Plasmarift's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Munchers]

Well, you have a problem with your medals because I beat the game on hard and scored over 20000 and the medals didn't unlock (pmr).

Besides that, the game was pretty fun, though it got a little repetitive after a while with no new challenges coming with the new levels; they were the same format, but with different sprite animations. It would have been cool if there was a "Moon Cheese Barrage" level where there was no food other than moon cheese. Other suggestions:
- A chain score would be cool, where you get some kind of multiplier for the amount of food you eat without eating moon cheese or a bonus at the end of the level for eating no moon cheese.
- I think the later levels should get super fast.
- A pause button would also be nice.

Still, I did enjoy the sounds and gameplay of the game. I look forward to your next.

renegadegamez responds:

The Medals Should be fixed now those are some good suggestions
I like the Level ideal Moon Cheese Barrage I will see what I can do
Thanks for the compliments

[Kubik]

The game does have difficult platforming and good physics, which is cool, but the fact that you put in hidden platforms without any indication of where they are requires a lot of trial and error and doing levels over and over again just to get to those specific parts, which is extremely annoying. It is a form of difficulty, but it isn't fair difficulty; in my opinion, it makes a player feel cheated as they are forced to restart a level just because we couldn't predict where the platforms would be.

[Tainted Olive - Chapter 2]

I don't know why this game got only three stars coming out of judgement. It is just as good as the first one and has many new types of puzzles. It definitely deserves a better score and I hope it will go up. The only suggestion is that maybe have some different music next time or a variation of it as you don't want people feeling like they played this game before (however, the music is still good).

BlackOlive responds:

I guess we'll have to listen to your advice for the next chapter ;)

I hope one shouldn't look into the initial ratings too much, as the same thing happened to Chapter 1 - low ratings which steadily increased afterwards. Until then all we can do is bite our fingernails.

[Letter for Mimi 2]

I did like the game for its cuteness and dialogue (you made it a little less diabetic cute and weird, which is good in my tastes).
- I also liked that you could see other areas, but couldn't reach them (this actually made me a little upset as it felt like they were secrets that were out of reach, but it made it so even after you finished the game, it still contained some mystery and unexplored adventure.
- Your choice in missions in this game were pretty fun and definitely weren't always easy to figure out like the hide and seek boulder one (though repeating the boulder pushing puzzle from the first was pretty lame, sorry).
- I like the character development you did from the first game to this one for some of the characters (it is very subtle, but still noticeable).
- Thank you for including medals. That is one way to draw people to play your game (because not only do I get to have fun, but I rack up points at the same time).

Things I suggest improving on:
- Try making the next game longer and more expansive.
- the fact that the items from the previous game were carried over and not used (except for the keys) was a little disappointing (it was like getting a cool weapon and not getting the chance to use it).
- You reused a few things from your previous game, like the main character sprite and other characters (this is understandable and okay), but you made the main mission to gather huge pencils, the first thing you picked up in the first game and you used the daisy sprite from the first game for Clara (or at least I think it is the same. It looks similar). I know you made other new ones, but it is best to walk a fine line when reusing stuff because some players may get turned off by this if they feel like they are playing a rehashing of the original one.
- I'd take a look at Reaching Finality before you implement the battle system, as I think it would be a good fit for your game.

I can't think of much else to say, but that I hope your next release and this one go well. Let me know if you'd like any help with game design and sprite creations (I just started making some and have gotten decent at doing so).

kcnh responds:

Thank you for your extensive review. You were one of the first people to find the secret, good job!

The idea behind the road you could see when walking on the right part of the island was, as you mentioned, to create a feeling that there is more in the world than you can walk to at the moment. The same goes for the monsters you can see walking on Route 1. It is also good to hear that the character development came across as intended.

If I had used the same items as in the first game for the puzzles and quests, they would also have been the same (more or less): using the pickaxe to break rocks, the axe to chop trees, etc.
But you're right that they should have had at least some function in the game.

The Daisy sprite was the same as used by Clara. I decided to re-use that once since I assumed not a lot of people had found the secret in the first game.
You make a valid point about the Huge Pencils, but I think it would not have mattered much if it would say, 10 strawberries instead. The Huge Pencils allowed me to put in some jokes and it is a reference to the first game as you mentioned.

Reaching Finality has a zelda-esque combat system, my plan is to make it turn-based as in Final Fantasy 1.
Having a turn-based system will allow for a party to fight and thus create a more interaction between the player and his environment: imagine Hannah joining your party to help find her sister.
But nothing is in stone yet, so I will definitely take other systems in consideration.

For this game I tried to continue the story which was established in Letter for Mimi 1, but as that game had a bit of a lousy story, I had to make some choices about parts which I wanted to re-use.
This lead to some inconsistencies, such as that Daisy cannot be found in this game even though she mentions she will be there in Letter for Mimi 1. So, I decided to apply her sprite to a different character.

