Plasmarift's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Help Yourself]

I've played games similar to this one such as "Kill Me" and "The Company of Myself". I do like the game, but it has a serious flaw; there is A LOT of waiting. There are many reasons for this: the enemies in the game move way too slow, you don't give the player an option to kill their character, meaning they have to wait for the enemies to kill them, and the biggest one of all is that in order to progress through parts of the game, you usually have to wait for your previous deaths to play out.

For example, on level 10, it takes the enemy about 30 seconds to get across the entire level. Several times in this level, you have to stand and wait for the enemy to kill you. Because you'll often need to wait for the previous death to play out before you move on to some parts of the level, you force the player to wait longer and longer each time. Also, keep in mind that if you mess up and kill the enemy or get stuck in one of the yellow force fields (this has happened to me), you'll need to restart the entire level.

Some other things to note:
- There's a glitch in the game. If you enter level 10, leave it, and then go back into it again, all yellow force field platforms will be visible, but they won't all be solid.
- Sometimes when I fall off the screen in the game, it won't restart until press the directional keys, as if the character wasn't dead yet. This happened a few times in level 8.
- Speaking of level 8, on the first yellow energy platform (the one that appears when you jump on the squares with the red dots), if you jump back to it from the second higher energy platform, you fall through it.
- When it comes to jumping on the "dead" blue blobs that represent the character you control, it doesn't always work for me. I can have a lot of them stacked over the same area and still somehow fall through them when trying to jump on them.
- While I'll admit, I was a bit confused at around level 3 since the mechanics hadn't really been explained, it was interesting figuring them out. You could always design the beginning levels to where it will reveal the mechanics naturally, such as jumping down a small hole with spikes at the button and the button to open an door just below the door so that the player will jump down once, die, and the second time land on the previous one, demonstrating that mechanic.
- I'd advise adding a mute and pause button.
- Do the coins in the levels do anything? Do they unlock anything?

I know this is a lot of criticism, but I did enjoy the game. The artwork and music are good and the puzzles, despite the wait time, are creative. I have suggestions for some things you can implement in the game.
- Perhaps offer a way to speed up the time in the level to cut down on wait time.
- You could also add acceleration to the enemies' movement algorithm. That way if you are waiting in one spot for a long time, they will increase more and more in speed to cut down on wait time.

I wish you luck in the jam and in your future of game design!

NoodleSushi responds:

Thank you for your constructive review! I know the game is not perfect since it took like a week to finish, especially implementing the level editor and system and all. I'm thinking of improving it, but right now I'll just chill for a bit since took a lot of effort for a week to me. I'd like to respond to the bugs or issues, like in a 'fun fact' or 'did you know that...?' -ish kind of fashion in case you were curious why they happen.

-The force field staying visible and hollow was an object initialization issue. I programmed each object to animate once its voltage changes, but for some reason that sometimes didn't happen and doesn't change the animation according to the voltage, during initialization that is.
-The character does not die off-screen unless you move because below the screen, it is standing on top of its solid counter-part.
-I'm gonna have to do advanced collision detection or something else for this. The player falls through the platform since his falling speed was too fast for the sensor to detect, my bad.
-I might have to test it a bit more, it might be because of its collision shape being a circle, not sure.
-Yep you're not alone on this, some (or more) people had some difficulty figuring out level 3 and giving up, I myself have thought of this as well. This is something my level designer could improve on.
-I agree
-Not really, coins are just collectibles for fun, like a challenge to collect all of them. But yeah it does not have any other purpose aside from just collecting them.

Thank you for your suggestions and bug reports, this is the very first in-depth constructive review I have for this game, and congrats for being the first! I appreciate you taking the time to play my game, giving me feedback and suggestions, it really helps. I'll take note of them if I ever come back improving the game.

*EDIT*
Also I didn't know there are other games similar to mine, aside from Braid or Chronotron. I'll check them out, thanks for sharing!

[Rooftop Postgirl]

Lesuperchef basically covered things, but here's a few other notes:
- You should include the instructions in the description.
- Having a text box show up after the giraffe leaves is a bad idea because if you are mid-jump, you fall straight down (to your death if there's nothing under you).
- A few of the birds are impossible to avoid unless there is some function of the game that I'm unaware of.
- The "leaps of faith" the game requires you to take is a bad idea since, at time, the player needs to wait for something to happen before jumping, like a platform to start rising. You want to be consistent when it comes to things like that. Either reinforce waiting when there doesn't appear to be a path or make jumping into the unknown the thing to do.

I don't do reviews much anymore since I usually end up pointing out the same things, but your game shows promise. I wish you luck in your future in game design.

PoteComPao responds:

Thank you for the review. I'll try to improve the level design, maybe this game is a little bit too random.

[Ritz]

The music, the art, and platforming are all good, but the invisible platforms were not. It would be one thing if they didn't move, but having a moving invisible platform is not good design. The only reason I knew that a specific area had it is because there was no other possible way to reach that cheese. Finding it requires the player to jump around at random and hopefully land on it and even if you do, if you fall off, you have to do it all over again since the platform will have moved.

invisible stuff aside, it was a good game overall. Good job.

