kind of compromise was acceptable for Shakespeare, then why do you have such a commitment to keeping gameplay and/or story elements that have proven to be unpopular and to hold your games back, even in your own estimation?
Ok, so here's the thing in my thinking. I don't get paid for doing this, so I don't want to have to compromise between artistic integrity and popular acclaim. I want the games to be true to my vision, yes, and I also want them to be beloved and showered with praise. That might even sound selfish or entitled...until you think about the hundreds and thousands of people paid literally millions and millions of dollars in our culture to make things that are obviously, screamingly, objectively worse than Iron Gaia. I mean if I wanted to really depress us both I could look up a long list of games that just about anyone would agree were worse than IG and then figure out approximately how much the people involved were paid to make them. But that's a lot of research just to confirm the obvious tautology that life isn't fair.
I don't think it's unusual to want both. I think it's a mistake to phrase it as an either or. Just about every creator wants to have the integrity of their artistic vision preserved--although most have a price at which they will compromise that and I don't doubt that I do as well. And every creator wants to receive the acclaim they deserve and to have their work reach the widest audience possible.
Anyway, most of the things that are "wrong" with the Iron Gaia series have nothing to do with the purity of my artistic vision (I feel the need to append an lol to that so, there: lol). They're just mistakes of being a young creator. The reason I don't go back and fix them has nothing to do with this perceived dichotomy between preserving my artistic vision and seeking acclaim. The reasons are completely different and in some cases much more mundane:
As a creative, at a certain point you have to declare something done and then walk away to other projects. At least that is how I feel as a creator. A text cannot be 'living' forever. At a certain point it has to be done, out the door, closed. Way back in 2004, I made the decision that Iron Gaia was done. Not perfect, but done. I've never reversed a decision like that. I think in the modern internet-saturated culture there's a sense that things are never 'done', that projects are always 'living' and the creator is always beholden to them. But I am a bit older than most of my fans I think and in any case I know that my MINDSET is much more old fashioned than my contemporaries and peers. I come from a writing background and that is very much an arena in which a work with all its flaws can be declared finished and done and the creator can move on to other projects.
I am very busy. I am basically half of a two-man tabletop roleplaying game publishing company that is trying to create, publish, and promote about half a dozen distinct game lines. Being a small company means that we handle everything on the creative end, all marketing, all business stuff, and production and shipping. Then there are the dozens of more current RM projects I am still gamely trying to finish. Oh, also I run a LARP for about half of the year. Then there is real life and all the complications it brings. Then there is the consumption of media (i.e. PLAYING videogames) necessary to preserve my basic sanity in the face of all of the above. With all of that, I really just don't have the time to go back and REMASTER Iron Gaia (which would AGAIN be completely unpaid labor which is hard to put yourself down for as a grown-ass adult unless it's something you're really passionate about).
And I'm not really sure what the result would be. I mean, the game has been available since 2004. That's 11 years it's been out. I just don't see myself getting a big audience boost when I announce "check out this new version of an 11 year old RPG Maker game. It's now 30% better!".
Then finally there's the fact that Iron Gaia is made in an ANCIENT engine that I literally am not even sure if I have anymore, am sure I don't know how to get anymroe if I don't have it, that I am not even sure would run on my current, modern computer, and that I am POSITIVE I don't *really* know how to use anymore.
tl;dr the reaosn that IG and IG:V remains unaltered isn't related to the purity of my artistic vision. it's due to time constraints, an unfavorable cost/benefit analysis, technical issues and the fact that sometimes, things have to be over and done with.
I hope that answers your question. : )
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