Once again, I am one of those people who love detail. It's more so of a passion for me than anything related to the ZC Master Race.
Even though I am competitive in nature, it isn't my main focus. Most of my quest design are on a passionate level. So even if that shows the same signs of "Trying to be too pretty", then so be it. It was never my intent to be pretty just for the sake of trying to beat other quests. I am just very passionate for that kind of design.
Like Moosh said above, there's more of a focus on gameplay now than ever, and this is where most of my thought goes into. I can design pretty screens without thought now, I seriously can zone out it's become such a breeze for me. But making gameplay functional screens that are designed well and not frustrating requires a lot of thought and bug testing, I'm then forced to put a little thought into the design, and I love it!
I'll conclude by repeating an earlier point. It's very important to love what you are doing, because if you're so hard on yourself that you cannot enjoy your work, it'll often end in failure because you'll just abandon it (I don't mean you specifically, I'm using the word you in a more general context).
Nothing wrong with how you detail screens. Again it's the problem that you are/were expected to cram something on every square grid in order to look acceptable. It's one of the few critique trends I just didn't like seeing around because it was a borderline obsession that people wanted to enforce. My style does really reflect this and when I made occasional shots in my current style back in the day I was critiqued for having bland screenshots. It's not the fact I hate seeing people detail shots, it's the fact that people seem to think detail automatically makes the perfect screen and is the only way to do so.
There's nothing wrong with a focus for gameplay. But I do feel gameplay is much broader than people think. Gameplay is the story you present. Gameplay is the graphics that determine this is a switch and this is a unlit torch. Gameplay is the music that immerses you as you play. It's everything in the game. Gameplay definitely requires thought, this isn't something that will come as second nature for most of us unfortunately.
I love what I do. But I don't get how wanting a bit of feedback is considered not loving your work? By that definition, why even show screens or submit quests? They're gonna get reviewed. You might as well take notes if there's valid points. There's times where a quest author can really use a fresh pair of eyes. The way I see it, being committed to improve means you're passionate and you love your work enough to make it better with each new day. There's no such thing as perfection but that's no excuse not to try better the next day you know?
I find this whole post a bit... I don't know. Yes, perfectionism can be troublesome, not just in regards of looks and design though. I did read a few times that members here said they don't feel like creating quests anymore because they can't keep up with the better quest-makers, but that has rather to do with anxiety and fear of negative criticism than with perfectionism. And obsessing can ruin your fun for sure, but it can also help you to focus on your quest.
A good example is Rite of the Storm, it might be not to everyone's liking since people like different things, but it is kind of flawless and perfect in my eyes. A perfect quest. I didn't play Yuurei or PoC, but I find your comment for them to be examples how looks finally start to be less meaningful a bit unfitting. I don't like the style of Yuurei, but I can't see how it isn't graphical well-made, same with PoC. Perfect graphics.
Some of the things Shane said confuse me though. "Nothing special" sure isn't very helpful and not very pleasant, but it is a normal thing to say. Like if you have seen very great screens in a contest, a normal good screen can be a small let-down. And I often think that it is better to say that a screen is good but nothing special instead of completely ignoring it. I mean the maker gets the feedback that the screen is good and that there are no problems with that. It could be improved to look more special, but there is no need to. Noone should feel depressed only because it is not special enough. It indeed is a bit of a problem though that based on really good screens people create a standard and everything we do is comparison with this standard while we often don't feel like there is a need to mention the good things we are already used to.
I also really don't like how you complain about vague critism again here. I get that you don't like it and I can understand your reasons. One of the things Anthus said is that we make these quest for fun, it isn't work and noone should feel obliged to make the quest perfect for others. The same goes for criticism and giving out your opinion, this isn't work and you should be allowed to speak your mind even if you have problems to express yourself. There are people including me that are not good at giving out thoughts. And some are shunned for it, even though they try their best. That is one of the reasons I write so much here on pureZC, not because I think that my opinion actually matters. I try my best to express myself and to improve in that regard. I am not vague with my criticism on purpose, I just can't do it better. With people I often keep quiet since I don't have much knowledge in regards of relationships and if I try to say something people often react irritated or unfriendly towards me. It makes me happy that at least here people can handle me being weird and if you say that you would prefer no more vague criticism and more quality it feels to me like you say that dumb people like me should just shut up. I know that you don't mean it like that, but I still feel hurt.
Also, is there anything wrong with having ambitions? I get that it should be more realistic to start with a miniquest, but most people rather have many vague ideas that can be easier put in a big quest, than having few concrete ideas for a miniquest. Not that I really know how ot is for others.
Oh boy where to begin with this...
First the "nothing special" comments. What's frustrating about them is that they don't really help the "obsession". It implies to focus less on mundane transition screens and more on occasional unique landmarks. These "mundane transition screens" are essential part in quest development so I don't see why we should discourage them. Instead of "nothing special" comments, how about listing what's actually wrong by its own merits? I don't see what's hard here. And look, I get not everyone is good at giving constructive criticism, I'm not either. It most certainly requires a lot to be able to give out good constructive criticism. But when I do try I try to point out very specific things that I feel could use improving. Comments like "this screen looks boring" are not helpful. Why is the screen boring? Lack of enemies? Lack of "gameplay"? No one is a mind reader here. It shouldn't be a crime to ask someone to be more specific especially if they are going to go out of their way to give their opinions.
The same way it shouldn't be a bad thing to seek feedback. I'm kind of getting tired of this mentality that listening to feedback which people give means you lack pride and hate yourself. Why do we even give feedback then? I don't get it. "Thanks for all that now time to not do anything about it because I think my work is perfect"? Is that how we're supposed to respond to criticism nowadays? Back then, PureZC would be down your throat for ignoring criticism now it feels like PureZC is down your throat for wanting criticism. We make our quests for fun, but what does this have to do with wanting criticism? If it's for fun and criticism ruins the point, why even give out criticism then? ???
Also I never said large quests are a bad thing. I said it's an obsession that people make huge quests especially with the impression that it's automatically epic and amazing due to scope. Something short can still be very ambitious.
Well I think I'm done with this thread. I'm clearly in the minority it seems. I just think it's possible to listen to criticism and love and have fun with your work at the same time. My point is people are obsessed with giving criticism for the sake of giving criticism. I like constructive criticism, criticism that points out actual flaws not something pulled out of thin air because there had to be something to comment on.