There are many people who follow different youtubers, who tend to mimic their opinions. So if they see a bad review and hear what engine it is in, will instantly decide the engine is the issue. Unity has a bad rep with many as well for similar reasons, although as stated there have been many good games with it. I blame the youtubers in many ways for this as they normally push this as part of the reason the game is bad.
I think part of the problem to date is that most GG games I have seen released have not had the care and attention needed. Now I realise anyone who has put a game out may have a different opinion, but let me explain. I've been using GG since it was released. I was a gold backer and so have been using it for quite some time now. I have something like 1600 hours logged in Steam and obviously I put in a LOT of time before that. Even after all that time put in, I don't yet feel I could release a game for money, not to the standards I would want. The GG assets used in these badly reviewed games, if spotted in any other games, may well get your game voted down instantly as an asset flip. I don't agree with that, I think many people don't actually understand what the term asset flip really means. A practically full game, bought and then sold on with almost zero change. Many see media they recognise and shout ASSET FLIP at the top of their voices.
GG is getting better bit by bit. I too remember when the engine changed and looked graphically worse. It was mostly the terrain, which in old GG games looked pretty nice, but in modern ones normally looks tiled and glitchy. The only issue with the terrain's looks in the old version for me, was the vast difference in look between low/medium and high, they looked like different planets! What was needed was to get them at least looking the same but lower quality. Instead the current approach was taken and we now have inferior looking terrains.
There's no stopping people releasing GG games before they are properly tested and optimised. All we can do is strive to do better when we decide the time is ripe to release our own masterpiece
For me, I would say my ideas are too big for GG and I have always come to a point where I just don't think it will be possible to continue without the game becoming too slow to play. So, often I amuse myself with small projects to try things that are a little different like my playable arcade game I made earlier in the year and various other projects. I hope that eventually, if I ever make a game, I will have plenty of little features to add in to make it more impressive. So my time isn't all wasted, at least I like to think so
Every time I see a new GG game and it is terrible, I cringe and think that's more fuel for the fire... I really, really look forward to seeing a GG game that is positively reviewed and has some credible compelling gameplay! I think one area that is also negelected is testing. When making a game, I test a lot. Probably too much very often. Still, even though I make sure there's no obvious bugs and I can't break things. After I run around the entire map and make sure there are no floating objects. After I test the game mechanics and difficulty, I will be biased. After playing any game for many, many hours you will tend to feel it is better than it actually is. You will also get so good at it you don't realise others may not have a clue what to do or find it way too difficult. You will in fact may be really surprised at those bad reviews and think they are unfair. Getting a few testers to play it and express their opinions would probably be of huge benefit to avoid the blinkers you didn't realise you were wearing! You will probably find bugs you didn't even consider were possible when you let other people loose on it
I think many of these games would have benefited from a few months in a proper testing process. Especially on PC. If your making a console game you don't have to worry about different specs causing potential problems with your game, but on PC that is quite different. Also, remember we here will always be more tolerant than the general public, as we know what is involved in making it, or at least know how hard it can be. Work will generally be encouraged here rather than derided. Don't think a list of positive comments from us on a WIP thread means your game is ready for release! We can be biased as well!
I know I will give positive comment on anything that is impressive for GG. That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be appreciated by general gamers. The're spoilt with all the AAA games out there in the main, they won't be impressed by the same things. When you see some of the incredible looking games out there, it's not surprising really. Mafia II, getting on now, still looks great to me, GG would have a struggle getting close. Gamers, however have moved on to even better looking titles. It's a fast paced industry with the big boys throwing a lot of money into projects, film budgets. Hard to compete with that, better to go a different route, despite your hankerings to make the next Elder Scrolls or Shenmue
SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
