Trap of Dissociated Feedback

Wait, wait, wait, it is not that depressing after all. Can we do anything about it? We - developers and publishers. Honestly, nothing bullet-proof, and giving advice is clearly not the point of this article. Let's just overview potential solutions that are exposed with this lens: The most and only straightforward idea is long-term sustainability . When feedback becomes chaotic, market changes faster than we can react, the solution we see is just right off the top of our heads - build more games. But it is not that simple, right? Idea is to focus on 2-3-4 projects ahead. Putting all eggs in one basket can not only be risky, but also disappointing. Start small, have a vague plan of actions for when you will get less "attention" than expected, and don't get distracted by waves of feedback. Build expertise in what you are doing. And this is not common "get better, learn stuff", no. Start with a reasonable-size concept, try to deliver, and then continue improving your product, again, without massive overhauls. Expertise comes with putting effort into making things slightly better, not trying to guess the "secret sauce". And after that, with each step, you will notice more and more patterns, you will know better than anyone where and how to improve your game, and that will help you filter out noisy feedback and actually get useful information out of it. Build an iterative-knowledge production from the start, again, with a plan for future games. It is not just "try and test", or "deliver and see the result". No, in this case you need to envision a game you dream of, and understand how to get there as a series. Simple example: With first game of the series, you polish controls of your game and make fun out of it, releasing a small, yet enjoyable and complete game. Second game might start adding a layer of meta-gameplay, progression, where you polish the medium-term flow of the game. Other step-games might be about learning how to deliver a lot of high-quality content, adding 10 times more enemies to your game, without losing quality, or even figuring out a new structure for such content expansion. Key thing - every game should be complete and polished. Every step-release is growing not only scale, but your understanding of the concept. Step by step you are building knowledge how to connect all those things together, reducing risk of releasing bad product which took all of your resources.