Reviews on Steam

[PilotMan]

User reviews are essential to good momentum for any game on Steam. Right now there are a number of good reviews associated with the game, but with the first negative review and the slowing of the sales of the game there needs to be a continued effort to keep momentum going and to keep the exposure of the game positive.

First off, it's been stated a few times before that longer, well thought out reviews are better than just the fanboy "wooohoo, this game awesome I'd give it 10/10!" Prospective gamers do read them, both positive and negative. You actually have to be an owner of the game on Steam and have playing time with it in order to review it.

Second, negative reviews are going to happen. There are people who just aren't going to get it or feel like there is something that they don't want. Not many people know this but you can actually comment on the negative review itself. Click the "Not Recommended" part on the review and you'll be redirected to a page where you can put a comment. I'd advise that replies be smart and direct. General fan boy comments aren't going to serve the game and would tarnish the reputation of the game and it's fan base.

Like this:



Last is the community hub for the game itself. This is where new players will go to discuss the game if they don't make it to FOFC here or the group on Steam. Common questions, comments and asshattery may be found and it's going to take knowledgeable gamers to help get the information out there.

You can find the community hub by clicking to if from the game store, and then clicking on the discussions section. You can also find the links to areas where you can post game guides as well as broadcast the game as you are playing it, which is a new feature in Steam.





I'd encourage those of you who are very active here to spend some time there as well. We can try and try and try to redirect new customers from there to here, but some people just aren't going to do that and Jim nor Ben can be there 24/7 either. The community here needs to continue to support the game there if it's going to be successful in the long run.

Now the game may drop and sales may slow but you never know if FOF7 will be included in a holiday sale or other sale. We all know that the sales on Steam can drive massive jumps in sales and a solid support system can help once the boards over there are flooded with noobs.

[Ben E Lou]

In case it isn't obvious, it is in the interest of anyone who enjoys this series to help expand its audience. And in Steam, we now have an outstanding platform to do that. More sales for Jim means a much greater chance of us seeing FOF8 and/or TCY, a higher possibility of an improved interface, etc. etc. etc. We now have a golden opportunity to help push this game to the next level--the better for our own enjoyment.

[Julio Riddols]

Added a game settings section to the Points of Interest guide. Hopefully that helps a little more with the new players. I also responded to that negative review to try and get the dude to give the game a second chance.. I think it would be hard for any player to turn down the game after getting used to the UI - The more time you spend with FOF, the more the beer goggle effect takes hold. Eventually you're convinced you met the woman of your dreams.. And the beer goggles just never wear off.

[whitechapel]

Purchased the game yesterday and registered to the forums today just to say that the well written Steam reviews really do help in attracting potential buyers to the franchise who have never heard of the series beforehand.

Looking forward to getting into the game and learning how everything works.

[bstar]

I think it's also important to discuss some of the shortcomings of the game and ways to mitigate them. The worst thing we could do is mislead people- that will result more poor reviews from frustrated people. So far things are looking pretty good.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm trying to write a Guide right now. You seriously have to use a stupid *picture* to create a text guide??? What should I use? Anyone have a stock photo I can use for that? (For now, I have my FB profile pic there because it forced me to put something before I could work on the guide.)

[Schmidty]

I finally bought it 2 weeks ago, and although I'm having fun, the UI is still just really, really bad. It's not even the spreadsheet thing, as I kind of like it, it's that I just can't do the things I want to do in an easy, user-friendly way. Also, there just isn't a good way to learn what things do without going through a lot of work to figure them out. Work really isn't what I want when playing a game.

I still love the game, but I don't know if that's just nostalgia. I like to be honest in reviews, so I just can't give it a glowing review for new players to the genre, so I haven't written anything at all so far.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'm trying to write a Guide right now. You seriously have to use a stupid *picture* to create a text guide??? What should I use? Anyone have a stock photo I can use for that? (For now, I have my FB profile pic there because it forced me to put something before I could work on the guide.)

I used a pic of Trent Dilfer holding the super bowl trophy. If you're doing an intermediate guide, maybe you could use a better QB holding the trophy. Then when we put together an "elite" guide, we can use Montana or Brady. I'm only being like 47% serious.

[Frankh]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'm trying to write a Guide right now. You seriously have to use a stupid *picture* to create a text guide??? What should I use? Anyone have a stock photo I can use for that? (For now, I have my FB profile pic there because it forced me to put something before I could work on the guide.)

Short videos on Youtube may be more efficient and take less time to do.

Free "screencast" program for recording.

[gstelmack]

If you have an Nvidia video card, GeForce experience now records desktop and audio from the mic, so you don't need any additional software.