A bit afraid to post my game on Steam

[infel]

For a while I've been thinking to post my game on Steam, but there are a few reasons to why I'm afraid to. One is I'm very new to steam, so I don't know the full process of how to go about putting my game on there. I know for a fact it needs to be Greenlight, but I don't get things like Steam cards and how to make achievements, though the latter may be a bit easier then I originally thought.

What my greatest fear is though are how some may react to my games(s). You see at the moment I making a small game with two chubby characters who both have their own story. I know that if I post on Lemmesoft, I'll likely get positive feedback for them, but on Steam I'm not so sure....Now I know not everyone will be open to heavier characters and people are entitled to their opinions, but as a big person myself I know I'll get a bit down if a read one of those comments/reviews about how they hate my characters just for being on the bigger side.

I'm not trying to please anyone as from the beginning of me making visual novels and being inspired by others I've always wanted my characters to have different body types, but I do fear I'll end up getting depressed if I read comments about my characters being disliked for being on the chubbier side. In truth I don't know if Steam is for me as I'm very sensitive and as someone who suffers from depressions, I don't know if it'll be good mentally for me.

I know there are many good people on Steam, but there are trolls around and some of them really know to hit you where it hurts.

I want my game to be judged for its story, characters, art etc. Not by how my characters's body shape looks...

[Yolo400]

Just do it!

best creative motto.

[infel]

Just do it!

best creative motto.

I do like your motto . Thank you . I will likely do it as I want to grow as a developer and learn not to be scared.

[Zetsubou]

If you have the mental discipline, you could just not read the comments, reviews, etc.
Put it out there for people to enjoy, and if they don't, you don't need to hear about it
Though if the game isn't free, ignoring feedback completely isn't really an option.

Either way, you could also consider finding someone else to sift through comments, questions, etc. and act as a middle-man for anything important.
eg. Someone not emotionally invested in the game, and thus immune to criticism of it, who can read (legitimate) questions, ask you, then post your reply, or alert you to things like bug reports.

Game studios (bigger ones, at least) will often have a PR person to handle social media, read through comments, etc. so the developers can focus on doing their job.

[Jae]

If you're a creator, what's your goal?

You want to share your creations, correct? That should be the obvious answer, right? What's the point of making something if no one besides you knows it exists?

So if you're going to show others your creation, you need to be prepared to accept feedback and criticism of any sort, positive or negative, in any fashion. They can be wholesomely constructive, horribly crude, confusing as hell, you name it.

If you can't accept feedback/criticism, then you're going to have to learn to either ignore them (not preferred) or grow thicker skin. I've seen many people outright give up and abandon their creative endeavors just because they can't handle a few people being pricks. There will always be negative people out there. That's just how it is. Don't be yet another casualty.

I say learn to ignore, but you should not intentionally block out feedback and criticism. Learn to judge. You can ignore unconstructive, inappropriate criticism. These are blatantly malevolent responses designed specifically to degrade you and your work or others who are supportive of your work. However, there are also crude criticisms that are still valid feedback that you need to understand in order to better yourself as a creator. Not everyone is good with words and you cannot always tell tone through text, we should all know that much from being on the Internet.

If someone posts a response like: "This is such a worthless piece of trash. Why the hell would you create a character that's so stupidly unnatural? Was he born under a @#$% rock and raised by retarded microbes? He's @#%$ bland as hell. AND he's the protagonist. You expect people to play this game spending the entire time behind a crap main character? My halfeaten loaf of bread in the kitchen cabinet has more personality."

You know what? If I see something like that, I won't be offended at all. It's crude, yes. It could be delivered in a better fashion, yes. But think about it. Is this reviewer's point valid? Is it possible that you didn't do a good enough job creating this character? Or do you think you've done a perfect job? Do you really think that's the case?

So take that as a form of feedback and be on your way. If you can't handle such criticism and continue, you're not going to improve. Maybe you don't agree with him, and you are satisfied with your work as it is. But you can still take that feedback and apply it in the future.

That's what I would do.

