Ragekaje's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Paradise Inc]

Josh, your games are flipping amazing!

You managed to build a very deep game in 72 hours that made me reflect on my life. It literally stopped me, and made me aware of my own thoughts and feelings. I can't thank you enough. Bravo!

The art in particular caught my attention right away. There was such a simple, but very intentional use of color, and I love it! The graphics are simple, yet evocative. You managed to capture so many details while keeping all of the characters and scenery very simple, especially the backdrop of the "outside" area. (both in the real world and in Paradise)

Chris Zabriskie did a wonderful job with the music. It certainly fleshed out the tone that you were trying to evoke in both "scenes." (the real world and Paradise) I like the soft pads sound that plays in the real world because it communicates the mood that the character is in; this helps tell the player the emotions that the character is feeling when the dialogue does not. It is also very cool that the Paradise music is off-putting, but not downright creepy. Because it sits somewhere in between somber and unsettling, it conveys a feeling of "I have to get out." Genius.

The story.... man, the story. I think you did a phenomenal job! You managed to make a 3-4 minute gameplay session have a greater impact than most 20+ hour games. The setup is very nicely laid out. The middle of the story (in Paradise) is cool because there are extra characters to talk to, and this more deeply informs the player of the world and the change that was made by entering Paradise. The climax is so well executed that I got chills, and felt fired up. This wasn't a game about winning or losing, but I felt like I won because my character survived, and that made ME want to survive! Kudos! Overall, I don't think there are plot-holes or missing story elements. I think you distilled the story down to its bare minimum, the essential pieces that create such an impact. By not overtly stating every detail to the player, you make them think and wonder; it makes them look more closely at the details, the background, the word choice in dialogue, the stances of each character, etc. I love finding all those details that HAD to be placed in the game with intention.

In terms of gameplay.... well, that's a hard one to critique. I understand that this form of game requires minimal gameplay. So, I cannot say much.

Overall, this is an amazing piece of art! I love it! 5 stars! You make awesome games! Please, never stop doing what you love! I look forward to the next creation! :)

Criobite responds:

Wow, thank you for the very kind words; you have me lost for words on how to respond! It really means a lot to me that there are people who benefit from my work.

Oh, I want to clarify something about the music. Chris Zabriskie produces royalty free music for people to use, and I just used two of his tracks that felt about right. And that was actually in the last 20 minutes or so of the jam. ^^

[Desperado Hunter [demo]]

Addicting!

There is a lot of potential here! Don't quit!

Gameplay is great! Controls are responsive, movement and collision are smooth and fluid except in a few parts. If you want to fully round out the game, you'll have to have someone try to break it and mess up in every single possible way, and watch what they do. Often times, as designers, we are quite blind to the ways that our game can break, because we know how it is supposed to work. But, fresh eyes from testers will help explore those unknown bugs and unintended level designs.
For instance:
- spamming jump in a short hallway has a very strange effect on the movement speed.
- on the first level, jumping into the upper corner of the first rock tunnel causes my hat to duplicate and then I have two hats that bounce up as I fall back downwards...
- The plethora of shinies up atop the roofs of level 1 were alluring me, so was the fact that I lost my hat, so I went back and played it again. I tried to come up with some conceivable way to reach the rooftop goodies, or avoid losing my hat in the tunnel, but I could not. These things made me as a player think that there was an alternate way to play the level. I would recommend either removing these, or make an not-so-obvious path to reach these. :)

In terms of level design, you're doing great! But, there are some spots that can improve. You introduce your player to new concepts one at a time, first in a non-threatening way, and then in a more dangerous way, which is awesome! However, there are several instances where the pacing goes out the window. Running into town in the first level, my eyes were overwhelmed because there is a lot going on. There are other characters and they seem to be in the foreground so I wasn't sure if they were objects to avoid, there seems to be an upper level above me that I'm not sure if I missed a way to get up there, and then there are shiny things and people blowing kisses that make read hearts. Suffice to say, there was an abrupt change from simplicity to overwhelming environment.
The other half of level design is to create interesting choices for the player. It seems like your game will benefit from the Sonic the Hedgehog style layout, where upper paths are harder to reach and are often more dangerous, but offer great speed to skilled players. Meanwhile, the bottom routes are safer, but slower. (not so slow that new players are bored, we want to keep the newbies entertained, but steer the veterans toward the more challenging paths) I would focus on that aspect when designing the third level, especially because the shooting enemies are the most dangerous.

I believe that you've got what it takes to round out all of your ideas and place them perfectly into well designed levels! That said, even great designers will have many people play-test their creations because they need input from others. :)

I like the way that you introduce the gun and the bullet bouncing mechanic with the still-frame bullet jump scene. Keep that! ;) But, like others have said, that section after you get the gun needs some toning down, I found myself dying an innumerable amount of times. LOL!

The art style and music is on point! I really dig the pixel art, and the retro bgm that sounds like an arcade machine!

I really enjoy this demo! I look forward to whatever projects you end up working on and releasing!

*side note* At one point, I fell underneath the third level without dying, and floated all the way to the goal, even though I was probably miles into the earth at that point, lol!

UltimoGames responds:

wow! I need to take all feedback in consideration, and wrap it up in the Definitive version of Desperado Hunter. I worked quite a long time on this game, but there was no end in sight for a final product. So I focused on pixel art, and smaller projects. Thanks for the useful review and the kind words Ragekaje!

