Zzombie Infestation 2

[Aaron1981]

Hi everyone.

Um, I just wanted to say, that I did finish Zzombie Infestation 2, and couple days ago, had added it to be approved.

Yet, today I came across this review: http://weeaboo.nl/2012/07/review-zzombie-infestation-1/

It hurt my feelings so much... Who ever wrote that review, was so cruel, they even created a video at the end of it, of them laughing at it.

Why? why did they have to be so cruel? I mean, I am not a professional, I just created a story that I wanted to share. I had the second one finished too. But I'm so sad because of that review.

So I deleted my zzombie infestation 1 and 2 visual novels from mediafire. I won't create any more stories.

I don't know if this is the wrong area to post or not. It probably will be deleted or somthing.

But, um, yea. I think that will be it for me now. It's too bad, I was real proud of my writing, but I guess I was a fool to be so.

So yea,. I didn't know how to contact the renpy people to cancel adding my new story of part 2, so if they put it up, I'm sorry the link won't work now. I've deleted the visual novel from my mediafire.

Both of them.

I'm totally gutted and sad from that review. I know I probably shouldn't be , yet I am.

what ever.

You won't see me on this website again.

I'll stay in my little hermit hole with the one person who does care about me, my wife.

[Applegate]

If you cannot handle a negative review, it is probably best you do not create at all.

[kkffoo]

I think the tone of the review was misjudged, cruel and unecessary, and comes across as someone bitchin for the purposes of entertainment rather than giving a balanced view of the game.
This is the worst sort of feedback for a creator, as any potentially useful feedback is so coated in bile that it can't be digested.
Any story writer who gets their piece finished, working and out there deserves respect.

Anyone would find this hurtful, and it is not surprising you considered giving up.
Don't.
Most people are nice, and have a much more balanced view of the effort that goes into making these VNs, at whatever level.

[Dim Sum]

If it's going to make you feel better, I'm currently making a VN that has same theme as yours but way way worse. Like all that stuff you read in that blog post? That guy will destroy my work if he ever has guts to pick it up once it's completed.

I personally liked that review. If not mistaken, that site is less review blog and more like guy trying to do reviews of all OELVNs that people have abandoned but doesn't really review them as much as quick d them all.

Plus this is all in the first flash VN of Dead Frontier:

It seems fist-fighting the zombies gets us eaten. What if we tried to flee with ‘wife’?

...and that has voice over and a whole slew of other things and tons of supporters. Me being not one of them for the same reason listed but that one voice doesn't counter the positive stuff you had for Zombie 1 for Lemmasoft.

It's even worse in 2nd Dead Frontier game. To get good ending you supposedly need to do right thing at checkpoint plus pick crowbar at the beginning or stupid game will tantalize you with greyed out crowbar option showing you your failure but tons of fans for that game.

[Yakkety]

You must always be ready for all kinds of critisism when you are a creator of something, there will always be people who dislike your product, but that's ok because not one single thing in the world is 100% by everyone, it's good that people have different opinions...

You have to learn to deal with negative feedback, otherwise you should stop making any more VN's if you can't handle the feedback, also, why do you create VN's? To entertain others right? Well just make your VN and entertain the people that like it, and stop thinking about the people that don't like it

PS. DeadFrontier is a shitty game with a corrupt Admin, that's all...

[Auro-Cyanide]

Oh, I wouldn't worry about that person. They pretty much do that to everyone. I guess that is how they get their fun? Seriously, they are not worth worry about for a second, especially if you got no help out of it.

You just need to ask yourself the question "Why is this person writing this review?". The answer of their intention will tell you if you should pay attention to them or not.

[bellice]

No need to get beaten up about something like that. I'm pretty sure all of us here who have ever published something on the internet know how much it can hurt to get a negative review, even if it isn't particularly cruel or vindictive. It can't be helped.
And the review might sound mean to your ears, but there are a LOT of reviews like that out there. Why? Because people like that sort of thing. It's funny. It's like laughing at videos of people dancing and falling on their asses. Schadenfreude and all that.

Think about it this way: That guy spent a litle time of his life playing and THINKING about your work. Hell, he was invested enough to write about it.
That old saying about every publicity being good publicity rings true here more than ever. Disappointed your work got criticised? Be glad that it got any attention at all instead. (You know, I like to draw and sometimes I downright PRAY for criticism, because that would mean people actually look at the stuff I create.)

My advice: Don't give up and let people say what they will. Take it with good humor. Learn from it, because they guy did have some points.

