RaIix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Jump ball]

For a test, it's actually pretty good! Both the music and the bouncing sound is relaxing, the difficulty slowly increases, the environment changes (well, at least the platforms do).
Just in my resolution, if you play in the fullscreen mode, the interface becomes a bit messy. Even normally, the top text ("Record.") and the green crystal get cut in a half.
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/d545ff1012de1daab534117fb6a7d436
But beside that, great job!

POTEC responds:

Oh snx. Actually this is test job for game designer post,I made a couple of days. I just needed somewhere to download it to show.I did not expect that someone will see it. UI problems related to the fact that the game is designed for smartphones(android ver link below). So I think soon I will correct most of the problems and add features (skins shop for crystals) (sorry for my English)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4m8txuqvjklhlw/JB.apk?dl=0

[The Arcane Archer]

For some reason, the game doesn't work for me… neither in Chrome nor in Edge.
All text in the game is missing and I can't shoot anything with the arrow (or perhaps I didn't figure out how, but it's hard with no instructions).
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/2b5fab8aacd0fc54802c1b7b51fdf974
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/e8f277cf3bf6167681a147e1a170bdd1

FeudalCrest responds:

Okay, I'm working on the string issue right now. About the shooting problem, can you specify a bit more about it? Does the arrow not shoot at all? Thanks for the feedback by the way!

[Sabrina:Adventures Of The Witch Cat (Demo)]

I think it could be good if you continue working on it, but so far it's just bare bones with some problems.

– The camera doesn't catch up with you which means you are constantly running close to the right edge of the screen. And you are so fast there's almost no time to react to possible danger. I guarantee you everybody who played this game for the first time died by running into the first zombie.
One time I even encountered a bug when a zombie supposedly killed me (the camera stopped following me), but I didn't die and could move around fine.
Also, there's no need to fill 50% of the screen with the ground - I'd much rather see what's above me.
– The controls for a platformer game have to be really good, but they feel a bit stiff.
For instance, you have no control of your jump. It's always the same arch. Take an example from Mario - there's some standard jump (going right and jumping), then a long jump (running right and jumping), but you can also slow down mid-air or even jump backwards a bit (jumping and pressing/holding left mid-air).
In this game you can't really make precise jumps, you often have to go back a bit to be able to jump to the exact spot you want. E.g. you jump forward more than up, so if there's a zombie right next to you, you die by ramming yourself into it.
– I don't know what the blue blob is, but if it's there to prevent you from going too much to the right (and almost always kill you), then there are better ways to do it (e.g. a huge rock in your way).
– Sometimes if you land on a zombie's head, it doesn't kill you, but as soon as it swipes it arms, you are dead. Either it should kill you right away, or not at all.
Also, the purple hair zombie is harmless.
– I don't think the idle animation is necessary. If you run somewhere and make a tiny pauses for the camera to catch up to you (or to wait for the zombie), the cat slowly reverts to it's idle state every time.
– If you are going for a spooky atmosphere, a rotating cat flying off the screen spoils it a bit (main character's death in a horror should be scary, not comedic).
– The game probably should restart by itself, not wait for you to press R.
– If a zombie falls from a ledge, it doesn't fall nearly as fast as the cat (→ inconsistent gravity).

Having said that, I can see the potential in this game. The spooky atmosphere is done quite right (also pretty well supported by the music), the cat's moving animation looks good and the snowing is a nice addition.

monkeypantyhose responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'm gonna to work on all those points! Oh and that blue floating is a spell that the female zombie does(i know i know.... zombies don't do spells ), probably can't see it cause of the camera. And yes this is just skin and bones. I didn't wanna make a whole project just like this level and then have to implement the changes all over the place.. so this is just for feedback. Glad you liked the concept. And opening unity now....

[Hungry Worm]

The controls feel a bit unresponsive. Sometimes they won't react and this is the kind of game when a wasted time equals death. For example, try to make tiny squares with the snake, either you aren't going to stay at the same spot or you will go way off when an arrow key doesn't respond.
If it's not possible to make a turn at a moment (e.g. you are leaving your current tile), the snake should turn as soon as it becomes possible.

Also, since it's entirely a keyboard game, it should also be possible to restart it just using the keyboard. Here it returns you back to the preloader, you have to click "Play" and then also "Start" every time you die.

christianeugeniovgs responds:

Controls are a lot better now, im going to keep polishing them though.
you can press any key to start.

[Slavery Triangular Trade]

Well, at first I thought it's going to be just another plain idle clicker game, but very soon I was proven otherwise. This game actually requires your attention and was fun, especially in later stages when everything became a bit intense. The game's topic is also interesting, you don't see originality very often in this genre. By the way, the "Science !" popups were quite funny, too.
What I think you should improve though, is the graphical interface. In online games, you have just a couple of seconds to impress the player and both because this game has a slower start (before you get the knack of making money) and the GUI doesn't look that good, some people might just quit.