[SHUTDOWN]

I thought the game was very good, but I wasn't able to finish it. When I made it to the sewer and instantly saved it when the text came up, the game froze. I refreshed it and tried loading my save, but nothing came up; just a black screen. I don't really feel like playing through it again knowing this could happen at any save point.

I have a few other issues with the game:
- Although you do explain that pressing the spacebar again after jumping activates the floating ability, you don't tell or make the player use the ability to reach higher places (I just thought you could move left and right with it, not up and down). I thought that I would come across some upgrade later on that would let me jump higher or something.
- What is the rectangle with the two dots on it supposed to be? The music changes when you get one. Is it necessary to flood the areas or are they just music boxes?
- I agree with potatochipsu, restarting the player back at the surface each time is tedious. I know that it only takes a few seconds to get back to the checkpoint, but after dying a bunch of times, the time starts adding up. We only have so much time in our lives, some more than others so I'd prefer it if all game creators could cut down on such things in their games.
- The game included a bit of backtracking to get to some areas (since some paths branch off from one another). It's annoying especially since the platforming segments to get to these areas aren't really difficult (especially when the path leads upward), but it's also a part of a lot of games.

I did like some of the things that you implemented though:
- The zoom function was pretty helpful and certainly made traversing the map less confusing and more getting to the point.
- You can down on some backtracking by transporting the character back to the starting point.

I might have given you four stars or more if that glitch hadn't happened. I wish you luck in your future projects. Good job.

furbbbb responds:

Hey ! I'm sorry this happened to you. I think there's some issues with the built-in saving system of Construct. I removed it for now (you'll start over if you close/refresh the Newgrounds's page) If you want to play it again, everything should work correctly !

Also, thank you for your detailed feedback ! The rectangles with dots are cassettes tapes, they just trigger music in each zone of the game.

Thank you for playing the game, have a nice day :)

[Hacked Halloween]

Well, I've found a few problems with the game.
- The score doesn't reset or go down after being killed in a level so you can effectively just keep collecting things, get killed, and repeat to get an extremely high score. Kind of takes away the value from the score mechanic.
- What are green, orange, and yellow things that you can collect? Candies, right? Can you do anything with them? If not, what's the point in collecting them?
- You should put the controls in the description as well.
- Why do you need to use the mouse to activate the next level? Why not use the spacebar or enter key?
- No pause or mute button.

I did like the fact that you have to use your respawn pumpkins in order to advance in some parts of the game. I don't believe I've seen anything like that before (though this does bring up the problem of "Should I use it now to save my progress or am I going to need it later in the level to progress?"). I also like the artwork, especially for the main character. Good luck in your future of game development!

Newdam responds:

Thanks for your comments. Just some answers. Because the game is developed by a single person, and I wanted to publish it on Halloween, the game came out in beta with some details to adjust in future updates. Candy collect will make you able to use some power.
Thanks again!

[The Chains That Bound Me]

I enjoyed the game very much (I played the downloaded game). However, I experienced a number of problems with it:
- On the mac port you made, it won't let me save.
- In the mines, whenever I mine copper, it sometimes doesn't go into my inventory. I found 3 copper and only one registered in my inventory (and this wasn't a one time incident. One or two other times, I only got 2 copper out of the 3 that I mined).
- This next problem might have to do with the fact thatI was using an emulator to play the windows version (this allowed me to save the game) so take it with a grain of salt. After the battle with Richard and the beast, the game would sometimes keep bringing up directional keys to press in the quick time events after the event had already ended and it would keep doing this until I reloaded the game.
- I understand that cutscenes and dialogue are a big part of the game, but after having to replay the game multiple times (I played the browser version that kept bugging out on me, forcing me to restart, add to that the multiple plays I did on the mac port), I really wish you would include a skip button for these cutscenes. Making them go faster by holding down the spacebar is good, but not good enough in my opinion.
- I'm guessing the character and story arcs that were unfulfilled in the demo are going to be finished in the complete game (the green potion, the tax inspector's wife, the abusive husband, the woman who has a crush on the main character, especially the green potion one), correct?
- There are a few things in the game that I feel like should be interact-able, but aren't, like the hole in the floor of the house on the far left of the lower district?
- I threw a miner's body into the pit just before going into the mine and fighting the monster, but I didn't receive any experience points.
- The music you chose for the game is great, but try and mix it up with a few more tracks (because the one that plays near the beginning starts getting repetitive and annoying after a while after listening to it for so long).

I really, really hope you'll continue and finish this game. I wish the best of luck!

yo13ob responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback! Omg, there's quiet a bit of bugs you spotted.

Yeah, those quests will be completed if the game gets finished. To be honest, this is such a huge game and I actually have a kickstarter up but I have a good feeling that the kickstarter might not get funded. I'm not too sure if this game can be completed since it's such a huge game, I'm kinda regretting doing a rpg lol There's a lot of work. I might create a new small game or maybe continue with this game and put TCTBM on hold.

