On rereading this didn't come back like I intended. IMO this post is fine. What I'd caution against is reading too much into the targeted feedback from reddit/etc about your game. Studying like you're doing is great, but nothing would beat actually sitting down and talking to someone in person who has played a lot of games and picking their brain. You say the "feedback was tough", which makes me think that you didn't expect it. If you sit down with someone and have a conversation about the game, I think you'll find that you can empathize with their feedback and understand it better. Instead of just feeling criticized, you'll realize that the things about the game they don't like, you also don't like, and be able to make it better. Basically I think that empathetic human-to-human feedback is a lot easier to process and learn from compared to anonymous feedback from disinterested strangers.

I get what you mean. Right now, I can only get feedback through anonymous posts like this, but I’d love to talk to gamers in person as soon as I can. I half-expected some of this feedback, but I was surprised and later grateful by how much people gave (including your comment). Thanks :-)