Plasmarift's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cyber Chaser]

The game has great mechanics, art, and style, but there are a few things that really bug me. I don't like the fact that the missions or quests that come up usually only apply when they are on the board. For example, I have collected over 3000 cans of fuel and a mission that came up wanted to me to collect 300 more. Why couldn't everything get unlocked as I complete these instead of only allowing to me to unlock them three at a time? I ended up beating the last episode with the gatling gun and had to go back to unlock everything else, which was just plain annoying when I completed many of the tasks 10 times over. You also didn't allow the player to view all of the quests to see what was going to come next.
Another thing that bugged me when the availability of some abilities. The armored shirt was unlocked in the upper thirties, by which time I could already destroy the first boss within a moments of facing it. It would have been useful had it been available sooner. Other examples are the force field, ion strike, and airplane.
Lastly, trying to do the survival mode is frustrating. With all of the movement on screen, it can cause the game to lag. The large amount of coins and items also crowd the screen, making it hard to tell what is coming next, usually leading me to lose.
Unless I'm missing something with this game which would alleviate these problems, I do believe these problems should be taken care of, especially the quest problem that i mentioned.

[Lusfod]

Honestly, I think the reviews of this game are being too harsh, especially the one below me. Avoiding IS gameplay and if you look around, other popular games will have this as part of gameplay as well. Also, it says right at the bottom of the screen before you press play "collect animals and avoid enemies" so those who say they didn't know what they were doing did not look hard for instructions. And with the firing rate, if level one isn't good enough for you, get a better ship and it will shoot faster. The firing power helped me out more than a few times in the game. Besides, you don't absolutely need firepower anyway. And the prices are fair if you are good at staying alive in the game, thereby earning more money.

However, the other reviewers have brought up good points that need to be addressed and I would also like to commend you and suggest on a few things of my own.

Problems
- PLACE A WARNING IN THE GAME! Out of all the games I have ever played, this game has to be the most likely to cause a person to have seizure. I'd suggest placing a warning the description and an in-game box where the person has to acknowledge that you warned them about the lights (to avoid lawsuits if any could occur. Even if you are not prone to getting seizures, the lights will probably hurt your eyes.
- The box in the lower right corner that would stop the flashing in the game was not working for me or at least not stopping the rainbow flashes from the alligator and flower items. Perhaps it was working for the not as noticeable flashes.
- I was also upset, like many others when I realized I had to buy the new ships in order. If I knew that was the case, I would have bought the next upgrade instead of saving up. Had I bought them sooner, I would have gained more money sooner. Like other have said, you should probably just make ships available automatically if the player has no choice, but to buy the stuff in order or you should alert the player to this.
- There is no indication other than your ship blinking for a moment to tell you that you lost a life. When you're actively trying to avoid stuff, you don't really have time to notice a small blink. (then again, I suppose you don't need to know that you lost a life except to figure out how close you can get to an enemy without taking damage).
- As Lanner said, "aside from crediting ocularnebula as the composer, I think the track title should either be in the game or game description."

Good
- I liked the uniqueness of this avoid game. As horribly annoying as the flashing is, it was a unique touch.
- I liked the funny different ships, including the Harry Potter one.
- The music was cool! Very free, adventurous, and fun at the same time.
- The LSD and UFO combination was an interesting mix (though I probably wouldn't have connected the dots on that one had I not read the comments).
- The gameplay was solid so I have no complaints about it.

I wish you luck in your future games and please (I make this capital so you won't miss it), TONE DOWN THE RAINBOW LIGHTS OR ADD A WARNING!

[Never Born]

Like others, I'm not sure what to think of this game. For one, the movement is very limited and slow, especially the jumping mechanism. I understand gameplay was not what you were focusing on though. The graphics are also minimalistic in some parts, but I have a feeling this is intentional. Without more of an explanation, this is more like just watching someone get killed than a story or even a message to be given. I have my own interpretations, but I had to work at it to come up with one and it is pretty far out there.
I think the part where the character is standing on clouds is limbo (an place between heaven and hell). The character could have willingly stayed on the platforms, but not understanding where he was, decided to venture off and entered hell, where he could not return to limbo. There was straight path set before him sand not knowing any better and having no where else to go, followed it and ended up in his own version of hell, which seemed to represent his life well. He was alone when he died and he never calls out to anyone for help. From here, the voice cuts down the character both physically and mentally, taking away the only person this boy ever had: himself. Making him believe he should have never been born.
My other interpretation is that this may have to do with abortion although I mainly take this impression away due to the title and ending location, which reminded me of a womb, where an undeveloped child could still be destroyed. The speaker is the mother, either truly considering the child terrible for having to go through getting rid of the child or those words are being told to her by people around her and the child is hearing them. However, I can't explain the house or fire with this idea. The only other idea I've come up with is the thought that dying young and alone is not much different than never being born. I'm not saying I agree with all these interpretations, but this is what I take from this game
Even with the possibility of interpretation, it is important for games like this to be polished in order to emphasize the points or story that it is trying to convey. Without more content or better explanation, people will dismiss the game as being poorly made or "just stupid" as others might say. Abstract concepts and realism need to be need to be effectively used to get points across to an audience. I hope my review doesn't heed your work. I'm sure you will improve with time so do not give up.

