#Channel for getting feedback of WIP mechanics for our games

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

bleak sail
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I think a channel like that would be pretty fun and helpful. Most of the server is very technical and ive sometimes wondered where an appropriate place would be for getting feedback for game mechanics or anything else really that's not technical but still is a problem. Call it something like #Mechanics-Feedback i guess.

As for why i am asking for this, i had an interaction today with a few people in #lounge Where i got the solution to a conceptual problem ive been having and i thought having a dedicated channel would be helpful and a nice addition to the server

Here's a link to that conversation btw

#lounge message

remote canyon
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I love the idea but I fear it would turn out like #design-chat and #level-design where everyone would misuse it and not understand it

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I'm itching for a #game-design, but I know it will just be full of people asking for help with their blueprints, or promoting their game, or whatever. Or it would be a dead channel 😔

bleak sail
remote canyon
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Level design was to discuss unreals open world tools and level design in general, however most people that used it took it to mean ,"can I have feedback on my environment art", and instead posted screenshots of their environments and how they could make them prettier.

Design chat devolved into not discussing game design but instead asking for various help. If you look at the chat, you'll see some of the most recent posts were asking about things like blocking volumes or vertex painting.

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For every "How can I strike a balance between not frustrating the player, but communicating they missed something with X" there would be 15 "how can I make my environment pretty" or "what nodes do I use to make a grappling hook" type things

bleak sail
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Hmm, that is concerning yes. However isn't most channels vulnerable to stuff like this? I mean people even try getting technical help in lounge sometimes, even though people frequenting there are specifically trying to take a break from answering questions

remote canyon
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All channels are vulnerable to it sure, but it's been shown that these are more vulnerable.

A lot, I'd even say most of the people asking for help don't know about game design, or level design for instance as they're just playing around having fun, so confuse it's meaning. Game design = how to make things, and level design = putting things in a level, even though their topics are even deeper than this.

I fear that something similar with the mechanics channel would be misunderstood, as all design focused channels in the past have been

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Though getting technical in lounge is permitted technically

bleak sail
violet galleon
past vessel
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Not that this is what it's for, but we do often give gameplay feedback. I know I personally do a few game, portfolio, and resume reviews a week in the voice channels. I know of some other active voice chat users that are also veterans that do the same.

I wouldn't necessarily pop in and be like "review my shit" but, if you hang out, show you've got a good attitude and can handle critique and feedback in general, it's likely you can ask for something along the lines of an in depth feedback session.

Generally speaking, from what I've witnessed, everyone's product is better from their interactions with the voice channels, whether it's specifically about your product or about hearing other's get assistance on their product.

bleak sail
# past vessel Not that this is what it's for, but we do often give gameplay feedback. I know I...

You're asking too much from me, i cant even handle your minesweeper that i already know the solution to 😭

Jokes aside, those are good points, ill be personally taking heed of those. But ive been in this server for over a year and this is the first time i learnt that people do this in vc. I would say id still advocate for a specific non technical problem oriented channel ( #1054845120236757103 is more of a general "here's my stuff" thing imo). But given the points made above i can see it easily derailed or misused

past vessel
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In fairness game design is a challenging thing, 300-400 game release a day on steam, and 300-400 games release without solid game design lol. However, yea, it's a very technical skill centered around a high degree of player and game mechanic understanding, and it's difficult to teach unfortunately. To properly do a game design channel on this discord, which we'd tried before, it just gets slammed with "is this good?" and "how can i make this better?" and when the reason is "i made this decision because i thought it was cool" it's a really challenging starting point. Game design is intimidating field and more complex that most people would imagine.

I would love for a channel on here to discuss nash equilibrium, genre dissection, game theory, 0 sum and non0 sum, among many other things. Hell the level design channel we had got dominated with environment art questions, despite them being different fields. Maybe one day ^_^

But as I said, the voice chat CAN be surprisingly useful for that, as we have about half a dozen professional game designers with a large degree of experience and knowledge that share it often with those interested in this aspect of making games.

remote canyon
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I yearn for a game design text chat that gets used properly 😆 .
I used to use #level-design, but when CE left the server actual LD discussions dropped to naught lol

bleak sail
little sluice
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Basically the channel always gets misused and off-topic

little sluice
remote canyon
little sluice
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I think its such an awful shame, because it would be great to have a place for it, but I also cannot think how to make it work. Have a bot that always has the last message, and until you react as instructed to the bot's post you can't post in the channel, and the bot explains the purpose... 😄 It only ever gets convoluted and people will still miss the point. so even that won't really work