Ralix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sneaky Rooftop Escape]

It's so great to see you try new things – and the game turned out more than fine!
I hope you liked working with Unity and we'll see more of your games made with it in the future (especially since Flash ends in 2020 :) ).

I dig the little details like items moving to your inventory when you collect them, the interactive rotating cube, or the animated menu. You could also make the "orange levers" animated, too, so they would move gradually, instead of just shifting to position.

One thing I'd suggest about 3D adventure games, though – add a way to highlight interactive items. There's a lot of detail in the background and literally anything could be interactive (doors, windows, posters, mailboxes, plants, cocktails…). Add an outline ("outline diffuse shader") on mouse hover, show its name in the text box, change the mouse cursor to "hand" (Cursor.SetCursor)… anything.
But it's not fun to have to click on everything in a scene. I've said it about your "asylum" games before and there, the objects usually seem out of place somehow (different perspective, size, lighting)… here everything looks like it fits in the scene and the collectable/interactive items just don't stand out.

The text is a bit blurry. Perhaps it's because it's resized, perhaps there's a wrong filter used. Would this help?
https://youtu.be/ccYJOT7bUUY
Or try TextMesh Pro which renders the text in a better way and allows you to use more complex text effects:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/essentials/beta-projects/textmesh-pro-84126

Also, I'd try antialiasing to see if it improves graphics. For example, the policeman has jagged edges which don't look too good when he's moving. Post-processing effects can also help you improve the overall feel – if you wanted more vibrant colours, for example.
https://youtu.be/IkRMMcPBFsc
https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/PostProcessing/wiki

I'd fiddle with the shadows settings in Graphics and on your lights, because now some objects look like they're floating – see the postbox. The shadows should start where the objects touch the ground.
https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/83596/why-are-shadows-not-snapping-to-the-objects
Ambient Occlusion effect might also give the scene a more "natural" feel.

And finally, it's absolutely possible to add medals and scoreboard to Unity games… I've done it a couple of times before. You need to enable the new API in Project System and then continue from here:
https://bitbucket.org/newgrounds/newgrounds.io-for-unity-c/
There's a working example for unlocking medals on the page. There's no scoreboard example, but it's very similar to that.

I wrote more than I thought I would, I hope it was helpful. :)
Good luck with your future games! I'd love to see a low-poly asylum game at some point. :)

selfdefiant responds:

Wow, thanks for all of that! I will definitely be following your advice. Many, many thanks!

[Does My Computer Work?]

I fully understand it's a joke. Is it a good joke, though?
It takes *ages* to see the final result and until then, all you can really watch is the animation of two ducks and a black text partly on black background. And if you really wait to see the result, it just says "YES", nothing special. Just because something is a joke or a parody, doesn't mean it's automatically excused from all criticism.
See Pico's School 2 or Riddle School 4 as examples of short, obvious joke games which are well-made nevertheless.

[Danger Joe Micro]

Actually pretty good!
The ‘action flow’ is enjoyable – a lot of enemies which are easy but satisfying to kill – but they also jump and drop from the top of the screen, so you have to be somewhat wary of your surroundings as well. The slow-mo death sequence is pretty neat, too.
The pixel art is fine, although the black outline is inconsistent – sometimes it's used, sometimes it isn't. The texts also look a bit blurry.
But checkpoints should preferably be in a safe zone, not "0.5s after a respawn to react"-zone.

[Don't burn your asshole]

Weird game… but that's probably what makes it more appealing.
I like that there are multiple endings for every step of the process, although neither is terribly surprising… but I wish there was a command like "Wait" which would discard the remaining time and let us see the ending straight away.
Thanks for the to-do list, because I would be completely lost without it. The commands are rightfully quite bizarre, and before I noticed the list, I had been trying commands like "walk left", "lie down", "use coffee", "help" which of course didn't work. I'd mention the to-do list in the in-game instructions though.

