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Reviews and Developer Interviews: My Process
By TheThousandScar Posted in Gaming, Impressions, New, News, Reviews on September 8, 2022 0 Comments 5 min read
Gamedev Interview: Moral Anxiety Studio (Roadwarden) Previous Indie Corner Episode 19: Exploring the New Next

We’re officially in September!

While I have several writing projects in the works, I thought I would write something about how my review/interview process works. This year has been my most active yet for writing game articles. While a lot of that has been down to my unemployment and health issues, I just love talking about games. I’ve been in the field for several years now, and this is my sixth year of writing about my thoughts on gaming. It’s one of my biggest passions.

I’ve had the wonderful experience of communicating with developers and publishers in 2022 and reviewed some excellent games. With this in mind, I wanted to write a little something about what to expect from these. For game developers and publishers, this is for you! Otherwise, it may still be of interest just to understand my process. I’ll be constantly adapting my guidelines for this, so there will be updates.

Game Developer Interview

All of these interviews will be given in the written form. Once contact has been established, I will provide a document with the interview questions inside. Fill them out in as much detail as you’d like: you’re selling yourself and your games, after all. This is a great time to show off! Talk about your processes, what game development is like for you, hobbies, favorite games, and anything you’d like. This is a great way for people to learn more about the mind behind the game, and they seem to be popular.

There’s no rush at all to complete these. I’ll usually try and contact a developer or publisher around a launch to maximize the exposure they can get, but the development of a game and post-launch support is always a frantic time, so don’t feel like you have to finish the interview immediately! This will be in your time, and I always work to that timeframe. It goes smoother if everyone feels comfortable. I have several examples of these interviews, but here is the most recent one with Microprose. It gives a nice idea of what to expect.

These interview questions will receive updates and additional content as I work on them. It’s a dynamic process, so future iterations may have different questions. As always, feel free to provide promotion links to the games as well. We’re here to help as much as possible! There are no limits to what game of game either. I’m happy to interview anybody.

If you are interested, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Game Reviews

So I’ve been focusing a lot on indie releases in the last couple of years, mainly due to computer restraints. Only having access to a GTX 1060 graphics card laptop slightly limits what I can review for PC. However, I’m willing to try out anything. My gaming tastes have broadened greatly since 2020, so I’m always on the lookout for interesting stuff for the website. While my favorite kinds of games are RPG, sandbox, simulation, and strategy titles, I’ll usually try every game once.

Currently, I focus on ‘Impression’ reviews. In these, I’ll provide my experience with the game. They will likely not be reviews of the full game unless they are rather short. I think impression reviews are still important for people. One of the major stumbling blocks in any entertainment is catching someone’s interest. Marketing is great to get someone to pick the game up, but the beginning of a game is vital. If a player loses interest, they’ll put it down and likely never play it again. Therefore, while I won’t be doing complete reviews, they’ll always come with my first impressions. I’ll always spend an adequate amount of time with any game I receive for review because it’s only fair. It’s the least I can do in exchange for a review code.

While I cannot guarantee every review will be positive (because that wouldn’t be professional) I will guarantee my honest viewpoints. Releasing a game and maintaining it is a great achievement! In recent years I’ve learned to be more constructive with any reviews I write. If there are positives, you bet I’ll mention them. If there are any flaws, problems with performance, or anything else, I’ll mention them as well. In the rare event that I have major issues with a game or there’s just something preventing me from enjoying it, I’ll be as objective as possible. Just because I’m having issues doesn’t mean everyone will. Conversely, everyone has different tastes. If I like the game doesn’t guarantee everyone will; that’s just common sense!

I have a Steam Deck, so I’ll be able to provide testing of how the game will function on the device. While not every game will function, I’ll mention how it plays during my reviews. I also own a Nintendo Switch, so if there are any games with Switch ports, that’s something I can review as well.

Finally, I don’t review via a scoring system. I used to, but I find that there are so many factors that determine how a game is to play that I find scores unnecessary. My reviews will boil down to a simple recommendation. I factor in many vectors such as gameplay, accessibility, performance, price, and available content.

Conclusion

That’s pretty much it! Hopefully, this is helpful to anyone looking for coverage. You can contact me through Twitter at @Thethousandscar, or my business email. Contact me through gadgetsworn@gmail.com.

#gamedev #gamer #indiegame #videogames


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