Plasmarift's Reviews

[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.

[Flossing Mishap]

Amazing that the guy both flosses and brushes incorrectly.

The animation made me visually cringe in fear and disgust, which is saying something (I thought I'd been thoroughly desensitized to horrifying stimulus, save for jump scares). The art style rides the line between cartoonish and realism, which is perfect for this type of animation. Sound effects were fitting and poignant (I'd actually be interested to know where you found them or how you made them).

As for what actually happened, I knew something horrifying was going to happen, but I was not expecting that, so your surprise was well done (and the undulating was unsettling). Also, nice mask at the beginning.

I wish I could say more, but I'd just be rambling at that point. Very good job!

[Despair]

I can tell you've still got that touch when, after having been away from your content for a while, I finish the video and think "what the fudge did I just watch?"

The cat girl threw me though. Since when did anime characters exist in the Sexual Universe? Is she single?

I guess the only suggestion would've been to make the email part a tad longer. Nyan

[DARK SWORD: The Light of Ainn]

Well, here’s some feedback and possible bugs/things that could be fixed:
- When you grab the two collectibles from the beginning of the game, the shadows underneath them remain.
- Why does the game sometimes take you to the upgrade area whenever you collect stuff? Just leave the player where they are. The only except would be the dungeon.
- I managed to glitch past a section of the wall with no way to get back (it was to the right of the necromancer area where the book was, away from the enemies).
- You added more collectibles yet you don’t actually tell the player what they do (the descriptions in the menu don’t always help), and a giant picture of them will appear on screen, blocking the screen. Why not just have some text in the corner tell you “you picked up…” with a small picture maybe?
- Why can’t I skip the opening cutscene?
- What happened to the sword bosses music? There was a horrible bass-y overlay. I had to turn off the sound completely because just lowering it wasn’t enough.
- You have regular enemies scattered throughout the game. Why? They aren’t a real danger and killing them does nothing. I can dash passed them. Having them appear in boss fights is interesting though.
- Why did you have to add bonfires for saving? Why not save before fighting the boss? You can still have bonfires if you want, just make it so the game saves at a boss room and you appear outside a boss room if you lose.
- Once the boss is defeated, make it so all the enemies they summoned die as well. Otherwise, the player might just be killed.
- Why does the red flash indicting you’ve been hit appear during the tutorial of the game?
- On the left side entrance (the area that’s covered in blood), just as it switches to a regular floor, it still makes the squishing noises/
- Should the music that plays when you’re near the girl continue to play while in the common area? Because it continued to play.
- Maybe make it so common enemies will stop pursuing you when entering miniboss rooms.
- Upon switching to the hammer, you need to press the right mouse button before it will appear and work (I switch to the hammer and the claws were showing until I did this. Before equipping the hammer, I had the sword equipped, but, in the past, I had equipped the claws)
- A piece of the castle wall isn’t appearing properly on the right side of the map (to the left of the pile of rumble you can hit)
- Maybe make it so if you stop using the healing spell, the sound for it cuts off.
- No choice to change difficulty (that’ll come into play down below)
- Why does the timer have a “:” on the end?
- I thought the whole thing with the “heart of the corrupted core” was to take out it’s minions, but while you’re doing that, it gets stronger or if you take too long, it will wake up. Now it wakes up as soon as you attack it so you can just go after the minions first. You could have had it where it slowly gains a second health bar or something. Speaking on this matter, my “partner” woke up the heart when I didn’t want it to; not sure much can be done about that though.
- After beating the “heart of the corrupted core”, it showed the statue, but it didn’t break; it screen just stayed on it (the game wasn’t froze because I used the “2” spell).

I’m sorry, but every time you’ve updated the game, something always seems to be broken or just off in general and it’s usually pretty obvious. It’s important that you play your own game extensively before release to catch this stuff, otherwise it just makes you look bad and upsets the players. Either that, or get way more beta testers.

Personally, I think you’re making this too complicated in a way. The first version of the game was simple; you just fight bosses. It was great! Further updates added more bosses, which was good, and changes to combat (I was a bit non-plussed about that, but it made things interesting), then you started adding exploration, upgrades, a bunch of lore (a bit of lore wouldn’t be bad, but the lore you included comes off as meaningless as it just feels like generic confusing fantasy writing. The gameplay isn't influenced by it; knowing it doesn't change anything, reveal any secrets, change our interaction with the surrounds, etc. Less is more when it comes to writing. You want just enough to get the player to fantasize about the meaning. As it stands, it just doesn’t feel interesting because, me personally, I just want to get to the fights). It feels like you went from emulating Shadow of the Colossus to Dark Souls and now you’re stuck in-between them and you’re burying your game underneath stuff that doesn’t need to be there (weapons that most people won’t use, lore people won’t read, small enemies that are just distractions when not fighting bosses, extra graphics that might look nice, but add nothing to the game, etc.).

