Ralix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Block Run 3D]

A fine, simple project but perhaps too simple to be enjoyable to play. I think you should add all the obstacles in a single scene, not switch between several to maintain the feel of continuous motion. Splitting the game into levels usually means a crash only sends you to the beginning of the current level, which is (unfortunately) not the case here – even a single collision means game over. And perhaps increase the left/right speed and decrease inertia.

Also, the waiting period, before you reach the obstacles, is too long. Even half (third?) of the time is more than enough to acclimatise and the long wait makes every game over more painful. Not to mention being instantly kicked back to the main menu can be pretty annoying.
Finally, the 'Quit' button isn't needed in WebGL and you need to add 38 to the vertical resolution of your game if you're using the footer (alternatively you can build the game with 'Minimal' template).

This can be created in Unity in approximately an hour. It works, but I don't think there will be many people 'impressed' by the gameplay.

MoonZoneStudios responds:

Thanks this is super helpful

[Geometrical Apocalypse]

For a first game, pretty good! It's a simple, but well-made project. I like the fact that the background changes colour every now and then and the little shake whenever you kill an enemy which makes it more enjoyable.

Although it's a bit pity the gameplay doesn't change much. The enemies get faster and appear more often – great!, but there's no new gameplay element introduced as the game progresses. Another weapon, temporary power-up, new kinds of enemies, a boss – you name it.
Anything which would make me believe game at score 2000 would play differently than a game at score 1000 or 500.

As for the details:
– I think the animated title in menu scene looks a bit wrong (jaggy movement with a sudden skip at the end, plus the outer glow is cut off at sides
– Since you have a fullscreen switch in the options, you don't really need the footer (which is cut off in half because in the Project System, you need to add 38 to the vertical resolution of your game). In Unity, you can build the game with a Minimal template to get rid of it.
– "Quit" is pointless in a WebGL game since all it does is freezing the game (it can't close your browser or anything)
– The black background (1000+ score) makes it hard to see the crosshair

But I'll repeat – for a first game, this is actually quite good. Welcome to Newgrounds!

ShayaanAmir responds:

Thanks! I'm working on an update which will fix all these issues. I'm also adding more enemies. Appreciate the feedback!

[Diamondstep_DEMO]

Wow. The game is amazing. I have nothing negative to say about it.
There are loads and loads of game mechanics which get gradually introduced, the difficulty slowly increases (easy in the beginning, pretty hard in the later levels), I absolutely adore the art style, and since it's a bit dark, the colours nicely stand out. There are also collectables which reward those who take risks, controller support etc. I even accidentally noticed you can change the colour of the main character! Cool! The level design is superb, too.
It would take *long* to list everything I enjoyed about the game.

I didn't finish it, though, because despite reaching multiple checkpoints, the continue button didn't work after Game Over. If that's what is supposed to happen, then what is the point of the flags anyway? Only to load the game if you quit mid-way through?
This is perhaps my only true complaint.

As for the minor stuff:
– The keyboard is set up for the French layout – ZQSD, correct? I'd perhaps add an option to switch to the much more common WASD. Luckily, you can use arrow keys, too.
– Level names look like they've been pulled straight out of the game files ("wood_11", "night_4" etc.). Does the underscore make it look better? I'd say it'd be better without it, but that's up to you.
– Sometimes the art style is inconsistent, as in some objects' pixels are larger than others. The breakable platform seems slightly out of place to me (in comparison with the rest of the environment)
– The game over screen shows the base blue colour, not your actual one (e.g. if you change your colour to red, the game over screen probably ought to reflect that and show a red face)
– You could also try adding medals to make the game even more popular:
http://www.newgrounds.io/get-started/

Once more – great job! Well done and welcome to Newgrounds.

Andostress responds:

thank you so much^^

[Bizarre Cross'd Lovers]

I think it's great. Somewhat challenging (but not too hard) puzzles, the gameplay which evolves as the game progresses, just as the difficulty – with an interesting art style which matches the current mood and a neat little story, too. Reminds me of "The Company of Myself".

