Frayed Knights Pilot Critiqued
It's not often that I link to a site that shreds my hard work to pieces. Fortunately, that's because the latter doesn't happen too often. Maybe because Scorpia hasn't reviewed one of my games yet... :) But more likely because I'm nowhere near as prolific as I'd like to be, and I'm still pretty much off-the-rader as an invisible indie.

In this case, Diego Doumecq has taken apart Frayed Knight Pilot: The Temple of Pokmor Xang from a game design perspective, and has been pretty respectful of both the material and his role. And he seems to have really enjoyed the game, which makes me happy. But he has a lot of constructive, well-thought-out criticisms that he brings up that are worthy of discussion and consideration.

The issues he brings up are similar to the ones I have received in feedback forms from people who have played the game (still not quite up to 1,000 emails, but getting closer...), but he has done a very good job of putting his finger on the some of the root causes. For example, there's the problem I was well aware of when I released the game that combat was nowhere near where I wanted it to be, and I was having problems seeing the forest for the trees. Many players have pointed out the issue, but only a few have been as clear at pointing out some of the exact problems as Diego has here (and there are definitely more problems than the one Diego has addressed).

In part 1 of the critique, Diego primarily tackles interface issues - which are definitely easy targets for the game. There should be a part 2 coming up shortly, and he's also got some other game design articles and critiques available on his blog that are well worth reading. Part 2 should be appearing shortly, and I'll update this post when it appears.

I have said it before - but the purpose of the pilot episode of Frayed Knights was to solicit this kind of feedback from players. While I've got a ton of opinions on CRPGs, simply having an opinion and being able to deconstruct a game does not immediately translate to being able to create a killer design of your own. I'm a learn-by-doing kind of guy, and so this has given me the opportunity to learn what I have done right and done wrong a little bit faster.

So I want to thank Diego and all the people who have emailed me with feedback, suggestions, compliments, support, and criticisms. You folks help me become a better game developer. This sort of direct communication is what I feel can make indie gaming great!

Frayed Knights Pilot Critique at Indigo Static

Labels: Frayed Knights, Game Design

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