I knew we had to brace ourselves for some vitriol, but I honestly did not expect 0/10 user ratings on Metacritic
Oof!
I think it's the fact that Gibbous looks like it would be a hard-core, 90s throwback, break-your-brain-puzzles title... And it's not. I expected backlash from the ending, which I knew would be divisive, but not for the puzzles. Apparently fans of classic adventure games felt like it was some kind of bait & switch when they got what I guess are relatively easy puzzles.
I can't be objective, since I designed them. Comparing them to the most recent adventure game released I've played that's in a more classical vein and has an inventory, Unavowed... I think they're actually a bit more difficult than those (note, I am not comparing my work to Dave's, just strictly puzzle difficulty). I think people knew what to expect with Unavowed, but thought that just because it looks more "classic-like", Gibbous would be on par with 90s adventure games puzzles-wise.
I believe that as a first time no-name dev releasing a narrative game on Steam and intending to make this your living, you need to take into consideration the fact that it's 2019 and you
have to try and appeal to a larger, maybe even more casual audience. Two difficult puzzles in and a lot of players will bounce off your game and never come back. That is the last thing we wanted. I'm honestly much more about the characters and the story than I am about the puzzles, so I was Ok with maybe leaving some people feeling like it was too easy if it also meant more people were likely to actually finish the game. I think this kind of drama is inevitable when you're trying to appeal to both a hard-core and a casual audience. I've done my best to throw a couple of bones to the veterans, too, but it seems it wasn't enough. And when players turn on you, they turn HARD.
Then there's the LucasArts comparison, which is a bit baffling to me. Yes, we did say that we're inspired by LucasArts a lot during the Kickstarter, you only need to see one screenshot and it's obvious... But nowhere did I compare ourselves to them, Jesus Christ!
I'm reading these reviews going "the devs lied, this isn't even close to LucasArts!" ...How the hell could it be? We're a bunch of people in an attic in Transylvania
It's our first game. We did our best, we made a bunch of mistakes, we did some things right, some not so much... Saying that you are very influenced by someone you admire should not instantly trigger comparisons to them. Anyway...
As for Steam reviews - it's bitterly clear to me that if we didn't make an effort to do 13 languages and stuck to EFIGS we would probably be much closer to 90%. Flying too close to the sun on a crappy budget, etc. If you set reviews to "all languages" and google translate the Russian, Japanese and Korean ones - which make up most of the negatives - you'll see what I mean. I've stopped doing it because I already know what they most likely complain about, and I need to be able to focus on improving the game post-launch.
I do hope this will settle eventually and the game will find its audience. I know a lot of people won't be along for the next game, but quite a few will, and I'm cool with that