You should definitely join my discord though. It's easier for me to talk to and receive feedback from my fans. Communication is a lot faster

[Just one chance]

Luck and permanent death are not a good mixture for a game. Many parts of the game rely on platforming skills and figuring out how to progress (you can get through a lot more than one might expect without using dead bodies), but the parts that require there to be bodies for you to progress is not only blatantly unfair (your game basically already points this out), it is also undermined by the fact that those sacrificed bodies will disappear at some point or only some dead player bodies are generated for each run. I managed to play the game multiple times and have yet to beat it partly because of that last room that requires multiple sacrifices to spawn in a path like formation for anyone to win. While I'm sure I could beat the game at some point, it just isn't worth it. If I fail, I'd like it to be from my own shortcomings as a gamer, not because 10 other gamers didn't get to the same part and have to die unfairly.

This is definitely an interesting experiment to say the least. It probably won't garner mass appeal as it incorporates aspects of life that people play video games to get away from, not to experience them in a 2D format. Regardless, I enjoyed the platforming challenges and the smooth feel of the controls and the graphics were pretty good as well. I wish you luck in your future creations.

[Purpy]

The game would be good if it weren't for a few fatal problems:
- Trying to jump up and into a space the same size as the character is extremely difficult for some reason; the character just won't go into the space sometimes. While this would be annoying in a normal platformer, it makes the game even more difficult since when you fail to make the jump, the other mirror image of the character has moved out of place, forcing the player to either realign the other character to the proper spot it needs to be in or to restart the level because the level is now unwinnable.
- The wall jumping also doesn't always work for some reason.
- The controls should be explained in the game or in the description (having the controls explained in both would be preferable). While the controls and mechanic might seem intuitive to you, every game has different rules.
- I'd suggest making the R button the restart button for the level. In a game like this, restarting might be done multiple times for some players so having to go to a menu to do it is both annoying and a waste of time.

I like the aesthetics of the game as well as the gameplay, but the problems make the undesirable to play unless they get fixed.

[Meaning of Life - v2.0]

Unfortunately, there is a lot wrong with this game as others have pointed out:
- The text on the papers you find in the game is almost unreadable, which is extremely bad considering how story driven you want this game to be. The only text I was able to really read was the one concerning the time machine.
- Whenever you get an item, the game makes a distinct sound. I know this because upon getting the first battery, it makes this sound. There's nothing wrong with this, but when I am interacting with objects and I hear the "I got an item" sound, I expect to see what it is I got and in some places in the game, the text doesn't appear. I'd also suggest having text come up that says "Empty" for empty lockers and adding more objects that you can examine.
- Making the player start over each time they get an ending is annoying. Yes, I know it is a short game, but it is still annoying when you include a lot of different endings; you can simple place the player back into the situation where they got all the batteries and have now powered the facility. This would cut down on time.
- What is the point of the "brain washer"? I would think this term would be referring to the washers found throughout the facility that contain brains, not the laser machine that kills you. This adds to the annoyingness of having to restart.
- I'm unclear as to how the police find you. If you do nothing, they just arrive. Why not have it so when the player interacts with the phone, they will arrive?
- If you get the "saved by police" ending and then replay the game, the sirens will still be sounding in the background.
- Why not add a mute button and add arrow keys as a possible way of controlling the character. Also, put in the description how to use the gun (it may seem like common sense to you, but considering you only have a limited window to use it after interacting with Peter, you should probably give player's a heads up).
- It wouldn't be a bad idea to make it so that, upon getting to the next screen in the game (since the game is broken up into screen and isn't a truly open world) that you keep your momentum so as to make the experience of moving more natural.
- Is it possible to help the comatose people?
I wish you luck in your future game development endeavors. Don't be discouraged by this review from making game!

[MIDNIGHT Remastered]

I thought the gameplay was good, the sound effects were fitting, and the music is good. I think the gameplay is a bit easy though that could be because I played the first version of this game. The amount of places to explore is kind of small when you think about it so when you know where the letters and matches are, there isn't really much challenge. Also, I'm a little confused about the story as well as some other things (SPOILERS AHEAD):
- So the brown haired girl is not part of the family, but was basically living in a crawl space with a bed? Whenever the player interacts with the passage way that leads to it, it says it's too vertically steep to climb up it; how did she get up there in the first place then? How did she survive in there with no food (it was blocked off. If she had already been in there, she would have been trapped).
- So the fact that the brown haired girl wishes to "cleanse her sins" means she feels sorry for what she did, correct (I'm guessing she killed the family members)? If that is the case then why does she attempt to murder the survivor when she sees her? I'd understand if the Survivor storyline all took place before the Midnight storyline, but based on the environment and other things, it's clear it doesn't. Also, what in the world happened to the house in the Survivor storyline? It sounds like it is falling apart.
- Why are so many rooms locked when it is clear the brown haired girl must have had access to them to kill and leave the bodies?
- When you play as the cop, you can access every room in the house except for one; the one to the right of the stairs near the front door. Is there any way to open it?
I look forward to your next project. Good job and good luck!