RaIix's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Space Cat: The Search For Food]

I think the game is quite slow in the beginning, i.e. it's very simple to avoid the rocks and collect all fish, but then it rapidly gets faster and more difficult, and I'd say eventually you get to a point when it might not be possible to *both* avoid all rocks and collect all food onscreen. I died after letting too much food pass by in the span of ~2 seconds, because the food was also being somewhat blocked by rocks.
I don't know the solution to this, but from my point of view, the slow build-up is the more important problem (it's common in arcades to get to the 'humanely impossible' bit, but the game should be fun and engaging from the beginning). You could try adding a little more variety, perhaps powerups; just to give the player something more to do. For example temporarily slowed-down time, a shield (which you can use to crash through rocks), a magnet for nearby collectibles, etc.
All in all, getting and maintaining a high multiplier is more important for your score than being able to last for a long time – but that's perhaps a good thing.

popcar1 responds:

Thanks for the feedback! Your review was very valuable! I'll try making it faster at the start and accommodate for it by slowing down the rate of change. I realize the game eventually becomes impossible but I can't think of a better alternative that isn't a timer. If a round isn't 1-2 minutes long people would just get bored fairly quickly.

[3d cube platformer wow]

It's nice to see a new kind of content from you.
(Does it mean 3D Kim Possible games are coming? I'm scared.)

The cube is very manoeuvrable which makes it possible to skip parts of the obstacle course – which is good, because the last section is difficult and you're going to be repeating the beginning a lot.
I think it really should be possible to rotate the camera (or do it manually in 90° steps) so that you always go *forward*. Especially jumping back when you have no idea what's there is a recipe for failure.
Other than that, shadows would be very useful, too, because in platformers they tell you where you'll eventually land.

ZabuJard responds:

3D KIM! ITS GOTTA COME thanks for review in seriousness <3 i will add shadows to next one soon! and maybe fix camrea as well X_X

[Devil Baby ver. 0.0.56]

The mobile controls are probably too much "in your face" in this game.
With a PC, you can't really click two places at once (to jump left and right), so you have to rely on keyboard controls (arrow keys). And double jump with arrow keys doesn't work properly until you "unlock it" by double-clicking the arrow icon (and again every time you die).
The second level can't be completed and is unfinished, so yeah, that's about it.

Overall, the game is good and shows promise, but needs more before it can be considered finished.

ANIMACRAB responds:

in the next version this problem will be solved

[Deep Dark Cave]

I don't know.
I like the art style and colour palette, the idea of travelling through a dark cave…
But after a while, the constant flashes started to annoy me (it's hard to watch), and when the giant flying block killed me I lost interest because I'd have to go through the entire game again (and possibly many more times).

For the latter, consider adding checkpoints. Please. E.g. a torch you can ignite.

For the former… I'd recommend you to look at the gameplay of 'Candleman', it's a game with a similar idea about a platformer with limited light. You might find it useful as a source of inspiration (even though it's 3D).
https://youtu.be/HpIihc3devs
Key thing:
– You're never in a *complete* darkness, just bad visibility. So you're not necessarily forced to turn on the light just to move around. (your previous path is even marked by molten wax)
Only when you need to be precise in avoiding gaps or see further.

I think it'd work for your game as well – make the lighter limited (perhaps add a collectable refill), but make your close surroundings visible even in the dark (e.g. dark grey). A simple way to limit to "close surroundings" might be with a black png image mask with a transparent hole in the middle enabled/disabled in the foreground.
And to make it easier to watch, I'd try to make the dark→light transition gradual, instead of just flashy on/off.

HiNiceToMeetYou responds:

Thanks for the feedback, i'll be sure to take this advice on the next version of the game.

[Elemental Duels]

The cutscene in the beginning is great. So is the overall graphics.
I wish the rest of the game continued in the same vein.

However, if I deconstruct the core gameplay; look at the most important (and the only) thing you do, it's just a random number generator. The entire game could be a single button which would show you "You win" or "You lose" message with 50/50 chance.
It's not very interesting to watch, and there's also no skill involved. And as far as I can tell, that's all there is; the story doesn't move any further, the elements remain the same.

What you suggest in the last paragraph of the description *does* sound quite interesting, so I'd focus on that. And since you started with a story, don't forget to finish it over the course of the game.

Or at the very least, for now, make the rounds entertaining to watch (e.g. an animation of fire making the water evaporate, or water dousing the fire etc., perhaps with several variations). It still wouldn't be very enjoyable to *play*, but at least it'd be cool to watch.

Currently, the win/lose messages can be a bit buggy if you click too fast (make the button non-interactable until the message animation finishes).

And 'Exit Game' button is pretty pointless in a WebGL game, since you essentially crash the whole game (also, you need to add +38 to the vertical resolution in NG Project System if you use the "Default" WebGL template – to add space for the footer).

The game really looks promising based on the initial cutscene and the combat ideas you suggest, but currently, the actual elemental duels are the least interesting part of the game.

