Here's how you can provide constructive feedback on game design while nurturing creativity.

Exemplo prático: "Gostei muito da mecânica de progressão do personagem, que incentiva a experimentação de diferentes builds. Uma sugestão para aprimorar a experiência seria oferecer aos jogadores mais informações sobre o impacto de cada atributo nas habilidades."

Keep your feedback grounded in pillars, goals, or values of the game. Work to separate your personal opinions and preferences from what is right for the product, the audience, and the game; it is likely the designers have considered these things or even tried them. Start by expressing the feelings/emotions you want around the experience first and then get into technical details about aim points or joystick responsiveness. Try to be crystal clear on terms - what does 'snappy' mean to you? If you have relevant examples from other games - share them directly together. Games are complex and systems are inter-related - remember that you often can't just tweak one without changing other related systems to have the desired impact.

I prefer the other way - talk about the gameplay you desire, don't specify adjusting values - because the designers and engineers are likely much more in touch of what each of the components of the system do to the overall mix. I'd say 90% of the time the 'feeling' you are expressing has merit, and 90% of the time the specific fix you are suggesting is wrong. This applies to the audience as well as management. Games are complex inter-related systems that are trying to satisfy (often conflicting) audience and management feedback under tight technical constraints and deadlines. Agree on metrics, outcomes, and feel and relax a bit on specifying the approach; leave that to the experts on the team.

Um exemplo prático da abordagem sugerida por Mark seria, ao invés de dizer "Aumenta o dano da espada X em 15% para melhorar o gameplay", você poderia dizer: "Gostaria que a espada X fosse uma opção mais poderosa e atrativa para os jogadores, principalmente no início do jogo".

As someone who loves approaching Games 'Out of the Norm', I'll be so real when it's people like Willem Delventhal with Indie Game Academy who've helped me embrace who I truly am in Games. Prior, while taking part of my Esports internship. There was hardly anyone willing to 'take a risk' in their marketing. As a result, their socials to this day have stagnated. And growth remains minimal as an organization. However, by listening to your juniors and at the very least proposing a compromise to show that you TRUST THEM, not only to you encourage more individuality, you also up relatability as an org who in games should be FOR THE PEOPLE. Hope this helps! ^-^ 😆❤️

Be authentically yourself but be honest with the team from the beginning if you have a tendency to lean on the more critical side of things - if you remind them that it's a personality trait and that you do appreciate everyone's hard work, people will adapt to your style of managing critique.

Never shut-down dialogue, especially when giving feedback. In game development, feedback is your personal feeling about how something can be made better (of course it can be informed by years of experience building & playing games but in order to innovate, you need to allow things to evolve even if you don't understand them). There are times when you can enforce a feedback (if you're convinced it can jeopardize a project's success or future). Make sure you make it clear which feedback is your point of view and the team can do what they want with it versus what is mandatory.

Provide constructive feedback on game design while nurturing creativity by focusing on specific, actionable points. Start with positive comments to acknowledge strengths. Frame criticism constructively by suggesting improvements rather than simply pointing out flaws. Use "I" statements to express your perspective without sounding accusatory. Encourage brainstorming and alternative solutions to foster creative thinking. Be open to discussion and actively listen to the designer’s ideas. Highlight how suggested changes could enhance the game's overall vision and player experience. Maintain a supportive tone to build confidence and motivate ongoing innovation.