Alora Fane

This week, I went to the brain hospital (I'm not doomed just yet), didn't start playing a new game (but did get back into Beat Sabre a bit), was unpleasantly surprised by some feedback on last week's development post (but I think I understand the psychology of it), and was contacted by a group saying they're giving new life to old Flash games (but I wish I knew more about them)!

Brain

I went to the brain hospital again earlier in the week, to get the results of the previous week's scan back. The tumour's not growing back yet, so that's a relief. The doctor also told me that the chance of recurrence is greater soon after the treatment, and the longer you go on, the less likely the chance becomes, which is the opposite of what I assumed; I thought the risk would just build every day, that the recurrence was a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'. Hopefully getting through this period without signs of alarm is a good omen.

Games

I asked in a poll last week which game I should play next, since I am intending to play more. Celeste and Octopath Traveler are currently both topping the list, but I've been dragging my feet about getting into either. I suppose it's those same old worry about just comparing my own efforts and feeling bad, since my attempt at exploring the whole mental issues thing (Sindrel Song) was obviously a lot less successful than Celeste, though I assume marketing is an enormous part of that. Isn't Octopath Traveler made by a big company rather than an indie team though? I've no idea. There's no real reason not to play that other than the general difficulty of changing familiar habits and beginning something new, especially considering fatigue. I get a lot of focused work done each morning, but tend to just crash after that, devoting my time to things like drawing or composing music rather than taking the effort of acquiring a new game and breaking through the unpleasant feelings that initially come up.

I have however returned to VR briefly these past few weeks, or rather I've returned to Beat Sabre after talking about it to my step-dad in the car to the hospital. It's getting me moving around a bit, and maybe the exercise will reduce the tiredness and make other things easier.

Feedback

Some of the feedback on the previous post reminded me of the comments that made games development so toxic for me a few years ago. That affected me mentally, and my excitement for Divine Dreams took a bit of a hit. I'm saying something about that here rather than fuelling comment arguments or starting more by writing about it in the Development half of this post.

I'm always wondering about why my thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are what they are, due to my interest in psychology. I tend to assume other people are similarly curious, but that's probably a mistake. Still, if you are curious, there are a couple of psychology concepts that seem relevant to this situation.

One is called the mere-exposure effect, and it's the basis of nostalgia. It essentially means that you feel positive feelings about things you recognise. ∞ The Wikipedia article about it ∞ mentions a few examples of psychology studies into it, including this amusingly bizarre one:

Charles Goetzinger conducted an experiment using the mere-exposure effect on his class at Oregon State University. Goetzinger had a student come to class in a large black bag with only his feet visible. The black bag sat on a table in the back of the classroom. Goetzinger's experiment was to observe if the students would treat the black bag in accordance to Zajonc's mere-exposure effect. His hypothesis was confirmed. The students in the class first treated the black bag with hostility, which over time turned into curiosity, and eventually friendship. This experiment confirms Zajonc's mere-exposure effect, by simply presenting the black bag over and over again to the students their attitudes were changed, or as Zajonc states "mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the enhancement of his attitude toward it".

There's also this 2-minute video which touches on the neurology involved:

This is also relevant to why I've been struggling to begin these new games; the first exposure activates my (already hyperactive) amygdala (the 'fear bit' of the brain; mine being hyperactive is why I have an anxiety disorder), though it gets easier as I get more used to the experience.

Another relevant thing is confabulation, where behaviour or feelings are evoked by some subconscious process, which our conscious mind then invents a post-hoc explanation for; the effect comes before the supposed 'cause' (the actual cause is unknown to the person's conscious mind).

The example that comes to mind for me is of split brain patients, whose left and right hemispheres are disconnected from one another, such that their eyes can be shown two different images, with each image only being perceived by one hemisphere. One image seen by just the non-language right hemisphere (eg a spider) might elicit a bodily response (eg a cry of shock), but the left hemisphere, the one that uses logic and language, never saw the spider, so it would have to come up with an explanation for that behaviour, perhaps from the image it did see (maybe it saw a planet, and explained that the shock was because they're worried about environmental issues). This wouldn't feel like a lie to the person; as far as they're concerned, they're simply explaining the truth.

∞ Here's a good article that explains several examples found in studies of how confabulation applies to more ordinary, everyday behaviours and feelings ∞. For example:

"People make harsher moral judgments in foul-smelling rooms, reflecting the role of disgust as a moral emotion. Women are less likely to call their fathers (but equally likely to call their mothers) during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, reflecting a means of incest avoidance. Students indicate greater political conservatism when polled near a hand-sanitizing station during a flu epidemic, reflecting the influence of a threatening environment on ideology. They also indicate a closer bond to their mother when holding hot coffee versus iced coffee, reflecting the metaphor of a "warm" relationship."

Psychology's full of that sort of stuff, and I had to write essays about a bunch of them when I was getting my degree. The biggest bit of understanding I got from studying psychology academically is that the conscious 'pilot' is just the CEO of an enormous company, privy only to fragments of information the busy lower levels have deemed worth its notice.

With something like a remake of a fondly familiar game, the mere-exposure effect is going to mean that most people would react more positively to the old stuff than the new stuff. Since this isn't a conscious decision as such, they must confabulate a 'logical' explanation for their preferences. Again, this isn't lying; it's a process that happens outside awareness.

I hope you can see how this makes sense, but I also get that it's not really a very human way to see other people's thoughts and feelings. It's more like some detached scientist analysing lab rats or something. I suppose I need to be more aware of that in how I respond to people who've taken the time to share their thoughts on my blog.