[BG BLU]

Considering the time frame, this is great!

As others have mentioned, the game needs a bit more polish. Between the lagging graphics (although I have not tried the desktop version) the clunky controls, and the somewhat odd graphics, I am sure you would have tweaked everything if you had more time.

I did manage to finish the game. Despite the clunky controls, which are not game breaking, the game was fairly solid. The platforming parts were difficult, but not impossible. I ended up having to "game" the mechanics to finish the blue room. By that I mean, I jumped into the air while looking down. Then, mid-flight, I sprinted forward until I was lined up with the next platform. This "cheese" method made me feel like a cheater and rendered the blue room helpless to my will.

My main criticism actually has to do with the mechanics not lining up with the aesthetics. The art style was very nice in its own unique way. The color palette and particle effects made the place feel foreign and intriguing. Even the beginning music helped add to this atmosphere. These things played in favor of the game being about exploration. However, upon entering any of the challenge rooms, a loud and intense trance music filled my ears, tearing me away from the sense of exploration that I was experiencing. Plus, the game became less about exploring and more about making finely tuned jumps across gaps. The red and blue rooms became almost a different game, which undercut any sense of an exploration game that the intro had built. The green room, however, is different. The maze did feel like exploration, but the music was still jarring, and there were no unique landmarks to help me link the paths of the maze. Had there been designs on the walls, statues, or anything to help me identify my location, the maze would have let me engage my brain while I mentally mapped the area I explored.

All in all, I give you props. It was a fun little game to play. My advice: make sure that the art, music, game play, etc. all line up and point to the same idea, in this case: exploration.

In short, take out the funky beats, add some stuff into the green room, change the red and blue rooms to be more about exploration.

Keep it up!

Satyre responds:

Hey, thanks for the great review. I agree about the mechanics and the music. The challenge rooms were supposed to be boss rooms after exploring the ways to them. I had to cut a lot to at least have something playable. But I'm quiet satified with the parcour part.

*Spoiler*: The green room has a big hint in form of the green line. It shows the direction of the stairs on the floor. Same goes for the other lines. They show the direction of the artefacts.

The game is just a proof of concept in it's current state. I will for sure build it into something bigger in the future, and all the great feedback will be considered :)

[Goo Bouncing]

Great idea with great execution!

This game is very well made! I love that the game teaches you how to play it. Each level asks the player to learn one thing at a time and solve a complex problem sightly more tricky than the last. The one mechanic that the game revolves around is simple, unique, and interesting. The music and art are good, but those aesthetics could match up with the mechanics a bit more. I like that the music is catchy, but never tries to actively grab the listener's attention, letting them focus on the puzzle.

My complaints are about one small glitch (probably not common) and an issue with the main mechanic. Getting the technical stuff out of the way, I managed to set the teleporting goo as I was falling across a corner, and the game placed the teleporter inside the wall. This allowed me to drop inside the wall and... interesting things happened from that point on. I really can't explain it any better than that, sorry.

As for the problem with the mechanic, there were some later levels whose solutions were not aesthetically pleasing. When I found the solutions, they LOOKED wrong. With goo hanging off the corner of walls, and goo piles sometimes overlapping, my solutions appeared to be wrong but ended up solving the puzzle. This created an inner conflict in the back of my mind, where my solution was not fully satisfying. My suggestion would be to make a clearer difference in the motion of the color pick-ups. If there is a GREATER difference between a green goo launcher and a red goo launcher, this would allow for different paths to stand out.

Still, this is a fantastic game! Keep up the great work!

FancyReckless responds:

Thanks for such a big feedback and that you liked the game, this means a lot to me as a starting dev :) I will do more testing on that teleport mechanic, it's a bit complex one, but I think I know how that happened.
Must admit that you're right about later levels, I got too impacient and didn't put as much effort in those before release. Luckily I got some gameplay videos and were able to spot those design mistakes, so I'm gonna get to it once I finish my finals.
Thanks again, won't ever stop making those :)

[Battle Ground]

Don't give up!

Although this game feels incomplete, it is a start! Just listen to the feedback you're getting, adjust the game accordingly, and have confidence in your own creation!

Here's what I found playing for a little while:
- I figured out you have to click coins to get them, but that was only by goofing around with controls. This should be clearly explained.
- The controls forced me to bounce my hands back and forth between the 'A' key, the arrow keys, and my mouse. I would recommend allowing a different method to pick up the coins or to shoot. If the coins dropped down to the wall to collect by making contact, that might work. If the mouse could be used to collect the coins and to shoot, that could work, too!
- Personally, I would recommend increasing the speed at which everything moves. (player AND enemies) Although having to think one step ahead of what I was doing was fun, (in order to collect coins and line up shots) the time it took between exciting things happening (killing an enemy or getting loot) was too long.
- The music was very quiet, I had to crank my speaker to get a normal listening level.

Good stuff:
-I like the art, its rudimentary, but on the right track!
-The music is cool, it just needs to be louder.

I DO want to see you make updates! I realize that you didn't officially "publish" your game in every market on the web. I see this as more of a prototype. Prototypes are supposed to be rough around the edges. The faster you find the flaws, the faster you can fix them.

Don't apologize for your work, stand behind everything you do.

And don't give up!

:)

Flame152 responds:

Thank you for taking the time to write this review it really means a lot