You are going wrong when you think this is about bashing the game.

Its a fundemantal issue with indie games like yours and it fits perfectly into the "price discussion" going on. Because i think the whole discussion is wrong.

Lets start with the facts: The game is really bad. Not because of style issues, bad art and music or content or any other indy related problem (the lack of manpower or money), but because of one simple fact:
You didnot care to fix vital main problems of your game. Horrible control, none existent ai or gameplay, motivation or game mechanics,.....
Those are not issues you face because you lack time, money or manpower.
You just didnt care enough.

fact:
Noone would accept any of this bad and huge mistakes in any other AAA game.

The problem:
Right now indie game development is treated like a 8 year old kid showing a painting to its mother. Its nice but worthless. The AAA´s cant think less of us.
Every day the entire community has to fight for reputation.
We have to prove with every single release that we are game designers. Equally good and talanted, maybe lacking some bucks but compensating this with effort and ideas.
Games like grunz destroy this work. Not because they are just made but because of the way we treat those releases.

The press:
Does not critique us the way they are supposed to do. Hard and fair.
Being an indie game is no excuse for nothing. It should not grant us benefits nor should it cause negative effects.
But for this to happen we need to face the world as grown ups.

The huge issue now:
Now the part of the community and the thing that drives me really angry.
We have to stop acting like we are blindfolded when giving comments and critique.
If we want to be taken serious we have to be judged by the same parameters like the big ones. Not by ammount and quality but by the basic rules for games (controls, gameplay, ideas aso).
No matter if its the game, the producer or the magazine, we have to show that we wont allow broken standards, cheap bypasses and crap without pointing at them.


If you like it or not, all of us are part of the label "indie". And every game we release and create either helps this idea or hurts it.
It lowers or raises the prices we may charge and the reputation we get for being serious game designers.
Thanks to games like grunz anyone of us releasing another indie game wont be able to charge what its worth, but will have to pay a price for the tag "indie" and all the other grunz games, that we meassure and rate differently and that we dont criticize correct, honest and fair.


Its not about bashing games.
Its not about arguing if cheap prizes hurt your sales.

Its all about growing up from being that 8 year old kid and becoming independent game designers.

have a nice one