[Sapphi]

I feel really bad that you're feeling this way and I hope you will reconsider your decision.
I tend to agree with bellice though, in that you should take it with good humor.

For example, I'm sure that all those directors of those obscure Really Scary Horror Movies wanted to scare their audiences with their films, but our society is filled with people who love watching them... to laugh at them. Some people find alternate forms of enjoyment out of things than was originally intended. I'm not making excuses for tearing down someone's work, but it's a pretty common occurrence even with professional, popular works.

[Obscura]

Er, I remember reading some positive reviews of your game somewhere...I skim through a lot of websites so I dunno where it was.

If I was given a choice between being a creator of games people hate or a reviewer of games people hate, I'd have to choose the former.

Just keep making games, dude. Enjoy the process, work on your skills. Somebody will love your stuff. The point is that you yourself enjoy the process of creation. If everybody let a single review influence whether or not they engage in the creative process, we'd have no effin' art ever again.

[redeyesblackpanda]

There's an old saying that appears in many forms that's relevant here.

Just look at all the LPs in this other forum. The majority of these will make jabs at, or mock the games that they're on, but this actually encourages more downloads, and gets people interested in the games in question. These sorts of things bring your games to a larger audience. Also, in terms of the person doing the reviewing, making witty and sarcastic jabs is good entertainment. You see these sorts of things in shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" all the time.

Words are cheap things, especially over the internet, but it's understandable that you still might feel hurt. In the end, you want to do what you'll enjoy the most. If you really can't take these sort of jabs, then there's no point in putting yourself through it by publishing your games, but if you look at it again and determine that it's worth it, go for it!

One last thing... There will always be people that hate your work. Just look at the highest rated series on MyAnimeList at the moment. 1% of the population gave the series a score of "1," but that definitely doesn't mean that it's some sort of failure.

[Idiombomberz]

Oh, that review? That guy is hilarious. You should check out some of his other reviews, he recently did one of Katawa Shoujo.

[Astrane]

If you dont like getting hurt, better be the worst critic of your work, and learn to deal with yourself and your exigences ( inevitably leading to hard work - practice ), rather than staying blissfull untill someone else ( possibly a dick ), sooner or later, will take notice of you and thrash you to a pulp, when your world seems brightest.

If everyone started out as a pro, good writing would become so common, I'd have no more value.
Im not sure saying "pro" even works, in terms of writing...but it makes my point this time.

[Applegate]

I think it's sort of sad people are bashing the guy on his blog now for giving a (negative) review of a Visual Novel. I think as a community we should be able to grow such that if a review is negative, we don't immediately go to that reviewer's blog to argue about idealism or tell them what a horrible person they are.

As far as I know, a review isn't meant to help a creator improve on his work anyway: It's to give a review of the work and provide an opinion others who value your opinion can use to determine if they value the work you've reviewed. Sure, maybe he wasn't exactly nice (though I think the tone was pretty neutral for most of it) and made fun of the work, but I think it's also terrible there are people who'd be dishonest and call a work "perfect" when it has a lot of room for improvement.

The key thing is that a review is not aimed at the creator. It's aimed at prospective readers, your might-be audience. We shouldn't be treating reviewers of Visual Novels like monsters who deserve to be beaten up if they are negative about a Visual Novel. Here, it's kind of agreed on that we never tell someone their work is very bad even when it is, but there's no obligation outside these forums to be the same.

It's terrible that people are using this as an excuse to flame someone they wouldn't otherwise even read anything of. The values you espouse to stand for and the actions you take don't agree with each other.

[Reyire]

I haven't played your game, but I did once have a "troll" pick apart a cosplay video some friends of mine and I did at a convention, making a bunch of stereotypical judgements and whathaveyou and it did hurt. But I eventually did come to terms with the fact that he's some guy on the internet, and I don't have to let his opinion rule my life. I still make cosplay videos and all. I have a bit of trouble with taking criticism on my own part, but I'm trying to plunge ahead anyway because you know what? I love writing and creating way more than anyone's potential negative opinions on my work. So I will continue writing and sharing my work.

I think you should repost everything. Don't let one negative review get you down. I don't think you need to be "okay" with the review though, your emotions are your business and no one else's. Not everyone's into that type of humor. I'd just ignore it and continue on. Good luck to you, and I hope you continue to create.

[Astrane]

Oh, talk about taking criticism. Reminded me of THIS

Looking forward to Zzombie Infestation 3