We loved The Stanley Parable and so did countless other gamers, but as creator and founder of developer Galactic Cafe Davey Wreden writes "People don't just play your game and then shut up."
In a blog post on the developer's website, Wreden explains his emotional reaction to The Stanley Parable's success and the competition for Game of the Year awards. For a small developer like Galactic Cafe, winning Game of the Year awards created big waves.
"Toward the end of 2013, news outlets begin releasing their Game of the Year awards, and Stanley Parable is back in the spotlight," Wreden writes. "The GotY awards did not cause me to be depressed, they simply unearthed a depression I had been harboring and trying to bury since the launch of the game."
The Stanley Parable received a glowing review from GameRevolution, one of out Best of 2013 Awards in the Best PC Exclusive category, and a lengthy critical analysis because it was *that* good, but Wreden says the relationship between a creator and an audience isn't so simple.
Wreden explains that in launching The Stanley Parable, the audience took the game and ran with it, writing countless e-mails and communications about how much they loved the game or how it changed the way they saw the world.
"Some of it was extremely negative," Wreden writes. "Emails from people who wanted me to know I was a spineless coward who should hate himself, emails from people asking for advice and for tech support… emails from fans and journalists asking over and over and over and over where the idea for the game came from."
In answering all that fan mail, Wreden says that he lost sight of the meaning in his answers, he lost sight of why he made The Stanley Parable in the first place. To best articulate his feelings surrounding the Game of the Year awards and hunting for his game's title in the countless lists declaring winners and losers throughout 2013, Wreden drew a comic.
If you've ever wanted to be a developer or if you have an indie game idea that you think might take off, leer behind the current and read Wreden's full post and comic here. Check out all of our Game of the Year awards for 2013.
