Ralix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Swingin' Reswung]

Whoa, easy with all those post-processing effects. Bloom is kinda cool, especially with so many things glowing, but the motion-blur makes it harder to see what you're doing, especially in a game like this which needs you to be laser-focused.

I've had a lot of problems with the rope not appearing when I clicked sometimes (evidenced by a plethora of NullReferenceExceptions in the console), even when I started spamming the mouse button.

I'd say 'holding' Z and X to change the rope gradually instead of repeatedly pressing and changing the rope in large steps would result in more fluent gameplay, but of course, I can't be sure.

You also don't see too far ahead (and there's no a priori warning), so until you memorize the sequence, the majority of revolving saws will probably hit you.

(Also you need to add 38 to vertical resolution in Project Settings if you use the Unity footer.)

Nicely done; I see the improvements from your previous versions, but the sometimes unresponsive controls make it more frustrating than it needs to be.

nulledwine responds:

Thanks for your feedback!

Yep I probably added too much motion blur, I'll tone it down soon.
For the rope not appearing when clicking, I'm gonna look into that. Thanks for telling me.

Dunno why I didn't think about holding Z and X.

Thanks again, I'll be working towards fixing these things.

[Naked Lee Panic]

It's an interesting concept; when is the Full HD 3D version coming? :)

Although it bothers me that there are no checkpoints (or at least not for quite some time), so I didn't want to repeat the initial sequence every time I enter a new location and make a small mistake; which is why I didn't finish the game.
But the game over screen messages are hilarious!

[Convergence]

There are so many things I like about the game… the tutorial is great (brief, and to the point), shooting enemies is fun, the white/green colour contrast, the final battle with all your comrades.

However, I'm not sure about the story… it feels like I'm missing something. The dialogue at the beginning made it seem like there's a mystery to uncover – but in the end, it's just ‘kill the big bad guy’. The reason might as well be running out of time because of the game jam… but I wouldn't exactly call the ending ‘a satisfactory conclusion’. But the gameplay is pretty good nevertheless.

Edit:
Thank you for clarifying the story. I got that pandemic analogy and the importance of team effort in the end, but as for the rest… I think the main thing which undermines the "alone, hopeless" feel is the radio communication throughout the game. You're constantly talking to an authority figure who is comforting you – so you're feeling neither completely alone nor hopeless.

Imagine this: the main character doesn't have anyone to talk to, the radio is silent (in truth, you're too deep underground to get any signal). He fears he might be the last person on Earth. In hopes of leaving at least some legacy, he records his thoughts on tape (so you can basically keep saying the same things which he already says in the game).
He goes further, but there's no improvement, the enemies only get stronger. Then he runs into "the main boss" and thinks he's done for, but suddenly, reinforcements appear and you defeat it together.
At least that's how I'd go about it if I wanted to make the player feel lonely or depressed until the very end.

VascoF responds:

Thanks for the review, glad you liked it.

I guess my idea for the story didn't really end up being very clear. The idea was that you were supposed to feel alone and hopeless throughout most of the game (which originally was supposed to be longer to increase this feeling), and then at the end the player discovers that there were many teammates in the same situation, and you all came together in the end, and this would be an exciting, happy end. This was all supposed to be analogous to the pandemic situation we're facing now, it's kind of how I feel about it.

Edit: Thank you for the clarification, it's very helpful. I see what you mean; the feeling of loneliness/despair could be stronger. I wanted the radio to tell some parts of the story (and it's also a better analogy to what's happening now), but didn't have time to make a long enough game to space out the radio transmissions more, and have the player play through various days.

[Deal or no Deal]

Yes, it's all right – it's a simple game, after all. I probably wouldn't use bluish underlined links (yes/no and play again options), as they look like plain hyperlinks (which they are) and don't fit with the colour theme of the game, but that's just nitpicking.
However, I think the medals don't work (at least the first one doesn't).

Mocha2007 responds:

I changed the buttons to look like gold bars like the rest of the interface - do you think this looks better?

Thanks for playing :3

[Ms Maks and Adventure]

It's a good start and pretty impressive for your age. I wish I could make a game like this when I was seven.

Having said that, there's certainly quite space for improvement, if you want to work on it further. Some tips:
– (!) If you die, there is no way to restart the game
– (!) Falling off the platforms doesn't kill you (and you're then stuck below the platforms)
– (!) Reaching the final door doesn't do anything (you don't win the game, and you don't move to a potential next level)
– As of right now, the game is pretty short
– The game title icon has nothing to do with the game itself
– The 'Noooooo!' sound may become annoying if you play for a long time
– I wouldn't mix different art styles in the same game (i.e. the photo and cartoonish sprites)
– Don't start the game with the player already bouncing on the trampoline; it's distracting
– The coin and heart image have white borders (use png image format with transparency)
– If there's an icon, you don't have to describe what it is (the numbers are enough)

Again, for you age, this game is quite good, and even though it's not exactly best, it's at least a start – and your future projects will be better, because now you have some experience. Good luck!

[Kartoon]

It's very good, especially presentation-wise (with the backgrounds, trail effects, nice music, turning animations of the driver etc.).
You don't have to be very skilled to win – I kept bumping into everything and still finished with a lot of time left. I'd hope this would only be the first level, and the following ones will be more difficult (the track could include obstacles, or some collectibles, pitfalls to jump over etc.). But since one level is all you get, the game overall felt a bit slow.

[Black Walk]

Yeah, that happens every time I go for a walk. I keep thinking, ‘What if I poked my eyes out?’
Honestly, it's an interesting (and weird) idea, but I kept wondering what will happen next and the ending was unexpected and quite pleasant.
When you pull your heart out, the background goes black which makes it impossible to read the text if you didn't read it before (so it should probably turn white).
Also, your journey should probably be a bit longer and have more obstacles, so it's less of a walking simulator and more of a platformer. All in all, for ‘a tiny idea’, it's pretty good.

[Barghest]

I like it! A nice simple game which gets more challenging over time. Just when I thought the gameplay is getting a bit stale, the enemies started exploding.

Just a little complaint – you can see the ghosts briefly flashing on the screen frequently. I don't know if you're reusing the same objects and snapping them to position, however, whatever is the case, I'd turn their visibility off when you're moving them across the screen. It can be confusing.
Also, once you die, the score number isn't centered on the screen unlike everything else (which is quite noticeable if the score is a single digit).

And there's a bug – if you pause the game with your sword unsheathed, the sword stays where it was even after you unpause the game. Although that's almost a feature – because you can leave your sword at a strategic position, and only focus on dodging while your sword destroys enemies far away from you.

WondO responds:

Yeah the weird flashing when they spawn was a bug i could not fix when i was making the game like 2 years ago, i didn't know the pause one tho, thats like melee's advanced tech.

i wanted some more varied ways for enemies to come up but i really could not figure out how to do that kind of stuff, my abilities were limited then and sadly even more now atm.

also if you didn't notice, the trail gets longer the more points you get, thats probably my favorite detail in the game