Accepting feedback
It is not always easy to be told the truth. When play-testing with a group of friends or strangers we have been confronted by opinions that are counter to ours. Sometimes our most brilliant ideas are met with non-positive feedback. These opinions are valid and we have to treat all feedback as equally valuable.
Feedback follow-up
First, smile and thank them for the feedback, whether it was easy or hard to hear. Don’t focus on the negative, but we do have to ask a the question for each of the less favorably received parts, “what made that less enjoyable?”. Then find out if they had any ideas on what would make it better or more fun, but we are not really expecting them to solve our problem. If the same feedback is given by several players, it is likely a trend and we have found out that our baby is ugly. But we still love it.
Is this Sparta?
Just because our baby has some ugly attributes, we are not going to throw it off a cliff, or abandon it on a hillside. Time to double down and polish, take the gathered feedback and attempt to refine those elements of the game. All is not lost, we will make a new prototype and play it again.
Our games are not just for us
Although we are inspired to make games that we think are fun and we want to play, ultimately we want to make games that others can play and have a good time too.