In lieu of a postmortem, I\u2019m going to try an experiment.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve played and rated a bunch of other games by this point. \u00a0You\u2019re probably curious how you\u2019re going to do in the final tallies, even if your game didn\u2019t turn out to be what you wanted. \u00a0You like making and playing games, and you like competition \u2014 you\u2019re here, after all. \u00a0Well, here\u2019s a bonus competition. \u00a0Rate your own game, post your scores, and see how close you get to the final ratings you receive.<\/p>\n
Try to forget everything you know about your game. \u00a0It\u2019s completely impossible (given you\u2019re the only one who knows all of it), but do it anyway. \u00a0Now, go back and play it. \u00a0If you\u2019ve done any work on it since, play the original. \u00a0Give it the same chance you gave any other game you played. \u00a0Ignore any insider information you might have, put aside your biases, and write down your scores in that comment field down there. \u00a0You know the one.<\/p>\n
Be honest. \u00a0I\u2019m usually very sparing with 5\u2019s, to save them for really spectacular entries\u2026 \u00a0and I\u2019m judging myself on the same scale I used for everyone else. \u00a0Keep the same criteria you\u2019ve used in the past in mind when you\u2019re rating your own game. \u00a0Remember, this isn\u2019t your game anymore, you\u2019ve never seen it before today. \u00a0If you cheat and write all 5\u2019s, you\u2019re only cheating yourself.<\/p>\n
Just as important as all the other skills needed to create a game is the ability to judge your own work with a critical eye, and be able to picture how others are going to see it. \u00a0Playtesting, as often as possible, is awesome for this (we did one last weekend), but you can\u2019t playtest all the time, and getting stuck on a bad idea can kill you. \u00a0It\u2019s too easy to come up with an idea that doesn\u2019t work but convince yourself that it\u2019s fun, and ignore what others have to say. \u00a0If you always try to put aside your own preconceptions when looking at your own work, it\u2019s easier to stay focused on creating a good game. \u00a0This experiment will help us all see how capable we are of doing this.<\/p>\n
If enough people are interested and post their scores, I\u2019ll throw them all in a spreadsheet with the actual scores once they\u2019re out, and figure out how close everyone came to their real scores. \u00a0If this idea sounds interesting to you, rate your game, and like this post so more people see it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll go first, but I\u2019ll save it for a comment.<\/p>","time":"September 10th, 2012 10:14 pm","title":"Rate your own game","title_was_empty":false}