Plasmarift's Reviews

[Alien: MONDAY]

The animation is okay and it's obvious work went into this, but I honestly didn't enjoy it much (spoilers ahead):
- The movements in the animation feels robotic in some parts or I should say not fluid enough. I'm not sure why it feels that way though. I don't know if it is because they're not quick enough at times (like where the alien jumps up into the vents for the first time. It reminded me of CGI movements), or the movements too stiff (like her walking into the kitchen) or if it's because the speed at which the movement happens is too uniform; there's no jerky movements or drastic changes in speed in little moments. For example, take the main character putting on her boots; everything from her stepping out of the pod, to sitting down, to putting on her boots feels like the exact same speed when you could have had it where she sat back hard or, once the boot was on, she dropped her foot down to the floor.
- It's just the movie Alien, but in an anime style. Yes, I know the plot points and setting aren't the same yet when you're doing something that closely mirrors something else, you either need to take it in a different direction or do an even better job than the original, otherwise it comes across as just a bog standard homage when it could have been a lot more.
- I feel like portions of the animation could have been removed. At the part where the main character wakes up and says she hates Mondays, it could have cut to her in the kitchen. I could be completely off on this point, but it's also clear that moments like these aren't plot relevant and it wasn't interesting (the only thing you could say is it acted as build up for the interesting parts though there might have been better ways of doing this).
- The alien honestly wasn't that intimidating, which I think goes back to the movement thing I mentioned before. Maybe some more sound effects or different camera angles could have helped, where only parts of the alien are on the screen sometimes, building suspense.
- The voice acting and sound effects are probably the best part. They were very well done.
- I guess my last criticism is the plot, most of which is pretty good. Depressurizing parts of the ship is definitely the plan of action I would have taken if there were no security systems for dealing with intruders. Most of the actions taken make sense except for a few glaring ones: wouldn't the ai computer have a built-in security system for detecting unknown life forms or at the very least inform the crew if it detected some? As soon as she saw it enter the vents, you'd figure she'd immediately be wary of the one in her room. Do they not have weapons onboard? When jumping, how did she know she'd land on the driller and not float out into space?

Overall, it is a good effort, but it didn't make me feel much of anything except possible fear of a jumpscare (thank you for not doing that by the way. I think they're cheap). I wish you luck in your future projects.

[Gordon Ramsay BAFFLED by Restaurant AMATEURS]

I'm extremely impressed.
- Coming into this, I don't think I had seen any of your other works so this was my first introduction to Mike and Zack and, while watching, I thought "these guys could have their own sitcom". You made it so they both have different personalities, but instead of having them constantly butting heads over this (which could become frustrating, awkward, or tired out, especially if not done right), you have them reacting to Ramsey and the situation mostly instead, kind of like their friendship is established in-spite of their vast differences (I probably didn't explain this well; I just thought it was a good dynamic).
- You almost always have something interesting or funny happening on screen, which is something I feel other comedy animations can end up lacking (I've rewatched this more than once and caught details I missed the first time, like Ramsey just standing in the yard overnight, staring blankly). It also moves at a great pace; not frantic and not too slow.
- Great art, sound effects, music, and voice acting.
- The only part that lost me (at first) was when Ramsey asked where Zack was and Mike said he was in the closet. When Ramsey said "He can knob whoever he wants", I thought he was implying Zack was doing someone in there, not that he was gay, so the joke about him being gay later on didn't land. Also, I don't get the "I paid Stuart" part.

If you guys ever need voice actor for your stuff, let me know! I wish you well in your future projects!

[Hearse of Strahd]

Despite the monologue not being groundbreakingly new, I very much enjoyed it; that vampire has a way of words (and the voice performance was both fitting for a vampire and well performed, you little shit). The face of the vampire and his posture were perfect and the generic looking knight at the beginning was great for absorbing that monologue. The music and sound were good as well. Though my favorite part by far was the bingo card. I got multiple laughs from reading it (despite not knowing all the references or understanding all of it).

Overall, a great animation. I hope to see more from you, you little shit.

