In issue 1 of Grab It Indie Games Magazine, we were lucky enough to chat with developer Fireproof Games about its excellent horror-puzzle hybrid The Room Two, running through the challenges behind making the game and why certain design decisions went the way they did. One particular answer stood out, as it's not what we're used to hearing from developers when asked about how they incorporate fan feedback... and it's quite refreshing. Here's the snippet from the much larger interview.

The Room was fantastic and took home numerous awards, but was there any constructive feedback that influenced development for The Room Two?
Not really; or at least no specific feature was included directly from user feedback or to please sections of our fans. We did pay attention to emails and user reviews and used them to inform the decisions we did take when making The Room Two, but only in a light way.

To be honest, we already knew that we could push the sequel in a few new directions when finishing the first game. I know that in theory a developer ought to listen to their fans and what they want to see in the next game, but our attitude was more like, “seems the game has sold well, guess we know what we’re doing!” So we just got on with doing what we wanted to do.

Our jobs as game makers is not to give people what they want or expect. It was the newness and difference of The Room that made it intriguing for gamers - chasing what users want or ask for removes that element of surprise from the software and we actually think surprise is pretty key to an enjoyable experience.

To enjoy the full interview, you can read it and 13 other exclusive interviews - as well as in-depth analysis of 22 indie games and five big features including our world reveal of Thralled - in Issue 1: grab it here.

References:
    - The Room
    - The Room Two

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