But I'm also not exactly a diplomat, who tells lies that people want to hear. In one of my replies, I said I genuinely didn't know how to respond to criticism about the new names. Am I supposed to just say "sure, I'll change them then!"? Based on the reply that got, it seemed like the person interpreted it as condescension, which wasn't intended; they also asked why I'm even asking for feedback if I don't want criticism. I suspect this might be due to differences in the Agreeableness Big Five trait... but that's being the detached scientist again.

But it makes me wonder whether people who say things like that present anything to an audience themselves, and what they hope for when they do. Would they share a photo hoping people would tell them how ugly they are? Surely most of us share what we share because it brings us some kind of pleasure, and we want to share that pleasure with others. Hearing that they enjoyed it makes us feel that what we've done is worthwhile, and motivates us to continue doing it. Hearing that people like something about us helps us feel better about ourselves, allowing us to get through the days without slumping into deep despair. Obviously not all feedback can be wholly positive, but criticism is an unfortunate part of the sharing process rather than a desirable thing.

Though there's an enormous difference between criticism and constructive critique. Feedback that offers alternative solutions or improvements rather than just shooting down what's already there is very useful, if presented in a helpful rather than combative way, and some of the regular commenters here have given feedback like this before that has really helped me out, which I greatly appreciate. Shockingly, it's possible to be both nice and constructive at the same time.

(Also, they're allowed to give criticism, but I'm not allowed to reject it? They respond badly to my post, but react badly when I respond badly to theirs?)

This didn't bother me purely because I'm such a sensitive little sausage, but because I suppose it feels like a precursor of what's to come. It'd be impossible to attract enough notice to get by without also attracting a whole bunch of critics. It's one of the biggest reasons I stopped making games before, so I'll have to hope I've got more resilience - or that I handle it better - this time, though my response to the last post makes me wonder.

What do other developers do? Just not engage, or are they all somehow skilled diplomats?

Profiting from old Flash games?

I was approached last week by a representative of ∞ IceStone, a group that says they're converting old Flash games to new formats to give them a new life ∞. They'd clearly contacted me due to MARDEK's popularity, though they only convert AS3 games, so MARDEK doesn't count. Clarence's Big Chance is my only released AS3 project.

I was quite slow at replying to emails at first because I was busy with other stuff, and they were essentially saying "hey, complete stranger, can we have the original development files of your games so we can release them ourselves?". Those things are too important to just casually give away to some stranger just because they asked, and I didn't know how to be sure they were genuine or that it'd be worth my while.

Eventually I asked for some estimates for how much money I might stand to make from something like this - I expected pennies, really, like what my Flash games earned back in the day - and they gave me some rather big numbers, like thousands per month. How they're achieving that, I don't know - I didn't quite understand their email, whether they were telling me their top earners or bottom earners - but maybe it'd only apply to games that were already enormously successful in the past in a way that mine never were. Likely mindless puzzlers that anyone can play and keep coming back to. Maybe. They somehow know the figures for the total number of plays Flash games had across the internet, and were using 40,000,000 as a minimum... but also said that they were making exceptions for games that they felt were special in some way, which I suppose is a category MARDEK falls into (I don't know what MARDEK's stats are, but it'd be nice to know).

They do seem to have the kind of outreach that I just don't though. They say they publish to a whole bunch of different platforms, and make efforts to push each game as much as they can. They also don't claim to take any intellectual property rights or anything.

I'm considering giving them Clarence's Big Chance for a start, since I was going to 'publish' that myself here anyway but I can't imagine it'd amount to anything if I did. It also wouldn't be too much of a loss if there was something fishy somewhere. It seems like I'd have more to gain than to lose.

If it went well, maybe I could look into dusting off Alora Fane Creation too... Maybe Miasmon? I could even include links to this site in them to hopefully draw new people to me. It's not like I've been making any efforts myself to increase my audience yet!

And if it would be profitable, I might 'have' to convert MARDEK to AS3, though that's an enormous undertaking that I'm not eager to get into, so we'll see how it goes.

While it seems like a good idea that they're executing here - they take 50% of the profits for games they didn't make, while helping those games live on and perhaps even succeed more than they did in the past - I feel I don't know enough about them yet to wholly trust them, so if you know anything about them, or know that any other Flash developers have had good experiences with them, I'd love to hear from you!

I think overall I'm getting into a good routine and set of habits recently, and writing these each week is contributing to that. Hopefully you got something out of reading this! There's also the development half, of course.

20 COMMENTS

Maniafig222~5Y

Seems I got to this blog very early, it was only up for a minute when I opened the site.

Good to hear there's no worrying developments regarding the tumour! Hearing that the risk lessons over time rather than increases must be a relief too.

I'm not surprised Celeste got so many votes. As for Octopath Traveler, it's made by the same people who made Bravely Default and Bravely Second, so it's a professionally-made product with high production values and whatnot, like voice acting and such. It's definitely NOT an indie game!

The thing about exposure makes sense. Just from general experience and common sense I'd expect people to be more at ease and comfort with things they are familiar with. Isn't it sort of like habituation, where the more exposed you are to something the less you are disrupted by its stimuli?

People also say that a key way to making people memorize something is repetition. I certainly remember some 'catchphrases' one of my university professors had because he believed very strongly in that concept. He'd always dramatically take the wallet out of his pocket to tell people about the power of voting with the wallet for example.

I tend to have issues starting with a new game at first too, it takes more effort to start getting into a game than it does to come back to it once I'm comfortably settled in. This even happens to me for sequels.

