5 Ways to Give Good Written Feedback to Game Creators

Providing constructive feedback to game developers is a crucial step in the game development process, especially after you've had a chance to test an online demo. Your insights can help improve the game, making it more enjoyable for future players.

As now you can earn GDevelop credits by giving feedback on gd.games, here are five down-to-earth ways to offer valuable and actionable feedback that can truly make a difference, and increase your chances of getting your feedback ranked as "great".

1. Be Specific and Detailed

When giving feedback, the more specific you are, the better. Instead of saying something general like "I didn't like the controls," pinpoint exactly what about the controls felt off:

• Was the response time slow?
• Were the key controllers unintuitive?
• Are you an AZERTY player instead of the average QWERTY?

Specific details help developers understand exactly what needs improvement. For example, you could say, "The double jump feels unresponsive, which made it difficult to navigate the second level where precision is crucial."

2. Balance the Positive with the Constructive

It’s important to highlight what you enjoyed about the game as well as what could be improved. This not only motivates the developers but also shows that you appreciate their efforts.

Start with something positive, such as the game’s artwork, sound design or story, then move on to the areas where you think improvements are needed. For instance, "The pixel art style really sets a fantastic tone for the game’s atmosphere. However, the font size in dialogues is too small, making it hard to read on my old small mobile screen."

3. Focus on Your Experience, Not General Advice

This is a point that beginners often get wrong. An unexperienced tester would:

• Jump into a solution without describing the encountered issue
• Speak for other users rather than their personal experience

Our advice to improve feedback would be to talk about your personal experience rather than trying to speak for all potential players.

Use "I" statements to make this clear: "I found the tutorial very helpful," or "I felt the inventory management was cumbersome."

This approach personalises your feedback and avoids the presumption that your experience is universal, which is more useful to developers trying to understand how different types of players react to their game.

4. Provide Context When Necessary

Sometimes your feedback might relate to specific parts of the game or only arise under certain conditions. Providing context can help developers understand where problems occur.

Mention particular levels, scenarios, or hardware setups if they're relevant. For example, "During the boss fight at the end of level 3, the frame rate drops significantly, which made it hard to keep up with the action on my older laptop."

5. Keep It Structured and Concise

Developers are often tight on time, so keep your feedback organised and to the point. Use bullet points or numbered lists to structure your feedback if you have multiple points. This makes it easier to read and ensures that your main points don’t get lost in a sea of text. For example:

• Level Design: Loved the intricate layouts of the dungeons, but some corridors felt too narrow for combat.
• Sound Effects: The soundtrack is engaging, but the explosion sound effects overpower other audio elements.

If you're willing to help the developper of the game further, do consider to add a way to take the conversation further.
gd.games has the possibility of adding your preferred way of contact under your username.

This will greatly help creators debug or better understand where their game has issues.

By following these guidelines, you can provide indie game developers with useful, constructive feedback that is both respectful and encouraging. Remember, your feedback not only helps improve the game but also supports the creative process of indie developers. So take your time to craft thoughtful, detailed feedback—it’s highly appreciated!

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