Ralix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Game (not finished, upload for portfolio)]

As @ermac98 mentioned, you shouldn't really show this project to anyone in this stage yet. The drawing you posted on your page is frankly much better if you want something to show to people.
Some notes this game – apart from not being finished, and from using placeholder art:
– The regular movement is too slow, running is almost too fast. I'd pick an average between these two and stick with it, otherwise, people will just hold Ctrl for the duration of the game
– Why does the dragon have to turn to face you whenever you stop? Wouldn't it be better if he kept looking in the direction he was going?
– No animation when sending a fireball.
– Fireball trajectory looks a bit too unpredictable and also goes in the same direction no matter what – even if you're walking left.
– Falling doesn't restart the game.

And so on. There's not much else to work it at the current stage.

[the stor]

Ughh…
The game honestly started pretty well, has neat art and I thought it was going to be good, but the ending is VERY frustrating.

For starters, you can't collect the coins, only food items. And there's no music or sounds.
I was also going to say the pendulum perhaps damages you too little (a big metal ball hits you in the face and consumes only like a fourth or fifth of your life) – likewise the spikes, but you're going to need all the health you've got left for the ending.

Near the end, it drops a hint in Russian – therefore indecipherable for all but a small minority of players – about falling platforms. It would still be alright because you could figure it out by experimenting – but the platforms fall instantly, not giving you a chance to react; and they also look just like regular platforms. If you fall through, you land on a bed of spikes. It doesn't kill you instantly, making it look like you could still jump out or move away, but you can't. It just very quickly drains all your health.
And if you memorize the right way across the bridge, you'll meet a "green blob" enemy which can likewise kill you almost instantly. It will also follow you and even jump to get you (before it gets stuck at the last crate or killed by the guard if you lure it out). Impressive AI, but you don't expect it and therefore after you finish a frustrating trial-and-error bridge, you'll get killed by a green blob.

Now it probably should be mentioned that even though death is common and almost inevitable, at least a couple of times, there's no checkpoint (!) and the game doesn't even restart when you die (!!!), forcing you to reload the page to try again.
I "finished" the game after roughly ten times because I wanted to see if the ending is worth it… well, the ending is ‘Walk to the edge of the screen and fall off’. Isn't that nice.

Honestly, it could be a good game. It has different mechanics, is quite fun at the beginning, but the unreasonable last part (with very unsatisfying ending on top of that) tarnishes the whole experience. Add checkpoints, invincibility frames if you want but most definitely *restarting the game* and an *ending screen*.

[Reap]

It's a well-made game with a great concept, congratulations!

In my opinion, I passed through all the levels with relative ease; I don't think there was anything which would be truly challenging or which needs more than two or three tries. You can slow down any number of moving objects indefinitely with a barrage of spells with fast fire-rate and turn very slow hovering in the air on/off as many times as you like, so you always have plenty of options to make the level easier or to fix your mistakes even mid-air.
Perhaps there should be areas which don't allow using your abilities (or moving objects unaffected by them) or some limits on your abilities. Not to make the game very difficult, just to up the challenge a bit.

It would also be interesting to see a greater variety of puzzles. What you have currently is fine, it's just that similar "tricks" and mechanics are repeated very often, well after you proved you know how to do them ("open door, slow it down, run through", "slowing human on a button" etc.). Syncing the blades in the last level was a good idea, perhaps you could do something similar for example to choose the order in which buttons are pressed by slowly falling weights (so you could run through a series of doors), propel yourself with a conveyor belt (which you have to walk across while it's slow) or something else which makes you use your abilities in a new, previously unseen way.

But those are just tips for improvement. The game already is very good as it is. :)

AlienPlay responds:

Cool! Thanks for the ideas! :D

[Zip]

It's a good game. It's procedurally generated, so there's a lot of replay value, although the downside is that there's no desire to get as far as possible (other than beating your high score). Unless I'm mistaken, there are no new mechanics introduced the further you progress (e.g. a new type of enemy once you pass the "100" mark).
And since you seem to like arcades, consider adding a scoreboard to your games – it's much more compelling to attempt to beat other player's score than just your own.
http://www.newgrounds.io/get-started/

About the choppy movement mentioned by another reviewer – I agree. It feels slow and isn't fluent at all. Just trying to get up takes forever and falling back down isn't super fast either; luckily you move on your own, so you can take the time you need. Check this gif to see the problem:
https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/0aa17df2130651390207672fb22834c1
The problem with "zip through" ability stems from the fact that you can't always clearly tell where you're going to end and sometimes you just needed to stop a little bit further (or earlier).

