20 replies to this topic

[peteandwally]

This post might be complain-y, and I preemptively apologize for that. I know that this is a pretty tight-knit community, and there are a few people that everyone knows, and has known, for years now. It's pretty natural, then, that when those people put out new quests or cool screenshots, they are more inclined to generate a response and discussion about that material than a newer member to the community. That said, I've been around for more than a year, and try to contribute what I can, but I still don't get too many responses about the things I've put out there. Right now, I'm pretty bummed out that I haven't gotten any feedback about my 5th quest, despite the fairly active feedback that most everyone else is recieving. I've had a few friends play the quest and it got great reviews, so if you pass it over just because you might not recognize my name, you may be missing out. Or maybe it sucks! Either way, I don't know because no one says anything about it. So, if you are a cool, popular dude (or dudette) around here, please offer me some advice about getting people into my quests. Maybe I'm missing something...

 

For those of you who HAVE played anything I've made, I LOVE YOU, THANK YOU! I grew up with zelda and it's been amazing to put together quests with Zquest and have them be playable, which is something I dreamed about as a kid (literally). I hope I keep getting better so you guys can have fun with each new release. Until then, you have to put up with my slow learning curve so, thank you again.

 

~PnW

[Avaro]

Well, I don't play quest by picking out specific members or something, I pick my quests purely based on the provided material for the quest!

Regarding your 5th quest entry, I'm sure there people out there who play it but just haven't made any comments on it yet. I personally don't enjoy classic styled quests so much, so I haven't played ANY of the 5th quest entries yet properly. Sorry

I know where you're coming from, though and I love ZC as much as you; creating your own Zelda game is fantastic!

 

Edit: I forgot to add, the best thing you can do to "attract" player to your quest is showing off the best sides your quest has to offer, in screenshots or videos, etc!

Edited by Avataro, 19 November 2013 - 10:59 AM.

[KingPridenia]

Not that I'm really qualified to speak, but with more popular people on the forums, I would assume people would readily play their quests, especially if they like ones made by the author previously. With newer users, you don't know what to expect. I would assume people would be a bit unsure because they don't know what to expect from them. It's like in real life; where are you going to buy pizza from? The pizza place that has brand recognition, or that new random mom & pop pizza place that just opened? You're taking a risk on not liking their pizza, even if it is cheaper than what you normally get. That's just my thought on the matter.

 

I would say just be humble and don't try to overly advertise it. That could potentially drive people away from playing it. Let people play it, consider their feedback (both positive any negative) and use it to improve.

[trudatman]

I agree (with "it's tough to get support" and "classic-style quests aren't really my thing") and disagree (with "don't get pushy").  most people here seem to focus on their own projects.  reaching out and posting (like you just did) can help gather players, for sure.  you may consider hitting up those players that try everything and ask them for feedback.  you may want to keep bumping your topic with questions/updates/notes/etc.  you may want to share screenshots in the critique thread or stuff like that, to get cross traffic.  sending PMs to established friends and partners (I think I am both) with a message like "it would mean a lot to me if you'd play through my new quest and provide feedback" can't hurt.  just please don't get frustrated and stay quietly discouraged.

[Dawnlight]

Just be yourself. The most popular quests here are made by those who don't seek popularity.

[trudatman]

I certainly disagree with that, but I don't want to call out the person with the most popular quest as trying too hard, because that isn't inherently bad, but it carries a connotation....

 

the least well known quests are from folks that don't share nor care to attempt to gather support/feedback.

[Dawnlight]

Just remember that campaigning and seeking popularity are two very different things. That's what I meant in that post.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

There's certainly something to what you're saying here, and none of it is good for the community. I'll use myself as an example. The only finished quest I've ever actually released is a very experimental one-screen shooter, and has nothing to do with Zelda at all. But the game I've been working on that people have been excited about, is The Hylian Phoenix. Way back when, me and my co-developer at the time, Joe123 released two demos which people seemed to love.

 

Despite the fact that both demos were absolute shit. Since then we've canceled the game and started over, which is for the better, but my point is that people really should not choose what to play depending on who made it. I'm under the impression that a lot of people here knows who I am, and at times I have been treated as if I was one of these 'popular quest makers', or whatever. Which is batshit insane, considering my only release is hardly a proper quest, but rather a fun mini game. And even that game very few people have actually played. But I will say that if you've released 10 great quests, it's likely that your 11th is going to be good as well. I am not one of those people though, so I've always been uncomfortable when people have talked to me as if I was. So don't do that guys. I'm one of you, 100%. In fact, you could call me green. But sometimes I'm blue. Oh wow did I really just do that. I don't even know, this post stopped making sense when I started writing it. I'm gonna go eat dinner now, bai.

[Timelord]

I know how you feel, as I haven't received a great deal of feedback on my projects either. A good many people here don;t go out of their way to discuss their opinions on games. I wish we questmakers all received more feedback, but it may simply be that there are so many games out there that your 5th Quest isn't really attracting anyone, because they have too many other things they want to play, and haven;t the time.

 

I expect that my quest being both unfinished and unorthodox means that fewer people will be attracted to it.

 

If you want to flog your game, you can always make a website for it, and still discuss it on the forums. I honestly can;t tell you the best way to gain interest, however from what I can tell, the games closest to LttP/TotG and other modern 2-D games with a lot of detail and pretty imagery that have moderate to high difficulty and are somewhat large gather the most attention. Thus, the best way to get the most feedback is to design a game along those lines: I have not taken this route, as I want to express my creativity in storytelling and show what is possible with ZC 2.5.

 

I was thankful for some of the feedback that I received, and I expect that when I have a good deal more done on the game, the responses will be better.

 

To be honest, I never looked at your game because of the title. It sounded like the same stuff from Z1, only absurdly harder, and that didn't interest me. I don't know if that's right, but that may be a large contributing factor to your low visibility ratio. Having a creative and catchy name and a different plot/story is useful to get noticed.

[NoeL]

It would be a good idea to link your stuff in your signature - that way you're advertising your quest with every post.

[trudatman]

and I should make a new userbar link for you if you want to keep Sticks And Stones in there. I'd be willing to make one for your quest, too.

[TheLegend_njf]

It would be a good idea to link your stuff in your signature - that way you're advertising your quest with every post.

That is of course if it doesn't produce the wrong message. I actually had all my quest information in my sig until it made me feel like I was "whoring" out my quests. If you've already built the reputation of being a bit self absorbed, the last thing you want is "look at my stuff" in your signature.

Actually, to explain this better, if it feels like spam, it gets treated like spam, don't advertise your quest in a way that where everybody goes, your quest gets pushed in their face. But still advertise it reasonably, do things that build hype, ya know.

[Avaro]

Nah, I think there's nothing wrong with advertising your work in your own signature. If people would really be annoyed by someones signature they can block that specific signature or just disable all signatures if they want.

[Nathaniel]

Make what you do a thing, and just keep doing it.  Then it sells itself if you start to gain a following.  It's great if you can advertise your own work, but if you can get others to do that for you without even asking them to, that's even greater.

[Haylee]

Do one thing and one thing only: Put Peahats that always respawn in your dungeons.

 

It would be a good idea to link your stuff in your signature - that way you're advertising your quest with every post.

 

Make what you do a thing, and just keep doing it.  Then it sells itself if you start to gain a following.  It's great if you can advertise your own work, but if you can get others to do that for you without even asking them to, that's even greater.

My opinion is basically these two things mixed together, as you can tell, I advertise several things in my sig, but I'm just working on the quest as I wish and letting it attract itself.