I find this post intruiging, and very ignorant, so let's take a look, shall we?
To me, I feel like some of the comments thrown our way are a little more gravitating towards the fact it's different to what you'd normally expect. I also don't really appreciate comments like "this doesn't feel like a game." Other than that though, myself and the team appreciate the feedback. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board slightly on this one, not going to be quite as dramatic as some of the feedback we've gotten on the video, but I'm going to fix up the text. Given that that is primarily the issue here. I don't think the styles clash, that's intentional, given that I wanted the sprites to stand out, and the background is an insight to the game in a more fresh way. But it's impossible to please everyone.
While it is impossible to please everyone, as a game developer, you have to try your best to please the majority. When you get negative feedback, you don't say "no," you say "why?" If you ever get a negative comment on something, take it into full consideration instead of getting offended. You're going to make mistakes, it's fine!
As I say, I'll work on the scene again, primarily the text. This is why we post screenshots and videos; to get feedback, both positive and negative. And just on a personal level, it's quite disheartening to go out and pretty much bash someone's work, all over GD I see it. Try and be slightly more supportive in your comments, some of you. We're meant to be a community, and it's not exactly fair to be negative for the sake of being so. Some of the posters I see in this thread, and in others, go into some of the games purely to be negative. It's not really insightful, and not kind to the developers. This is quite off-topic, but just a simple reach out to some of you guys who see this as a competition, and an opportunity to put people down.
Listen, community or not, we're not just going to tell you the good things. I stated before that negative feedback is something to actually take into consideration. In fact, you should strive for negative feedback! It'll help your game improve in the eyes of your audience. This is called critiquing a work, Gavin. This is how you learn to improve. Nobody is trying to offend you(mostly); We're trying to help
you, not ourselves.
If you don't see vulnerability in somebody, you're probably not going to relate to them. Myself, and the team, put a lot of ourselves into Phoenix Rising, because we want you to see its vulnerabilities, we want you to be able to relate to it. And if you don't relate to some of the things we do, you probably wouldn't relate to us either. So the best thing is to move on and find people more like minded. Carry that mentality with you when you comment on people's games, just because you don't like it doesn't mean you can be rude about it. Simply say what you feel could be changed, and if the developer agrees with you, then great, if not, you're on different wave lengths and you move on. Those are the kind of comments which will help a lot more.
Again, we aren't being rude. We're trying to improve the game. Every negative thing we say is to help you and your team improve the game for the majority of the crowd. Remember, Gavin, your fans are here because they enjoy your work, and want to see it excel. You don't work for anyone as a fan-game developer, you work for your fans. You're not trying to please yourself and your team, mostly, you're pleasing
them. ... or are you going to download your own game?
Again, thanks for the comments. We'll work on it :]
This is how you should respond to all comments, not by saying " Thanks, but can you leave out the negatives? That'd be great, guys!" You should accept negative critisism with open arms, and praise any critique somebody makes on your game. This is not to put you down, Gavin, this is to help you. As a fellow Game Developer, I've received my own share of bad things said to me, but you have to come from an unbiased perspective, and look at your game at the specific part they are complaining about. If it's silly, than explain yourself. If it's something like, " Hey, that text doesn't really fit," then you should try to make it fit. Everything about making a good game is making everything balance out. Graphics should go hand in hand with gameplay, music, and story; this is how classics are made.
Again, this is not to put you down, this is to help you.
~Sincerely, Gavin "Gmack"