I totally understand the worry and second-guessing - I’ve been through it before. What I will say is that no numbers that are visible to you right now are proof of anything dire, and that the sales figures will be very different to anything you can see currently. I know that doesn’t illuminate anything! But in the first week it is very difficult to have a reliable sense of how things are going so I would not write it all off just yet. You may like to check in with Rebecca once it’s been out for a couple of weeks or a month to ask about ballpark figures - that may help, and is something my editors have done for me.
For what it’s worth I liked the length a lot and thought the pacing was a strength - the moving parts of the plot fit together very well and it makes it look easy, when it’s anything but. I found the plot fun and engaging and felt that it stuck the landing!
I don’t think it’s anything against you personally - there is an alarming amount of people who think art as of itself is worthless, no matter who’s the one creating it. (Unless the artist earns enough from their art, I guess… but with the amount of people who think art should cost nothing, all the while the artists should support themselves without help, I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work). It applies to traditional publishing too, from what I understand, but I suppose the feedback reaching the author can be less there. Although that probably doesn’t help any… sorry about the ramble.
(I’m totally buying your game at some point though. Can’t afford to do it now, sadly.)
Thank you for sharing your experience thus far @Dash …
I read all 12 reviews on Steam, just to get a sense of what was said. This reviewer, I felt, either lost track of what was going on in the story, or somehow missed a lot of what was written.
Why do I say that? Based on what they wrote, they lost the theme of your internal struggle between being human or being a vampire. I remember you revisiting this theme multiple times throughout the entire story, and the biggest choice involving this conflict was whether to turn my lover into a vampire to share my undeath with or not. I am not sure how the reviewer missed this, as they stated that they romanced the same lover I did.
With everything I have noted over the past week, I believe much of the confusion was with the three chili pepper rating system
Honestly, I would use that only for the romance part and have some other indicator of language, mature themes etc … because with the Heart’s Choice theme, readers expectations are different than what the three chili peppers are meant to represent.
That is not on you as the author, even if the reviews focus on you for this … there is only so much you can and should take from reviews.
I find reviews and feedback very helpful, but both require an active processing that does not internalize what is said, as hard as this might be. Humor, is for me hard to process correctly immediately, for example, so I have to take several passes to digest feedback and reviews that try to utilize humor.
I understand the self-doubt, but from where I am looking at your release and everything that has happened this week, I say: Bravo! Job well done.
There’s also something to keep in mind as well, and that’s that a lot of people that are reading Heart’s Choice are also migrating over from Hosted Games rather than Choice of Games… games. That being said, those people are used to games that are literally over a million words long. Wayhaven Book 3 is 1.2 million, Fallen Hero Retribution is 1.4 million, Lords of Infinity is 1.6 million words long. Those are the three most talked about series at the moment which people consider “the big three” (actually quoting what people have said before, not my words). So, don’t feel too bad about the length of your story. You’re being compared to books that are up to three times as long as the entire Lord of the Rings series (including The Hobbit).
Piggybacking off that - the books in Heart’s Choice are probably being compared to romances that span over that amount of words as well. Obviously those books have the opportunity to have about ten different scenes with each romance option (exaggerating a bit here, but you get my point) before having to choose which one to lock in. The Golden Rose is over a million long in the first book and from my understanding you don’t lock in a romance in that book at all leaving even more room to learn about the characters and decide who you want to go with in the next book of the series.
So I’d just keep that in the back of your mind to soften the blow a bit. The reason I say it’s primarily Hosted Games readers coming over to Heart’s Choice is because Hosted Games… games (there has to be a better way to say that) tend to have quite a bit of focus on the romance element. You have my game, The Bureau, along with Vendetta, Sherlock Holmes: An Affair of the Heart, Wayhaven, the newest really popular upcoming work INFAMOUS, and the list goes on and on. So try not to be too discouraged. I feel like, while it’s definitely good for people to give criticism and as creator’s for us to take that criticism in and learn and better ourselves from it, also know sometimes they’re comparing apples to oranges, at least in some senses.