I will use your feedback for the next games I will make. :)

[Dead Hell]

Pretty cool, though it would have been cool of you to mention me in the credits for testing it out months ago. You added a good number of new enemies and boss (many with different movement and attack patterns), a very fitting soundtrack, and an interesting system for the throwing weapons and health gaining. The speed that the enemies arrive with definitely keeps the player on their feet because it makes them think about their next move (ex: if I kill this enemy and leave the tougher one, its possible another tough enemy will take its place) and the fast movement keeps the player from simply slaying through the on coming enemies with ease.

I'm usually not a fan of these types of games, but for some reason, the blend of the many different characteristics and challenges that you put in the game make it addicting and, for myself, made me feel like I was the one who messed up and could definitely do better. I look forward to your next release and hope this game will receive the attention it deserves.

x-SemAn responds:

thank)
As concerns the credits, there was very little room for all, sorry
everything was in a hurry

[Barriers]

The game is okay and touching in a way, but the sharp contrast between the characters and everything else really does not work well (they are the most detailed thing in the game and, although I've commented to someone before saying that the controlled character deserves a great detail of attention and detail, when the environment is minimalistic, the characters should probably be as well). It may have been better if you made the boy just blue and the girl pink (or you could have had both of them black with the girl wearing a bow).

The puzzles are pretty simple (a little too linear in a number of the levels as you just go from switch to button), but some of the challenges that you put in would definitely be difficult for two people to do together.

Some things I would consider adding in the future though would be:
- after having touched, little heart would float into the air from them.
- Maybe a quick transition from level to level, and after deaths.
- A way to restart the game after reaching the end.
- Put the instructions in the description or in the game itself.

Good job on your first game. I wish you luck on being a game creator.

FSt-Germain responds:

Thanks for the response. I like your idea of simplifying the characters. I will put some more thought into it and it might happen :) Lots of people have been suggesting more levels so I might try to add less linear levels. I will certainly add a way to restart the game. It never crossed my mind that someone would want to play more than once (it is a puzzle game after all, and it's no fun if you already know the puzzles). Thanks for the excellent points.

[Hope]

The game is pretty interesting, but the control need some work. I got stuck on the four or fifth level, the one where you start out in a pit and need to double jump and wall jump to get out. I'd suggest adding more options for controls, like the arrow keys and maybe the space bar to jump because there are right and left handed players that may prefer one over the other. Also, the wall jumping in very difficult since you need to hold a direction button against the wall in order to perform it and since you are holding it, when you jump, you aren't launched as far as you'd like to the opposite direction because you are still holding the key that placed you against the wall (even if you let go directly after doing this, this is extremely difficult timing and something that is easy to mess up on, as well as the fact that performing a second wall jump in a row is made even more difficult.

Still, I like the idea and I look forward to your next game. Good luck.

[Zombie Arcade]

The game is okay, but there are some issues that make it boring overtime.
- the character moves too slow. There were many times where I just felt like sighing because things weren't happening fast enough. It's sad when civilians are faster than me. Maybe include a run meter that refills overtime or just increase the overall speed.
- once you loot the boxes in the city, they don't reset, which takes away something from the game, forcing the player to either kill people or wait for them to be killed to get money to buy things. It'd be cool if the player could loot the crates, trucks, dumpsters, and buildings for supplies. Then, at least maybe the trucks and dumpsters would reset with the cars moving around and people throwing stuff away.
- There is almost no reason to interact with zombies. You get nothing from killing them (shooting them only knocks them down), and are mostly pretty easy to out maneuver. Also, often times, when civilians get killed, drop their money, and then turn to zombies, they walk far away from that spot, making it tough to tell where this money is.
- Civilians often get killed right in front of buildings, meaning there will be a large pile on it out in front of them. Not too challenging to find, but there is a more serious problem. The resources dry up. I survived five days and I believe every civilian had been turned into a zombie the day before because I couldn't find anymore money or civilians, which led to me starving to death.
- the building that sells ammo looks like every other filler building in the games. In order to better identify it, it needs a more stand out look like the super markets have.
- In the opening scene, you show people on top of a building, but there is no way to go into a building or get on top of it. It could be a pretty cool part of the game to allow the player access to them.
- Also, how does killing civilians come back to haunt you? It didn't for me at least as there are no police officer to come after me and the people around me don't act scared.

As it is, this survival game has limitations that would keep a person from surviving indefinitely, which is the whole point of a survival game. Still, I like what the game tried to do and I love the sound of the zombies, especially when there is a bunch of them. Great job on that and I hope to see more games from you in the future.

[KByte]

The games are pretty cool, but there is a problem; I'm having trouble finding a way to back out of the games once I start them. Also, are more games unlocked by getting a high score or by simply playing the games.

dgl1147 responds:

To back out of the games you have to click on the pause button and then click on the home button.
There are five playable games, the rest are under development. This isn't the final version of the game.

[Elsa x Jack Frost - Don't let it go!]

Pretty interesting match-up. I'd imagine lat least one person on the web have done this, but I bet very few if any have made a great visual novel of it like this. Great job and keep up the good work.

By the way, I found a small mistake.
- When Jack Frost introduces himself, he says "I got a lost and this is how...". You might want to fix that.