-----

FYI, I released my game's prologue demo about six days ago. Sure, it involves existing Pokemon characters so many fans can probably recognize the majority of the cast. However, based on some of the YouTube videos I've seen so far, one of the more popular characters players interact with has been...

...the chubby guy. And some of these players have no idea who he is. He's just a happy-go-lucky chubby guy to them.

[Lesleigh63]

Maybe start with one of your games where you think you'll be less likely to pull that kind of reaction.

You've got quite a few projects in the works with very nice looking artwork.

Once you start getting comments (some negative) you'll find it easier to start handling harsher ones that you may attract with a VN less intended as eye-candy and more geared towards putting a message across.

[Rozume]

If you're putting content out there to the public, you need to develop thick skin. No ifs, ands, or buts. You cannot control how people will react to your content and most likely inevitably there WILL be assholes who'll rip on you just cause. Like other people have said, you need to learn to sift through the negative comments and listen to valid criticism. If you can't do that then, frankly, you're not cut out to produce content in a public forum.

I understand the depression part, I really do, as I suffer from depression myself. But you need to get over that fear if you want to showcase your content to the world.

also Steam is trash but that's a rant for another day

[infel]

Thank you everyone for the advice. The most common thing I'm reading is growing thicker skin so that's what I've got to do even with Steam which can have many trolls. I thank you guys for the help and will try to not be afraid of criticism or trolling. May take time, but that's how it is.

@Rozome: It certainly is sadly.

[Barzini]

Hey infel,

I've gotten several games Greenlit before (and since I work as a publisher),I'll share my experiences with you in hopes that other people can learn from what little I know. If you are sensitive to negative comments, let me tell you what to expect when you're putting up a game that has ANY anime comment on it.

"Oh anime, ew."
"vns? vote no."
"we don't need more anime trash on steam, gtfo"
"lol r u guys srs"
"***** otakus"
"gtfo, text simulator."

These are just the nicer comments. But hey, its not that bad right? Let me state something comforting - If your game is of a quality standard, you will get votes. Hang on, we're getting ahead of ourselves here - Let's talk about the whole Greenlight process.

Steam basically, recently (well, recent years at least) has required indie developers to put their games through the Steam Greenlight process. The process requires the community to vote for them. The ratio of Yes:No votes are still unclear, as well as how long it takes for games to get Greenlit. I know people whose games haven't been Greenlit even after 4 months.

To be able to go onto Steam Greenlight, you will need to purchase a license, worth 100 USD, where these 100 goes to a charity of some sort which I can't recall. So do good and get a shot into Steam at the same time! How nice, right?

Then, you will go through a few basic, simple pages that allows you to craft your pitch. After that, you're pretty much going to have to hit the ground with marketing. And HARD.

If your voting process loses momentum, you can expect your game to never see the light of day.

How many games are you competing against? Uh, 1-5000 would be a good number. I have gone up against a good 5200 at most so far.

So, since the world is dark and full of terrors, does this mean we should fear the system? Nay!

It just takes quite a bit of know-how to successfully manoeuvre the dark trenches of Steam Greenlight - Going in blind is the worst thing that can happen to you. Be ready for ANYTHING, by anything, I mean, bad comments, flames, people adding you on Steam just to throw hate.

Just ask yourself this, does it matter at the end of the day?

My game got greenlit, I just had to block the trolls and haters, and I'm just a few steps away from selling my game! Is it NOT worth it to take a few bites and punches and throw a mini nuke back at them?

Just my two cents

[SundownKid]

These days it's incredibly easy to go on Steam, it's almost like an open platform now. If your game is even remotely merited then it will be greenlit. What you should really be worrying about is "will my game be popular" rather than "should I go on Steam", because going on Steam is the easy part. You will have to start engaging with people to make your game popular, it wont just sell on its own, you will have to take feedback into account.

[Rosstin]

Hey Infel... I recommend just putting on a brave face and giving it a shot.