I mentioned this on the last post, but to me a lot of the new MARDEK stuff is already rather familiar from Taming Dreams so it doesn't really have that 'this is new' reaction. Might be part of why I'm for most of the changes you're tinkering with.

A lot of developers might just not respond at all or just sidestep/wave away the criticism, especially if they've already given their reasons why they made a choice and they'd just be reiterating that in their reply. You seem to have a much greater need for mutual understanding than most developers.

Some people might not even really expect a reaction or changes to be made just because of their criticism, they just want to air their thoughts or something. Especially when talking to a creator who implicitly has a position of authority. It's one thing to argue about a game's merits with a peer and another to do it with its creator.

Personally, when I used to make quests I only ever really wanted people to acknowledge they played them and mention the stuff they liked. I never really wanted to hear stuff like "this could be better", but then I don't intend to make my livelihood with it either so that doubtlessly affects it.

Same when I write a blog, I mostly just hope people acknowledge reading it. Speaking of which, I recently wrote two new ones about games I played, which I guess I'll dump here!!

[LINK]
[LINK]

As for the IceStone thing, the saying that comes to my mind is "too good to be true". They mention all these big, impressive figures, yet they don't have a portfolio of games they ported anywhere. The only thing I could find on them was their own site and some social media accounts. Their blog also seems to mention only one instance of actually porting a game.

Notice how they say they have 160+ bestsellers in their network and over 300 platforms in their network, yet you can't click that for more info. Surely any company would be eager to show off their many bestsellers and networks, or at least list the big ones.

I would take the things they say with a grain of salt at best, though to be frank it sounds to me like they're pulling statistics out their ass. Especially the bit about thousands per month, surely if they had that amount of clout they wouldn't be bothering with a game like MARDEK. No doubt they tell every developer they contact they're a special exception which has touched their hearts.

Well, that's my take anyway. Maybe other people know more, but I'm rather skeptical myself. I did find their YT channel, actually, so take a look for yourself at the ILLUSTRIOUS PANTHEON OF TRULY LEGENDARY GAMES they are offering you a chance to be in!

[LINK]

Honestly it sounds like they have more to gain from partnering with you than you have to gain by partnering with them.

Seems I got to this blog very early, it was only up for a minute when I opened the site.

Good to hear there's no worrying developments regarding the tumour! Hearing that the risk lessons over time rather than increases must be a relief too.

I'm not surprised Celeste got so many votes. As for Octopath Traveler, it's made by the same people who made Bravely Default and Bravely Second, so it's a professionally-made product with high production values and whatnot, like voice acting and such. It's definitely NOT an indie game!

The thing about exposure makes sense. Just from general experience and common sense I'd expect people to be more at ease and comfort with things they are familiar with. Isn't it sort of like habituation, where the more exposed you are to something the less you are disrupted by its stimuli?

People also say that a key way to making people memorize something is repetition. I certainly remember some 'catchphrases' one of my university professors had because he believed very strongly in that concept. He'd always dramatically take the wallet out of his pocket to tell people about the power of voting with the wallet for example.

I tend to have issues starting with a new game at first too, it takes more effort to start getting into a game than it does to come back to it once I'm comfortably settled in. This even happens to me for sequels.

I mentioned this on the last post, but to me a lot of the new MARDEK stuff is already rather familiar from Taming Dreams so it doesn't really have that 'this is new' reaction. Might be part of why I'm for most of the changes you're tinkering with.

A lot of developers might just not respond at all or just sidestep/wave away the criticism, especially if they've already given their reasons why they made a choice and they'd just be reiterating that in their reply. You seem to have a much greater need for mutual understanding than most developers.

Some people might not even really expect a reaction or changes to be made just because of their criticism, they just want to air their thoughts or something. Especially when talking to a creator who implicitly has a position of authority. It's one thing to argue about a game's merits with a peer and another to do it with its creator.

Personally, when I used to make quests I only ever really wanted people to acknowledge they played them and mention the stuff they liked. I never really wanted to hear stuff like "this could be better", but then I don't intend to make my livelihood with it either so that doubtlessly affects it.

Same when I write a blog, I mostly just hope people acknowledge reading it. Speaking of which, I recently wrote two new ones about games I played, which I guess I'll dump here!!

https://maniafig.blogspot.com/2020/01/alien-squatter.html
https://maniafig.blogspot.com/2020/01/telepath-tactics-deterministic-effort.html

As for the IceStone thing, the saying that comes to my mind is "too good to be true". They mention all these big, impressive figures, yet they don't have a portfolio of games they ported anywhere. The only thing I could find on them was their own site and some social media accounts. Their blog also seems to mention only one instance of actually porting a game.

Notice how they say they have 160+ bestsellers in their network and over 300 platforms in their network, yet you can't click that for more info. Surely any company would be eager to show off their many bestsellers and networks, or at least list the big ones.

I would take the things they say with a grain of salt at best, though to be frank it sounds to me like they're pulling statistics out their ass. Especially the bit about thousands per month, surely if they had that amount of clout they wouldn't be bothering with a game like MARDEK. No doubt they tell every developer they contact they're a special exception which has touched their hearts.

Well, that's my take anyway. Maybe other people know more, but I'm rather skeptical myself. I did find their YT channel, actually, so take a look for yourself at the ILLUSTRIOUS PANTHEON OF TRULY LEGENDARY GAMES they are offering you a chance to be in!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp97rNKpt9lSEmHEnbdUIjg/videos

Honestly it sounds like they have more to gain from partnering with you than you have to gain by partnering with them.