The movement problem could be, in my opinion, improved by making you simply move UP if you hold the spacebar and fall down (with a slightly larger gravity) when you don't.
And the zip ability could use a (barely visible) guide (a dot, a cross…) marking the place where you'd land if you used it.

[The Ranger with the magic bow]

Wow, this was amazing! The levels are well designed, they employ a good balance between puzzles, speed and precise platforming. Not too easy, not overly difficult. The graphics are great. I wondered whether the cheerful music fits the theme of the game (it's a dungeon with monsters, after all), then I noticed all the monsters and the Ranger seem to nod to the rhythm, and now it makes perfect sense.

My only actual complaint is that you can still shoot even after you die. I also got stuck in a bee I froze when it was very close… but that problem solved itself very soon anyway.

[the suicide game]

A good idea, but it's a pity there's only one outcome. I tried exploring all the options, but it eventually leads you back to the inevitable main path. I would consider adding another ending, or a *secret* ending which takes an effort to reach (e.g. by clicking specific non-highlighted words related to your story).

You could also improve the game by adding music (something calm or increasing tension) or sound (e.g. a laugh when you click on "laugh", a phone dialling sound with "911", a gunshot).

[Escape House (Very Easy Game)]

I think it's good for a first try.
It's a finished game at least, with a clear goal. I think especially the "unlocking door animation" is a nice touch – you didn't have to do that, but you did and it improves the quality of the game.

You could improve, well, everything, but you probably already know that. More detailed backgrounds, consistent outline (the ladder has a thick outline, the door almost nonexistent), *more content*, properly drawn attic, roof or whatever it is… and so on.

Don't get discouraged by bad reviews or score. Yes, the game isn't good overall – BUT everybody has to start somewhere but if you stick with it and continue to learn and improve; in a couple of years you'll be amazed how much you've improved since your first submission.

AleGames4008 responds:

in fact the game came ugly, but I hope to improve. Thank you

[my favorite class]

Ahh. I was half-expecting some sort of twist somewhere… but it didn't happen. Even though it's kinda artsy and an interesting idea, it doesn't try to connect and develop all the descriptions into something "more" (unless I missed it).

I'm also not sure whether this qualifies as a game; the outcome/progression is always the same, so it feels more like a "slideshow" and would probably be better off as an interactive movie.

[BeatMagic]

It's simply too fast, making it almost impossible to play unless you're lucky. I never got to the white circle in the middle.
You're also not using much of the screen – most squares are spawned in the upper left corner, thus the majority of the screen, especially bottom right quarter, remains empty.

MrCringeKid responds:

So you just admitted to just being bad at the game. (I also suck at it but look at the world record)

[Alice The Game Demo]

Yeah, sorry, the game doesn't load, at least for me.

Looks like there's a problem with editor versions:
"Invalid serialized file version. File: "globalgamemanagers". Expected version: 2019.1.0f2. Actual version: 2019.1.1f1."
"PlayerInitEngineNoGraphics settings: Failed to load PlayerSettings (internal index #0).
Most likely data file is corrupted, or built with mismatching
editor and platform support versions."

Anyway, the game as shown in the trailer looks fun to play, although the graphics seems somewhat placeholder-ish. The same blocks are repeated too often, too close to each other (e.g. the lava or the cave platforms), so it doesn't feel natural. And do lasers work underwater? Why does the crab boss throw sawblades? The coin animation needs more frames (since everything else is animated fluently).

…but that's just what I can tell from the trailer. Please try to look into the loading issues and update the game if there's a problem. Also, when setting the game's resolution in the Project System here, you need to add 38 if you're using the "Standard" WebGL template (for the footer).