Recent Homebrews

[Albert]

I am open to suggestions, btw.

How about regular review contests? This will make people write reviews AND the voting will make new people aware of the homebrews.

What would the voting be for?

 

I do like the idea of opening up reviews for a month long period and then choosing one submitter at random to award perhaps a gift certificate in the store to. I'd have to make some minimum requirements for reviews, though, along the lines of:

 

1) Any submitted reviews must be written by you and not copied from elsewhere on the web.

2) Reviews must be of reasonable length and a minimum of one paragraph.

3) You may only submit only one review for any given game.

4) I reserve the right to reject any reviews I deem to not meet minimum standards or that are inappropriate in some fashion.

 

..Al

[Shawn]

What's really needed is more reviews in the store for it (and for other games). Medieval Mayhem is currently the #7 selling game, yet there are only 2 reviews for it! It's like pulling teeth to get people to write reviews for the store.

I am open to suggestions, btw.

 

..Al

 

5 percent off cupon towards your next homebrew purchase for filling out a 100 word review on the game you purchased?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

What would the voting be for?

Best review of course.

 

1) Any submitted reviews must be written by you and not copied from elsewhere on the web.

2) Reviews must be of reasonable length and a minimum of one paragraph.

3) You may only submit only one review for any given game.

4) I reserve the right to reject any reviews I deem to not meet minimum standards or that are inappropriate in some fashion.

Sounds fair.

 

For a contest, maybe add a maximum length. And then you choose the best (or all) reviews that meet the standards and start a poll on those.

[+SpiceWare]

Medieval Mayhem is currently the #7 selling game, yet there are only 2 reviews for it!

Correction - now there's 3.

Short, sweet and to the point. Thanks John!

[toymailman]

I know I am amazed at the awesome homebrews that have been made. More recent one's that stand out for me and I can lose track of time when playing are..

 

Lady Bug

Fall Down

Toyshop Trouble

Medival Mayhem

Go Fish

 

I own about all the homebrews that have come out over the last two years (when I began collecting), nearly all are pretty good and some are simply amazing works of art!

[Recycled]

I have some reviews. One not so good one though....I don't want to make anyone mad...

As long as it's an honest review - that's all that matters. The more reviews a game has, the more information people have when they're buying. If people disagree with a bad review about a game, they need to take it upon themselves to counter it with a good one.

 

 

Well, I may post it and some others. I'll think about it.

[espire8]

What's really needed is more reviews in the store for it (and for other games). Medieval Mayhem is currently the #7 selling game, yet there are only 2 reviews for it! It's like pulling teeth to get people to write reviews for the store.

Tell me about it. Short of paying people, I'm not sure what to do!!

 

..Al

There is'nt anything that can be done. That's just the way it is. People have to love or hate a certain game so much that they are compelled to write a review to either warn or recommend others about it.

 

Yeah, I don't get it either. I've written reviews for every homebrew I've bought. It takes 5 minutes and it helps people decide on a game or just a nice way of giving the programmer a shout out. Right now I'm the only review for CV Terra Attack and I worked on the game!

Not that it's a bad thing but most of the homebrews in the store may find the same people, friends, and others who worked on their projects (past or present) writing most of the reveiws because of the lack of it thereof, unless they have a large following -and some do, but not all.

 

 

I am open to suggestions, btw.

How about regular review contests? This will make people write reviews AND the voting will make new people aware of the homebrews.

 

You can't make people write a review by making a contest of it. Would it be bias if it were open only to those who have good things to say about the game and not the bad? Besides, it's probably as much effort for most of them as though they were being asked to program a game for free when they'd rather just be play'n em'. A review has to be more heart felt and "just because" than that.

 

We just gotta accept the fact that most people who buy homebrews are either too busy, lazy, tired or sleepy when done playing and if a game impresses someone enough to write one, I feel is more genuine. The first MM review by Raul Torres is more convincing to me than the other two written later because he's a total stranger and more fittly represents the game playing public's opinion, and although his was the only store review for a long time, he did'nt win a contest to write that review but rather he paid for the game and found it worthy of his investment which says alot and is the most important thing.

 

As far as making new people aware of homebrews, invite all your friends over to a surprise 4 player game of last year's sleeper hit Medieval Mayhem which is fun and easy to get into and let them be shocked that a 25+ year old system can be more fun than Xbox, Wii or PS3. Then show them the easter eggs and show off the system's ability to even have memory to spare to show a dancing dragon in full animation with music, and tell them that homebrewers make games like this possible on the ol' vcs. First impressions are important and when they ask "Are there other games like this?" That's when you show em' all the other great homebrews they've been missing out on all this time and may actualy want for themselves.

 

Go get 'em!

Edited November 8, 2007 by espire8

[BigO]

You can't make people write a review by making a contest of it.

 

What if the prize were not given to the best review, rather each (editorially accepted) review was entered into a drawing for something. A likely prize would be a homebrew game or choice of homebrew game from the store.

 

(And I'd like my one review to qualify me for the contest retroactively. )

[Albert]

You can't make people write a review by making a contest of it.

 

What if the prize were not given to the best review, rather each (editorially accepted) review was entered into a drawing for something. A likely prize would be a homebrew game or choice of homebrew game from the store.

 

(And I'd like my one review to qualify me for the contest retroactively. )

Yes, if I were to do this it would be a random drawing, not a contest to judge the "best" reviews. That's a pretty difficult and subjective thing to fairly judge.

 

..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

You can't make people write a review by making a contest of it. Would it be bias if it were open only to those who have good things to say about the game and not the bad?

I consider honest reviews who try to be fair to be the best, e.g. like Nathan writes then. If a game is bad for a good and well described reason, then it deserves a low scoring (and vice versa). Just saying I love this game because I had fun or I hate it because it sucks is IMO not sufficient by far.

 

Though others may think different.

 

Anyway, since the voted contest seems opted out now, how about a random "Review of the day (or week)" link on the front page? Would that help making more people aware of homebrews?

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

I have some reviews. One not so good one though....I don't want to make anyone mad...

 

Cool. Some are good and some are less good, that´s it!