Tobias 1115~5Y

I still haven't started Celeste or Octopath Traveler! I might start the latter, if it's made by that team... and if it's on the Switch, which it probably is. When I've got the time!

I really wish I could convince people to understand... but I don't know why really, and the way I try to go about it isn't a good way, obviously. It's been a while though since I've had to deal with criticism, so I suppose getting some now when things are still quite small (assuming I'll ever gain anything like a fanbase again) is probably a good time to practice; I definitely don't want a repeat of Fig Hunter!

I want to read those blog posts of yours when I'm in a better state of mind (I've replied to some comments in reverse order and I can feel some of the stress returning), especially since I see you talk about Telepath Tactics, which I'm curious to learn more about! I still haven't contacted that guy, and I'm still not sure whether it's even worth going down the Kickstarter route for me personally... I suppose I've been too focused on all the story planning stuff to worry about that recently.

Wow, those videos do not have a lot of views! (I say, as someone who totally gets millions on what I post.) When they were contacting me, they kept pestering me if I took a while to reply, and their language usage was really unprofessional, so I was dragging out the conversation since I didn't trust them at all. When they mentioned big numbers at me, though, I had a moment of excitement about the thought of earning money like that myself. Too good to be true indeed...

The impression I get is that they've genuinely made this thing, but they're struggling to get people to give them all their raw code because that's such a ridiculous thing to ask. The whole thing seems naive rather than malicious, and it's a shame, since something like that potentially could be really beneficial for both the developers (who might have a bunch of forgotten games they'd otherwise never do anything with) and for them, if it were handled better.

Oh well. A shame. I definitely won't be giving them anything though!

I still haven't started Celeste or Octopath Traveler! I might start the latter, if it's made by that team... and if it's on the Switch, which it probably is. When I've got the time!

I really wish I could convince people to understand... but I don't know why really, and the way I try to go about it isn't a good way, obviously. It's been a while though since I've had to deal with criticism, so I suppose getting some now when things are still quite small (assuming I'll ever gain anything like a fanbase again) is probably a good time to practice; I definitely don't want a repeat of Fig Hunter!

I want to read those blog posts of yours when I'm in a better state of mind (I've replied to some comments in reverse order and I can feel some of the stress returning), especially since I see you talk about Telepath Tactics, which I'm curious to learn more about! I still haven't contacted that guy, and I'm still not sure whether it's even worth going down the Kickstarter route for me personally... I suppose I've been too focused on all the story planning stuff to worry about that recently.

Wow, those videos do not have a lot of views! (I say, as someone who totally gets millions on what I post.) When they were contacting me, they kept pestering me if I took a while to reply, and their language usage was really unprofessional, so I was dragging out the conversation since I didn't trust them at all. When they mentioned big numbers at me, though, I had a moment of excitement about the thought of earning money like that myself. Too good to be true indeed...

The impression I get is that they've genuinely made this thing, but they're struggling to get people to give them all their raw code because that's such a ridiculous thing to ask. The whole thing seems naive rather than malicious, and it's a shame, since something like that potentially /could/ be really beneficial for both the developers (who might have a bunch of forgotten games they'd otherwise never do anything with) and for them, if it were handled better.

Oh well. A shame. I definitely won't be giving them anything though!

Verdusk21~5Y

I've read a previous post of yours about rereleasing the old MARDEK flash games on Steam. If you haven't yet, maybe it can be helpful to read how Matt of the Epic Battle Fantasy series are going on rereleasing his old Flash games on Steam.

[LINK]

To quote the part that matters:
"Something I've been planning to do for a while is to package all of my old Flash games into a single Steam app, for the purpose of long-term preservation. Technically this is easy enough â€“ I just need to program a simple Adobe AIR app that can load Flash files, which is how most of my Steam games already work."

Tobias 1115~5Y

I should really keep up with his blog in general, though I've never played any of his games so I feel weird about it! Making a simple app to load in Flash games is basically what I've already done, and I'm ready to release MARDEK in that form when the time seems right, but I was wondering how he integrated the API for stuff like achievements. I suppose his games are in AS3 rather than AS2 though, so the same barriers aren't in the way.

I think I'll read that properly later though; I'll keep it open in a tab! Thanks for linking to it! I'm trying to keep track of what other developers are doing, or rather I want to but I never take the initiative myself, so links like this are valuable.

Verdusk21~5Y

Good news, his older games are in AS2. Quote from the FAQ from his website:

"I used Actionscript 2 for Epic Battle Fantasy 3 and earlier games."

The game he's talking about in that link earlier IS earlier than Epic Battle Fantasy 3 so he was actually talking about re-releasing AS2 games to Steam.

He didn't say anything about integrating the APIs, but maybe you can try asking him about it if you need to.

Tobias 1115~5Y

Interesting; did he never release those on Steam before, then? If he can find a way to get the Steam API working with those AS2 projects, then I'd definitely want to know how he did it. And he seems like a good contact anyway, though I feel bad about contacting him at the moment because I've not played his games ever and I haven't got much to show myself just yet! I'm going to try to push myself out there once I've got a demo for this thing rather than just years-old stuff and promises of potential things.

purplerabbits147~5Y

For me when obverving some people in comments and how to respond to comments, most people whk tend to voice critisisms tend to want their feelings validated more than change the entirety of a product. For example coming back to Good Omens and the people who were offended, there was a petition for Netflix to stop producing more episodes. Well, Netflix promised not to make any more episodes. However, those offended people didn't even research that Hulu actually produced the show, and there won't be anymore episodes because the series is completed. So, the whole hulabaloo and petition was completley pointless, but the outrage subsided with that completely meaningless promise from a company that had nothing to do with the production of that series.

