If I had the chance to be at any of those talks I would have loved it! Besides the looks and humour, I thought the talk was cool, but I am a fan of any Id products/lore, so I am bias. 

I might actually buy Rage now.

Once I can afford it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qcZ9M-QoOc 

leave Romero alone! *whiningunderasheet* 

Gabe Newell: Reflections of a Video Game Maker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QEOBgLBQU 

 

Listening to Gabe Newell shuts down any productivity.

It impossible for the stuff he talks about any the way he describes things to fade into the background like a podcast or whatever. 

I love listening to Gabe simply because he is honest with his insights. Sort of like JohnC where he talks about his ideas at Quakecon.

The thing that stuck out in my mind was what he said about the economy of hats and how the community can make more content and no developer should compete with it, infact embrace it!

After the locals at QuakeOne chased me out of town for giving brutal honest feedback and telling me I am childish I stumbled across this article and it made me laugh, especially the bit about feedback.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/185987/How_to_make_the_move_from_game_developer_to_game_designer.php

However, talent will never be enough; one should actively develop one�s design skills, and there is only one true way to do that � implementing a design and then listening to user feedback.

Designers need to be humble listeners, not persuasive orators.

I think that applies to all creative types in the games industry, people who don't accept feedback are fooling themselves if they think their vision cannot be improved with suggestions. 

the locals at QuakeOne chased me out of town for giving brutal honest feedback and telling me I am childish

This is the best thing I've read all day. 

It's blinkered hubris to even think that your own vision of what you're making is infallible.

I think there's two main reasons why feedback is struggled with;

1. It makes you change your view on things, something most people are just not prepared to do - when people feel especially threatened they'll start making jokes at the commentators expense or just calling them names...

2. It's often hard to understand - you need to both read between the lines and extrapolate what the complaint or comment really is, at the same time not going off on a tangent.

----------------------------------------------

I'm in the post beta phase on something now and having to fight against the 'we only do high priority feedback and ignore everything else' attitude.

That could even work, but often this sloppy approach means that the feedback isn't interpreted either, so what's listed as high priority isn't really.

And probably eclipsing several other pieces of feedback that are much more intrinsically valuable. 

http://imgur.com/a/Fd8qv

Was there today, took some pics, and thought i share them here. 

http://i.imgur.com/5ehed8Kh.jpg

I love old castle, they have such character and style. The bricks are like rings inside of a tree, showing age, style and construction methods. The image above is a perfect example of different brick types added over time. Often people building castles use to knock down other buildings to get more materials, hence why the walls often had different brick styles. 

However, talent will never be enough; one should actively develop one�s design skills, and there is only one true way to do that � implementing a design and then listening to user feedback.

Designers need to be humble listeners, not persuasive orators.

Disagree to an extent. Part of the job of a designer is to give gamers what will want, not what they ask for. You keep giving them what they ask for, and you can lose sharpness of design by overly smoothing rough edges that are what give a design character. 

But typically you're not talking or listening to the audience directly. I think the above quote is for within the team structure itself.

Definitely agree that catering for all gives you bland food though. 

I think the articles is trying to say, listen and let people get involved. A designer does not need to implement all feedback but listening is big part of the process. Just like reading a book, watching a movie or going somewhere can inspire you, so can feedback. A designer still needs to filter feedback but they should never stop listening.

Ijed, it sounds like you need more feedback to confirm if your priorities are right. If you want some fresh eyes to check out what you are doing, drop me a mail. 

But that'd breach my NDA :)

In any case, already solved the issue - by getting everyone involved and listening, pretty much. 

thanks, wakey. those are beautiful. :) 

abandoned places and modern ruins 

 

This guy's backdrop art is amazing
http://albertomielgo.blogspot.be