Fifteen Xeno Sola Reviews! Oh, the Humanity!
by Chris Jorgensen · 07/22/2008 (5:47 pm) · 9 comments
Howdy folks.... howdy, howdy, howdy....
One June 4th, 2008 I did something that I'd never done before. I put up for sale on my website my first indie game. Huzzah! That game was Xeno Sola... a quickly cobbled-together game inspired by Carcassonne on Xbox Live Arcade. My plan was simple: crank out a quick clone with some strategic twists, import (dated) art from Xeno Versus, do some beta testing, and get something out there in the world.
Xeno Sola took about 6 weeks to create from start to finish, including the tile art, all coding, the web page, demo mode, the e-commerce infrastructure, etc, etc.... The prototype was done within a week. Another 3 weeks went into wrapping up the interface and code. Then another 2 weeks was added for last second feature additions, bug fixes, and testing. I intended it to be my guinea pig, a way for me to learn the development process start to finish. Beta testers were positive and numerous. I had fun playing it. I figured it was time to launch. So, up it went on the site and that was that....
Then the reviews start rolling in....
Ten unsolicited reviews went up on a site called Helium within a couple weeks. The average score? A stinging 38%, the highs at 60% and the lows at 20%. If I may quote reviewer Matt Bird on my game:
"Playing XenoClone's Xeno Sola is a little like canoing without a paddle. You know there's something fun to it: you just don't know how to get there."
And therein lies my first game's biggest problem: I didn't bother to tell people how to play it. The problem crops up in every review.
Sean O'Leary at HarryBalls, who scored the game at 60%:
"I did enjoy the competitive nature of the game, but figuring out which pieces were worth more points was not terribly obvious, and I had to discover it through trial and error, as the tutorial of the game did not cover that."
In fact, the big guns over at Game Tunnel also weighed in this week. In the words of Pany Haritatos:
"The gameplay is never really explained. If this is targeted at Carcasonne players, then they managed to confuse even a veteran player."
Or as Coby Utter from GT said:
"I attempted to play this game several times, but I never fully understood what exactly was going on. That is a bad sign."
Game Tunnel's average score: 43%.
Ouch. But no pain, no gain. And I've learned a lot from Xeno Sola's launch and (what appears to be) initial flop. Still, I'm excited. Fifteen reviews provide a lot of feedback. I've read each review multiple times.
But now the question is... where do I go from here? A patch to add in a better tutorial? A download-able guide? A sequel? Something totally different, with the lessons learned in mind? I really don't know. But if people want to chime in with their thoughts, I'm all eyes. (It can't really be all ears when I'm reading comments...)
If nothing else, I hope people learn something from my experience. :)
-----------------------------------
Review Sources:
Game Tunnel July Roundup
Helium's Reviews
Harry Balls
-----------------------------------
Game page: www.xenoclone.com/game_xenosola.html
One June 4th, 2008 I did something that I'd never done before. I put up for sale on my website my first indie game. Huzzah! That game was Xeno Sola... a quickly cobbled-together game inspired by Carcassonne on Xbox Live Arcade. My plan was simple: crank out a quick clone with some strategic twists, import (dated) art from Xeno Versus, do some beta testing, and get something out there in the world.
Xeno Sola took about 6 weeks to create from start to finish, including the tile art, all coding, the web page, demo mode, the e-commerce infrastructure, etc, etc.... The prototype was done within a week. Another 3 weeks went into wrapping up the interface and code. Then another 2 weeks was added for last second feature additions, bug fixes, and testing. I intended it to be my guinea pig, a way for me to learn the development process start to finish. Beta testers were positive and numerous. I had fun playing it. I figured it was time to launch. So, up it went on the site and that was that....
Then the reviews start rolling in....
Ten unsolicited reviews went up on a site called Helium within a couple weeks. The average score? A stinging 38%, the highs at 60% and the lows at 20%. If I may quote reviewer Matt Bird on my game:
"Playing XenoClone's Xeno Sola is a little like canoing without a paddle. You know there's something fun to it: you just don't know how to get there."
And therein lies my first game's biggest problem: I didn't bother to tell people how to play it. The problem crops up in every review.