So back to the comments that criticize, I can see a bit of the want for validation. Some points they bring can be a reflection of how other people can see things. So, one way to address those criticisms would be to acknowledge the feelings behind the words the commenter posted. Maybe one way to address some criticisms is by mentioning that as things are it's still early and you are welcome to other suggestions.

A bit of intention reading can be helpful when trying to assess the feelings. Not every critisism comes from the nostalgia of the old games, some people think they are leaving a helpful suggestion, but it's not as helpful as they think it is.

For some replies I noticed you asking some questions quickly in sussession. Now, this comes from personal experience and may not be everyone's experience, when someone says things like " Have you thought about ___?, Did you ever think about ___?, Why would you say ___? , ect." all in succession, then that person isn't looking for an answer. Usually in those cases, they usually speak in a tone that translates, in my mind, "Why are you so stupid?" Now the questions you asked probably don't have that undertone to them. However, in text the actual tone is lost and people fill in what they think your tone was. Since reading that you were genuinely asking, that changes the way how I read those questions.

Reading the psychology behind how people react is interesting. However, trying to explain to others why they feel the way they do, is like telling a girl that she's acting crazy because she's on her period.
The statements are true, but it's not something that'll make them feel better, which may be fundamentally what they want. As a female, I felt like people were dismissive about my feelings when they say , "Oh you're on your period." Even though, the cramps were really debilitating and painful that I actually threw up, (they finally paid attention then >->)

For the porting for your games by another company, I am rather suspicious that they said you'll get 50% of profit, because anything less than you getting 80% means, in my eyes, they are taking advantage of a creator. I am pulling a bit from watching the Shane Dawson docu-series on releasing his own make-up palette. There was a scene where Shane was shocked that he has been getting screwed over all these years from the distributers getting 80% of the merch. Jeffery , Shane's buisness partner, tells Shane that to know how much he is worth and that Shane should be the one getting 80% not the other way around.
About 27:40 is about where the context starts where they are talking about the money that is made in the make-up industry
32:15 is where they get into Shane's revelation about what he should have been getting from merch in the past.

[LINK]

Even though the stuff above is from a youtuber, the stuff he went though can very much apply to just about all creators. I've seen artists on twitter, armature musicians, lone animators, game devs, and a few others all go through something like what Shane went through.

Also having read Maniafig's comment, I am even more suspicious. To me, that company needs you more than you need them, so they should be paying way more than 50%, bcause you have done everything in making the games: the art, music, coding, time planning, debugging, testing, ect. All that for 50%? That does not sit right for me.

Another thought, are you alright with allowing them to do the converting? Because once they get their hands on your game,who knows what they would do to it. If the converting doesn't lead to a well playing game, then your name will be the scapegoat if they mess up. For all I know, they could outsource the process and you end up with something that barely works, but they did the bare minimum to convert it as they said.

Overall, I am rather suspicious about the company. Their lack of porfolio is the most solid piece of evidence, in my opinion.

So back to the comments that criticize, I can see a bit of the want for validation. Some points they bring can be a reflection of how other people can see things. So, one way to address those criticisms would be to acknowledge the feelings behind the words the commenter posted. Maybe one way to address some criticisms is by mentioning that as things are it's still early and you are welcome to other suggestions.

A bit of intention reading can be helpful when trying to assess the feelings. Not every critisism comes from the nostalgia of the old games, some people think they are leaving a helpful suggestion, but it's not as helpful as they think it is.

For some replies I noticed you asking some questions quickly in sussession. Now, this comes from personal experience and may not be everyone's experience, when someone says things like " Have you thought about ___?, Did you ever think about ___?, Why would you say ___? , ect." all in succession,  then that person isn't looking for an answer. Usually in those cases, they usually speak in a tone that translates, in my mind, "Why are you so stupid?" Now the questions you asked probably don't have that undertone to them. However, in text the actual tone is lost and people fill in what they think your tone was. Since reading that you were genuinely asking, that changes the way how I read those questions.

Reading the psychology behind how people react is interesting. However, trying to explain to others why they feel the way they do, is like telling a girl that she's acting crazy because she's on her period. 
The statements are true, but it's not something that'll make them feel better, which may be fundamentally what they want. As a female, I felt like people were dismissive about my feelings when they say , "Oh you're on your period." Even though, the cramps were really debilitating and painful that I actually threw up, (they finally paid attention then >->)

For the porting for your games by another company, I am rather suspicious that they said you'll get 50% of profit, because anything less than you getting 80% means, in my eyes, they are taking advantage of a creator. I am pulling a bit from watching the Shane Dawson docu-series on releasing his own make-up palette. There was a scene where Shane was shocked that he has been getting screwed over all these years from the distributers getting 80% of the merch. Jeffery , Shane's buisness partner, tells Shane that to know how much he is worth and that Shane should be the one getting 80% not the other way around.
About 27:40 is about where the context starts where they are talking about the money that is made in the make-up industry
32:15 is where they get into Shane's revelation about what he should have been getting from merch in the past.

https://youtu.be/KR5r_Bna1eI

Even though the stuff above is from a youtuber, the stuff he went though can very much apply to just about all creators. I've seen artists on twitter, armature musicians, lone animators, game devs, and a few others all go through something like what Shane went through.