The upgrade system is killing the difficulty. I upgraded the standard gun to max and I started tearing through the bosses easily, sometimes in less than a minute (granted, I’ve fought some of them in previous versions so I knew generally what to expect, but it has been awhile). Then I upgraded the sword completely, I killed the boss in the upper right corner on the first try and that one was always difficult, even when I knew what I was doing. Another thing, when I came across an actual tough boss, like the witch queen, I thought “I’ll come back later after I’ve upgraded more”. It discourages players from taking on challenges. Another personal thing, some of bosses are far too easy since you included the healing function because, if you’re patient enough, you can just hit and run away from them until they die (my biggest concerns were stray bullets that I didn’t see coming). Maybe the enemies could do with being more aggressive, or a smaller area. Now, I get this is just my experience; others might be saying “it’s too hard” and the truth is you’re never going to please both crowds. The question is which crowd do you want to please? Keep in mind, a person who finds the game hard can become better at the game if they play it longer while, if the game’s too easy, skilled players will find it boring and will stop playing and won’t talk about it. It'll be a glorified art gallery.

I think it’s also important that you keep in mind the perspective. You can have so much happening on screen that attacks and special effects overlap (even the enemy can block sight of the attacks) and players can miss this, end up getting hit, and wonder “why did that happen?” because we’re looking down on the action, we’re not actually close up to it. I'd say keep this in mind when including special effects.

While the graphics are good, they can blend together at times due to the limited color palette. My beef the graphics is that I can't interact with the environment much at all; you put all this work into it (and I'm astounded by the effort and detail) and it's just a backdrop; it’s like having a tray of desserts in front of you and told not to eat them. And the environment only influences gameplay minimally. You can hide behind objects and some objects can be destroyed, but there's no environmental dangers, no way for you or the enemies to use the environment their advantage, like shooting through fire to light your bullets on fire. Or cold weather slowing you down. It just doesn't feel like a living breathing world.

I’m being negative, but you have done good in the game and in the previous version (otherwise. I wouldn't have spent so long writing this review). The way you hid the key (new hiding spot) was clever, some of the bosses really do present a challenge, and, I enjoy the combat. The music is great and the graphics are good.

I'm sorry to say I've beaten about six main bosses and I’m just bored now (I stopped after the game got stuck on the heart statue not breaking. You put so much area in-between the bosses that it can feel like a slog sometimes. This kind of thing worked for Shadow of the Colossus because it built anticipation and there was generally nice scenery and you could look for small upgrades. Your game, despite having well put together scenery is pixelated and the upgrades are large and require that you return to the main hub to upgrade (same with changing the weapon). Please take my review with a grain of salt as I’m just one voice here.

[Rabbit Hole 1.03]

There's a lot I enjoy about the game, but I feel like it has issues that are holding it back:
- Why can't you pause the game when you're in a fight? Sometimes, I want to restart right away and this means I either need to beat the enemies in the room or just let them kill me, both of which waste time.
- There's no option to replay the tutorial, no way to replay the opening cutscene, and no way to skip the opening cutscene.
- You can't cycle through NPC text fast. It makes you wait before initiating another dialogue box.
- A lot of things in the game go unexplained with only vague descriptions (if any) and must be learned, like $(gun); I thought this meant I could pay money for a gun. It actually meant they'd take my gun for money. While this can be fun to some extent, it should be cleared up soon in the game. I ended up buying something at a shop that had no directions and it ended up being a book or a tank of gas (the latter of which has no immediate use and the former of which I was unimpressed by).
- The control layout for the melee attack is awkward. While I know you said that you couldn't map it to the mouse easily due to limitations of the program you used to develop the game (and that the right mouse button would be used for something else), it really is something that is killing the experience a bit for me because the melee attack is actually pretty important, with it doing so much damage and having the ability to knock enemies back and in some cases cancel out their attacks. I would literally need to undo years of conditioning from other games and change the way I position my hand on the keyboard to make it work. The melee attack is already difficult to utilize effectively because it locks you into it when you use it and touching enemies hurts you, which means you need to position yourself just right, so it doesn't couple well when I imagine most people like me having to take their finger away from a movement key to use it. For now, I've reassigned the button to the crouch button since I never use it so maybe that will help.
- I appreciate a game that is difficult and rewards you for accomplishments (though the game doesn't do a lot of the latter). I really did like the game giving me a bonus for beating the first boss without taking damage. Still, I can't imagine beating the second boss without a number of powerups and the golden revolver. Maybe if I had more practice with them, it would be doable (for instance I just realized I could keep pushing the melee guy back by repeated, well-timed melee attacks), but that would involve making it to them multiple times, meaning I need to fight through the first and second floors just to reach them. In a game where no upgrades are permanent and there's no health given for the next level, both skill and pattern memorization is a must. It kind of feels like the gameplay time is being artificially stretched out due to this. Sometimes, it feels like I should just restart the game if I take too much damage because if your health is too low or you still haven't gotten enough upgrades or good weapons, it seems like you'll just end up dying later anyway.
- I honestly feel like about half the shops are useless, specifically the slot machine (why does it take health instead of money?), mafia person, and person who takes health for health. Saying there's more risk than reward would be an understatement. They can negatively affect the rest of your run if it doesn't pay off and depending on whether or not you can make up for what you lost.
- What purpose does the crouch mechanic serve?
- What's the point of having some guns that launch you upward?
- When I turned off sound and music, some sounds still play, like when moving over dialogue boxes (mafia person) and when the meters number decreases when entering an area.