I have found that “it feels short” isn’t really a meaningful feedback/review for me unless there are other comments to illuminate it (such as “this plot point was resolved too quickly so it felt less dramatic than it should for something that was built up as very scary over several chapters”). Some games are shorter than others, that’s OK or even preferable - I would rather play a faster-paced, compact playthrough that’s well-put-together than one that drags, doesn’t have much going on, or doesn’t feel resolved by the end.
I will say that million-word games and years-in-the-making instalments for extremely popular series by authors with hugely committed fandoms are very much the exception, not the rule, even if there were several of them published in quick succession at the start of this year. (And hugely popular WIPs are rare also.)
That’s pretty much what I was saying before. 99% of people don’t do million-word games, but some people will use those very few games that hit that marker as a standard, which is why game length isn’t a valid criticism. The same people who usually say this are the same ones that usually say “There weren’t enough scenes with so-and-so” because their bar is set in a place where they expect there to be many more scenes, in general.
That one can be such a tricky comment to follow through on too because no player is going to say “actually I would have liked fewer scenes with my love interest” - but at some point one needs to stop, whether because of writing-stamina, time/budget, pacing, or whatever other reasons
That’s definitely one thing traditional books have over IF - you see how far in the book you are (so you’ll get hit by “wait, it’s over already?” way less). And the ending can still creep up on you - sometimes you’ll find out that the last 1/4 of the book is filled with a bunch of appendices, dictionaries and references.
You’ll never be able to please everyone. There are people who like your game! Focus on that! (And potentially, do something you enjoy for a couple of days and forget the whole game.) I used to keep publishing a story of mine on my website because I knew one person who liked to read it, and judged by the reviews, you have way more.
Shorter than million-words games (or books!) are not bad. They’re just shorter than million words. Of course the ending is going to creep up on you if you’ll go in expecting it to be twice its length. That’s no fault of the game, but the reader.
I’m currently writing a story with estimated playthrough length at somewhere 65-75k words (estimation, since I’m somewhere around the halfway point plot-wise currently). We’ll see how that goes. (Although I am entertaining the idea that maybe I should make it a VN instead.)
Now that would be funny. I could imagine “I would like fewer scenes with this annoying character who isn’t my love interest but insists on tagging along with me” though.
I think what you need is a new perspective. Think about the positives, stop focusing on the negatives. You published something, that is not something that everyone will do. It will bring in money. People do like your game; more like it than dislike it. It has helped people.
I think you may be too stressed out over how your game performs. You can’t control everything, so just try your best. And you did, given the constraints.
See my above IFComp style review for more information. Maybe I was coming from my own version of it, so I respect your efforts. Romance is surely not easy to write. My action based genre has led to that sort of review, but others who have more romance-oriented works (as stated earlier) will have different things to say.
It’s still very sad that this starving artist myth is still populated. Creativity is a part of you; it’s who you are. So treasure it!
I’m glad that there is a way to turn Marky human, or conversely, vampirize Alex. This is the central theme of this piece and I think, given the constraints, it was well-executed. In particularly the political aspects.
The peppers are there to indicate romance level. Any other indicators, like mature themes, violence, sexually explicit language, swearing, will have to be indicated, competition or otherwise.
Reviews and feedback are indeed helpful, but what is crucial is how one reacts to it. You need to internalize and react to it in a positive way. This is difficult, even harder for someone who always has creative things in their head waiting to be released. I also agree that humor needs to be made clear and explicit, otherwise others may see my reaction as ‘odd’. From everything that has transpired, you did your best, and that is enough!
This can happen, and it happens, and you get misinformed and confused. Time to get that message across clearly and concisely.
On other comments: rare genres like kids stories and stat unintensive ones are good not just for variety but to provide a good example on how unorthodox pieces can be done.
This is probably the challenge the vast majority of WIP writers, including me face. With more and more of such pieces popping up across the forum and outside of it, it is easy to get lost in the sea of people and their games. To combat this, think about what makes your game special. Then bring it out! Really long games are not representative of the population, and game length issues have already been discussed earlier.
