paulmaglev's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[FLARE NUINUI QUEST]

I'm impressed with this game so far despite it still being a work in progress as I post this comment. The music is lively and invigorating, the visuals are also great at articulating the world of the Hololive, including Shiranui Flare, Usada Pekora, Sakura Miko, and Houshou Marine in order of appearance. Where it needs improvement is the game mechanics. It would be great if:

1. The invincibility frames were composed of the player flickering instead of completely going invisible.
2. The player could still shoot when the invincibility frames were triggered, since being hit consecutively stops the player from shooting entirely when there are too many enemies on the screen, allowing enemies to take pot shots at the player and get away with it until the player is defeated
3. Shooting down Usada Pekora's carrot missiles didn't become virtually impossible as it reached certain heights milliseconds after being fired
4. The gap between Sakura Miko's flower attacks was increased slightly to account for player error
5. Shooting arrows and/or bullets was automatic like the projectiles from the jetski
6. Players were told the projectiles from the jetski were automatic
7. Players were told upfront that the bow does more damage per shot than the pistols
8. Clearer instructions were given about level specific objectives like 'light all the candelabras'
9. There was a pause function.
10. The game stages didn't speed up exponentially in certain level panels after typing in the comments section on Newgrounds (I was surprised that was an issue, but it starts and stops inconsistently as I type and gets worse the longer I type without refreshing the page).
11. There was a way to reset the game completely without deleting web browser cookies or history (I forget which).

I understand if some of the difficulty conveyed in certain mechanics or the mechanics themselves were deliberate, since you made it clear this game was inspired by original Megaman games (which were difficult by design and due to technical limitations), so go ahead and keep that difficulty where you see fit. But remember that not everyone got to play the original Megaman series and may not be privy to how those original mechanics worked and their associated tropes.

I look forward to seeing more in the future.

[Ann - Demo]

Might have laid it a bit heavy when introducing the deadly pianos, so a more subtler, more progressive introduction to their anomalous behavior might have helped -perhaps starting with a piano nudging here, a closing piano there- but all in all, demo seems alright. All you need to do is adjust the walking mechanics/animation, adjust the timing of the electronic piano blocking the exit to Myra's room, maybe a larger diversity of deadly instruments in each room, and it should be good. I'd ask what you used to compose the music, but it looks like the 'credit and info' section of this page answered that for me. I look forward to more content in the future.

['DUCKS!']

I feel this game is pretty good due to its depth, mechanics, puzzle difficulty, music and sound. The music and sound particularly matched perfectly with your drawing style and the genre your game falls under, an overhead isometric puzzle game like they made back 'in the old days.'

Suggested Future Improvements:

-inertia of the characters could use some work, since it feels like I'm walking through a tar pit
- I get stuck on corners too easily, I'd appreciate it if you addressed this.

Butzbo responds:

Glad you liked it!, it was motivating to work with a sub-genre of puzzles we don't see that much in these days.
Also, I especially agree with the inertia bit, I didn't put that much thought while setting things up, but they do feel slippery! not the most ideal for this kind of game where precission is required, I also have to check some hit-boxes, heh.
Thanks for the suggestions! :)

[Escape3]

This game is an innovative proof of concept, a real diamond in the rough that would substantially improve if more time was dedicated to it after the #c3jam competition. It piques my interest to see where this concept could go in the future. I wish you the best of luck, and remember, don't eat finger-food after working with polymer clay!

What I liked most included,

-art concepts (the shape of each little creature rationally coincides with the composition of the large creature they merge into)

-music is pretty decent considering the time constraints

-character model textures match overall mood of the environment

-background behavior is also a nice feature, it moves slower than the foreground just like in real life

-almost all the basic mechanics of a good game are there

->Things to improve include:

-lower default master volume

-minimize vibration amplitudes when players crush stacked blocks

-allow players to break through more than one column of blocks at a time

-less ear-piercing sound effects when dying

-more intuitive stacking (I did not know I had to consistently stack them in the right order; also the connection mechanics seem wonky/inconsistent even when I stack them in the right order)

-larger instructions/visual aids would also help

-change the pause button from 'enter' key to 'p' button

-balance character abilities (the flying mechanic's really overpowered compared to the rest, and that character concept alone )

- area exclusively dedicated to each small character should be cordoned off for a reason other than 'the big creature can't jump but the little ones can'

-the optical area where the search light is used to see in the dark seems trite compared to the other areas, so what if instead of seeing in the dark using light projected through a limited field of view, the optical creature saw invisible platforms/obstacles instead (preferably made visible in its field of view using assets with inverted color schemes)?

