I drained that thread after it started going south, so I dunno how bad it got, but he made the mistake of being overly defensive and attacking people. Which is silly, because no one had anything but good things to say about his efforts, and defending yet another reskin of Woah Nellie seems like a dumb hill to die on. Art good, game boring, is what it is.

As you noted I took plenty of abuse in the Alien thread, but you know what? People had good points. I blocked the ones who got really personal and dickish, but if you said the game was more Photoshoppy that you had hoped for I certainly can't argue, it's more than I wanted too. Listening to people doesn't hurt, it's smart. One dude being a dick is one thing, a thread full of similar opinions means pay attention. Lots of companies pay for that kind of research! Pay attention, don't make the same mistake next time if you can help it.

If people aren't excited that you're recycling a layout that was never particularly popular to begin with, and had already been through the re-use cycle before it's not that Pinside is full of assholes, it's that people actually care about the gameplay. This isn't a gig poster to hang on your wall, it's a really expensive game, that people care about playing, and not just looking at. Gameplay matters, good to be reminded of that.

And that leads me to what I hope the trend is: listening to what people want instead of just looking at the buzzwords. Like, yes, we want hand drawn art, it gets brought up all the time. But you can't stick it on a turd and expect people to be excited, the game still matters. Most people here would rather own a game with lame art that played fantastic (ACDC) than a game that was gorgeous and useless to play (Magic Girl).

If your attitude is "look at these entitled jerks who expect quality and thoughtfulness when they spend nine thousand dollars on a game" then maybe the problem isn't Pinside, it's you.

You're over-reading that part, I wasn't calling Woah Nellie a turd, it's fine for what it is. Simple and fun, nothing wrong with simple and fun. Unless you want to charge over $8000 for it, then that gets into wrong in my book, but hey, your money.

Put it this way though, was it so amazing and people loved it so much that they had to make 3 different versions of it just to satisfy the demand?

If you thought I was calling Magic Girl a turd, well, you'd be right. ZY drew up some pretty art, and it couldn't save the game from being a trash fire.