Plasmarift's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Reincarnation - When death calls]

The art is simple yet good, the plot is interesting, and the gameplay is simple, but still good; my problem is that it has frozen on me twice now on the same part and since there is no save function or skip button, I have to wait through the same cutscenes and play through the same parts again.

It keeps freezing just after I beat the first part of the cat level (note: I beat the game once already; the only difference in the playthroughs is that I went straight for the third toilet instead of playing through the first and second toilet).

Munguia responds:

Thanks for the comment and play, i just check the game i upload a new version with that problem fixed, thanks for the report

[Paradise Inc]

I like the art and concept, but the plot of the game seems flawed. Why would this Paradise company create a horrible and depressing virtual world for people to live in? Why not make a pleasant one where the people sent there will enjoy it and won't want to come back? The protagonist seemed to be expecting something pleasant. Why would the company even bother copying the minds over into something when it seems more humane just to kill them off in secret while pretending to send them somewhere?

Unless the point of the story is to say that a virtual world can never compare to the real thing (even if it is full of strife) or that without struggle, life isn't worth living, then the story makes no sense.

However, I do like the way the story is told and I kind of wish it was longer and the process of escaping the virtual world was more complex. I'd have liked to meet more characters and really see more of the darkness the virtual world had to offer (I know you only had a short amount of time to make this so I do understand why it is so short).

I hope the game did well in the competition and I wish you luck in your future of game design.

Criobite responds:

Thank you for playing, and for the feedback. I definitely agree that there are quite a few plot holes. I guess that just shows my current limits when it comes to writing a compelling story within a short amount of time. If I eventually revisit this idea (or at least something similar), I'll definitely put more time into thinking everything though! :)

[AntiTerrorism Department]

On the off chance you visit Newgrounds again, I'll leave this comment:
- I can't pick up a weapon; the keys "page up", "page down", and "end" are not on my computer. It's always a good idea to create a menu option that allows players to change the controls of each action or at least assign each action to more than one key.
- Adding AWSD as a movement option would be a good idea.
- Whether or not the bad guys die when you hit them seems random (though I'm never able to kill one that has noticed me). When they didn't die, they'd just stand there and wouldn't move.
- There was no animation for enemy guns shooting and no indication I was losing health other than a quiet sound and the small health bar in the corner going down.
- When doing the first mission, I got sent back to the beginning for failing the c4 part. That's kind of harsh.
- I can't say whether or not the graphic have been ripped off, but they look okay, especially for when this was made.
- The sound effect could use more work and should be increased in volume (it shouldn't sound like the music is drowning them out).

I actually would like to see this fixed so I could play. I wish you luck in whatever you are doing now.

[You Are Undead]

It's a cool zombie game. I've always wanted to play as a zombie going around eating people (too many games go for the "zombie swarm" approach or overpower the zombies you control). Still, the game has many flaws.
- You don't inform the player about the different abilities of the zombies you allow them to choose from. Although it is fun to figure the zombie's abilities out, it gives the initial impression that there's nothing special about them, but aesthetic appeal.
- You need the fourth zombie (the strong one) to break through some boards on an early level to get all the humans. If you don't choose the strong one, you can't get three stars on that level, which means if you want to try the level again with the strong zombie, you need to go back to the previous level, beat it with the regular green zombie (which is extremely tough sometimes) or beat a level farther back and work your way up to that level. Since that early level where the strong zombie was needed, I've always chosen the strong zombie, even though I'd like to use the flying zombie, but I needed the flying zombie in a later level.
- If you want to fix the above problem, allow the player to choose the zombie they want based on the previous level's star count, even when entering the level (have a button or prompt that leads to the selection screen). Another benefit to this system would be allowing players to experiment with different zombies on the increasingly difficult levels.
- You don't list the level number anywhere on the level. If you are still advancing through them in order, it will be pretty obvious from the stars, but what if you want to play a specific level that you found fun. You might not remember which one it was.
- There's no pause button.
- You can't tell what the field of vision is for the enemies. You can slightly estimate it, but on many of the later levels, you need to be almost literally just outside their field of vision to get to the humans before they turn around.
- When you get to the last person on the level and attack them, you automatically get three stars and can move on to the next level. Was this intentional?
- Why not just have the player hold down the down arrow instead of rapidly pressing it to eat the person.