Sean O'Leary at HarryBalls, who scored the game at 60%:
"I did enjoy the competitive nature of the game, but figuring out which pieces were worth more points was not terribly obvious, and I had to discover it through trial and error, as the tutorial of the game did not cover that."
In fact, the big guns over at Game Tunnel also weighed in this week. In the words of Pany Haritatos:
"The gameplay is never really explained. If this is targeted at Carcasonne players, then they managed to confuse even a veteran player."
Or as Coby Utter from GT said:
"I attempted to play this game several times, but I never fully understood what exactly was going on. That is a bad sign."
Game Tunnel's average score: 43%.
Ouch. But no pain, no gain. And I've learned a lot from Xeno Sola's launch and (what appears to be) initial flop. Still, I'm excited. Fifteen reviews provide a lot of feedback. I've read each review multiple times.
But now the question is... where do I go from here? A patch to add in a better tutorial? A download-able guide? A sequel? Something totally different, with the lessons learned in mind? I really don't know. But if people want to chime in with their thoughts, I'm all eyes. (It can't really be all ears when I'm reading comments...)
If nothing else, I hope people learn something from my experience. :)
-----------------------------------
Review Sources:
Game Tunnel July Roundup
Helium's Reviews
Harry Balls
-----------------------------------
Game page: www.xenoclone.com/game_xenosola.html
About the author
Owner of Cascadia Games LLC
#2
May I also echo Devon's congratulations but on a slightly different standpoint, congratulations on achieving the mindset whereby you can take reviews as something to learn from, not something to simply get upset with etc. That's a very good place to be!
07/22/2008 (6:25 pm)
I agree with Devon, go back and fix what went wrong. You'll get an appreciation of not only what was wrong but also the solution this way. Even if you don't release the fixes in the form of a patch it'll still be a worthwhile learning experience in my opinion.May I also echo Devon's congratulations but on a slightly different standpoint, congratulations on achieving the mindset whereby you can take reviews as something to learn from, not something to simply get upset with etc. That's a very good place to be!
#3
I agree with both Craig and Devon ... definitely fix what was wrong or missing. Definitely release some type of online or offline manual ... these things are worth the effort and time it takes to make them. :)
This is a good post as it helps other game developers out there think about things that may be missing when they are ready to release their games. It might also be a good idea in the future to maybe release the game as an Alpha to people on this community who know nothing about your game ... they will definitely help you as well.
Once again ... congratulations on the game, keep it up but definitely polish what you have.
07/23/2008 (12:34 am)
Firstly let me say congratulations on completing your game, it is always a good feeling.I agree with both Craig and Devon ... definitely fix what was wrong or missing. Definitely release some type of online or offline manual ... these things are worth the effort and time it takes to make them. :)
This is a good post as it helps other game developers out there think about things that may be missing when they are ready to release their games. It might also be a good idea in the future to maybe release the game as an Alpha to people on this community who know nothing about your game ... they will definitely help you as well.
Once again ... congratulations on the game, keep it up but definitely polish what you have.
#4
It seems that the game misses some crutial parts and if I would have bought it, I would be pissed if you don't fix this. And would never buy something from you again.
Also have more alpha/beta testing of your game. This issue about the missing instructions would have brought to your attention before you had released the game.
07/23/2008 (12:42 am)
Congrats on finishing a game, something most of game developers will never do! I didn't play it but as a suggestion I would say that you go back to the game and fix the points that people critizise. Don't jump to the next game before you give the people what they need. It seems that the game misses some crutial parts and if I would have bought it, I would be pissed if you don't fix this. And would never buy something from you again.
Also have more alpha/beta testing of your game. This issue about the missing instructions would have brought to your attention before you had released the game.
#5
07/23/2008 (9:45 am)
I like how candid this post is! Chris, well done on releasing something and thank you for being completely honest - this kind of story helps everyone. 
#6
Like the other commenters, congrats on getting the game done, and *huge* props for taking the criticism so well, especially so soon after the fact.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with Devon's suggestion (and as echo'd by the others) -- my main fear of continuing to iterate this game is I'm wondering how much you care about the game, and wondering if it would be better just to put this as an early game of yours and move on to bigger and better things and try to do it better next time from the "ground up".