Part of making games is being criticized. Haters gonna hate hate hate. And over time you'll learn to separate real, valid criticism from "this isn't my kind of game so I'm gonna be a jerk."

It's hard, and I think we all start out with very thin skins about our games. But ease into it and try, it will only get easier.

One trick-- you're gonna get tons of negative feedback when you release a game. Some of that feedback is important because it points out things you can do better, and some of it is trash. But every once in awhile, you're gonna hear someone say "I loved your game, it made me feel something."

Those moments are what I live for, and they outshine the harshest criticism.

[Karl_C]

Now I know not everyone will be open to heavier characters and people are entitled to their opinions, but as a big person myself I know I'll get a bit down if a read one of those comments/reviews about how they hate my characters just for being on the bigger side. (...)
In truth I don't know if Steam is for me as I'm very sensitive and as someone who suffers from depressions, I don't know if it'll be good mentally for me.

I guess first of all you have to distinguish between your work and your private life? Who cares, if somebody doesn't like your "bigger" game characters? This has nothing to do with you as a person.

Let's take a purely commercial look at your game:

Some people might like your game, because:

• As a quite large percentage of the population in countries all over the world is "bigger" or "heavier", you may have found a market niche?
• Especially game characters that do not coincide with the ideal of beauty in the advertising industry are sometimes the 'secret heroes' in VN's? As most players do not coincide with that beauty ideal too?

Some people might NOT like your game, because:

• They are simply not interested in lesbian relationships?

You will also have to take into account, that not always the 'best' game, story or movie will be automatically a commercial success. In fact, very few movies that were called a masterpiece became a commercial success, as most people prefer light entertainment.
So don't be sad or upset if there are harsh critics on Steam by people who don't like your game...

[Kuiper]

Here's a fun exercise.

Think about a book you really like. For the sake of example, I'll use Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, a book beloved by critics and readers alike.

Now go to Amazon and look at the 1-star reviews. Here's what some Amazon users had to say about Slaughterhouse-Five:

"a total waste of time. I consider myself very forgiving and enjoy most books in fantasy and sci-fi, two of my favorite genres, but this was complete junk."

"Incoherent self-indulgent babble."

"Very boring story...I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone."

"I wouldn't buy the book if it were free and I've added Kurt Vonnegut to my list of authors whose works should be avoided. Sorry, Kurt, but this sucked."

It goes on like this for pages upon pages with literally hundreds of negative reviews.

The point is, no matter what you do,there will be some people on the internet who will complain about it if they're exposed to it. You could write a book widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and you'll still get internet commenters who call it "a total waste of time" and "sucky." Criticism of this type is unavoidable, and it happens to everyone no matter how good they are.

[Green Glasses Girl]

...you're gonna hear someone say "I loved your game, it made me feel something." Those moments are what I live for, and they outshine the harshest criticism.

Quoted for truth.

The thing I like about Steam is that indie games can reach a wide variety of people worldwide and stir an audience that can rival AAA gaming companies. And VNs being a niche group already, I like that more are appearing on Steam - more people get interested, more people want to play, and more people want to make their own or share your work with others. Just think about that!

Felicia Day (of The Guild, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, Co-Optitude on Geek and Sundry) recently released a book called You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) that has a few portions discussing critique before and after she achieved internet fame. At the end of the day, she had to sort out whose opinion was meaningful to her so that she would not lose focus on her dreams. The takeaway: if someone says, "X sucks, it's terrible," ask yourself: "Did what that comment discuss anything I can improve or is this just someone flaming me? Is this going to have an impact on what I'm trying to achieve?" Negative feedback without suggestions to improve aren't helpful. If you receive a review that says something along the lines of "I didn't like this game because there were too many technical issues with the GUI," or "The story was written poorly and seemed to drag on too long" or "I disliked this game because the art was inconsistent," then that's something to consider. Granted, you might not feel the same way. It's up to you ultimately of what you make of it.

[Rosstin]

("Inconsistent art" is one of the most common criticisms my games get. I often have 3+ artists working on my games so it's hard to pull together a consistent style.)