Still, the game has many great qualities:
- You do describe the game as "tough-as-nails" so you did give fair warning. And the game is very addictive.
- The graphics are charming and music is actiony and fun.
- Most of the NPC are well designed, but are kinda boring to me since their personalities don't really shine through, except for jacket giving girl. I was actually curious what would happen between the main character and her.
- It took me a while to realize you could actually go back to previous rooms, allowing you to revisit shops. You even made it so health drops don't disappear so you can go back and get them later if you wanted to.
- The enemies and NPCs are well designed and each have their own attack patterns (Mind you, I've only reached the 3rd floor once).
- I really feel like some interesting stuff will be coming up in the game, both storywise and fight wise, though I don't know if I'm skilled enough to reach it.
- Combat feels rather smooth.
- I like that you put in a mechanic that brings all the coins to you after beating all the enemies in the room. It saves time and prevents you from missing them.

Let me be clear; I'm not asking you to nerf the game. I hate it when developers do this because some people say it's too difficult. I just wanted to offer my opinion on the matter. I also want to make it clear that despite my criticisms, I'm intrigued by the game. I used to comment a lot on games years ago and now I only typically comment on games that I find both impressive and that have issues because I want to see both the game and developers truly shine.

I wish you luck in your future endeavors.

[MÆRE]

It's definitely scary in a number of different ways, brilliantly utilizing both visuals, sound, and a bit of storytelling. The artwork is good and the game mechanics are well implemented and designed. It is short, but I'd prefer a short good experience rather than a long average one.

SPOILERS AHEAD
My issue is that the game is not just easy; it appears impossible to lose (I know because I've tried). The closest you can come to losing is on the last level and, even then, you have to make a conscious effort to stare at the ghosts as well as closing your eyes to keep the fear meter from draining when ghosts aren't around. Plus, on each level, scary stuff will just stop happening after about a minute or so. I'm guessing it was developed as a no lose scenario so people wouldn't replay the game and see the same scares in the same place (I'm guessing it was also designed to be easy so that a player trying to complete the level would complete it at around the time that scary events stopped happening). If you ever decide to expand on this, a few suggestions:
- Have the fear meter go up when the player character is uncertain of what's going on in the room, with it rising in response to how uncertain you are.
- Utilize a bit more sound effects. Sound effects can be reused more than artwork without it seeming forced or out of place, especially in a horror game.
- In the last level, you have a laughing face appear when the player closes their eyes. While this is good (and could increase the fear meter as well), I'd also suggest strange visual effects at times when the eyes are closed, such as seeing veins, a dim light, a few shapes well placed to look like a face. Basically things to always keep it interesting and keep the player on their toes, thinking "it's safer when I close my eyes, but maybe it's not always completely safe...". I'd also like to note I like the fact that you have an almost static effect when the eyes are closed and I like it.
- Perhaps have more visuals in the room move from one place to another when the eyes are closed, like a picture frame moved on a wall or the tv is on the floor now. When this happens, the fear meter can go up and the player has to be aware of what's going on.
- You can also add "check under the covers" with the down button, maybe add an indicator of sensation of something touching the player character.

Well done and I wish you luck in your future projects.

[A Tongue-In-Cheek Rephrasing of the Point We're Trying to Convey]

This is probably one of the only songs I ever unironically head banged too. Great work on this and thank you for sharing!

LuckyDee responds:

Thanks for the response man, greatly appreciated

[Harmonica in 4 seconds]

I'm no expert, but I'd say that's pretty good harmonica playing. Are you experienced in music at all? (you seem to have a good handle on rhythm and your ability to hold one note and play another exceeds my use of the harmonica. I almost thought I was listening to an accordion). :)

WooleyWorld responds:

Oh well I recorded one harmonica then went back to record over it.. so it's not as skilled as it sounds. :3
But yeah I play harmonica, electric/acoustic/bass guitar, and violin. I just fiddle around, I don't take lessons. And yeah it does sound like an accordion when you don't bend the notes all bluesy. ^_^

[happy together 8-bit]

If I make a game one of these days, I am definitely including your song. This is a cool song.

[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!