[Wispy Dreams]

It's fairly nice game for a number of reasons. The collectibles, while some only grant points, are visually appealing enough to make me want to collect them. The regular gameplay isn't too tough, but getting the secret seems like it may require higher skill so the game please those who like it easy and rewards the smart/skilled players. The sound effects and music are nice. It has the potential to be a fairly good complete game, but I have found problems with it.
- It seems like after killing all of them enemies and being able to kick the gear around, that the countdown until the (I don't know his name, so I'm gonna call him mask guy) appears happens quicker on some levels versus others. It's already tough to kick the gear since enemies can be around it and hitting them also means hitting the gear (and charging up an attack to aim your kick of the gear can leave you open to be hit by them) and if you're trying to activate the crystals while doing all this, you have to be careful not to kick it into the machine and you can't afford to wait for enemies to move due to the count down. My point is either make the time consistent or make it more obvious that the time decreases more when performing some actions.
- Have a quick restart option for a world. There are a number of situations that can warrant a quick restart like if you miss too many crystals in early levels, you might as well restart.
- I haven't discovered the secret path. I thought it had to do with getting three crystal stars, but that didn't change anything. I also thought defeating mask guy would do something, but no matter how many times I hit him with the gear, nothing happens.
- What's the point in spelling out Zinc?
- Can you make it so secret phrases are stored somewhere? If a player is focused on gameplay, they don't want to have to stop through process and write down the word.
- Make it so you can skip putting in your score. Some of us just want to play the game and being made to enter a high score is just a waste of time (if you see aaaaaaaa on the board, that would be me).
- Would there be a way to add in just a straight kick that doesn't require a charge? (I know that already exists if you are kicking in the air, but have a quick one for the ground would be nice)

I wish you luck with the project.

recon-project responds:

Hey, thank you for the comment! I'll answer some of your points.

-Yes, the timer for the countdown is different on every level, usually depending on how difficult it is to find the crystals.
-You sometimes do need to restart, the best option is to just die and hit continue on the game over.
-The secret path does have to do with getting 3 crystal stars. The full version of the game gives you more hints on this, but basically, after getting the 3 crystal stars, you should look around for powerups that might appear on the level before the boss.
-Spelling Zinc gives you +2 health

In terms of updating the game, I'm really sorry but as of now I've worked for 3 years on this game, the full version is finished and on Steam and I'm extremely burnt out on it. Instead of tinkering at the little problems that the game has here and there like I've been doing, I just want to start with a new project that will be a much better game from the beginning. Regardless, I still appreciate your feedback and kind words a lot. It is a flawed game and I've learned a lot since making it.

[M.A.I.day]

Kind of disappointing because it had the potential to be something decent. The music is good and graphics okay.
- At the boss level, my gun wouldn't always fire for some reason. Even when my character died and came back, I would hear the gun fire, but I wouldn't always see anything come out of it. This is a horrible time to experience a glitch like this.
- There's way too much waiting in this game. You have to wait for slowly moving platforms to move into place (usually overtop of bottomless pits) for you to proceed and if you mess up, you have to start the section all over again.
- While I found it interesting that you could do a dash jump and wall jump and that the player can figure it out for themselves, you might want to put a level section that requires the player to be able to do this early on and, if possible, make it so the player won't die if they can't perform it. You need to be able to do the wall jump fairly early, but you need to perform it over a bottomless pit. The dash jump is required later on (maybe half way through). Dying after getting all that way because you didn't explain the controls or put the player into a safe situation where you forced them to learn it is kind of bad design (I say force because most people would go into a game thinking the listed controls are the only ones available so putting the player in a situation like that tells them they might be missing something).
- Why does the main character stand out from all the other characters? He looks like Simon Belmont in the first Castlevania game while all the humanoid enemies have more color and are way taller. Also, who are these enemies?
- Most of the enemies I just ran past and tanked the damage because hanging around to fight them would usually cause me to lose more health. Some of their attacks patterns are just unpredictable or undodgable depending on the circumstance, like the stone throwing guy.
- Why are some of the characters not hostile? It's interesting, but confusing. Was I supposed to interact with them?
- You made the game screen bigger than full screen on a computer. I don't know if it's just me, but I keep seeing this in a lot of games. The only way to play it and see everything is to zoom out.
- Why even have a live system? The whole point of a live system back in the day was for the arcade cabinet to justify taking more quarters from kids.
- When you hit enemies, they become translucent for a little while, but they can still be hit. Why not jut have an animation for them to indicate they are stunned. Because, as it is now, a translucent enemy makes it seem like they can't be shot (like they have an invulnerability frame like the player).