Even so, I've played Xeno Sola, and I think that you add some good and significant variations on Carcassonne that I think are valuable -- I especially like your weighted betting system, that's a really fun variation that adds an element of easy-to-grasp strategy to a game that can sometimes feel very up to the "luck of the draw".
So I guess I would still go along with Devon and the others, but be careful to not stagnate on this game, and don't be afraid to "shoot the engineer" and leave it be, chalk up the lessons learned, and do better on another product.
Once again, great job on getting a game completed, shipped and reviewed, Chris -- I'm seriously impressed, and you get major props from me for that. I for one certainly find your story very encouraging.
--clint
07/23/2008 (11:15 am)
Fantastic blog post, Chris. I love how you explain the whole story from start to finish, and present it in such a way so that others can learn from your experience and example!Like the other commenters, congrats on getting the game done, and *huge* props for taking the criticism so well, especially so soon after the fact.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with Devon's suggestion (and as echo'd by the others) -- my main fear of continuing to iterate this game is I'm wondering how much you care about the game, and wondering if it would be better just to put this as an early game of yours and move on to bigger and better things and try to do it better next time from the "ground up".
Even so, I've played Xeno Sola, and I think that you add some good and significant variations on Carcassonne that I think are valuable -- I especially like your weighted betting system, that's a really fun variation that adds an element of easy-to-grasp strategy to a game that can sometimes feel very up to the "luck of the draw".
So I guess I would still go along with Devon and the others, but be careful to not stagnate on this game, and don't be afraid to "shoot the engineer" and leave it be, chalk up the lessons learned, and do better on another product.
Once again, great job on getting a game completed, shipped and reviewed, Chris -- I'm seriously impressed, and you get major props from me for that. I for one certainly find your story very encouraging.
--clint
#7
07/23/2008 (1:46 pm)
I would agree with the posters that suggest that you should fix the game. I would also suggest that you try to do more then just add a tutorial and more doc. For example, the reviewer that complained that you couldn't tell the worth of the pieces, it would seem to me that this should be visible in game. Perhaps something as simple as a small but visible number that shows on the piece when you are placing it? I haven't played the game, so I don't know if this suggestion really fits, but if it did I think it would be much more useful then additional doc.
#8
07/23/2008 (3:00 pm)
Use reviews as a learning opportunity to see how others percieve your game and interact with it. Use that feedback to iterate. I took feedback from Shelled 1 and put it directly into use in Shelled 2. The ability to fly and fire, the weapon firing range, the addition of a forum/create-a-tank/more weapons, all those were requested by reviewers of Shelled 1 that made it into the sequel. It is a better game for it. You can't design on an island / in a vacuum, but you have to have a clear direction, center, and vision for the game regardless. What are you trying to accomplish with the game? If you cannot answer that simply, you need to re-focus. Good luck, I have enjoyed watching progress on your games and enjoy reading your blogs.
#9
Overall, I hope my experience helps others out. There's a lot of value in just trying the whole process out.
07/24/2008 (8:59 am)
Thanks for the nice replies. As a short term help, I put a "How to Play" section on my site's Xeno Sola game page. It may need more revision for brevity and clarity, but it can't hurt as-is. Long term, I can definitely see myself trying out a sequel.... one that's better explained and has tuned game-play. In the mean time, I'll probably at least explore how to put together a better in-game tutorial. The game shows up on Games du Jour in August. So it behooves me to get it more playable before my next spike in traffic.Overall, I hope my experience helps others out. There's a lot of value in just trying the whole process out.
Torque Owner Dusty Monk
Windstorm Studios
But the reviews reflect the level of the game that they had to play. It sounds like the tutorial didn't really do the job, the game play wasn't all that intuitive, and in the end, people felt like they *could* have fun with the game if only it was clearer to them how to do it.
I wouldn't start over, if it were me. I'd polish the hell out of what I built. Because *that* is the difference, imho, between a mediocre game and a triple A. Polish. So if you're looking for unsolicited advice (and hey who doesn't want to give that! :) ) my humble recommendation would be to rebuild the tutorial from the ground up. Iterate and iterate, and add bits of polish wherever you can find them -- mouseover hints.. short cuts.. cleaning up entry and exit... whatever it is. And then release version 2, and see if people don't start picking it up more.
And congrats on just getting *through* the process. That in and of itself is no mean feat. Good luck!
Devon