Also having read Maniafig's comment, I am even more suspicious. To me, that company needs you more than you need them, so they should be paying way more than 50%, bcause you have done everything in making the games: the art, music, coding, time planning, debugging, testing, ect. All that for 50%? That does not sit right for me.

Another thought, are you alright with allowing them to do the converting? Because once they get their hands on your game,who knows what they would do to it. If the converting doesn't lead to a well playing game, then your name will be the scapegoat if they mess up. For all I know, they could outsource the process and you end up with something that barely works, but they did the bare minimum to convert it as they said.

Overall, I am rather suspicious about the company. Their lack of porfolio is the most solid piece of evidence, in my opinion.

Tobias 1115~5Y

Everything you've said here is useful, and I'll definitely be keeping it in mind during future interactions.

I suppose with something like this, though, it's a case of them 'starting it', so to speak; if some stranger comes to my personal blog and criticises or talks down to me, that's not exactly something that inspires me to effectively defer to them and give them what they might want. It's almost like saying "he's only being creepy because he wants a relationship with you!", as if that means the recipient of that unpleasant behaviour is the one who needs to change...

Still, I am interested in rebuilding a fanbase, and in defusing conflict and upset rather than fuelling it with my own emotion-born responses, so I do need to get better at being more diplomatic. I'll definitely be keeping this in mind.

Regarding the people who reached out to me, I think you and Mania are right, and I don't trust them. I didn't before, which is why I drew out the conversation for ages, but I suppose I got excited when they started mentioning big numbers, thinking maybe I could finally earn something significant. They've not replied in a few days though, so maybe I scared them off by asking for more information.

Everything you've said here is useful, and I'll definitely be keeping it in mind during future interactions.

I suppose with something like this, though, it's a case of them 'starting it', so to speak; if some stranger comes to my personal blog and criticises or talks down to me, that's not exactly something that inspires me to effectively defer to them and give them what they might want. It's almost like saying "he's only being creepy because he wants a relationship with you!", as if that means the recipient of that unpleasant behaviour is the one who needs to change...

Still, I am interested in rebuilding a fanbase, and in defusing conflict and upset rather than fuelling it with my own emotion-born responses, so I do need to get better at being more diplomatic. I'll definitely be keeping this in mind.

Regarding the people who reached out to me, I think you and Mania are right, and I don't trust them. I didn't before, which is why I drew out the conversation for ages, but I suppose I got excited when they started mentioning big numbers, thinking maybe I could finally earn something significant. They've not replied in a few days though, so maybe I scared them off by asking for more information.

AdmiralLara49~5Y

Man, I didnt want to reduce your excitement for Divine Dreams... I watched the video and while I think there may be something to that (even though I didn't choose the same options) I think the way you're using these psychological phenomena to not just ignore criticism (since it clearly couldn't possibly be well founded) but moreover presume people's motives for it indeed a bit strange. Surely if you are engaging with people you want to do it on their own terms and not by trying to one-up them with a psychological analysis of their behavior. Now I could start speculating about how that may be an avoidance mechanism of yours or arise from a lack of empathy or out of confirmation bias or whatever, but wouldnt that be a bit rude as well?

Also the analogy with taking a selfie doesnt quite work does it, when I take a picture of myself im not asking for people to buy it... if Divine Dreams is going to be free then I would agree, maybe people shouldnt have any serious expectations if you dont want them to pay any money.

That aside, again, i didnt want to reduce your interest in producing Divine Dreams. I still dont like the names (especially for the world) and the too simplistic tone i think they set, but I'd rather have a game i can only enjoy 99% of than not have one at all.

Also the analogy with taking a selfie doesnt quite work does it, when I take a picture of myself im not asking for people to buy it... if Divine Dreams is going to be free then I would agree, maybe people shouldnt have any serious expectations if you dont want them to pay any money.

That aside, again, i didnt want to reduce your interest in producing Divine Dreams. I still dont like the names (especially for the world) and the too simplistic tone i think they set, but I'd rather have a game i can only enjoy 99% of than not have one at all.

luckystreak3~5Y

When people throw nonconstructive criticism at you, there's nothing to do but ignore it. By definition, constructive means helpful - if the comment is not nice or helpful, then what is there left to make of it?

There's a way to voice an opinion AND be nice about it, too. Instead of saying "I don't like this X idea because Y", you can say "Maybe Z could be better because W?"

This way your comment is helpful - the dev is happy to take it into consideration and everybody wins.

I don't know if you've ever tried creating something and putting yourself and your hard work out there, but if you want your opinions to be respected, you need to be respectful yourself first. That's just how things work.

Tobias 1115~5Y

I might be hoping to sell this game in the end, but I'm still a person with feelings who reacts emotionally when my creative work is met with hostility. It hurts to know that people don't like something I'm proud of, and I suppose trying to explore the behaviour psychologically was my attempt to redirect your opinion rather than just completely dismissing it. Obviously it wasn't received how I hoped it might be though, so I'm sorry you felt dismissed or condescended to.

But I don't know why you'd expect your critical feedback to be received positively when you're not exactly being positive yourself. If someone presents an alternative idea in a friendly way, then going along with that feels like growth for me and a reward for them; we both end up happy. If someone's more hostile, it's more like they're putting their personal desires above my own and trying to get me to submit to them, which isn't a nice place to be in emotionally at all.

I'm quite interested in listening to feedback that'll help the game become the best thing it can be. But not all feedback is equally valuable or useful. Some of it's just so subjective that it's essentially a stranger's opinion against mine, and why, in those cases, would I go with theirs and not mine?

