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PSA: When you& #39;re talking to someone working on a game you love with the goal of having them make a change you& #39;re advocating for, here are some things to keep in mind:
First, and this shouldn& #39;t need say, but unfortunately it does, don& #39;t call them incompetent or stupid or otherwise yell and curse at them. Your anger is valid and justifiable, but you are still in control of your actions. Take a breath, wait a day: the game isn& #39;t going anywhere.
Second, do not barge in with a solution and demand it be done. Just like with the insults above, when I see that I stop reading and skip to my next message.
Feedback is crucially important in game design, but the feedback we care about is problem statements, not solutions. That is not to say your solutions will always be bad. Someone& #39;s you& #39;ll have the exact right solution!
But there is no way to know until we playtests it if it is even promising. Instead, tell us your problem. And while I know this might be scary to some of you, you have to get in touch with your feelings.
Game design is the engineering of psychology, so we need to know how you felt at what time and why. Someone& #39;s that& #39;s as easy as "I tried to do X and the game wouldn& #39;t let me so I was frustrated"
Sometimes it& #39;s more complicated; you were hoping for something reasonable but couldn& #39;t tell if it happened and that left you disappointed, or you were confused and upset because something you thought shouldn& #39;t happen happened etc
Always remember though: lead with the problem. State your expectations, describe what you were trying to achieve, what actually happened, and how that made you feel. That& #39;s what we need
You can then after all that say something like "and I think xyz night solve it" but remember that it may only solve it for you and even if it did solve it for everyone, there might be unintended consequences you& #39;re not thinking of or other reasons not to do xyz
Bonus points if you start out by asking the designer what their intention behind the change was and how they think it& #39;s going so far. That& #39;s a conversation. "DO MY THING!!" is just shouting into the void.
You& #39;ll find most designers love have a thoughtful conversation with people who approach them with curiosity and humility and a willingness to learn as well as give feedback.
But we are also inundated by messages from people calling us names, yelling at us that we don& #39;t know how to do our jobs, or simply demanding we do X with no context and no willingness to talk about it
