Mogget128723's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Captain Robert]

A flawed masterpiece.

The centerpiece here was the brilliant story, but the way it was conveyed to the player is the issue - the logs had numerous spelling and grammar errors, and a large number relied on the player finding them in the correct order, which (as it did in my case) might not necessarily happen. Early on, this resulted in a bit of incredulity as to the quality of the story, and later, once the story has hooked the player, the way some information was simply missing depending on the route I took was a bit off-putting.

The simplistic graphics really aren't a problem for me, particularly given this was made for Ludum Dare, but the other major issue with the game was the lack of any kind of map screen, or even ability to place yourself in the ship. This resulted in a lot of frustrating backtracking and running in circles, occasionally going down the same passage numerous times in a row unintentionally. This could either be fixed with a basic map screen, indicating the player's position as well as the position of important locations, such as the storage door, the cockpit, the escape pod, the greenhouse, etcetera, or with a sort of 'in setting' navigation system, with lines of a partiuclar colour running from the cockpit to each section. For instance, a green line could run from the cockpit to the greenhouse, or a blue line from the cockpit to storage.

If you were to return to this to create a more polished version, this is what I would do:
Add two screens - a map screen accessible via M, and a log screen, accessible via L. When the Captain encounters a log, the log is removed from the world, and an entry is added to the log screen. The combination of these two features would allow the player to more easily navigate the ship, as well as access earlier logs for reference, and hunt down the logs they're missing by exploring parts of the map they haven't accessed yet.

I particularly liked the way the game simply ends when you open the storage door. I'm not going to spoil it for your other players, but I'm pretty sure I know what was on the other side.

All in all, this was fantastic. The issues I mentioned were stumbling points, but I was too engrossed by the story to really care all that much. I'd love to see more story-based stuff from you - once you get a proofreader, of course ;)

koe415 responds:

Thank you for taking the time to write that. The vast majority of the spelling errors are now gone now that I've had more than a few hours of sleep to reread what I wrote. I tried to make the logs as easy to follow as I could in case they were found 'out of order' and I'm glad you stuck through it. I kind of wanted the story to unfold in front of the player as if he were actually just randomly exploring the ship but due to time constraints, I also had a limited number of areas where I could tell the back story of the crew.

If I revisit this game, a log screen and map are pretty high on the list of new features. The ending will also be tweaked to ensure that the player isn't just thinking he broke my game. Again thanks for playing. It means a lot seeing people's responses and reactions.

[GARE]

For the most part, this game is sublime.
The graphics are stellar: the glowey-blue wireframe look is fantastic, and happens to meet my tastes to a point.
The sound design is fantastic as well - glitchy, electronic and intense. It matches the graphics beautifully.
Gameplay is very solid, if not particularly groundbreaking. The speed and mechanics of combat and movement are firm as granite.

The music, however, is where the game falls flat. The music in the opening and menu screens is great, but ingame... it sounded like lounge slow jazz with an electronic beat. It simply didn't have enough power to drive the game like it should have, and it REALLY didn't match the sound and visual feel. Piano would be okay for something like this, but something more minor, less flowery. Really, you want something with a heavy electronic focus, and maybe light interaction with piano, choir, or orchestra.

If the music were swapped out, it would be my idea of a perfect multi-directional shooter. Overall, though, great work.

prexen responds:

Noted.
I cant hit it all :(, im sure tried ! and im not a composer (damn ). When you say jazz is kinda funny, cause i play the saxophone. You are right in every aspect.
Thank you for the feedback.
Im taking all you guys say into acc to improve the game (or even a GARE 2 ? ).
And im sure to try new things with the music.

[Ace Pilot]

Game crashed during the bit while you're chasing the battleship (I'm running Firefox, latest update, and it froze when I tried to un-pause the game) and when I returned, my saves were gone. Amazing game, amazing content, awesome epic scale, but starting from the beginning after making significant progress isn't something I want to do right now.