Artixium responds:

I have been learning game development and game design for about a month now and i completely understand. This project was a failure, but I have learnt many things since then and I can say with 110% confidence that I have greatly improved.

[A TRUE HERO TEST BATTLE Alpha V 0.0.1]

The animations are incredible and look very natural.

The rest of the game… I mainly had a hard time trying to figure out how to damage the enemy without being hit yourself. He has a longer range, a vaster health pool and hits you almost every time you come close. It might be better if the enemy followed a set pattern which left you an opening in which you can safely damage him. When he's unpredictable, you have to rely on luck or cheesy tactics, which is frustrating.

Shooting from your weapon also doesn't seem to do anything. And you can still move around and jump after your health falls under zero, with no way to restart the game.

And currently, since it's still in development, the environment around the characters sucks.

It looks promising (especially the fluent animations), but so far the game isn't really enjoyable.

batitono responds:

Thanks for commenting!
I will consider everything.

[Just Run...]

Tapping keys to move around (making you faster and faster) is a bad choice, it'd be much simpler if you could hold a key to move.
If you can survive the initial encounter, the game isn't that hard in the end – since you're faster than the enemies, you can just run in circles for 30 seconds and win.

You could try being more creative with the environment. Make the enemies faster than you and add interesting ways to slow them down or dispose of them.
For example add a spike trap in which you can kill 2 (until the capacity is filled), add a river which slows down their movement, or a wall behind which you can trap some, etc.

The resolution is also unnecessarily large, since the entire game happens in the middle third.

Currently, it's really basic – flawed controls, bland visuals and simple-to-trick AI.

DevolperDude responds:

Thank You For The Feedback Really Helps I Appreciate It. I Will Maybe Add A Update. Thanks Man For Real

[Break blocks]

All right, a couple of notes:
– Dragging the paddle with your mouse is a terrible way to control it. It's hard to figure out and you have to hold the button for the duration of the game. Just make it follow your cursor position.
– When you have a magnetic paddle and multiple balls, all of them cling to you, but you can release only one
– I'd make some blocks take more hits to break (but slow the spawning accordingly)
– Every level consist of basically waiting until you get 'Super Ball' powerup, after which you steamroll through the level. This could be balanced by the bricks which take more hits to break, so even a super ball would bounce off them.
– The expand/shrink powerups don't expand/shrink the paddle very much
– Sometimes there are too many powerups onscreen. I'd limit the maximal number which can be there at a given time (to +- 3)
– Pause button doesn't work
– Getting 'Game Over' doesn't stop the balls, so you can get Game Over and Level Complete right after that
– Sometimes the ball bounces in an almost parallel direction with the paddle, which makes it take a really long time to get anywhere. I'd perhaps restrict the minimum angle to at least 15°-30°.

So currently, it's not a very interesting game to play, because controlling the paddle is really a chore and all the blocks are exactly the same.

orangecity responds:

Thanks for your feedback!

[Neon Tower Defense]

It's not exactly a tower defence if the enemies immediately abandon their path as soon as you shoot at them. You also lose when the first enemy makes it through (there should be a tolerance for mistakes), so the best approach probably is to shoot everybody (forcing enemies to focus on you and move close together) and run in circles.

There's very little time to buy anything, I barely managed to place one turret before the next wave started (and I couldn't really think about the placement either).
The game once crashed I think; I was placing an "emergency turret", but the enemies got to me and killed me before I could place it, which crashed the game (i.e. dying while placing a turret).

Overall, I'd slow the game down a bit. Make enemies follow their route at all times, don't use as many of them or allow them to be as fast. Other it stops being a tower defence (which is about preparation, upgrades and careful use of resources) and becomes a top-down 2D shooter.

You should have some money at the start of the game, too, so you can get used to placing towers before the game starts.

Also, I don't think the game needs a story if the story isn't going to play a role in the game at all. There was a typo as well: "More details on Neon Exlporer"

ZenoGameDev responds:

Thanks For The Reply.

[SPACE RACER]

It's quite good, but if you don't have a second player, it loses a part of its charm.
You could try adding a basic computer opponent (go up and if you notice a rock moving in your direction, move the AI a bit to the left or right).
https://books.google.cz/books?id=V-KEDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA92&ots=bQ77--nnIY&dq=obstacle%20avoidance%20triple%20raycast&hl=cs&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sometimes the patterns of the rocks left a wide gap and I could score two three points just by flying up without even turning.
Good idea with the slowly descending barrier, though.

It might be more interesting if some rocks were slower/faster than others. Or add different kinds of rocks.
There's even a potential for powerups (clear a small area around you when you pick it up, get a temporary shield, block some part of the top screen edge, slow down your opponent…)

Speaking of which, some kind of interaction with your opponent would almost certainly make it better. Because so far, you could just as well play a single-player game on separate computers and compare the results.
I would think of ways in which the players could affect each other (such as shooting when you're below your opponent, or changing the rock pattern as it's coming across your half of the screen).

PaulQuinn101 responds:

Such good ideas Ralix, thank you!