I think the in-game text seems a bit too stretched horizontally. And the input field absolutely should auto-focus because it's a bit annoying, having to click on it every time even though you normally don't need to use the mouse.
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/UI.InputField.ActivateInputField.html

The tragedy and the true horror of this game is that I now know the process of self-administering an enema and I actually looked it up to see if you got it right. Btw, is it a "nosel" or a "nozzle"? :)

Edit – Great, I bumped the rating up. The title screen still has a typo though ("Perfiorm"). :)

Booanimation responds:

Thanks for the Rallyx I really appreciate the feedback! Just finished working on your suggested edits the input field is now on autofocus and fixed the text as well as adding the additional instruction. :)

[Pixelated]

It's a good idea, but the more you depixelize, the harder it becomes, because you must hover over the precise pixels. Something like "depixelize brush" with a small radius around your cursor might work better.
The problem with entering descriptions is that even if you know the right answer, the game might not accept it if you don't accept alternatives. Is it "cards" or "deck" or…? I don't know, actually, because at that round the input field froze and I was unable to type anything.

[rush]

Pretty good.

At first, I was annoyed that every death sends you back to the start, but it seems like the level order is random, so it doesn't matter that much. Although some levels are harder than others, so there's some luck involved, too.
I'd experiment with the right click to see if the game would be better if you could also turn into the opposite direction depending on where you click (i.e. turning clockwise when clicked in the right half of the screen, anti-clockwise for the left half).
Sometimes you can get stuck when you run into a wall and then you can't slide along it, but have to return a bit which is time-consuming. Would assigning a zero friction physics material in Unity help?
One time I finished a level with zero seconds left and died instantly when the next one loaded (before the additional time could be added).
I also think you could zoom in a bit, because usually, the level takes up only roughly a half o the screen. If the levels get bigger or more complicated, I think I'd appreciate being able to rotate the camera (e.g. by holding the middle mouse button and moving left/right).
The sound effects seem pretty muffled in comparison with the loud music.
And technically, it's possible to get the same level twice in a row. I'd prevent that from happening.

An idea for a new game mechanic might be moving up/down or being unable to stop moving in some levels – but introducing new mechanics is harder when the level order is random. But there could sometimes be an optional collectable item in hard-to-reach locations which would replenish your time. Or multiple connected islands. You decide if any of these would improve the game.

Overall, it's a pretty fun game for a while. I'm not sure about its replayability, which should be the main concern in an arcade game. Perhaps randomize more things than just the level order and put something interesting at fixed milestones (e.g. a larger level at 5th, 10th, 15th (etc) level milestone) to give you something to look forward to.

swoopae responds:

Thanks for your feedback! I considered adding a level editor and the community levels getting randomly selected. I'll probably implement most of these in the next update, highschool exams kinda taking my whole life rn.

[Calc Attack]

Uhh… two questions here:
a) Who is your target audience?
b) Is this a game, or an exam?

Because call me a masochist, but I finished the game. I was curious to see the ending, but it's not really worth it. It's just as underwhelming as the rest of the dialogues.
"You mastered calculus!" "You win!"

As for question a) – judging from my experience, you need to be in a senior year of high school or start attending university to be taught limits, derivatives and integrals and enrol in an advanced math course to know how to solve differential equations (not to mention you need to remember the process well enough to apply it here).
That's a very, very small target audience which means most people will either close the game straight away or just go with trial & error and memorize the correct answers.

For the above reasons, you're very unlikely to see any advanced math to be a requirement to complete a game. I don't even recall seeing a simple linear equation in a game before.

----

As for (b) – at first, I was quite intrigued by seeing limits. If you're fine with having a tiny target audience, you could make something unique, because as far as I'm aware there's not a game ‘for mathematicians’ like this. HOWEVER, my main gripe with the game is that solving math problems is really all there is. You could remove everything and keep the format just:
"[Math problem]. Pick solution: a) b) c) d)"
and the game would stay the same. At which point, it becomes an exam. You don't really "fight a boss", you "click on an answer".

