Nobody wants my game. What is wrong with my game

Hey Guys

Kongregate didn't answer, Armorgames said is "It's lacking in compelling gameplay and art." Some fans say that innovative and extensive. Where is the problem, because on their homepage are very childish and simple games, like from the 90s.

What is wrong with my game? I worked for a long time, I put in a lot of energy...

You do not have to be nice, criticism is welcome!

Thanks for advice

Basically they are saying that your game is not crap enough for their sites

because it doesn't look like dayglow clickbait shovelware.

take it as a sign of quality.

(edit)

actually after briefly reviewing these sites they have certainly changed a lot from a few years ago.

There are a lot of big budget high quality freemium titles being pushed on there now most of them designed around micro-transactions. A lot of them even have 3D CGI intros.

That is going to be a really tough market for indi developers.

The day-glow icon and click bait byline still apply though. Giving people a reason to load / install your game is the biggest battle as always.

Basically they are saying that your game is not crap enough for their sites

because it doesn't look like dayglow clickbait shovelware.

I hope this is the reason.

As you have time to rate my game. She is in the html5 and android versions

towerdefense.eu

Since you are asking for criticism, I'll give you my take.

Just so you know, I do a lot of art, and have a good sense of what is aesthetically pleasing.

Your graphics appear to have a quality that looks like "clipart." All the shapes and shading are very bland and the composition feels very random or messy because you have various shapes overlapping in various ways so there is no underlying sense of structure anywhere. This can be very difficult to describe to people who don't understand art or lack experience with it.

It's really difficult to make art look good, because an artist goes through a process of developing a style, which is basically a set of rules or patterns they follow when conceptualizing all the details in an image. These rules/patterns of behavior are developed over years and create their own personalized aesthetic. It is a way of unifying the whole image and provides that sense of harmony/balance..

For people who aren't as artistic, they lack that ability to maintain their personalized aesthetic(they lack that control you get through training/exercise), so the untrained are more messy and produce results that aren't as aesthetically sound or whole- it appears more random and unstable.

Hope this helps. I think the main thing you can do to improve your artistic ability, is trying to maintain a structure or sense of rules or aesthetic.. basically try to find a simplified style, and balance that through the whole game- create harmony out of a simplified aesthetic.. It is possible to make simple things looks good if you make it appear like you have more control over it.

Since you are asking for criticism...

Thanks man. This idea for graphics was born long. Because I had a problem with creating a world that reflects the inside of the brain. It can not be a biological system, because "feelings" are moving there (not hormones). The idea was an abstraction.

I think Armorgames just gave you the best description of the game: "Lacks compelling gameplay". Although I think that graphics and art style plays an equal part in what makes a game enjoyable to play, it is the gameplay and mechanics than makes people want to play more/longer. I tried to play your game, but lost interest in less than 10 seconds (sorry). The game does not make it clear on what I have to do or what all the different parts of the game are for. When I saw the words "dopamine emitter", "glucose" and other stuff I can't even remember; I instinctively hit the x button on my browser. It doesn't feel like a video game at all. I'm sorry for being blunt but you've put a lot of energy into it, and you deserve an honest feedback. Have you done any user testing/user experience before you committed yourself into making the game? I think that you should have done a simple prototype, and let people play it. Then you'll be able to judge if people will actually enjoy playing the game. Good luck and I hope you succeed in your next game.

These are just my own opinion. Maybe I didn't give your game enough time or maybe your game just isn't my cup of tea. Just keep making games and don't forget to let other people test your game during and after developing it.

[Edit]

I had another go at playing your game. I've managed to finish the first level and it's actually quite alright. But still didn't get the feeling that I have to beat the first level to get on to the next one.

I had another go at playing your game. I've managed to finish the first level and it's actually quite alright. But still didn't get the feeling that I have to beat the first level to get on to the next one.

Thank you, I need a severe criticism. Many friends said similar phrases "I do not know what's going on and what should I do"

And that's what I'm surprised about. Because, in my opinion, this is a very obvious tower defense game:

Goal of the game: reach the last level

How ?: gain experience points and improve skills

This is a traditional towerdefense game. Why do not people feel it? I personally love TD and like to go one level a few times. I have watched several games from the Armor Games homepage and ... I can not do such simple tap heroes games.