E.g. the menus are somewhat simple (plain text in semi-transparent boxes), try to decorate the buttons slightly and choose some kind of captivating background for the title screen. But the thing which quite bothers me, is the unnecessarily large log area which covers a part of the map (which is not used, but still) and the ships which sail below it all the time.
Also, in later stages you don't have the time to properly read the log, but messages pop up in high frequency. I'd suggest you to keep the text, but assign a specific colours or use icons. You can't possibly read all the messages, but because they are generic and repeat themselves, all you need is to register what kind of message it is through your lateral vision.
For example, if you saw some red text appear in the log, you'd immediately know either slave or soldier died without even reading it. Or something like "(red) ▼ Tobacco: By order of the king, prices of tobacco dropped by 20 %.", "(green) ▲Sugar: Fire in sugar factory.". Just try to make the messages recognisable at the first glance and, please, resize the oversized log area.

Just one thing that came to my mind now is that the ships sometimes bundle together and sail in one large group, so instead of constant, steady flow of goods, you get one big haul of goods which most probably won't fit in your warehouse and then several seconds of nothing. Maybe you ought to place the ships more evenly on the trade route.

In the end, there's also something like "You completed the game in 6 months, 46 years" which should probably be reversed (months aren't as important as years, which is why the years should come first).

But anyway, as I said, it's an interesting, quite enjoyable game; well done!

Sebbernery responds:

Hi !
Thank you very much for your review and your advices. It's very valuable for us, game developpers (especially for me as a beginner). I'll try to update the game later using your advices.

Thanks again !

[Lorem Ipsum: Reckoning]

I'll tell you, this is a great idea, even though as a game it's short and simple. In the beginning, I fell quite deep below zero, but ended up with roughly twenty points as the remaining words were closer together. Perhaps I should have warmed up with "the quick brown fox" beforehand. :)
Anyway, you should have probably added some sort of restart button when the game is over.

[MCraft Beta(0.02)]

Yes, all right; pretty good for version 0.02 – but why create a copy of an existing game? You have a good foundation now, why don't you make something perhaps in a similar style, but with entirely different gameplay?

[Winter quest]

It was nice. Heartfelt Christmas story with a great choice of music and beautiful graphics.

However, since it's an adventure game, I wish you'd let us do some things on our own. For example, if you click on a branch, the boy automatically uses the branch to reach the present. Or if you click on the birds, the boy throws them nuts. That should be the player's job to figure out (select item from the inventory and use it). Currently, it feels more like an interactive movie than a game (also supported by the fact that you aren't allowed to go further until you complete everything on the current screen). That isn't necessarily bad though, surely it helps to portray the message the way you want. And as a simple detail, there's custom cursor for walking, but no custom cursor for interacting with items.

But anyway, it was a sweet short story. Merry Christmas!

[Throw Rocks at Boys]

Well, I see two really bad flaws in this game. If you hold space bar, you create a "rock wall" and instantly dispatch of a column of boys. There's no time interval between the rocks. So all it takes to win is to hold space bar right at the start of a level and wait for the enemies to crash into it.
And the second problem, the difficulty is increased by adding a row of boys every level. But there's no limit either, so if you reach level 9, you die. Instantly. It's because the grid has grown too big, so right at the start of the level, enemies touch you.

As for other things, there is no sound and the graphics are too simplistic (rocks have a black background, boys' sprites have a green border, the white lines behind the rocks are unnecessary and at the end of the level, rocks fly above the "Level Up" button, not below it). Also, screen boundaries are a little off, so both you and the boys can move off the right edge of the screen, but you can't reach the left edge.
Then I could probably say there's a little variety, e.g. there could have been more than one kind of enemy, power-ups, anything. But shooting the target at the top every once a while is a nice idea.

If you are a beginner, don't worry and keep learning, perhaps with a different tutorial. Everybody must create a hefty amount of inferior games before being able to create the great ones. Good luck.

shawndabob responds:

Thanks for your honesty, and yes I was trying to learn at the time. I am now slowly trying to learn more... maybe even see if there is a course I can take at a local facility or something. Thanks for playing it though.

[Mission Escape: Library]

I appreciate you added medals to your games once again. As for the scoreboard, you should probably award points (some value divided by time), not directly the time, because then the lazy, slow-witted players like me show right at the top. :)
And I liked the game, too. The puzzles were diverse, and while usually after getting three pieces of something your games end, here there was still an underground level to go through. Apparently the Tab button is blocked now, which is only fair, so we are not tempted to cheat every now and then.

My minor complaint would be about the bookshelves; the background ones look all the same and the front ones are just flipped, which is quite noticeable and breaks the immersion a bit (perhaps recolouring the covers of few books might help). I am also not really sure what I am looking at when zooming in to the green couch. Is it the armrest? Perhaps, either way two green rectangles might be too simplistic to depict a part of a couch. But that's okay, it's not really that important for the gameplay.