So, Dragondot’s Sky was recently featured on Jay is Games. I was initially quite excited by this, as it’s certainly the game I’ve put the most work, dedication, and passion into to date. The critical reception there, however, has been… less than inspiring, shall we say.

Dragondot’s sky was a huge failure in my eyes. The controls were crummy, and the soundtrack was a piece of sh!t. well at least on my laptop, because for some reason, the soundtrack kept skipping and sounding all cr@ppy.

Dragondot’s Sky was beyond screwed up. With that control scheme, I would have had a hard time even going through a maze – much less trying to chase and shoot moving enemies. You’re controlling a circle – and it’s not as simple as “Holding the right arrow key makes you rotate clockwise?” And how could a game with such sparse graphics, terrible AI, terrible music, and terrible EVERYTHING take that long to load?

Ouch. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I’ve made some mediocre games, but I’m frankly stunned that this game has inspired such a degree of vitriol. My weekly games are something I do for myself, but when times are tough the encouragement of others is what helps keep me going. This, though, is not terribly encouraging – nor does it provide me anything I can work with to improve in the future. The music sounds “cr@ppy” on your laptop? Thanks for letting me know, but when making my games I have a) one week, b) one computer, c) one person (myself) to test and debug. I can’t fix an issue that I can’t reproduce myself, and a week is not exactly enough time to run betas and focus groups. I’m immensely grateful for the rest of you here that give me feedback that I can learn from and act on (such as the changes made to enemy advancement rates in Dragondot’s Sky). Please continue to do so – the more I can learn, the more I can improve, and that means better games for all of you. =)

And to those whose puppy my game has apparently kicked: My sincerest apologies. Hold the right arrow key to rotate clockwise.