Ralix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dark Maze]

Overall, it's a nice game. And I like the gamepad and fullscreen support.

– Starting a level is quite underwhelming. Most of the screen is black, and you see only very little. Especially for people starting the game for the first time, it might be off-putting. If you get hit, you'll see essentially nothing.
(Perhaps add a mid-layer of 50% grey, or a transition, so there's bad visibility, but at least some visibility? Perhaps the walls could be seen in the grey circular area, but not enemies.)
– I'd play the "wind" noise only when the player is actually pretty close (that way, it could also warn you about enemies)
– Being hit teleports you back to a safe zone. Sometimes this can be confusing (especially if you can't see well). I'd honestly prefer temporary invincibility instead.
– Using items to help you is a great idea. E.g. the gas canister in one of the levels. The first time, I thought it's only meant to illuminate the level (and waited too long, until it extinguished itself), but it actually protects you. It probably should have some sort of timer onscreen when you activate it.

I understand limited visibility is an important part of this game, but I feel the game was sometimes tedious – e.g. in every level until you find the first two or so matches. And being reduced to almost-death means you have almost no time to react to incoming enemies, so you'll probably die anyway.
Anyway, those are my two cents. I definitely liked it, though, for the most part.

[show]

It's a great game. The style (music, film grain etc.) in particular makes it impressive.

[Deep Dark Cave]

I don't know.
I like the art style and colour palette, the idea of travelling through a dark cave…
But after a while, the constant flashes started to annoy me (it's hard to watch), and when the giant flying block killed me I lost interest because I'd have to go through the entire game again (and possibly many more times).

For the latter, consider adding checkpoints. Please. E.g. a torch you can ignite.

For the former… I'd recommend you to look at the gameplay of 'Candleman', it's a game with a similar idea about a platformer with limited light. You might find it useful as a source of inspiration (even though it's 3D).
https://youtu.be/HpIihc3devs
Key thing:
– You're never in a *complete* darkness, just bad visibility. So you're not necessarily forced to turn on the light just to move around. (your previous path is even marked by molten wax)
Only when you need to be precise in avoiding gaps or see further.

I think it'd work for your game as well – make the lighter limited (perhaps add a collectable refill), but make your close surroundings visible even in the dark (e.g. dark grey). A simple way to limit to "close surroundings" might be with a black png image mask with a transparent hole in the middle enabled/disabled in the foreground.
And to make it easier to watch, I'd try to make the dark→light transition gradual, instead of just flashy on/off.

HiNiceToMeetYou responds:

Thanks for the feedback, i'll be sure to take this advice on the next version of the game.

[A TRUE HERO TEST BATTLE Alpha V 0.0.1]

The animations are incredible and look very natural.

The rest of the game… I mainly had a hard time trying to figure out how to damage the enemy without being hit yourself. He has a longer range, a vaster health pool and hits you almost every time you come close. It might be better if the enemy followed a set pattern which left you an opening in which you can safely damage him. When he's unpredictable, you have to rely on luck or cheesy tactics, which is frustrating.

Shooting from your weapon also doesn't seem to do anything. And you can still move around and jump after your health falls under zero, with no way to restart the game.

And currently, since it's still in development, the environment around the characters sucks.

It looks promising (especially the fluent animations), but so far the game isn't really enjoyable.

batitono responds:

Thanks for commenting!
I will consider everything.

[Break blocks]

All right, a couple of notes:
– Dragging the paddle with your mouse is a terrible way to control it. It's hard to figure out and you have to hold the button for the duration of the game. Just make it follow your cursor position.
– When you have a magnetic paddle and multiple balls, all of them cling to you, but you can release only one
– I'd make some blocks take more hits to break (but slow the spawning accordingly)
– Every level consist of basically waiting until you get 'Super Ball' powerup, after which you steamroll through the level. This could be balanced by the bricks which take more hits to break, so even a super ball would bounce off them.
– The expand/shrink powerups don't expand/shrink the paddle very much
– Sometimes there are too many powerups onscreen. I'd limit the maximal number which can be there at a given time (to +- 3)
– Pause button doesn't work
– Getting 'Game Over' doesn't stop the balls, so you can get Game Over and Level Complete right after that
– Sometimes the ball bounces in an almost parallel direction with the paddle, which makes it take a really long time to get anywhere. I'd perhaps restrict the minimum angle to at least 15°-30°.

So currently, it's not a very interesting game to play, because controlling the paddle is really a chore and all the blocks are exactly the same.

orangecity responds:

Thanks for your feedback!