FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[DEAD DETENTION #2 (Rescribbled)]

Nice to see another episode of this! For the most part my feelings are the same as the first, in that this is a pretty neat visual novel with some cute presentation, goofy vibes and unique minigames, but I'm still bummed out at the lack of quality-of-life features like a save/load option, I don't like that you can't fail minigames since it makes it feel so scripted and lacking any sort of interesting choices or branching, and I'm still paranoid and unsure whether the choices have any effect on the story as Max seems to behave the same no matter how I try to shape him. Looking forward to seeing how it all resolves, at least!

[The Lumlings Welcome You]

Huh, not too shabby! For as simplistic as the game is, the world you've constructed here not only has some goofy charm to it with the cartoony artstyle, sound effects and characters, but it's actually enough of an interesting playground with all sorts of secrets and routes to find that I surprisingly got into it more than I would've expected! With a little bit more spice to it, I could see this game being a nice little collectathon in the same vein as something like A Short Hike or Pseduoregalia or whatever!

That being said, the game still didn't keep my attention for too long as once the initial hype dies down, it just can't compete with other exploration games that have more interesting traversal mechanics or incentives. It didn't help either that I got super paranoid that I was gonna miss one or two flowers and not have the patience to look over the whole map again and again, so why bother trying, especially with no save/load. There were also strange issues like how the camera kept suddenly snapping to face another direction: I've heard from other devs the issue is common with these types of games and could be unavoidable, but I've never had it happen so frequently except in this game, so I feel like something is awry.

Certainly quite promising and punches above its weight more than I expected, but still could use a certain je ne sais quoi to really make the gameplay compelling. Keep up the good work!

[Lightning Katana [Demo]]

Didn't expect to see a new demo for this so shortly after the last one, but the progress is nice to see!

Glad to see that some of my previous feedback has been rectified, such as the new foot animation for kicking, and the inclusion of a narrative and other cool effects like the way enemies get chopped in half is pretty cool.

Some of my previous feedback is still present, such as how I don't like these weird auras that deny weapon usage on enemies and would prefer a new enemy type be created instead for those purposes, but I assume either they will be addressed later on or you wish to keep them.

In addition to the above, here are some other feedback I can offer:

*The cooldown between slashes is obvious because of the way the arms go down and don't come back up until it's ready, but the same can't be said for parries: there is a cooldown phase where you can't slash or parry, but it's not obvious because your arms are still up. I'd like it if there was more consistency in this matter.

*Soundscape could be a bit better as apart from the initial alert sounds that enemies make, they are totally silent, which makes it so that they can easily seem to come from nowhere as they make no footsteps or attack sounds. Perhaps it's intended as part of the challenge that you need to be swooshing your camera around constantly to keep an eye on them, but I dunno: I'd like it if I could keep track of them through sounds as well.

*Menus are very inconsistent in terms of control: some of them can be used with the mouse to click the buttons, while others force you to use the keyboard. It's just really confusing and frustrating to figure out what each one wants.

*The new HUD is nice, but I wish it was more clear what power you are currently carrying. Yes, once you get good enough you can memorize the colors that represent each power and look at your arms, but it's very confusing when you're starting out as you can be picking up powers at a rapid pace before you even see what you pick up and have no idea what you're carrying. I'd say that the power icon should not only be somewhere on your HUD to reference, but the icon should also briefly flash in the center of the screen when you pick it up to help acknowledge it.

Keep up the good work as I'm looking forward to hacking and slashing in the full release!

FCPXAV responds:

Glad you enjoyed! I liked the idea of an entirely new enemy for enemies that are immune to weapons, but we don't have the resources right now to add that to the game :(

The flower that represents your health also flashes depending on whether or not you have a powerup/what powerup you have but I'm aiming to add more obvious feedback on picking up an ability in the full game!

I just finished working on/adding a big new level to the game with a fair amount of new mechanics that took up all my dev time for the past couple weeks as they required reworking a lot of the code, so things like some of the menus have fallen to the wayside but that's also on the fix list for the final game!

Thanks for the feedback and glad you enjoyed! (P.S. feel free to take a look at the new level/mechanics and let us know what you think of em :) )

[Stardust Journey - Artfight 2024 Mass Atack!]

Hmm, it certainly is quite the nice visual novel, what with its cute graphics and wholesome vibes. I was impressed at the inclusion of animations and numerous special CGs: certainly some effort was put in beyond the usual talking static poses that most visual novels default to. Overall it's ok, but I will say there were a lot of issues on closer examination:

The game is definitely lacking a lot of quality-of-life features. It does have a log feature which is nice, but without a skip/fast-forward or save/load, replays are an absolute chore to get through, which is important because the game is all about that! It does look like there is a 'skip intro' button that appears eventually, but not only does this only appear once you fully conquer someone (meaning if you mess up, you can't skip), it disappears if you close the game and come back to it later on.

Not all visual novels need to do this, but I felt a bit disappointed at the reactivity from choices the player can make. I like to pick the wrong choices to see what happens as they can be very interesting, but in this game a lot of them lead to just a quick and boring game over screen, upon which you need to start all over (which is annoying due to the reasons above). I wish there were more amusing conclusions like when you turn off the computer at the very start and it berates you, haha!