I learnt this the hard way. That is why I am keeping my WIP online for whoever wants to peruse it. I may have a small market- publicity is still my bugaboo, but it’s my interest.
I’m just reading runes and entrails here, but you have a similar number of early Steam reviews and launch day peak of players to Plague Doctor and I was quite happy with my debut sales numbers on that platform. It’s a scary time before you know for sure, though. I hope it’s good news!
Reviews can be tough. As others have said, figuring out which feedback is actually worthwhile to take to heart is a process that is probably never perfected. Same goes for developing the carapace necessary to shrug off the unfounded criticism. I’m still fuming about a review left on the google play store that compared my game to bloody Fallout 4 and said the choices ‘made no difference’. That’s just wrong! Objectively! A pox on thee!
@RockmanX I thought your review was excellent. Fair and considered with valid points.
Tbh, bad reviews don’t bother me too much - everyone is totally entitled to their opinion, and nobody’s under any obligation to like something! I’m not going to pretend I like getting a bad review, but I also don’t begrudge anyone their opinion.
There really isn’t any limit to how stupid reviews (and feedback in general) can get. Like, genuinely no ceiling but perhaps the sky itself. The first chapter of my web serial got criticized by a guy who couldn’t distinguish between dialogue and the main character’s thoughts—despite those being in quotes and italicized respectively—and got angry at me for using brackets. Not because of the context or anything the dude just hated “()” in general.
Then again, I have used brackets in this comment, so feel free to discard it as garbage it is.
Unfortunately that’s the way it is on HG. Quality is usually equated to length even when that is not the case. There are multiple posts where some readers elect not to even consider downloading something under 100-200k, Not much you can do about it. From someone who has been there, you’re taking things personally which are not personal and you need to remember that or it will get you down. With all due respect you’re hyperfocusing on the wrong things.
Regarding the “you copied…” I’ve been told one of my games (not published through HG) seemed exactly like three different TV shows I’d never heard of before. There are common concepts that come through and if you haven’t plagerised and it’s a passing resemblence, you’re fine. Just ignore it.
If there is legit crit on the game itself (like typos, bugs, rushed scenes etc) then decide what you want to take on board, otherwise just remember there are some things that will always get at least some negative reviews and poor ratings (including shorter games, games with short playthrough to wordcount, preset MC characteristics and lack of ROs.) If that is something you absolutely do not want to deal with, and do not want to write epically long games with all the popular aspects worked in, sometimes it is better for your mental health just not to.
Unfortunately a lot of buyers (especially on Steam) aren’t super literate to the IF genre. For someone unfamiliar with the genre, the wordcount is a number that they can see and that they can point to if they know nothing else – literally, actually, seriously as simple as “higher number means better quality”.
Length is one selling point. If you don’t have the length you gotta make it up in other ways by doing something cool that no other game lets you do. Unfortunately I think this is the real reason that people got hung up on the length of your game: vampire fangirls have eaten well for decades. They’ve become swollen like a tick on hot vampire boyfriend self-insert fiction. Even a well-cooked lamb is left out in the cold when the potluck ends.
But is that unreasonable? If I know there is a game out there who is giving me ten scenes with my chosen RO, cant I be unahappy the one Im playing only has four?
I undersant time/funding limitations regarding game lenght, but if there are games that can afford to be that big, doesnt that mean that they deserved it, and games that cant afford to do so didnt?
Books and art in general is not a factory chain. Oh X book has twenty five scenes in a car and sixty variables. Why don’t all do that?
Because each story is their own. And has a plot and artistic purpose behind.
It is like ask Picasso and complaint why doesnt he paint like Raphael because Raphael pictures are bigger.
Games and books and art arent sausages or Macdonals menus people can quantify.
Demanding on writers to have to be exactly the same that others in same volume in same quantity same themes and same number.
End with 30 games exactly the same with no passion involved and quality dropping.
Is becoming IF in EA or Ubisoft and worse causing that people like me have to write about things they give zero fucks and doing scenes we hate to have to be something we don’t want to be at all.
