MOONCANVAS'S PROFILE

I've found a very interesting trend. Game developers who leave smiley faces in response to a good review of their own game, tend to become defensive and attack those who criticize their work.

Subject A: sbethune81

(the smiley face fault and attack in question on the same page)http://rpgmaker.net/games/3694/reviews/2115/

Subject B: Raoul589

(the smiley face fault)http://rpgmaker.net/games/4263/reviews/1907/

(the attack in question)basically all his posts


Now before anyone says otherwise... I have checked out other reviews for different developers, and the only 2 developers to ever attack people for showing criticism were the same 2 only guys to ever leave a smiley face on their game's review.

Well if it means anything, I'm playing his game right now and the window graphics still stick out like a sore thumb. They were customized by him recently but they somehow manage to still look default.

Window skin perspective; no gaming company would ever use default windows, and custom makers of games should hold the same standard. Again, his are officially custom now... A bit lacking though.

Some of the maps look good so far, thankfully.

author=Liberty
Well, for one, this could have been a blog post. For two, game plugs aren't allowed. You could, however, edit it to aim it more towards a general 'why don't certain games get more coverage' and/or 'how do you advertise your game better' topic.

Please do that.


But to answer your question as to why? Here's a few thoughts after checking your game page:

- Comments talk about bug issues. I mean, your last one says you fixed a bug but when your first comment is about having virus issues due to your game, you have a small problem. It might be worth it to add a line that stands out in the description area that all virus and/or bugs are fixed.

- The presentation is balls. Well, not balls exactly but it's not interesting either. Kentona recently released some CSS in the CSS article (found in the article section, of course) that you can use on your page to spruce it up a bit. Of course, editing it yourself to make it look like you want and fit with the theme of the game is a good idea too.

- Your logo isn't all that inspiring... a branch. Wow. Screams 'Top Quality game' doesn't it? You could whip up something better than that or at least ask someone else to. That's part of what the help forums are for. Or even a request blog (do that instead. It shows up in the help forum anyway.)

- Advertising elsewhere. Most games on the site that have a lot of downloads have been advertised in other forums. Since you're using VX you could advertise in quite a few places - RMWeb.com, RMVX.com, FaceBook, your own personal blog, Tumblr

- Your description doesn't really drum up any interest in the story and as it's an RPG (Action-type) a story would be appreciated. I mean, even Zelda has a story. You basically just tell us there's characters and a story but don't let us know what that is. Is it a save the world quest? A quest for redemption? Something quirky like following a rabbit down a hole or something interesting like, IDK, following a baby being protected during a war and seeing how that child is unknowingly involved in political plots and such? Or maybe just following some guy on his journey to find his father?
Who knows? You're not telling us. All I know about your game is it's supposed to be short, Homage sounds like it might be a parody or, well, homage to another game and that it involves some stick. Maybe.

- Show only the best. Your mapping is decent for the most part (some maps are bare as balls) but it's not much more than 'generic forest, generic town, generic...'. Sad as it is to say, people aren't going to consider your game in the top percentage if it doesn't have something that jumps out at them. Look at the top percentage of games on this site and compare. Yours is sadly lacking in that one thing - heart.
It doesn't help that you're not showing off anything exciting. Hell, look at the current top buzzing games. One of them - Reincarnation - is gorgeous. Just look at it. Now compare your own.
Yes, your skills might not be up to Nessy's and Hirei's but you should at least show off the best of what you have if you want to drum up more traffic.

Lastly, no. People don't consider their games the best out there (unless they've completely lost the plot or big-noting themselves or have ego issues). I know I don't. I might be proud of a few of my ones but when matched against others I know they aren't the be-all end-all.

That you bring that attitude about your game here is insulting to all those who have worked hard on their games and have just as good, if not better, looking/playing games that you. Don't think you've made the best thing ever. If your game isn't drawing people after all of this it probably wasn't as good as you thought it was. I'M NOT SAYING IT'S TERRIBLE AND A WASTE, just not as good as you seem to think.

The thing you should be aiming for is more reviews, not more downloads. Reviews will let you know what you need to change, what you need to add and what you did well. Then pick yourself up and tell yourself this:
"Next time I'll do better."

Know what, I think I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here, I saw somebody compliment Liberty's experience and I just couldn't resist to butt heads here...

Liberty is wrong. This screenshot in question is probably most of the reason you get so few downloads.

http://rpgmaker.net/games/4263/images/31882/

There's a file in your resource manager labeled "Window", it seems to be on default. That is unacceptable. Go get an image for a system window, label it "Window" and then export it into your system folder.

After you complete this, delete that image and replace it with an image showing your updated windows.

My opinion was that the main character was like all other protagonists and a few other reviewers have hinted the same thing in their reviews.

There are multiple scenes where the main character and a girl stay to chat while all the others in the party leave the scene. It easily can be perceived as flirting.

I can see that your "It became clear" paragraph was a condescending jab at me, as if you tried to pass me off as a heckler or circus idiot. So in other words you attacked your own reviewer who left you with a score of 4/5.

I was wondering how I can make enemies that will try to attack and cause me damage, and not in RPG battles, I mean when exploring maps. So far my limit has been making things move, but I'm not sure how to make them inflict damage on contact.