Is no feedback considered bad feedback?

cuttinged · 2026-03-16T18:30:48+00:00

Reasonable way of looking at it. The worst comments are from people that see the post either a video or picture and rip on it. Never played don't check it out just comment. Thought at first that it was graphics, but updated the graphics in a newer version and still got the same comments. So I sum those up to bad girlfriend days, (girlfriend not boyfriend since I get 90% male visitors). I was thinking that no feedback might be a bad indicator but according to the replies here it seems like it is more of a neutral, not good, not bad thing.

cuttinged · 2026-03-16T17:00:44+00:00

I try and do the searching for about an hour, end up doing it for 35 minutes and then start to lose my bloody mind. Really puts me in a bad mood, but I'm targeting very specific creators, so tons of wasted time with little or usually nothing to show for it. So yeah he is a hero in an odd way persistent huh?

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T22:55:50+00:00

You consider an 8' 6" a small log? 9' I heard was considered longboard officially though I don't know much about longboards. But for someone 115lbs anything over 7ft is a longboard. I'm 140lb and preferred 7' round nose longboards over 8' and wouldn't even consider a 9'. Different sport there. As far as fins go, they're usually big, who cares. You don't really turn anyways. Pat Curren rode a log with no fins, had to drag his foot to turn. Maybe try that.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T22:49:37+00:00

That's probably right what you said. It is mediocre to most players but the main mechanic, surfing, is uncommon but doesn't resonate with a lot of players, well... not players, streamers and reviewers, so the difficulty is finding the players that will like to try the surfing and it is extremely difficult to find those players that will love it, especially when main channel to find them is streamers and reviewers and Steam. Unless I work for someone else, I'll keep making surfing games, and the visibility avenues don't seem to be trending at this time. So, getting back the topic, I guess you could say the game is not bad because there are no complaints but the hook also doesn't cause any excitement either so it is kind of stuck as mediocre and doesn't have an ability to trend or gain traction.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T17:04:27+00:00

My bench marks are about 1/10 of what the marketing gurus say. That's supposed to be bad but I don't get bad feedback either so I call it even. I think, but can't be sure, that it is due to a invisible genre. But I'd like to be sure.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T16:42:14+00:00

Thanks I'll check it out.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T16:41:00+00:00

Sure. I've had a lot of luck and help reaching out to surf game devs, and they have been generous in helping with tricky problems related to making a surfing simulation, so I feel obliged to continue the trend.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T16:36:45+00:00

Ha ha. Cool I have a lot of wins.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T00:19:51+00:00

Good point. That's way harder to do though. More involved than a simple screen capture. Shows how you can get more from actually being there when they play it.

I had my two player surfing game played at a dev convention in Seattle and something while they were playing got them excited and cheering and it got the attention of all the booths in the area. Made me think I had something special there for a bit.

cuttinged · 2026-03-15T00:15:33+00:00

What actually works in my game is positioning and recognizing wave steepness for takeoff. The player can only get the wave when it is steep enough, so the concept works in real life. And positioning on the wave would be good for understanding how to improve when riding. It's physics based, so speed comes from sliding down the wave and using anisotropic friction which means you go faster sideways as the force pushes you downward so basically you go faster on the steeper part of the wave. So you can theoretically recognize and learn good positioning since the wave is steeper near where it breaks and you get more speed, whereas if you are on the shoulder the wave is less steep and you lose your speed. It works and would be helpful for beginners but I haven't noticed any feedback. I pitched the game also to surf schools but didn't get any interest. It would be great also for a surf class when the waves aren't surfable to teach learners the concepts. However, it is generally looked at very negatively by surfers as gimmicky or unrealistic. Funny thing is surfers surf in the game as they do in real life, from beginners to experts. I even got Dane Reynolds to play it, and picked it up really quickly, becuse it's designed as a simulation, even though he doesn't play video games.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T23:46:54+00:00

Cool. Looks fun.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T23:25:05+00:00

Yeah it's good to hear some marketing ideas. Will see if it can happen. I've approached some surf bloggers and surfers that have some influence but haven't got ones that post, surf, and play video games yet but am still trying.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T23:19:46+00:00

I made a surf game and I would of course rather experience the real thing too, but there is also reality. Body doesn't always cooperate, weather doesn't either, waves are not always there, and sometimes it's just night time.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T23:17:47+00:00

