Distilling Feedback in Game Design and Business

September 20 • 3 min read

As a game designer and founder of Chonker Games, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is how to handle feedback. Whether it’s coming from playtesters, reviewers, or casual players, feedback is a constant part of the creative process. But the real challenge? Figuring out which feedback to act on and which to leave behind.

Recently, I had the opportunity to write a guest post for Jamey Stegmaier’s blog about this very topic, where I shared my experiences developing Chonker Party—my new party game set for early release at Spiel Essen 2024! In that post, I break down how I use feedback not just to improve gameplay, but as part of my overall business strategy. Here’s a sneak peek:

Excerpt:

“Feedback is more than just a tool for refining gameplay; it’s a critical component of my business approach. One of the biggest challenges in game design is distinguishing between good and bad feedback. Good feedback is specific and actionable, and often comes from people who understand the goals of your game. On the other hand, bad feedback is vague, or based on personal preferences that don’t align with the game’s objectives.”

In the full post, I dive deeper into how I navigated feedback while developing Chonker Party and how I learned to listen to the voices that matter most—my target audience. Whether it was simplifying a complex scoring system or tweaking the design of the action cards, each change was made with both the player experience and the business implicatio

Curious to read more?

Check out my full guest post here: Distilling Feedback in Game Design and Business

I’d love to hear your thoughts—how do you handle feedback in your own projects? Do you find it easy to make changes, or do you struggle with balancing your creative vision and audience input? Drop a comment below!