-when the big creature is separated into three, it would be great if I could control any of them at will by pressing a dedicated number key or by rotating between them using keys Q & E, this provides room for more advanced puzzles utilizing the three little characters simultaneously in the future while still using the coding scheme you already have as a base (it might also make stacking easier too)

-changing the jump key to up arrow key would be nice

-giving players the choice between the arrow keys or 'wasd' controls would also be nice

-grammatical errors need to be addressed throughout game

[Kill the Rabbit]

It's cute. I can't finish your work because the controls act up. I can dash to the right after double jumping but I can't dash left after double jumping, making one part of a stage inaccessible. Please fix this.

trixelbit responds:

Sorry that you had problem with the controls. It seems like the game can be inconstant with that, with instances of players who have trouble with that and other players who breeze through it. Hopefully I can fix the issue. Thank you for playing, hopefully you'll get to experience the rest of this.

[The Clockwork King]

-Contains Spoilers-

Dear Interlocked Designs,

You deserved to have this game featured on the main page and to awarded for your efforts. I pray for more good fortune and success in your future; we need more people and groups like you.
I just want to inform you that the original message you wanted to project in this game's story was partially lost. I imagine you wanted me, the player, to notice the almost inconspicuous marking on the background was a red eye behind a wall which is seen up close later in the game. This same eye that belongs to the duplicate of Lynne behind the wall as players like me later realize at the game's end. Unfortunately, I did not realize that was what you intended; instead, when this Lynne duplicate interacted with me from behind the wall, I thought a voice in the wind or the checkpoint behind me was interacting with me. You can imagine the confused look I had on my face when I thought the the wind or the check point asked me 'Which is better, to die in ignorance or live with knowledge you would rather forget?'
This can be easily fixed. I suggest providing her a character dialogue icon in the text like all the other characters have. (Her icon can be as simple as a close up of the eye in the crack players see later in the game to prevent divulging too much plot information to the players about who is behind the wall, as you obviously intended). However, you can do a whole cut scene using the closeup of the eye behind the wall crack as well if you wish -or anything else for that matter that clarifies the intended impression you wanted for players. Sadly I only realized what you originally intended when I was editing footage for a 'let's play' of your game days later (and no, I don't have a link to it if you were curious). Please fix this so future players can have an enhanced experience of your masterpiece. Thank you for your time for reading this.

[Nothing To Hide]

The principle mechanic that the game revolves around is brilliant, but it's current implementation is not. The cone of vision of the cameras around the stages are dramatically compromised by narrow passageways and openings to the extent that they cannot monitor the player, rending some levels virtually unplayable beyond certain points; the learning curve is very unforgiving so, adding more cameras on each stage to avoid messing up as frequently would be nice. Anyway, good luck with your lampooning of American culture and domestic policy, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

[Bosses Forever 2.bro]

I'm pretty sure this would be an awesome game to play, but the controls were wonky, so I tried to fix them and accidentally screwed up; I tried again and completely ruined the control scheme in a way that stopped me from reconfiguring the controls permanently (since the new ruined control scheme skips the control-changing icon every time). It serves me right for messing up the controls, but it would be nice to have the ability to only change individual key strokes one at a time and not in succession. It would be nicer still if there was an option to revert controls to the default. Sorry TooDX, I broke your game with my NG login. :C

TooDX responds:

Update: You can still use the Arrow keys and Enter to get into the controls screen. Use that to start customizing your controls.
oh man paul I'm sorry to hear that. You can give the flash version of the game a shot at our website, or download it - I am curious though, what is your current keybind, where you can't get back to fix it?

[Where is 2014?]

It was concise, fun, easy, and demonstrates an art style I have not seen you do before. Congrats on the daily 4th.

[One Arrow (Ludum Dare 28)]

This is a clever idea and by far very original. I wish I could pull the bow back as soon as I stopped walking or while I was walking, but hey, with awesome artwork, neat game mechanics overall i should not complain. Could you add music to this by chance?