Game Review Exchange

[Orgaya]

If anyone's done anything on FictionPress or FanFiction.net, it's likely they've participated in or at least heard of a review exchange game wherein participants put up their work to be reviewed, and the reviewer gets to put up their work for another person to review.  I was wondering, has something like this already been done for the RPG Maker games here?  Or elsewhere?  Maybe it has but for whatever reason it's stalled out?


In case it hasn't, I think it would be fun to start something like this.  Potential reviewers could look at how the uploader's download page is set up, play about 15 or so minutes of the game or however long to get the gist, and then offer some critique on both fronts.  Said reviews can either be placed in the thread itself or on the download page as a comment for others to see.


I'm very much still a massive noob to this forum, so I'm not sure how things operate here, but I think it's kind of a shame that some people can upload a game to Project Development or something only to get it buried beneath tons more without any recognition, thus causing the uploader to get discouraged and quit.  Maybe that by itself says something of the quality, but an exchange might get people to broaden their horizons and perhaps discover hidden gems while also getting feedback on their own projects.  Obviously this can go way more in depth than what I'm suggesting here, but, as I've just said, it is a broad suggestion.


If this has been attempted before and has failed or I'm just blind and haven't seen it, can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[bgillisp]

@Orgaya: We did one of these back with the IGMC in 2014, and it worked pretty well for a while. The problem was after a few months of it, people ran out of time and it died off. But, I think it could work out. I'll detail for you how we did it in 2014 in a spoiler.

Spoiler

What we did was we gave everyone who was interested in participating a week to sign up. Then after a week was up, the organizer used a random number generator to assign everyone a game to play. Everyone got 1 game, and everyone's game was assigned to someone. Then, we all had a week to play the game, and post a review of the game. Reviewers were expected to try to finish the game though, but since this was for the IGMC games were not expected to take more than an hour to complete either (if it was more than an hour, you were free to stop after an hour). From there, we repeated this until interest died off.


If you wish to see more on this, see if you can find the post called IGMC Secret Santa (or something like that). It was held from July - September 2014 or thereabouts.

You might have some luck organizing such an event though, using a similar system. Maybe make it a semi-monthly event or something though so people don't get burned out?

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

We have had events in the past where people review games, and that I have taken part in, but I'm not sure if there has been a specifc section for a continuation of said event.


Here is one of these events.

 

[Orgaya]

Those are much more organized than I had in mind.  And probably more functional given the subject matter.  I was thinking of something a bit looser, if that makes sense.  Here is a rundown of the idea I was attempting to propose:


1. One person would post their game in the thread. 


2. Should someone be interested in the posted game, they'd respond by reserving the next post for their review of the game.  


3. After playing the posted game, they'd post their review in the reserved post (and possibly in the game's own thread to boost notoriety and probable much needed bumps in the development forums)


4. The reviewer then asks for someone to review their game, and the cycle continues.


5. Should no one find any interest in reviewing the posted game, causing the exchange to stall, perhaps after a week or so someone else can post their own game for review.


6. Rules can be proposed to make the game fair, accessible, and easy for everyone involved - such as how long each game should be played through to garner a decent response.  I said 15 minutes in the OP just as an example, but a consensus can be reached to determine a better length.


The idea isn't so much to give everyone a ton of feedback and thus possibly slow everything down, but more to give quick glances to games and projects that would otherwise never see the light of day.  It would be beneficial to both parties, as one would get some quick feedback if their project is conveying what it needs to convey, and the other would be able to put their project out in the open for more people to see.


Again, I'm a complete nub so I may be wrong about how the community works here.  Feel free to call me a cow if I'm stepping on toes.

 

[Dark_Metamorphosis]

I like the idea a lot, It's always nice with feedback, any feedback. It has helped me tons with my own project and contributing with reviews is something I can do as well. I think there's no one stoping you to post such a thread if you feel like giving it a go. To me it would only be a positive thing and I can't see anyone that would feel differently.


Maybe try contacting the staff with this idea and see what they have to say about it, or wait to see if someone responds to this thread. Im pretty certain that you can give this a go as long as you feel that you can organize it they way you want it. There are tons of posts similar to this with Let's plays and other forms of media so having a review topic based of rules set up by you is something that you could post without a doubt.

 

[Orgaya]

Thank you for the feedback.


I'd love to try and organize such a thing, but I would also like to hear others' opinions as well, especially those familiar with playing and reviewing multiple games.  If anyone else has any further ideas, please share.


In addition, if I were to make this thread, where should it go?