I do like the fact that you can't be seen at night unless you are under a light and that when you are eating a human, you can move in and out of buildings to avoid being seen. I wish you luck in your future creations.

fabioecco responds:

Man, if I could I would pin your coment in the top of the page. There are many good points there that I could have used.
Not telling the habilities: on purpose, I loved how a guy on youtube reacted to the skeleton zombie hability.
The bulk pink zombie: Since the stealth mechanic is limited to doors and lights I wanted a zombie which could easily navigate through house's debris, unfortunately I'm not the best level designer around there. Your solution (total stars count) is excelent.
I didn't think that level numbers would matter, but you're right.
I don't know how to code a pause function (it's my 2nd game). I'm serious. hahah
Hide the field of vision was a design choice, I think otherwise would be easy to avoid them.
Last person on level: Why force people to tap the button till the end if the victim can't escape?
Tapping, not holding button: The faster you tap, the faster you finish eating. Holding would take a constant duration (random durations would be odd).
Finally someone mentioned the "hide the body" mechanic! But I can't complain because I didn't make a proper tutorial due to the time constraints I took.
I'm curious if you got to the storm level. Thanks a lot for the amazing feedback!

[Crown Dungeon]

I agree with the others when they say this game is inventive. I like the art and the puzzles. The game is just fun overall.

However, I had to try playing the game on three different browsers. The reason being because when I played it on Google Chrome, the white gloved mouse didn't always match up with my computer mouse, making it difficult to click on some things. On Safari, there was no sound (I checked to see that the music option was on. It was and there was still no sound). It worked fine on Firefox. I'd suggest in the future testing the game out on different browsers; even if you can't fix the problems, you can warn players not to play on those browsers in the description.

I look forward to your next creation. Good luck!

Drawmaneater responds:

thanks for feedback. I add this in the description

[The Last Apple]

I liked the game when I originally played it long ago and I still like it, though I have found some serious problems with it:
- If I attempt to jump on a sleeping guard, I lose. Your tip says that I can jump on the enemies. Is this a bug?
- I've reached the apple twice and after each time, it tells me I lose. Am I supposed to kill all the guards? (If so, I will need to jump onto a sleeping guard). In one of the previous comments, you said you were going to work on this.

Even though it's been awhile since you've been on Newgrounds, I hope someday you might fix these things.

[Mario FPS]

You could be onto something big here, but right now, it isn't nearly enough and needs a lot more work. The overall premise of the game is good and the first few levels are fun, but nothing new is added after this; every level that comes after involves getting more coins and going through more near identical mazes. This isn't fun, it is a chore with no challenge, but you can make some changes to correct this.
Let's start with the basics:
- It would be a good idea to include a mute button, pause button, and to include the controls in the description (the last one seems small, but it is still important).
- Perhaps include a run button or run option. After doing circles in the game looking for coins, I realized how slow your guy walks.
- You really need more enemies. I know the original Mario game didn't have a very large variety of them so you could bring some over from the other Mario games. To make it easy on yourself, make the enemies 2D models.
- For some reason, I couldn't hit the Goomba's whenever I was backup close to them and shooting.
- Add some more platforming into the mix like jumping over bottomless pits.
For some more advanced stuff:
- Perhaps include pipes in the game. Instead of having them teleport you to different spots, have them move you one floor up or down in a moment's notice, almost like a jump pad.
- Perhaps make it so you can jump on them as well.
- If you bring in the turtles, make it so the shells start bouncing off the walls when shot or hit. They can hurt you and the enemies.
- Perhaps make the bricks in the game breakable when shot at enough times (though you should include some blocks that aren't breakable so the player can't take quick shortcuts to the end of the game).
- Perhaps don't make the coins mandatory; make it so that collecting them will get you extra lives or allow you to upgrade your character.

I'm sure there are plenty of other improvements that can be made and I think if you included them, this game could become extremely popular! I wish you luck.

PaulHTML5 responds:

Thanks for the constructive feedback. I'm planning on making a future version with more enemies, the ability to jump over/on things etc. Great idea about the bouncing turtle shells, I'll try and incorporate that.

