I've been making my series, Matt and Jak for awhile now, and it started out as a lighthearted adventure, with young characters seeking adventure. I used to listen to Celtic Music to get me inspired, but even since I started making it with Rpg Maker, it's just... changed. I posted my page for it a couple days ago, and It received some harsh criticism.

Ever since I received that criticism, my interest and creativity has just disappeared. It's like it's not even my series anymore. I've changed it so much, to what other people want, and now it doesn't feel right. But when I try to go in and fix it, I can't..

Can anybody help me??

Video game survival commandments number 6 : Be willing to kill your babies
Don't be precious with your ideas, or fall in love with one in particular, because it will, almost without fail, be the one on the chopping block

you know,

people thought van gogh was crap - they criticized him. - yet now his art is priceless - and paintings sold fetching millions.

I will have a look at your page and see if i can give you some helpful ideas.

infact his famous sunflowers painting was sold for a few pints of beer and a meal - in his local pub.

Moving this into the Theory and Design Discussion section.

You bumped your thread after less than twenty four hours to post.

Then you get some feedback and you reply with...

Do you not want critique? I'll stipulate to the fact that it wasn't the best critique, as it was from Adrien, but still.


Have you really changed that much?

I actually have multiple times before I even posted it here. I usually showed it to my friends, who loved it, and thought it would be a fun idea. But one of my friends said it wasn't complex enough, so thats why i added the 7 heroes crap. But after adriens feedback on it, i went back to my original idea. So yes, it's changed quite a bit.


I do want critique, i just don't think I was quite prepared for feedback that harsh, albeit i did ask for it, but I was just kidding around, because I thought people would like it

Words of Advice.

Create games because you love to play them, not because you love when someone else plays them.
If you are in the latter, you are never going to be happy creating games.

Don't beat yourself up over what someone else said. People will like and dislike everything. It's part of life.

Do what you want to do, if you want to make a game your way, make it that way. But take constructive criticism as needed. And know that all criticism is not constructive. Yes it can be harsh and when you enter the world of game creation, you will have to get tougher skin.

Some of the posts were really good constructive criticism, take from them and learn. From the other, take what is good and leave the rest.

^ This.

In every critique, there is an objective and subjective part. What you must take to heart is the objective part, for instance the raw quality of your mapping, your graphics, the depth (or lack thereof) of your characters, the grammatical and stylistic quality of your writing, how well you are using the music and so on...
On the other hand, there is a subjective part that you don't have to accept if it strays too much from how you envision your game. If you really dislike certain suggestions, then don't take them because you won''t make a good game if you can't enjoy it yourself.

Thanks guys, thats just what I needed to hear . I'll definatley take that into account

Twidge......


I can be quite the bitch and other people can be even harsher. It’s not about taking the advice going into your room and slitting your wrists because someone called you a clichéd red headed step child who needs to be beat. It’s about taking your passion, your idea and saying – thanks for that- and continuing on with your life. We all get advice. In fact I get tips on making my maps like everyone else, I get told making a gay romance is stupid and cliché and I get told using final fantasy tactic music makes me look like I fail at whatever I am doing. I take it all in stride and move on with life. You have to take some, give some and accept some. There is a saying in the film industry: your critiques are your best friend – because as long as they are critiquing your work then you know you have their attention. If all you get is “good job” then you’re doing something wrong or you have Jesus’s hard drive and you should stop pirating his work.

These forums are not about making friends and posting pics, getting laid and having fun – that’s MySpace, Facebook and possibly deviantart (the friends and pictures part) – it’s about sharing your idea no matter how shitty and clichéd it is with the community.

Life is lemons; make me my lemonade bitch….

Make it and fucking love it!

People get laid here????

No. This place is a total sausage-fest.

Ahhh the harsh dilemma of the entertainment industry. One one hand you must allow creativity and style to show in all your work. You cannot be reserved, and you must give yourself willingly to a project.
Then, you must watch it get stomped and torn and beaten into a fine pulp by everyone and their mother. Why do you think so many people in Hollywood and New York are alcoholics and drug addicts who go to rehab? They crumble under the pressure and hate themselves.

If you create games for yourself, and make games because you enjoy the release of storytelling, then that's fine, it'll forever be a fun little hobby you do in your free time, nothing more. Thus is what happens to many artists. They start art at a young age and it becomes a release.

If you create games and are aiming to do it on a professional level, you'll discover if it's truly what you want to do when you recieve your harshest criticism and trudge past it to make your next story. You realize potential may come early, but talent takes years to harvest. You'll taste the fine sample of criticism and add a grain of salt, but you won't inject it into your veins.

You must hone a new skill, the art of the intake. Like has been previously stated, you'll find the objective and seperate it from the subjective. Subjective is "I don't really like Anime style" or "I'm not a fan of dramatic comedies, I like action horror more."

Objective is "Your use of sarcasm was poorly executed." and " Your skill system was confusing and buggy."

You'll have to get the player to dig deeper into their objective thoughts.

And that is that.