If you have more comments, write it boldly

Been playing the game for a few hours now and I thought it was pretty fun and quite addictive, but yes it's not perfect, so here's my feedback.

First of all, the theme itself about brain and depression etc is not very appealing, but maybe could be done appealing if it had some awesome graphics, but still it's a very odd concept. If you remade the game using some more traditional theme's like medieval, demons, zombies, military, that would be more appealing to many as it's part of popular culture. Gameplay is pretty solid, but graphics is and UI needs to be polished. Music and sounds effects are okay.

Gameplay wise, it takes forever to build up enough motivation to be able to pass the first 5 levels. I've been playing the whole morning, replaying the first four levels 20-30 times to get enough motivation. Motivation gain is way too low, and you get quite bored having to repeat levels over and over. I did level 1, maybe 15 times, because it was the fastest way to build up motivation to purchase upgrades. I've been playing 3 hours and still hasn't passed level 6. The game becomes more of a grind than strategic.

I still think it was quite fun though, but the things I don't like is the theme, the graphics, and UI. It just doesn't feel very appealing.

If you used the exact same gameplay levels and everything, and just changed the theme, and with some more polished graphics and UI I think a lot more people would find it interesting.

If you used the exact same gameplay levels and everything, and just changed the theme, and with some more polished graphics and UI I think a lot more people would find it interesting.

Thanks man

1. Yes it;s hard to earn MOT points because in mobile version you get 800 for watching ads. You can do this 5 tmies per day. So you know... But I'll change it

2. Graphic eh... Can you give an example of google images? What kind of graphics do you prefer for such a game ?.

You tried to sell a license to them or just get them to add it to their sites? Kongregate, as far as I can remember requires nothing special, anything can be uploaded.

Well, first thing one will notice is that graphics are not good enough. These days most games have dedicated "art guys working on that". Also it wasn't exactly clear how to add defenders/towers. Instructions are the worst part for me, I hate working on them because nobody reads them so you have to treat them like idiots and explain through some kind of tutorial level. Sometimes even great games can be perceived as bad simply because people give up if they can't figure it out in 10 seconds, yet they do not want to read instructions. And it's not necessarily game's fault. Not everything can be: "hey tap/click here, and keep tapping"

Here's some examples for inspiration that look a bit more rendered and "fun".

The gameplay is kind of fun, so people often don't even give it a chance if it doesn't look very fun.

You tried to sell a license to them or just get them to add it to their sites? Kongregate, as far as I can remember requires nothing special, anything can be uploaded.

Well, first thing one will notice is that graphics are not good enough. These days most games have dedicated "art guys working on that". Also it wasn't exactly clear how to add defenders/towers. Instructions are the worst part for me, I hate working on them because nobody reads them so you have to treat them like idiots and explain through some kind of tutorial level. Sometimes even great games can be perceived as bad simply because people give up if they can't figure it out in 10 seconds, yet they do not want to read instructions. And it's not necessarily game's fault. Not everything can be: "hey tap/click here, and keep tapping"

No, you don't treat them like idiots if they can't be bothered reading through an instruction. This comment doesn't help at all. A well designed game doesn't need an instruction. If you need to explain how your game works in less than 10 seconds, then you need to re-think your UI design. A game with well designed UI doesn't even need words or text to describe the mechanics of a game.

You tried to sell a license to them or just get them to add it to their sites? Kongregate, as far as I can remember requires nothing special, anything can be uploaded.

"

thanks for playing

I tried sell to them so this is a problem

Here's some examples for inspiration that look a bit more rendered and "fun".

.

Yes they looks greate. So i have to buy graphisc, Those I made myself and as you see making game and graphic is not easy

[quote:18kr9e58]If you need to explain how your game works in less than 10 seconds, then you need to re-think your UI design

No I don't. It depends on a game. Simple games can be explained easily, if you want something different and more involving, sometimes there is no way around it. You need to have instructions.

[quote:18kr9e58]A game with well designed UI doesn't even need words or text to describe the mechanics of a game

Really, so if I do a soccer game with 10 different ways to kick and curve the ball, you will not need instructions on how to do it?

What you are saying works for casual stuff that you can play braindead. Nothing wrong with that, but not all games are like that.