[A shard of mine]

I've beaten the game and I must say I prefer the original - it was straight forward and to the point and didn't take extremely long to finish. This version seems to be designed with the purpose of extending the game's length, which I think ruins the experience.
- You have items that you can't pick up until "you know" that you'll need them (instead of being like an actual adventurer on a journey who takes what they can get. why wouldn't I pick up berries for my journey?). This forces the player to backtrack and search for those items if they had found them before.
- You don't explain what the colors signify for the enemies once you start the game, which forces you to find out for yourself just how powerful the other colors are. Even when you know, you'll usually have to backtrack to the tougher enemies to fight them later either to level yourself up or to get passed them to reach an item.
- The map helps very little; there are no signifying marks for items you've come across, it's poorly drawn to where it looks like there should be paths where there aren't, and the brown colors in the map kept throwing me off even though I knew they were just signifying that there was a path in that area (which wasn't really necessary). It could have helped a lot to have a map that told you what enemies and items you left behind, that way you don't have to wander aimlessly through the world.
- Compared to the original, it seems like you cut out a few art assets because I remember some of the areas being more distinctive than the ones in this game (like lily pads and hedges). Everything just looks the same in the game.
- Lastly, you put the heart pieces all across the map. It's annoying, but I can tolerate that. My complaint is that you don't tell the player how many heart pieces are left to find and you don't add anything new to the world other than a wavy effect and a red overlay so essentially the player is backtracking, yet again, through the world.
- Although the combat system in the original was simple and bland, it didn't really bring the game down too much, especially since exploration seemed to be the focus of the game and the battles didn't last too long. Not only do the battles now feel like a chore with grinding and defeating some of the last enemies when getting the hearts, this feeling may have come about for me because the combat system and benefits for different armor and weapons wasn't thoroughly explained. For example, how much does bleeding take away from the enemy, how long are they stunned for, does increasing "skill" make the stun and bleeding effects more potent, what does upgrading your equipment with materials actual do for them, for defense, does it lower damage reduction based on the armor or does the ability stand alone? While it is true that I could test this kind of stuff out, it would involve taking a risk of investing more points into one category than into another, which can't be undone. What if you discovered later that bleeding and stunning don't help that much and you are now at such a disadvantage that you need to reset the game? For longer RPG games, experimenting with combat traits is a good investment because the experience is going to last longer and different classes have different benefits in the long run. This game is far too short to be experimenting with stuff, especially when logic is telling me to stick with the sword and shield; you only find a certain number of arrows and feathers so relying on the bow isn't such a good idea. Also, while the battle axe increases damage dealt and has other benefits, it takes away the healing ability, which is how I got through a lot of the early battles and the later ones (though not without getting bored of gaining 14 health, just for them to take 12 of it away again)
- I really wish the battles would've moved a bit faster. After hearing some of the same lines over and over again, you just want to speed through the boring battles, but there are pauses between dealing damage and getting hit, as well as waiting at the end of the battle for it to tell you you won and how much experience you got. It'd be nice to have the option to fast-forward through this stuff.
- What's the point of the one defense buff at the beginning of the battle. It's obvious if you are going up against a tough opponent that you should use it at the beginning, but then it's useless; you can't keep adding to the buff.
- I wasn't able to find the leather and wooden armor. I'm certain I looked everywhere.
- I came across a glitch for one of the sparkly items, where whenever you interact with it, it will repeat some enemy dialogue and freeze. I did this several times to test it. Thank you for putting that load to last save point feature into the game (it saved me from starting over). Also, the boy was still in the town square when I was inside Luna's heart.
- Also, for the storyline, why do the people blame the protagonist for all of the problems in the game? They shouldn't even recognize you and it really isn't her fault.

I did like the retelling of the story 'SPOILERS' where you are actually a piece of Luna's heart 'SPOILERS END'. I also liked the music.

Also, please don't get discourage from this review. I enjoyed Luna's Heart and your other games as well so please continue to create. I wish you luck in your future projects.

xinelu responds:

Thanks a lot for your review (I only saw reviews and critiques like this on steam haha)

I will address a proper answer to you by pm but let me say I'm truly glad for your review!