But I don't know why you'd expect your critical feedback to be received positively when you're not exactly being positive yourself. If someone presents an alternative idea in a friendly way, then going along with that feels like growth for me and a reward for them; we both end up happy. If someone's more hostile, it's more like they're putting their personal desires above my own and trying to get me to submit to them, which isn't a nice place to be in emotionally at all.

I'm quite interested in listening to feedback that'll help the game become the best thing it can be. But not all feedback is equally valuable or useful. Some of it's just so subjective that it's essentially a stranger's opinion against mine, and why, in those cases, would I go with theirs and not mine?

luckystreak3~5Y

In terms of nonconstructive criticism, I read something about a writer who got what was basically hate mail on a book they wrote.

The way the author put it - he learned over time that the people who write these kinds of comments typically just want to feel heard. He said he responded to the email with something like "I'm sorry you feel that way, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know," (I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like that). He got a response that was actually very positive afterwards, and things sort of fixed themselves from there.

My understanding is that if someone writes a comment inciting a discussion of ideas, you respond with ideas and concepts, and when someone writes a comment that is basically purely based off emotions, that maybe the way to go is to respond with emotions as well?

Hopefully that makes sense :)

Cheers!

Tobias 1115~5Y

It's useful for me to hear things like this, and I'll definitely be keeping it in mind with future feedback, so thanks for sharing!

LotBlind53~5Y

"But it makes me wonder whether people who say things like that present anything to an audience themselves, and what they hope for when they do. Would they share a photo hoping people would tell them how ugly they are? Surely most of us share what we share because it brings us some kind of pleasure, and we want to share that pleasure with others. Hearing that they enjoyed it makes us feel that what we've done is worthwhile, and motivates us to continue doing it. Hearing that people like something about us helps us feel better about ourselves, allowing us to get through the days without slumping into deep despair. Obviously not all feedback can be wholly positive, but criticism is an unfortunate part of the sharing process rather than a desirable thing."

I'm quite different: I don't expect feedback (nor want it) in the form of encouragement for what I've accomplished. I believe this is called introversion? I just hope what I'm doing inspires someone else to do something at least a little bit similar. Similarly when I give feedback, especially in the past I would be honest and objective and focus on what could be improved, and a lot of people would think I was being mean because of the expectations not coinciding.

I'm quite different: I don't expect feedback (nor want it) in the form of encouragement for what I've accomplished. I believe this is called introversion? I just hope what I'm doing inspires someone else to do something at least a little bit similar. Similarly when I give feedback, especially in the past I would be honest and objective and focus on what could be improved, and a lot of people would think I was being mean because of the expectations not coinciding.

capnbunnypaws11~5Y

In my honest opinion, I don't think there's some deep psychological process when it comes to the situation you're facing.

Like I mentioned the last time we spoke, people usually get this way when there's a lack of consistency from the author (or game developer) or the change is way too abrupt. I don't think it has to do with nostalgia as much.
You mentioned to me (correct me if I am misremembering please) that this current project is not a follow-up of the old game or a continuation in any way, so why sell/present it as a "Mardek remake"?.
It would be similar to me going to the shop and buying a pack of Milka cookies, only to find Oreos when I open the pack. Product is cookies, it's edible, it's even tasty, but it's not the thing I was originally looking for, the packaging told me one thing and presented me another. Someone else in the same situation might not mind a lot, but most would probably present a complaint to be refunded or given what they ordered.
Now imagine the store tells the people "we put Oreos in because we ran out of Milka cookies". That would be totally fine, but why sell them under another name/packaging and give people the illusion that they're getting Milka? Just place several Oreo packs and let them choose if they want it or not, but don't force it on them.
(The analogy kinda sucks, but I can't think of a better one right now)

So in this case, honestly, you'd be better off offering "X game" as its own individual entity rather than camouflaging it as a "remake of X game", otherwise people are going to keep feeling deceived and disappointed. It's especially important if you're going to charge money for it.

As for critiques... When you gather a fanbase, it will be inevitable to get them. You'll have people that enjoy your work, people that will put you on a pedestal, people that will be neutral and people that will absolutely detest you for seemingly no reason.
I have been there myself, not so much now a days, but it was pretty intense between 2007 and 2015 more or less. It was fun, but it was also a pain in the rear sometimes.
The best way to deal with the masses, in my opinion, would be to ignore all destructive criticism (as in "your work sucks", for exmaple), consider constructive criticism/advice and take the people that put you on a pedestal with a grain of salt. Focus on the more neutral advice that comes nor from extreme love or hatred, as both extremes are equally harmful.

I am not sure what else to add for the moment ^^; Hopefully this helps in some way.

In my honest opinion, I don't think there's some deep psychological process when it comes to the situation you're facing.

Like I mentioned the last time we spoke, people usually get this way when there's a lack of consistency from the author (or game developer) or the change is way too abrupt. I don't think it has to do with nostalgia as much. 
You mentioned to me (correct me if I am misremembering please) that this current project is not a follow-up of the old game or a continuation in any way, so why sell/present it as a "Mardek remake"?. 
It would be similar to me going to the shop and buying a pack of Milka cookies, only to find Oreos when I open the pack. Product is cookies, it's edible, it's even tasty, but it's not the thing I was originally looking for, the packaging told me one thing and presented me another. Someone else in the same situation might not mind a lot, but most would probably present a complaint to be refunded or given what they ordered. 
Now imagine the store tells the people "we put Oreos in because we ran out of Milka cookies". That would be totally fine, but why sell them under another name/packaging and give people the illusion that they're getting Milka? Just place several Oreo packs and let them choose if they want it or not, but don't force it on them.
 (The analogy kinda sucks, but I can't think of a better one right now)

So in this case, honestly, you'd be better off offering "X game" as its own individual entity rather than camouflaging it as a "remake of X game", otherwise people are going to keep feeling deceived and disappointed. It's especially important if you're going to charge money for it.