You have to make it enjoyable. Why doesn't the player go to different rooms, collect items and solve ONE math problem for example to open a lock? Why doesn't he move around while fighting the boss?
Or solve a math problem to get extra lives.

Basically, it's an interesting concept, but the game needs content. It needs to keep going, let you do something enjoyable – not to make you stare at an equation for a few minutes.
As for the difficulty, I draw the line at being able to calculate the result in my head, except maybe some rare exceptions at the end of the game or during especially tough parts of it.
Derivatives are fun and quick (if you know how to calculate them to start with), limits need you to understand the principles but still can be done but the moment you ask me to calculate an integral of a fraction or differential equations (!), I'm going to phone it in with Wolfram. Or just guess and potentially restart the game a few times.

And there are a few bugs/mistakes, too:
– The play again bug which you seem to be aware of
– Using keyboard keys moves the page around. I think you need to "preventDefault" of the keyboard keys you're using. See here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamemaker/comments/3fnayp/html5_game_causes_webpage_to_scroll_when_arrow/
– Wolfram thinks the answer to one of the limits is wrong:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=lim(x-%3E6)+(((x%2B3)%5E(1%2F2)+%2B+3)+%2F+(x-6))

Again, I like the concept and hope you'll build upon the idea. It just needs to be less of an exam and more of a game.

[Farming Carrots]

Well done.
I wanted to say that I wish there was some way to upgrade the carrot patches in the first half of the game because collecting "1" carrots when you have "100" carrots available is a bit pointless, but then came the second half the game, making it unnecessary, because the progression rate is all right up to that point.

I'd almost tell you to ditch the first half or at least hint there's a goal you need to meet because I nearly quit when it seemed like it's going to be an endless clicker game.
The second half is much more enjoyable, with all the different carrots and rules you learn along the way. It was a challenge to complete the last part of the game but not frustrating or anything. Actually pretty fun.

But a slight complaint about continuity: orange carrot is worth "1" then "5" but purple carrot is "5" then "2", making it less valuable than the orange one later on. That makes the first half of the game even more pointless because established rules are thrown out of the window.

Also, thanks for the colourblind mode. I don't need it personally, but it's great to see developers who keep accessibility in mind, especially in games like these which require you to know the colours displayed.

Good game, great half of a game. :)

[CUBE SPEED]

This is great for a first game!

This type of game turns up on Newgrounds quite often but your version is amongst my favourite ones. The movement feels just right, the difficulty is neither boring nor impossible, I love the score counter which makes you feel the sense of 'rush', and unlike so many other people you don't restart the level immediately on contact with an obstacle, which is very important to understand what exactly happened and to give you a little time to prepare for your next try.

I managed to jump over the obstacles by going over the edge and quickly back again which makes you spin and propels you in the air. No need to fix this 'bug' though, as it is a pretty risky move requiring a lot of luck to pull off successfully.

It's a simple game, but if you decided to expand it (or as tips for your future games):
– SOUNDS. They make a part of the atmosphere and enjoyability of a game. Many games wouldn't be as fun if they had no sounds.
– The edges of objects are jagged which is most visible on the flickering shadow of the red cube. Perhaps try antialiasing if it helps (in Graphics settings in Unity).
– The score should be passed between levels. The score resets when you crash which is fine, but because it's not passed between levels, a player with no crashes ends the game with the same exact score as the player who crashed all the time.
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Object.DontDestroyOnLoad.html
– Quit button is pointless in a WebGL game. "Play Again" would be much better.

If you decided to add more levels, keep in mind the "road" doesn't need to be a straight line – it can be curved, go up or down, get wider/narrower, split, have gaps in it. There could be a harder path with double score and an easier one. Just some ideas.

Anyway – well done and good luck with your future games.