Polytaku-Sutra outrage article in 3, 2, 1.............

At least that's how it seemed to work when I was going through Greenlight. Again, I don't actually have any more information than you guys do.

Hear that, Valve reps that might be reading this? I'm not breaking any NDAs!!!!!
Yeah, venting is a very dangerous thing. Especially if you're using it as an attack on your audience. You still get respect in the indie community if you release a stinker, take the backlash gracefully, and improve in future games. You don't get any respect if you make a big scene out of it and get called out by Jim Sterling and his ilk.

Regarding criticism, though... I think it's also fair to point out that a lot of what people call "critique" is just mean-spirited and/or pointless. Someone writing a long, detailed explaination of why they didn't like your game? Good feedback, completely justified, should be treated with respect. Someone writing "your game sucks, you suck, go die in a fire?" That's not critique, or criticism. That's just being a jackass, and frankly, I don't think creators SHOULD have to put up with that. They do, and that's never going to change... but still.

Eh given Valve's weird bi-polar way of handling things it really wouldn't shock me if they really didn't know how the system is supposed to work or that it changes day to day.

Honestly Valve always struck me as feeling like it's ran less by a former Microsoft employee who helped make Windows 95 a success and more by Vincent Kennedy McMahon who is legendary for changing his mind and how things are done every five seconds.

"I'm back to graphic design"

Considering how... shitty the game looks, I wonder how he got any work in that field in the first place.

same here.... i did read that every game has to have greenlight again....it was posted by an alawar dev.
alawar been around a while, i have a number of games of them (the drm free versions ofcourse)on retail cd/dvd or online.

i already posted that you cant prevent users buying possible crapgamesy buy having the devs to get a greenlight for every game they want to release on steam, once a while even the big gaming devs and /or distributors create/release a bunch of crappygames, its inevitable.
People should be smart enough to make sure they dont buy shittygames.
You can only protect younger customers by adding labels like contains violence, 16plus and more like that same goes for tvshows and movies, other then that its up to the parents to make sure their little kids (>16 or 18) dont buy crappy movies or games or play/watch crappy movies.

Same goes for kids health and change of getting to 'fat', governent cant and should not make laws that forces kids that might grow to fat , need extra excersises, that is up to the parents/caretakers of those minors :D
Its theire kids and they are the ones responsible for them aslong as they are under age.

Yeah, same reflex here. "Urgh. No no, better stay in gaming, please."

You mean his mission is to... surviiiive?

The thing about Greenlight, though, is that it's just a popularity contest, not a "quality contest." That's why you see stuff like Grass Simulator reaching #1 on Greenlight, getting through, and then getting butchered in reviews. The problem here isn't that devs can bypass Greenlight, the problem is the nature of Greenlight itself. If you force devs to go through Greenlight every time, you're just going to have that many more games tailored to be "Greenlight fodder" (ironic simulators, one-joke ideas, etc).

Really, despite my (thankfully starting to be disproven) misgivings with the refund system, it's really the best way to improve the quality of games on Steam. Being successful on Greenlight means having good marketing, it doesn't mean actually having a good product. Being successful with the new refund system means actually making a good game.
I haven't really watched any of his videos, but it seems like the only time I hear of him is when he's dragging some indie dev into the spotlight and going "look, everyone, let's point and laugh at the idiot." Take this instance. You've got some unknown guy who just had their creation smashed apart by Steam reviews, and made the unfortunate decision to lash out in an immature way. And you have Jim Sterling, one of the biggest players in new games media, jeering at them in front of his hundreds of thousands of fans, and making money off of it. That's bullying, pure and simple. That's picking on the mentally retarded kid in elementary school.

For all I know, most of his videos are good useful content, but stuff like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There's a difference between going after big publishers or larger indies who should know better, and picking on the little guy who happens to have made a less-than-stellar game and/or doesn't deal with negative feedback well.

EDIT: Granted I'm not an unbiased source, since he's been an asshole to me personally.

Here's the thing - and I believe I pointed this out to you on your refunds thread - as soon as you start demanding money for your game, you enter the league of commercial expectations, which means that your game is expected to be of commercial quality.

It's a sad and hard truth that you can put all the effort you want into a game, but the end result won't necessarily equate to something that is actually of "merchantable quality". And yet so many developers have it in their heads that their game is "the best thing eva!!!111!one!"

I had Darkbase01 from an indie bundle, and it really is barely freeware quality. In fact, the majority of indie games being released on Steam (and itch.io, and Desura) are of what would have been freeware quality. It seems to me that everyone who would previously have released a freeware game suddenly sees themselves entitled to demand money for their wares. And of course, that's their good right, but then they needn't wonder when people expect something for their hard-earned cash.

If developers want to create something simplistically artistic and want more reasoned and tolerant feedback, or are looking to get noticed in the industry, they shouldn't charge money. Solicit donations by all means, but do not enter into any implied or indirect commercial contract. It's just asking for trouble.
Welcome to the world of the media. As I said above, as soon as you charge money, your product - and your conduct - is fair game for being critiqued not only by the community but also by the media according to commercial standards.
It's an uncontrolled, unregulated profession, which means that anyone can call themselves a "graphic designer". I have the same problem with my profession, and I'm a translator. The thing is that everyone can call themselves a translator without having spent a day at university. And if they set their prices low enough, they will find willing and gullible clientele. They won't necessarily get repeat orders, but there are enough idiots out there.

The "Get Help" button was a nice touch on that store page. Sound advice.

Well, considering the gameplay, it's a good thing the dev took his ball home. ;)

I swear to god I'm going to play it tonight. The curiosity is too much.

I will report back.

Oh? Do tell. *Leans forward uncomfortably close*

Just look at Jim Sterling's previous video, don't give money to bad devs..