Nevertheless, this was an interesting play. I do hope you will keep designing things. Good luck!

[Lightspeed Hideout]

I enjoyed the game for the most part. The music and graphics are good. The most notable thing about the game is the boss fight and the difficulty it presents in the higher settings. It's frustrating, but not insurmountable in most cases. The boss phases I initially rolled my eyes at in lower setting became fairly challenging later on. You have a lot of little things in the game like multiple control options, a mute button, quick reload after deaths, which are great.

Issues I had with the game:
- I can't speak for everyone else, but during the fourth phase of the boss, the game began lagging like crazy and would sometimes suddenly speed up (especially when the anchor was dropped) causing me to get killed. I think the water effects in that level are responsible for the lag. In any case, I reached the fourth phase in Master difficulty and I don't think I'm going to be able to beat the game with that lag. Also, after experiencing that lag, whether it would be losing and going back to phase 1 of the boss or entering the final area, the game would speed up drastically for a little while before moving at a regular speed again.
- Upgrading the city doesn't seem to have any notable gameplay changes (yes, I know doors unlock, but that feels separate from upgrading the city. After all, what do doors have to do with a city that is unconnected with them?) It just feels like a contrived connection when it just as easily could have been a "increase your security access". There's also no in-game story about why you're rebuilding the city (the only story I found was in the description of the game).
- The text in the difficulty screen that read "some items are only found in higher difficulty" was misleading as this only applied to things found in the boss room. I was running around the non-boss areas trying to find differences in the different difficulty settings.
- The non-boss play areas are kind of boring. Like they were stapled on just to have items and they didn't have to be.
- Lowering the game speed also lowered the menu loading speed as well.

Overall, a very good game. I wish you luck in your future endeavors.

jebouin responds:

Thanks for the detailed feedback!
The lag during this phase is probably due to the inverse kinematics (which is disabled during the anchor attack). I optimized it a bit and managed to speed it 2-3x, hopefully that will be enough for you and other players experiencing lag there.

[Bleeding And Breathing ft. Plasmarift]

Hello! I do very much like being tagged! (I'm just a terrible communicator. I blame the rich)

I apologize for not commenting much. When I comment on Newgrounds, I usually do so to give constructive feedback and to detail exactly why I like or dislike something, but I'm not very familiar with electric dance songs (I'm not even sure if that's the correct genre I'm referencing) so I don't feel like I can give it the proper feedback it deserves.

Nevertheless, I've liked the recordings you've made featuring my voice and I hope you make more great stuff in the future! Thanks a bunch!

Quarl responds:

I wish there were words that could express my gratitude towards you, and there are words like that. I was being hyperbolic, thank you for your talents!!

[Who Dun It? A Murder Mystery Audio Drama]

Thank you for letting me be a part of this! It's great! So many great moments and great voice acting, as well as music and sound effects. Great job everyone!

[Kwing vs Cyberdevil]

I can always appreciate a good rap battle; reminds me a bit of Epic Rap Battles of History, which I'm a big fan. I think you can go a bit deeper on the references between your creations and such otherwise it just feels a bit hollow. The beat also feels a tad rushed. Still, I'm liking this.

Cyberdevil responds:

Big fan of Epic Rap Battles of History too. :) Solid feedback man; glad you liked it!

[Bo - Delicate and Precious]

Wow! The Wendy's girl looks different from what I remember :)

Very good drawing! It has a dream or vision like quality to it (possibly from the large amount of white) that enhances the beauty of the artwork and girl.

[Flight]

Wow, this is pretty imaginative. I like the feel of the artwork in the foreground; it gives you a feeling of adventure and happiness. You can also make out plenty of detail in the background, but it feels like the background kind of drags the rest of the painting down when you compare the detail of the foreground to the background (especially the land mass that the city sits on; it just looks like a bunch of brush strokes). I also like the pinkish/purple coloring. It makes the artwork stand out more than just black and white.

You look forward to seeing more from you. Good luck!

[Doki Doki!]

I like the colorfulness of the drawing and I also like how well you captured each of their appearances in your own way. My only complaint with the drawing would be Sayori, as her hair looks too puffy here, where as her hair is more flat in the game. Also, you made her hair brown, where as it should be something along the lines of pinkish brown.

Regardless, I still like the drawing and look forward to seeing more from you.

kurumilover responds:

Thanks so much for the feedback!