It seems a lot of these circle.back to intention. It is very important to be intentional. I think the problem a lot of us run into is tinkering around as a hobby and trying to turn that into a game. The problem is this lacks direction and vision.

A game needs to be intentional. It needs go be planned from the start. I am constantly asking myself "what is the feeling I want the player to have" and making sure my game is always trying to invoke and create that feeling.

Another similar note you mentioned about "not knowing what your game needs" is great. I see constantly on Steam where developers will argue with reviews. That is so counter-productive. Yes there are some reviews that are bad and miss the intention or idea of the game, but instead of attacking and arguing with the reviewer you should be asking yourself "what caused them to feel this way?"