As for improvements, I think it could be made more powerful by changing the background music at certain points (it plays the same cheerful loop both during the "warm, we're together" levels and the "cold, pushing back" levels). And when the story finishes, "And she forgave me." with an instant cut to menu feels a bit flat (because it doesn't top anything which came before, it merely returns the story to the state it was a few levels ago).
The movement can be a bit confusing, too. The characters move continuously, but you're expected to tap the key only once (holding doesn't work) which is counter-intuitive. I think moving on a grid, as you did, is the better option, but in my opinion, it would work better if the characters instantly snapped to their new position instead of slowly walking there.

Also, when choosing the vertical resolution in Project System, you need to add the height of the footer, too (unless you pick the "Minimal" WebGL Template in Unity), otherwise your game window is going to be cut off at the top and at the bottom.

But other than that, well done!

kypello responds:

Thanks for your review! The background music does change actually, bongos are added for the autumn levels, and the music becomes snowy in the snowy levels. Other than that glad you liked it
Edit: I see what you mean about the actual tune being the same cheerful melody the whole time

[Blink Runner1.075]

Now we're talking. I liked this game much better than your previous one. It's certainly more enjoyable to play. Again, I appreciate you took the time to add more things on top, such as the shop with power-ups and the unlockable characters (it'd be cool if each of them had something different in terms of gameplay, e.g. an ability – like a magnet for coins, temporary shield etc.).

There's a slight issue with the camera, though. Presumably, it's a child of the player, so when the player skips a bit forward, the camera does too. This unexpected "skip" can be confusing and cause you to run into a spike. It'd take some fiddling with its (or the player's) position, but I'd try to make the camera move at a constant speed.
As for the coins, it's a pity that there's no "collecting" sound as that's the major thing you do in the game. And since you keep track of the gold you own even between different playthroughs, I'd display the whole sum of coins you own in-game instead of only your current attempt.
It might make the game seem more "sci-fi" and consistent to remove the blood from the spike (In-universe, how big of a chance is it that somebody got killed on every single spike you encounter?). Speaking of graphics, there are sometimes gaps of various sizes in between the blocks you run on (their positions aren't precise) and the "play" and "home" buttons on the game over popup are too blurry (probably resized too much).
The pause button and the bottom bar being cut in half is probably caused by choosing a wrong vertical resolution in Project System (it's the resolution of your game + the size of the footer, unless you choose the Minimal WebGL template).

TheOilyGooseStudio responds:

Hey Rallyx ,

I'm working on an update based on your feed back, I saw your comment on the other game too. I really appreciate the time you've taken to write these responses :) . On the other game though I think I won't act on the feedback just yet because I was looking at the code for that game and it's a mess that will take time. Again thank you :)!

[My first game (Castle)]

If this is your first game, then I'm honestly looking forward to what you create in the future.
You should remove the disclaimer and definitely, *definitely* change the thumbnail image.
From those, I was expecting a crappy quickly cobbled-together game that I'd be done with in thirty seconds – and instead, you created a short but fully featured game with a couple of diverse quests, multiple characters and dialogues – essentially bug-free as well.

Here's a couple of tips, although I'm not aware of what RPG Maker allows you to do:
– I wouldn't force the fullscreen as you start the game. Let players choose whether they want it. Also, on the web, it's not exactly "windowed" mode.
– Does the game need to be letterboxed? Why doesn't it take the whole screen? Even in fullscreen, the actual game doesn't change size, only the black frame around it.
– I'd add some kind of interaction with the cat before you know you have to retrieve it. It's probably the first character most players will talk to, and it doesn't "say" anything. Even "Looks like a stray cat." would be better than no interaction at all.
– Since you never fight, do you need the combat abilities? Does RPG Maker allow you to disable them? You shouldn't include visible features if you're never going to use them.
Similarly, I'd remove the path at the bottom of the map, since you can't go there.
– At the "Outside farm", you can only leave through one of the four squares at the left, although there's nothing indicating why the others cannot be used.
– I'd add more than two conversation options to some people, so it doesn't boil down to "pick the top option to continue the game".
– Does RPG Maker have some sort of quest log? You can somehow keep track of what you're doing now because the game is short; however, if you expanded the game, players might become lost in what they have done and still have to do.

