squidly's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Party Land]

So first off let me say the animation and aesthetic here can go places. I do like the thought behind this game with the big lovable but really aggressive character.

What I would suggest, however, is to just really drop the platforming entirely. I think this is a big guy but here he's got a big floaty jump on small platforms, and though I never died in the platforming, I didn't like doing it either.

What I would've loved to see is something like you go up to the bear and it you can really start pounding on it, maybe give it a bit of a minigame, just big juicy punches, if you wanna go overboard finish it off with a throw or some other crazy thing. There's so much potential with these animations, it's just not realized by the mechanics of the gameplay.

catproX responds:

Thank you very much for the great feedback. I'll play around with moving away from a platformer and to more of a beat'em-up (like Double Dragon or Dad and Me). This could let me do more with over-the-top punch combos.

[Quarantino]

Simple and sweet use of the theme to create an interesting puzzle. I especially like the small little details like the infection graph at the end. Overall simple presentation but also an effective one so not much to say there. I will say it was a bit annoying not knowing where the infection will pop up, but you know, that's also the point, so I like it!

[Mayor Outbreak]

I like how this game has a lot of unique assets and it looks great! There's a lot of fun ideas and I can imagine quite a bit of programming as well.

What I don't like as much is that I feel this game is a bit overloaded. It's hard to quite get what's going on as there's just too many variables. For such an arcadey game, a great simplification of the mechanics would've went a long way.

Fat-Leech responds:

Thanks a lot for the compliments and for playing!
Unfortunately many players seem to have had your same experience regarding the mechanics, for my next submissions I'll be sure to either keep it simple or present ideas slowly to the player, maybe through a tutorial stage.

[Creep Away]

As someone who really hates programming UI, I really like that you went all out programming UI. Overall aesthetics and thought behind this game are really nice, the units are fun though I wish more levels let you use different ones rather than just Normie for most of them.

I think this game could've used a sharper focus in terms of round length. If it was 3 rounds max and had more tighter puzzles it'd go pretty far. A good example of this sort of Advance Wars like puzzling is Wargroove which has some excellent 1 turn puzzles worth looking into. Really I like what this game is, and if it was more focused it'd be absolute gold. This is definitely one of those "I think you should continue to develop this" sort of games, because it has a lot of potential, especially on something like mobile (which HaxeFlixel easily ports to!)

drewby-games responds:

Hey, Thanks a lot for your thoughts! I'd love to have tight puzzles like Into The Breach or Wargroove. That's defs a goal for future improvements/changes to level/unit/terrain design :)

I plan to keep working on it! cheers!

[Past Persistence]

I really like the concept of this game but I feel like the night resetting every time you die wasn't a solid move. The reason being is that as you die the ghosts become so comically overpowered that by the time I had a level 6 ghost my game winning run was just standing around for 2 minutes as nothing even came close to reaching me (my strategy was to just fight in the same area so when I die the ghosts all clump.) This game could've used something where, for example, dying sets you back in the night but the final challenge is to just get the best time and/or least amount of ghosts.

For the record, I dig the use of FlxBar in all the UI elements, looked very clean! Could've used some indicators of where the skeletons are on the HUD like a Smash Bros style arrow, since my ghosts were just sniping things off screen before I even got a chance to see them. Also an occasional skeleton variant, even if just a recolor, could go places. Maybe a skeleton that's resistent to ghost bullets or one that's resistent to real bullets? Could be interesting, and really just a recolor + proper class extension.

SuraimuStudios responds:

Thanks! I really like those ideas! Now that I don't have a deadline anymore I will take my time to study flixel more in depth, polish this version and then go all out to make a sequel.

[Bass Master Online]

This game is extremely technically impressive - to take a 2D engine and put it into 3D then also go the extra mile and put it online is nuts. It has a fun simplicity to it that's just beautiful in its execution.

I wasn't too fond of the controls, and the whole thing could use a bit more juice in a few ways, but honestly this is so incredibly impressive that I don't care at all about those specifics.

[Drones]

First off, best use of FlxParticle I've seen this jam period. Nerdy thing to say but man that water splash is spicy. I'd only suggest you add a bit more punch to when a drone dies, it feels good with the laser but with the gun it just feels weak and not impactful, and overall may be a bit confusing when a drone actually is dead (especially if they collide with eachother.)

This game is impressive but it lacks an ultimate goal. Achievements or a score counter or something would go a long way to making this game really mesh. Additionally, I can't help but feel there's gonna be tons of people who are gonna give this one a bad score just because they didn't know about the laser. Why is that not the default weapon, really? It's so very satisfying, I'd honeslty consider dropping the gun from the game entirely because the laser is really just that fun to play with.

Honestly, I think you should keep working on this. It has a lot of potential for a full release. Give it some unlockable skins, get some collaborators on a small retro OST, you really could go all the way with something like this.

filipp8 responds:

Thank you, really appreciate.
Actually, laser was the first and only weapon I had in mind, but I then came up with a machinegun to shoot enemies during laser cooldown. It was easier to shoot with the gun and I found myself switching easily from one to the other when needed. So I chose the easiest weapon to be the default one.
I totally agree with the rest of the criticisms. It is more of a concept than a real game and I plan to update it to a stronger and more defined state.

[Convergence]

This game has a strong aesthetic that I dig. I'm not as fond of the writing, the ending theme feels rather forced, and there just feels like there's no place for the story to breathe.

Speaking of no place to breathe, though I enjoy the idea of a cramped space, I think doing so in this game came at the expense of platforming. I feel like Coyote Time could've eased a lot of frustrations and maybe making the ceiling just a bit higher. When designing a game, it's important to work around the flaws of your coding, this game seemed to emphasize it.

Overall good effort on a good aesthetic, the ending with the big clash was fun, I kind of just wish there was more of that and less of what the rest of the game was.

VascoF responds:

Thanks for the helpful review.

I didn't mean for the game to be frustrating, but since I didn't get anyone to playtest (will try to do that next time), I really didn't realize that some of the challenges could be too unforgiving. I will definitely add Coyote Time in an update, and make some tweaks to the level design.

I'm glad you liked the aesthetic, especially since I don't have much experience with art :D

[Reboot Resume Restore]

This is an excellent little puzzle game with a great use of theme. I do need to comment on the performance, as turning it off made the game so bland, but turning it on made it unplayable. If you haven't already, check out HxScout, I guarentee the problem is a lot simpler than it seems as to why this game runs so poorly. I know for a fact Haxe can handle these effects no problem, but minor details in *how* they're done can be taxing on the system.

I think this game really sells this concept of mutual loneliness, and I love how the music really ties it together. Good work overall.

HartfordGames responds:

Thanks.

[Decryption: A Free Online MMO]

Really good use of theme. The writer shows a good talent for narrative design with how things are placed, I especially like how things are presented out of order to reveal the whole story as time goes on. Ending was a bit abrupt and sorta felt like a glitch. Otherwise, this is VERY atmospheric and very well done. It brings me back to a feeling I thought I left behind in my old MMO days and it's just heartcrushingly good at what it does.

On a technical level, I like how this game did a lot with Flixel's out of the box tools. Very liberal use of FlxTrail and done exceptionally well when it's used, this is the sort of stuff I like to see where you take some pretty straightforward art and move it up a notch with effective use of default Flixel FX.

ninjamuffin99 responds:

thanku very much appreciate u squidly