And please, every time you fell the need for an honest review do it! Only with good critiques can I evolve and enhance my work!

[ANTIDOTE city HALL #1]

Many people have given you praise on the good qualities of the game so I won't go into too much detail on those things aside from saying I like the graphics and story. I would like to address the negatives aspects of the game:
- There is no way to skip the Disclaimer and the Opening Credits. I understand that you want to make sure that everyone reads them, but forcing the player to sit through them doesn't guarantee this (I've replayed the game at least three times and I barely even look at them. It's just wasting the player's time). For people that want to replay the game, this can get very annoying.
- There is no saving mechanic. I know the game is short, but if something happens part way through the game that causes them to lose all of their progress, the player needs to sit through the disclaimer and opening credits again. Also, a saving mechanic would allow the player to see the outcome of the different choices, such as what would happen if you only went into the neighbor's room with a kitchen knife.
- I'm guessing you aren't a native English speaker, are you? There are far too many odd word choices and mistakes in grammar in the game. A few of these mistakes include the “About the favor…” option with the store clerk; the last line about the cards gathering dust for over a month repeats this in the same sentence. The mother says “baby, open your eyes”; a mother would say the baby’s name. When near the protagonist's bed, there is a word in place of where the word "object" should be in a different language, next to the words "sleeping pills". The cabinet or cupboard in the protagonist's room is called the nightstand in the game. So two objects in the protagonist’s room are marked as “nightstand”. These are just a few of errors I've found. There are a lot more. I'd be happy to help you with these.
- The store owner is looking for a "seller" and even has an ad in the newspaper and can’t find anyone. First off, I think you mean cashier or store manager, not a seller. Also, the bum says that jobs get taken up quickly. He’s literally sitting outside of a place that offers work and can’t find a job? It’d be cool if you could let the bum know about the opening, even if the owner would say "No. I can't hire him. He smells, he's dirty, and I can't trust him not to steal from me."
- The sound effect for the drier goes on for a little longer after it is done.
- The player can get a book from the hotel owner, but can't read it. What's the point in that? If the neighbor had a gun, I can imagine that maybe the book would catch the bullet and save the protagonist's life, but this wasn't the case. The player can't interact with their inventory at all.
- I'd suggest implementing the WASD keys for controls. It's a small thing, but it gives people one less thing to complain about. Also, if you plan to incorporate the mouse or other keyboard button into the next chapter, the WASD becomes even more important.
- This one is just a personal preference. While I like the protagonist's personality (he's real with himself, down to earth, and is aware that his current situation is his fault while he also knows, much like everyone else, that the city is corrupt, which is the one thing just about everyone has in common in the game), I found him to be extremely cocky during the interview at the end of the game; he seemed to exaggerate the situation, such as him saying that "the fatalities could have gone up to the hundreds" or something like that. I doubt there are even a hundred people in that hotel, let alone the guy succeeding in killing that many people with a knife alone.
- I feel like the game would be more fun if it were extended to be an open world game, rather than what it is now. There are a number of people you can interact with that affects what happens to them in game and what will happen to them tomorrow, like the bum, the hooker, and the laundry lady.

However, like the others, I do look forward to the next chapter of this game and wish you luck!

[Prom GOblin]

You don't explain to the player that you need to blow two kisses to people to get them to vote for you when they want to vote for garlic kid. Checking to see who voted for you is pretty much a waste of time. If you find out they didn't vote for anyone then you blow another kiss. If they voted for garlic kid, you blow two kisses to them, which means you blew two kisses and one to check them. Why not just blow two kisses each time. It's possible that they are already going to vote for you, but I think it averages out, especially if garlic kid has more votes than you do. Why not just show the player who is voting for who? It'd even be more effective if the right mouse button caused a circle to go out and tell you who all the nearby people are voting for.

The game just seems annoyingly repetitive. It is hard to blow kisses to some people since they are so close together they are blocking each other (you also don't know if you hit your target sometimes). Plus, if you are too close to a person, all of your shots hit that person. No matter how many people I try to turn over to my side, garlic kid always seems to catch up and get ahead.

Still, I wish you and your team luck on your next project.