3p0ch's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Valdi: Shadows]

I was about to rag on clasher135 for complaining about not having a way to reset the level when the author comments right under the game says "'Z' to reset a level". But then I was about to get stuck on a level and used the Reset button in the lower left of the screen like an idjit instead of hitting Z, and I ended up resetting the whole game and not just the level, so I guess I'm not one to talk :p

I kinda liked the game, but would've liked it better if the puzzles were more challenging. Looks like this was a Ludum Dare entry, so if you feel like spending some time on level design I think you've got a good game engine to build on.

beepyeah responds:

Fixed! Thanks for playing.

[B L I N D]

I didn't really find it very much fun, but hopefully I can articulate why in a way that offers some potentially useful perspective.

As the player, I felt like I was thrown into the game with almost no visibility and not a lot of choice other than to hug a wall and see where it leads. On my first play I wandered around for a while, finding some money bags but no gun or ammo, and wondering where all the bad guys are for me to shoot until the thing eventually ate me.

On my second play I found some ammo and started to figure out that the messages about the monster being able to sense / hear / see me could be used to tell how far away it is and kind of triangulate its position a little (though not very effectively). But using that as an indicator of when and which way to run to keep my distance was a fruitless endeavor, and after a few more playthroughs I have yet to find a gun to be able to try to fight back.

After a few more, I see that the map is the same on each playthrough. So I guess I could systematically walk around mapping the place out until I get eaten, and do that enough times to map out the entire area and come up with a strategy. But I'm not going to do that; the game so far just doesn't look fun and interesting enough to warrant spending that much time walking around with near zero visibility to construct the game's map.

Bottom line I guess is that this initially came across as a game where I was just helpless, and later came across as a game where I would have to do a lot of trudging through in order to make progress, and neither of those seemed fun enough to keep playing.

katalv responds:

Thanks for a huge review!
Looks like I was looking at this game at a different angle, because I created this map and ofcourse I remember it.
In order to have more light you need to pickup lanterns, but in part 2 I'll better make something like flashlight to have a direct light
About sense/hear/see the same situation, players don't have any hints about this text, but I do, that's why game was easy to me hah, next time I should think more about how players will see this game, thanks again!
Well, by the way:
Sence - monster is 5000 or more px away from you
Hear - less then 5000 px
See - less then 1000 px and directly see you without any obstacle's on it's way

[Zombie Arena]

I get the feeling that this game's design isn't heading in the right direction. It looks like it would become a grind fest of endlessly killing mob-type enemies and gradually leveling up to kill more mob-type enemies. A big part of what makes people like RPG games is that there's a story unfolding and lots of places to explore. Sometimes also occasional tricky fights that call for well thought-out tactics, but most of the appeal is from a story and exploration. The mob battles seem more like stuff to fill time and make the game seem bigger and richer and take longer to play, but they're not what makes an RPG game fun. It looks like that will end up being all this game will have to offer the way it's currently set up, and I don't think that's a good approach for making an enjoyable game. Unless this were an idle/clicker game in which case the dumbasses who like idle/clicker games are perfectly content to fight mobs all the time or leave their computer to fight mobs on its own.

I recommend trying to build a world to explore and a story to unfold, not a dungeon of mob fights. Or go with Artem's suggestion below and use a different battle mechanic that makes the battles more fun like a top-down shooter if that's possible, but IDK if RPG Maker can do that.

[ThePowerOfWhat]

This is a really nice little game, at least from what I've seen so far. I'm stuck at the same place as Spastard; not entirely sure if I've seen everything, but it seems like I might not have.

joqlepecheur responds:

There is one more ;)
contrary to previous challenges it is about powers you already have.
SPOILER : death is the negation of life

[A Hat on Time]

I agree with ultimatum about jumping being sticky. I got the feeling that jumps were delayed a little bit -- at first I would hit jump as I was nearing the end of a platform and I would just walk off and die before the jump happened, so eventually I sort of trained myself to hit jump earlier than I thought I needed to. But it definitely felt "off" the whole time. But aside from that, the game was pretty cool.

platformalist responds:

Hi 3p0ch! Thanks for playing, I really appreciate it! Yeah, a few people have mentioned the controls being a bit sticky - it might help in future games if I can nail the one-frame of leniency when it comes to tricky jumps - still allowing the player to jump for just a moment after walking off the edge. I’ll remember that for my next platformer! Thanks again for playing, and for the feedback!