The disclaimer somehow makes it seem like you're embarrassed by this game. Please don't be. Most people's first game is objectively bad – however, this one might be short, but it is *good*.
Good luck with your future projects.

bigboimeeb responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback, I'm already working on improving everything I can from what you said

and, i'll change the thumbnail... :)

[First Slide Experience]

Hm… to be honest, I'm not all too fond of this type of a game. It's pretty fast and it's easy to make a mistake which undoes all your progress; so you essentially repeat the level until you know it inside out and get lucky. Or get frustrated and quit.
You *did* put some effort in as evidenced by the different game mechanics (lava, bouncy platforms) which are a nice addition, although it's dragged down by the fact that it's not very consistent (e.g. many blocks have essentially random size and rotation) and by not including any sound effects (which you seem to be aware of).
I love your description, though! Good luck with your future projects.

PandaUnwise responds:

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback!

[Story Master]

I really like the idea, but I wasn't able to write anything yet ("2 players needed").
Like this, I think people will just pop in, see that there's nothing here and log out – at least I did, after fifteen minutes of waiting for somebody to join.

I think I'd drop the requirement; you should just let people write – but no more than ~50 words and a single consecutive entry. That way, even when nobody is currently logged on, a player can write roughly a paragraph of text as their entry and then check at a later time.

GMcLean responds:

That's a great idea, it looks like people are trickling in one at a time so that would probably work alot better. Something to keep in mind for a future project!

[The Curse of Malnoir]

A very good game, especially since it was made under time pressure.
Unfortunately, it largely depends on luck. The only time I won, I had two pieces of meat every night and used them both to save myself and the guard.

Without them, there's a little to no tactics involved. Once the werewolf starts chasing you, you've lost. He's too smart to be slowed down by buildings, too persistent to change targets. On the other hand, you get exhausted too quickly and even all your stamina can't be used to outrun the werewolf completely, just to prolong the chase. There's also no place to hide during the night (e.g. jumping into a haystack) and the guard is defenceless against the attack (it'd be cool if you could reliably save the guard by pelting the werewolf with a stone and making him chase you) and unlike you, he wanders about randomly, so letting him stumble upon the werewolf is an instant game over (and luring the werewolf away without a piece of meat, too).

All in all, I think the difficulty still needs a little balancing, especially the amount and regeneration of stamina, and your running speed. Basically, any feature which gives you a little edge over the werewolf and depends on your skill, not a randomly appearing consumable item.

And now that you have time, I'd change the ending pop-up. It took some effort to earn the ending! Show them hugging or something, don't just write 'Game Over' as if you lost. :P

punknower responds:

Thank you for taking the time to write me so much. You didn't need to do that honestly but I feel touched by such dedication. Thank you.

You are totally right, it is based on randomised object placement, and each time you get back an item, objects are reloaded and placed randomly. So you could stumble into 3 object in a day or none at all for 2 days. And I'm sorry if it brought you some meh moments during gameplay and I know it is not very efficient in its state.

All your recommendations are really good ideas and some of them were thought, like hiding during the night. We couldn't implement it because we wouldn't have time to balance the meat, the rock and the hiding to give each one a unique ability. For example, how long would you be able to hide? Can you hide only one time a night? Does the wolf lost himself when you hide? If he sees you and you hide in front of him, will he find you or go wandering like he lost you? Etc,
hese questions needed balance and balancing a gameplay is one of the most dificult tasks. So we decided against our will to simplify it in order to not give the player a too easy task. (I'm not explaining all that to look like a smartbutt, but I just wanted to share our vision)

And you are totally right, it needs balancing, especially what you outlined about stamina and that you could win a night without the use of critical items to give you a feeling of survival.
But let's say this idea born in this gamejam could be a base-prototype-idea for more polished and furnished little game. Still looking at this possibility if it gets some attention here and there. In its state as a game jam game, it's enough to have decent, constructive and pleasant feedback as you gave to me.
And yes the game over is a bit harsh and out of place. It's really not rewarding and well I wished I could have made that a bit better but I will remember your advice and will work on that on future project.

Thank you.