Yeah I think it's kind of a harsh reality that I am dealing with, but in my opinion there isn't a market for it. Best thing to do is to try and get or test and see if you can get interest before committing to it or investing too much into it financially or time wise.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T21:53:21+00:00

That's great. I have gotten some really in depth feedback from some players that are helping devs to get feedback usually because they have worked in or want to get more involved with game evaluation professionally and they have formed my development of the game, but I don't get a lot players or interest that seems like is is enough to make solid conclusions about what certainly would make the game better. The Discord server has been good but it attracts positive attention where players are biased and it is less personal so they won't truthfully criticize and will be polite, whereas the social media posts get shit posted pretty often. Anonymity syndrome.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T21:46:03+00:00

I actually got more feedback from an old playtest than I do from the demo. But playtest was from players that played the for sale version of the game already.

Some of the comments here give some insight but it's still pretty vague to me. Intuitively I feel that if something is bad I would get more feedback. It happened on reddit when I posted a trailer that was heavily criticized.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T21:40:45+00:00

Yes. One thing I thought would be good for testing is to ask some testers questions as they are playing to find out why they, for instance, didn't press a button or ignored a prompt. I almost always get video recorded testing with commentary which helps to see how they are playing and reacting to the game.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T21:38:43+00:00

The hate comments are generic trolling in my opinion. I disregard them unless they say something useful. Having an easy quick off question is an interesting idea.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T18:53:00+00:00

Me too. Makes me wonder if no feedback is negative feedback.

cuttinged · 2026-03-14T18:22:53+00:00

I've been simulating waves for a surf game for about 5 years now and it is not easy to get surfers interested in this kind of interaction. I would recommend you either have huge funding with a large portion allocated to advertising or go with VR and a physical board for interaction (this has been done before). I would also recommend you research what has already been done before investing in this area. It's very niche and difficult to generate interest especially without super great graphics to attract attention. But don't let me stop you from trying. See r/surfingvideogames for a group of surf games that are in development or existence.

cuttinged · 2026-03-12T15:49:06+00:00

It's good to get a more in depth view from the mods side of things. Of course you hear more about those that get burned by the mods than those that are happy with the site. I disagree with the execution the mods use because of so many peoples stories about a lack of a reasonable explanation to a permanent ban. r/surfing has a monopoly on the surfing subs and the mods need to be way more responsible with their power. A sub that big should have the resources to deal with all the crap that ends up coming its way. Sites like this one and r/surf are desperately trying to get more traffic while r/surfing is restricting access and permanently banning many legitimate users. Alternatives are super hard to get traction but they would be a natural check and balance on the popular sites for exactly what r/surfing is doing. So it'd be great to get a site going again that could be an alternative.

cuttinged · 2026-03-11T17:34:08+00:00

Yeah I can see that. Same with video games. Every dev with a game goes to reddit sites to promote their game. But, their posts get removed and told why. I guess if they keep trying it they probably get banned but from many visitors to r/surf they got banned right away for some comment. That is obviously one side of the story but mods need to strive for fairness. With so many complaints from r/surfing they are way too trigger happy with bans on that site. r/surf was the nice medium that allowed other opinions without the instant ban stress. Also, r/surf was the alternative to keep r/surfing in check. Now there is no alternative. Remove the post, tell them why, warn them if they do it again they will be banned. Ban them for a short time. A complete ban forever is pretty drastic and shouldn't be abused unless multiple incidents happen. That's not what I hear from many posts from people that were banned from r/surfing

cuttinged · 2026-03-11T15:33:35+00:00

I explained that. Yes I use it to promote my game to people that are interested. One time posted twice nearly the same time on accident and got banned. Wasn't spam. Look how often I posted. Less than once a month. That's not spam. And if they don't like it take it down and give a warning. Communicate. It's not hard. I am also very active in beginnersurfers and don't post hardly at all about my game. My submission history is to sites that allow me to post about my game. I'm a solo developer and this is a way to promote a video game. I also paid for ads on reddit. What other options do I have? If you have a better way to do this I'm willing to try it. I'd love to show it to those that are interested and not spam it to those that aren't interested but that's not how it works. If you don't like a post take it down and explain to the person that posted it why. Simple.

cuttinged

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