[Jelly Blocks]

Nice idea, but two comments.
1) It's tough for me to tell the difference between the very purple-ly colors, and I don't really consider myself color blind.
2) Seems like triplets only disappear while the falling block is flashing, and I would more than occasionally drop blocks that stopped flashing before it seemed like enough time had elapsed to make a legit triplet disappear.
Also plz to add roxor muzak, kthx.

CreativeCogGames responds:

I've re-enabled music and sound in the HTML5 build and added watermarks to blocks so they're easier to tell apart.

[Fallen Steel]

I agree with the other reviewers about the controls needing improvement. In my case, in the middle of the game I brought up a popup asking if I wanted to add this site as a bookmark which I had to cancel, and later on the game's window just closed on me. I'm assuming it's because I'm on Chrome so Ctrl-B brought up bookmarking stuff and Ctrl-W closed the window, so I would highly recommend not making the button to fire your laser be Ctrl. But, from what I could see before the window closed and I re-opened a new one to write this review, the game is actually pretty good if it doesn't run into these issues.

Plz to allow custom key bindings and re-upload and you'll prolly get a way better rating. (The other potential issue is that there are certain simultaneous keypressing conflicts that might make the game unplayable down the line if I can't move like I would need to.)

[Islands]

Holy hell, I usually think of myself as good at these sort of puzzle games, but I just now finished this one after giving it a lot of thought over the weekend and then some. Many players might be put off by having to figure out how things work as you go along, but despite some initial frustration I got to like it and appreciate the adventure once things started to click and am amazed this was just one among the game-a-day series. If/when you decide to switch to making something larger scale, this should definitely be included in its inspiration.

[Paradise Inc]

As I was starting to write this comment, I noticed on the side panel that you were the one who made Extraction Chapter 0. And I'm going to say essentially the same thing now that I said in that review: in games like this, it's all about creating an immersive world and story. But that's hard to do, especially in the time frame of a game jam.

In this particular case, I have to agree with the reviews saying that there's not much beyond a sort of stock dystopia theme. The main character believes the facade of the evil corporation and goes along with them until he gets betrayed and finds out that they're evil, and then by the sheer power of his will he breaks free from their evil clutches. We don't see an explanation for why the corporation is evil, or whether it's rooted in characteristics that we ourselves should introspectively see if we're harboring. The hero doesn't undergo much development, or have to rally people to the cause of fighting evil despite risking anything and everything they might have, instead of accepting the shallow existence that the evil corporation offers them simply because they think that's the best they can make of their situation. He doesn't have to confront potential turncoats within the evil corporation and try to get them to see that what they're doing is wrong and needs to be stopped, and have to talk them out of believing the lies the corporation has been feeding them for most of their lives to justify their cruel actions. There are many ways a story like this could go if you just had more time than a gamejam to develop a compelling story.

While I have to side with the naysayers on this one and offer my two cents on what I'd like to see in a game like this, I wouldn't go so far as those who think that a game that's just walking through a set path to reveal a story shouldn't even be considered a game. Although I do prefer art games that have good gameplay too -- Perdition being a perfect example. But I digress.

Criobite responds:

I definitely agree with your points about this game! I'd love to make a more rich and interactive story next time I do a game like this. Getting some interesting ideas right now, so maybe I'll end up making it sooner rather than later. :D

[Demolo]

It's a nice interface as a web game and I imagine it could be even cooler on Oculus. It's a fun experience for a little bit simply because of that, but when it comes to actual gameplay it didn't seem like there was really any strategy or puzzle solving involved. It might be nice for a very casual gamer but it wasn't my cup of tea. I got bored after playing a couple of levels with 5 colors and not seeing a real challenge, but if it does get challenging after a while then I'd say to give an option to start off with tougher settings.

jhocking responds:

The level of difficulty is definitely one thing I'm looking to tune from feedback. Right now it starts out really easy on purpose and then ramps up hard, but I'm not sure if it's TOO easy at the beginning. As you note, I'm shooting for a pretty casual gamer (since the Oculus Go is pretty casual VR).