PoshRaven responds:

Thanks, I always love it when i get reviews that dig a little deeper (I don't know how to say it, but you were in the range of what i was going for). As for the presentation, yeah I know I should spend more time on getting it cleaned up, I don't really have an excuse for it really. :(

[The Gestation:The Demo]

The game was good, but it froze up on me twice when I tried to beat survival mode, forcing me to close the game and halting me from finishing it so I'm not very happy about that. This game reminds me of the Binding of Isaac. It would be cool if you could explore although I understand that there might not be much room for exploring inside a womb. Good luck on the full game!

[FAT PAIN]

This could have been a really good game if you put in check points. I found myself enjoying it, but I have no desire to redo parts that I already completed before. You could have allowed the player to control the power of the throw. Also, the fact that the guy drops the fat woman whenever he drops down from somewhere is annoying as well.

Also, there is a bug that allows hedgehogs to cross gaps to hit you. Still, I like the concept and the game play was okay. I hope to see more from you in the future.

[Aurorae]

I thought the story was good though it did remind me of Exit Path. The neon design was a nice touch. I didn't have any trouble with the controls or any lagging (although I am using a newish computer). I don't think this game should be given bad ratings if your computer is at fault though.

semaphor responds:

Thanks, I think the lag issues are more likely to be due to some compatibility issue because my cheap laptop runs it fine.

[Stick Jumper 2]

I wouldn't listen too much to Happyhappy below me. From reading his comment, it doesn't seem like he even played your first game. I like that you made this into a straight forward platformer. Just a few things.
- In the future, try making these games more of a challenge, such as more difficult jumps, more difficult wall jumps or crawling through narrow places.
- The music on the last level was good, but why did it only play on the last level when you could have had it played during the entire game?
- If you make another sequel to this (which I think would be good), I'd suggest removing the double jump feature to make it more difficult and to expand the level size more. It felt a little constricted.
- The notebook paper background was a nice touch, but if possible, try to make it cover the entire screen (if you want, I can make backgrounds for your games).
- Try to use different blocks or make different blocks other than using the patterns blocks you used through the game. It would make the game better and more varied.

As always, I look forward to your next game.

[Seb's Adventure 2]

Thanks for the shoutout, man! I see you've made some improvements. The music at the beginning was a good touch and the text running away mechanic was good as well (I'd suggest reading bcunderscore's comment about four comments below mine. He's got a lot to say). As for suggestions, try this.
- If you can't change the mechanic where if you go above the ceiling, you have to restart, try placing a small amount of platform near the ceiling that covers it, so that the character will just bounce off of it.
- If you're looking for more music, you can go through the audio portal on newgrounds for some. You're allowed to use it as long as you give credit to the artist, just make sure it fits the game.
- I like that you made Seb smaller. It made navigation a little tougher so it was good, but try using a smaller writing tool for the mouth next time so it doesn't look like a black blob from far away.
- On the last level, I didn't think I was going anywhere since the background didn't change at all. I'd suggest creating some kind of indication of movement (however, this may just be due to stupidity on my own part so don't worry about it too much :)
- On the next game, try creating a few more difficult jumps or perhaps a section of the game where the screen is slowly moving upper and if you don't stay above it, you have to start over. (Just an idea).

If I get the time, I'm going to start looking into the Stencyl program more to see what it is cable of. That way, I can give better reviews. I look forward to your next game!

sebastian4ester responds:

OK THX 4 DA REVIEW

[2nd Cycle]

This is a very good game, despite what others might say. There were no glitches and the controls, although differently set up, were solid in performance. From the beginning, I was expecting a very boring and unchallenging game (much like some of the stuff submitted by people who use Stencyl for the first time). However, as the game went on, the landscape slowly got more uneven and the eventually gaps appeared between building, posing a threat to my character. I wasn't expecting the sinking platforms and managed to get through the game by taking my time for some parts instead of trying to rush through it all. (And thank you for putting in respawn points. I probably would have quit if I had to start all over).

I understand that this was one of your first real game programming challenges so I'd expect a few things to be missing or for everyone not to like it. Music would have definitely helped to build up a mood. Perhaps a few spots of text here and there and maybe a few more animations for the buildings, but the game was good and even after reading the medal (which gives you a hint of what the ending is), I didn't expect rebirth to be quite like that. Does second cycle mean that in the story, this is the next step after death for humans or is it a willing change on the part of the main character in the game?

Very good job and I hope to see more from you in the future. If you need any help, let me know. By the way, what program did you use to make this?

Gazp responds:

Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, even if it is a very short game, without checkpoints this would be just way to frustrating for the players that are finding it to hard.
I mentioned earlier to another user, music is something that I would have loved to have on this game, but time wasn't on my side unfortunately.
One of the the goals I set to myself was to try and convey a full simple story without using any text besides the game's own title. But in some points, yes, maybe a few text would have been useful.
As for the ending, I'll explain it over PM :)
About the program I used, just Flashdevelop with Flixel as the game engine.

Thanks for playing and reviewing!

[Socrates Jones: Pro Philo]

I played this on another website and really hoped it would come here. This game is, in a way, very educational and those who say that it is "the same sales pitch" like the person below probably didn't play past the first level. The comedy and entertainment element are very good and the story is very unique, at least to me. I did get kind of frustrated with the game when I knew what I wanted to point out sometimes, but didn't know which statement to question or I had no idea how to prove them wrong. However, games that require thought are suppose to be challenging and I was still able to beat it. Very, very good game and I look forward to your future creations.