3p0ch's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Neon Run!]

This gets tough really fast; I'm doing well if my runs last a minute. It's a good game as it is, but if you'd like to try to put a little more work into it to get a more popular game in the end, I'd recommend letting the runs last longer and having an ultimate goal for the game.

A typical way of doing that would be having the points count as currency that accumulates so the player can spend them to unlock upgrades to make the game easier and make the runs last longer (along the lines of shields or time slowings that are triggerable by a keypress and can be activated N times per run, where N increases the more is spent on it, or smth), with the speed gradually increasing during each run (if it's not doing that already) so it will eventually get tough no matter how many perks are unlocked, and a target distance to reach to finish the game or reach new levels.

There are undoubtedly many other possible approaches to make the runs last longer and generate a sense of progressing.

stuthemoo responds:

Thanks, you make some good suggestions. This was just a small game I did to take a break from a larger project I'm working on. That's why it's pretty simple, I don't feel like I have the motivation to implement things like currency upgrades at this stage :)

[The march of the blobs]

The sometimes weird and outside-the-box thinking without getting ridiculously outside the box was well done in keeping with your earlier submissions. The negative levels and hidden -12th level reminded me of ThePowerOfWhat; is that gonna be your trademark?

joqlepecheur responds:

yup, and I will probably keep experimenting like this ;) thanks for the feedback

[Interstate Drifter 1998]

I agree with coltizart: it looks like a great and deep game, but at times I was wondering what the hell was going on. Partly when I got to a stage with a bunch of snow and reached what seemed like the end of the stage, but it was just a bridge to a dead end with an invincibility powerup that doesn't keep you from dying if you drive off the dead end. Also when I somehow got on a freeway and seemed to be able to just ride forever without having to worry about running out of energy and apparently able to just collect a few coins on each freeway stage indefinitely to run the score up.

For much of that, it's probably just a matter of me needing to play more to figure out what's going on, but if you really can stay on the highway pretty much indefinitely picking up coins then I'd recommend changing that somehow before putting up a leaderboard.

UltimoGames responds:

thanks for the review 3p0ch! Really interesting to read how people receive and experience this game.

[The Gods Are Angry]

Not bad, but the whole time I was distracted thinking "is this guy wearing a shirt and pants and still living in an era where they're tossing people into a volcano to appease the gods?"

F1Krazy responds:

People wore shirts and pants back in the toss-people-into-volcano days. I didn't know what other outfit to give him :P

[Memory]

I sort of agree with the other reviewers... does the invincible hairy guy just come out if you take too long on a level? And I took a while on the first level and he came out really fast on the second, so is there something like a cumulative countdown timer that you could just show somewhere as part of routine gameplay? If that invincible hairy guy is part of a timer to say you're taking to long and u sux so it's time to die and start trying to git gud then... well... I guess I sux cuz I got kilt by him a lot.

It also took me a while to figure out that you need to find a key before you can open a door to the next level. I wouldn't fault you for leaving that as something for players to discover on their own without being mentioned in the description, but overall I have to agree that it seems like more explanation of what's going on in the game could help.

That said, I'll probably come back to this game later and figure out what's going on and be like "Nah, don't explain anything, just let ppl figure shit out on their own and it'll be awesome once they do". From what I can see so far, it looks like this game was pretty professionally made.

tobyalden responds:

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! The hairy guy comes out as soon as you grab the key, so you can take your time exploring the level until then.

[Move Here Move There]

I was pretty much planning to rate this 5/5 as soon as I saw that it was a new Crescentyr game. And it successfully met my expectations. I admit I was impatient and just started playing without going through the "How To Play" instructions so I was kind of lost at first, but now that I've seen the tutorial and played a few levels I can appreciate how well this game works.

Crescentyr responds:

Hey, thanks a lot! :)

[Escape to the Darkness]

It's a nice concept, and if you plan to develop it further I have a few suggestions to consider.

First, when the character switches directions to move into a corridor with a width of 1, he often gets "stuck" if he's not perfectly aligned with the new corridor you're trying to move into, and it might run more smoothly if when you change direction the program automatically aligns you with whichever row or column you're primarily within.

Second, I agree with JeffreyDriver that it seems like it could use some sort of threat (or various different kinds of threats) that are out to kill you. And if you do modify the game to go with that approach, I would suggest making some sort of signal showing where the player and the exit are from the very beginning (like concentric circles emanating from their positions or something) so players can be reasonably expected to start moving quickly to get away from a minotaur or whatever instead of having to search around with the torch for a while to even see where they are.

Kabalitox responds:

Indeed, there are some small problems of collisions that I have already taken into account and that I would try to solve.
And I totally agree with you and JeffreyDriver, it is possible later to add enemies and sonar sonar system is very interesting, I would look into the question, thank you!

[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

[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