EldritchAbomination responds:

Sorry about that issue, but we're glad you came back! - I'm adding a save game button to the menu in game to make it easier to ensure your game gets saved

[Muu: Just Another Day]

I get what this was trying to do.

It was going for the precision-based platforming style of Dust Force or Super Meat Boy, but there are a number of problems. The most obvious among the is the game's touch-and-go treatment of steep slopes. The latter part of the game requires a lot of jumping from the very bottom of slopes above spikes, but when the game simply decides not to detect your jump again and again and again, it just gets irritating. In Dust Force, when you fail, it's because you screwed up: it's something you did, and you can correct it, which is why it's so good. It's hard, but you can learn to overcome that. When the difficulty is entirely based around slow horizontal movement, sticky jumping, and glitchy detection on slopes, it isn't challenging: it's just irritating.

The music and art style are spectacular: I just wish it was more focused on skill rather than luck of the draw.

Miktar responds:

Thanks for the review!

I wouldn't say I was going for Dust Force (haven't played it) or Super Meat Boy (stuck on the last level), but rather trying to channel some of the spirit of the original Super Mario Bros with the twist of the slopes.

My inexperience with Stencyl resulted in the slopes being far more testy than they should be, but I think they're still very manageable. My best so far is 8 deaths for a complete run.

For my next game though, I'll avoid slopes altogether.

[Resident Evil Count Down]

waaaay

too small. Couldn't read anything on the screen. Solid coding though; everything seemed to work as I clicked random buttons :/

mikuru15 responds:

i should put up a remider to enlarge the screen, i was worried that would happen

[Skincraft]

Haha XD

Funny how the preview in this skin-maker has anti-aliasing while Minecraft itself does not XD

Great work here; I'll be using this a lot.

The-Swain responds:

Could always set quality to low for that full-blown Minecraft effect ;)

[Dead Space Invaders]

As a fan of the Dead Space franchise...

Fucking epic.

Just thought you should know.

I-smel responds:

I'm so happy I'm finally seein reviews from people who know what Dead Space is

[lint]

Frustrating.

I am sad to find myself partially agreeing with HeroicDevil. The game was, in fact, inventive, creative, and challenging. Too challenging. While some of the rooms were simple and quick, others became fits of insanity that've got you pulling your hair out from the roots in a matter of seconds. The polar effect here is annoying; some sort of steady curve from one end to the other would have been nice.

Also, one thing that has always bothered me about platformers.

Spikes.

Will NOT kill you in real life if you gently poke them from the side!!!!!

I was sad to see that this game, based on careful maneuvering as it is, did not remedy this. The room that I stopped playing in (the one with the three blocks w\ spikes under the overhang with spikes on the end) had this to a painful degree. The top path is so difficult to access it may as well be impossible, but the route on the blocks appears more enticing.

You jump to the first block, and get killed on the roof. No matter, make a few areal adjustments, and you're there. Next to the spikes. You move forward a bit, readying for your next jump, and BOOM!! You've nicked a spike's smooth side, and looks like you're back at the beginning again.

Sorry about that; the game has real promise, but enough flaws and frustration factor that I couldn't find much entertainment in it.

Why are my bad reviews always the long ones?

PCpr0gramer responds:

The spikes are razor edged and tipped with potassium cyanide.

[Barnstormer]

It was fun...

However, I would like to see the plane pivot closer to its wings... as you had it, it was throwing me off.

AKGameworks responds:

Nice catch, you're right the plane should have rotated around its CG.. I meant originally to do that, got used to the controls as is while playtesting and thought no-one would notice. Obviously I was wrong! :)

Thanks for your comment!

[Orbis Venatus]

The game appears well-polished...

But there are some crippling problems within the script. The collision coding appeared erratic, especially in level 14, when THE COMPUTER DIDN'T SEEM TO KNOW WHERE THE FAN WAS. I kept dying in open space. Please repair this problem; as it destroys what would have been a fun game.

KyleDaFox responds:

Yeah, I'll get right on Level 14.