As for critiques... When you gather a fanbase, it will be inevitable to get them. You'll have people that enjoy your work, people that will put you on a pedestal, people that will be neutral and people that will absolutely detest you for seemingly no reason. 
I have been there myself, not so much now a days, but it was pretty intense between 2007 and 2015 more or less. It was fun, but it was also a pain in the rear sometimes. 
The best way to deal with the masses, in my opinion, would be to ignore all destructive criticism (as in "your work sucks", for exmaple), consider constructive criticism/advice and take the people that put you on a pedestal with a grain of salt. Focus on the more neutral advice that comes nor from extreme love or hatred, as both extremes are equally harmful.

I am not sure what else to add for the moment ^^; Hopefully this helps in some way.

Tobias 1115~5Y

While it's not a continuation of the original, it is deliberately designed as a "reimagining" (that term's more appropriate than 'remake', which suggests something more faithful). For example, it's about a character called Mardek who has a best friend called Deugan, and who shares his head with an alien consciousness, etc, etc... Most of the events are inspired by the original MARDEK. There are revisions, but it's fundamentally the same thing. I'd say it's very accurate to MARDEK 'in spirit' if not in every detail.

Some remakes are completely faithful to their originals. Spyro Reignited and Link's Awakening are a couple of recent examples that I've talked about on this blog. But what do you make of the Final Fantasy VII Remake? Do you think that shouldn't keep the title? It's really quite different to the originals. Another example is something called "Soulstorm", which is a reimagining of Abe's Exoddus. It's meant to be released this year, and it's one of few games I've been occasionally checking up on because it's a reimagining rather than a straight remake. I'm really curious to see what's changed, what's improved!

I'm not actually keeping the title; it's called Divine Dreams. But some people have existing interest in MARDEK, so I'm hoping that that'll give the game a boost that a completely original thing wouldn't have. People are already showing more interest than I imagine they would if it wasn't connected to MARDEK.

Some remakes are completely faithful to their originals. Spyro Reignited and Link's Awakening are a couple of recent examples that I've talked about on this blog. But what do you make of the Final Fantasy VII Remake? Do you think that shouldn't keep the title? It's really quite different to the originals. Another example is something called "Soulstorm", which is a reimagining of Abe's Exoddus. It's meant to be released this year, and it's one of few games I've been occasionally checking up on /because/ it's a reimagining rather than a straight remake. I'm really curious to see what's changed, what's improved!

I'm not actually keeping the title; it's called Divine Dreams. But some people have existing interest in MARDEK, so I'm hoping that that'll give the game a boost that a completely original thing wouldn't have. People are already showing more interest than I imagine they would if it wasn't connected to MARDEK.

capnbunnypaws11~5Y

I'm not much of a fan of FF, so my answer might be lacking, but I will try!
Is this remake a disconnected story/style? because if it's its own thing, then it would be kind of random to have that title (In my opinion). It would come off as a marketing strategy, like... "Hey, let's name it Final Fantasy to catch the attention of the FF fanbase under that illusion, someone will take the bait eventually".
Now if the game is somewhat connected to the original storyline/style and you can kind of tell it is that franchise by looking at it, then yes it makes a lot more sense to be titled that.

However (and this is personal preference mostly) I'm the type that likes to see stories end at some point. I am not a big fan of a lot of the big titles in term of games (or even shows) because they keep milking them non stop, release after release... and it gets a tad tiring for me. It reaches a point where I can not detect much love for the creation anymore and it feels like a cash cow in its majority.

As for your own game, I think you did the right thing at giving it its own title if it's a reimagined story. It allows the people to choose what to follow then.

However (and this is personal preference mostly) I'm the type that likes to see stories end at some point. I am not a big fan of a lot of the big titles in term of games (or even shows) because they keep milking them non stop, release after release... and it gets a tad tiring for me. It reaches a point where I can not detect much love for the creation anymore and it feels like a cash cow in its majority.

As for your own game, I think you did the right thing at giving it its own title if it's a reimagined story. It allows the people to choose what to follow then.

Tobias 1115~5Y

From what I've seen, the Final Fantasy VII Remake is essentially the same story, but modernised, kind of like how the various Marvel films were essentially the same stories as the comics but less cheesy and more 'realistic'. Or something.

I saw a video the other day that talked about a 'forgotten' Pokemon clone series (I can't remember the name and I'd never heard of it before) that the video creator considered a failure because it 'only' had a few games rather than carrying on into eternity like Pokemon. It stuck with me because I thought I'd hate to just be stuck with the same series - or worse, the same story - forever, and would rather let things reach a natural conclusion before they grow too stale. That's what I'm planning with this.

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Tobias 1115~5Y

Personally I don't understand the aversion to trying to understand psychology or behaviour, but then again I don't get why so many people seem resistant to personality psychology like the Big Five.

I'd much rather have a small fanbase who really loved what I made! But I'm also aware that I need to accumulate enough to actually make a living from this. I'm assuming that the number of hardcore fans who'd be completely against any change is very small, while the number of people who've never heard of me who might like this is much larger, so that's what's guiding my decisions about changes (why keep something unchanged if only a tiny number of people would even care?)