Finally, I will admit that I had no idea what was going on in this as I'm not familiar with these OC artfights or whatever. I was trying to pick stuff up from context clues and you can still enjoy yourself somewhat from the goofy vibes, but in the end I felt like I was an outsider reading someone's private journal that I'm not meant to read: really felt like this game was meant to just be shared with friends and not the general public. Nothing wrong with that, and I guess it's nice to learn about this world I'm unfamiliar with, but that awkward feeling is just something that can happen when you post it publicly instead of within the intended audience circle, I suppose.

Diadantist responds:

First of all, thank you for you extensive review on the game! I appreciate a lot these kind of comments. I'll answer you in order.

I'm aware of the lack of several QOL features, like the skip button and save states. The plugin I used for this game was Dialogic, which offers the possibility of adding it onto game projects, but not "directly" as the log feature, but with some extra configuration work behind. I was thinking about it throughout the entire development of the game, but due to lack of time and knowledge of how the plugin works, I ended up not adding it. Instead, I added the skip button once you reach the OC list, so at least you don't have to repeat the entire intro every time you want to do a new route. I'm working to eventually release a 2.0 version that includes both options, tho! I don't have as much time as I wished I had for this project (since I'm working on a big project that is unrelated to gamedev), but rest assured I'll add it sometime in the future.

About the wrong choices, you are totally right! Since I ran out of time, I didn't include many goofy scenes aside from a couple for some characters and the beginning. The turning off the computer thing is my favourite so far!

And about the context, it's totally true that if you aren't familiar with Artfight or how it works, it may be a little bit confusing. That's on me completely. Artfight is an annual art game that lasts 1 month and where you can fight each other "attacking" their OCs in goofy ways. The variety of attacks can vary from regular illustrations to videogames (like my attack!) so maybe that's why it felt a little bit awkward.

https://artfight.net/info/about / https://artfight.net/news/95.art-fight-2024-seafoam-vs-stardust-results

I was featured on this year's final post (where they feature art made on that year) on the videogame category, so I take it as a huge feat :) You should try the other featured games, there's one that uses other people OC's for a warioware-inspired game! https://alleesaur.itch.io/ocware-artfight-2024-edition

If you are curious about what the event is like or want to know more about it (and maybe even participate if you want!), I leave you the links here. I'm aware that one may feel unfamiliar with Stardust Journey if you don't know the full context the game was made on. I still wanted to post it to Newgrounds for archive reasons (along in itch.io too).

Anyways, sorry for the long rant! You'll be happy to know I'm working on a 2.0 version as I said earlier. Comments like yours help me not only improve the game, but notice details that I may have missed completely like the conversations. Hopefully this won't be my last time doing a visual novel, and for me it's a huge feat having finished this game just in time for this year's Artfight since I wasn't able to in 2023.

I would be very happy if you tried it again once I update it! Have a good day :)

[RPG MK. II]

Pretty neat action game! Reminds me of something like Hotline Miami or Broforce, what with its bite-size levels that blend fast-paced action with a slight puzzle/stealth element, alongside slowly unlocking an arsenal of weapons and gadgets that can influence your approaches even further. Game also has a pretty good sense of polish and presentation despite its simple graphics: in particular the intros and outros for levels were pretty slick. I had a good time with this, especially when I was trying to build optimal and speedy routes through the levels that would keep my combo up the whole way through.

That being said, I did feel like the gameplay left me a bit wanting. It's fun if you turn your brain off and enjoy the chaos, but the second you turn it back on, it's just simply too easy due to the myriad ways you can exploit the AI. I mean jeez, you can easily baffle the AI by hopping up and down between floors and whittling them down with pop shots.

I really felt like I wanted the game to challenge me more as it felt like I could handle every level with the same cheap tricks: maybe it would be better if the enemies would pursue you beyond their initial floor when they make contact with you, even sounding an alarm for the whole base if you don't kill them swiftly. Also it might help if there were more enemy types that counter certain tricks, and if the levels were constructed to limit your freedom more and funnel you towards dangerous hand-crafted situations.

As mentioned before, I had the most fun playing this game when I was trying to speed through the levels and keep up a full combo. However, I don't feel like the game does a good job at encouraging this, and that's a bit of a shame because then the player can just breeze through mindlessly. I'd love it if there were some sort of grading system for levels and, as an incentive, make it so that in order to get the weapon unlock, you need to get a high grade: this would encourage more engagement into the scoring system and offer higher replayability. Basically I want the neat quest system you have, but done on a wider scale.

In addition to the feedback above, there were also some minor issues with the gameplay, such as how incredibly awkward the melee system is where you're constantly phasing past the enemy and making follow-ups difficult. Also I'm agog and aghast at the fact that there is no save/load feature! I made quite some progress in this and was hoping to continue it after taking a break, only to find myself all the way back at the start: quite the bummer!

BlueEagle421 responds:

Thanks a lot for this review!
I’m taking a break from working on it, but I noted your feedback. I will definitely try to improve the melee and try to balance the difficulty. I also enjoy the game most while trying to get the highest combo ;) I was thinking of some scoring/ranks systems for the levels. Will see how it turns out
The save system broke unfortunately on the web version and because it’s an old project I need to rebuild a lot of stuff from ground up to get it working. I want to get it up and running asap, but it’s a technical issue. At least it works on desktop for now ;)
Cheers!

[Scarab's Ring]

Nice little arcade experience! It's a rather simple game, but it's got a decent addictive core loop that I could easily see myself playing on the phone to waste some time here and there and go for a high score.

I enjoyed trying to keep my combo up, especially thanks to the subtle but juicy way the sounds get pitched-up as you get higher and higher. I did find it confusing, though, that hitting power-ups or purple enemies doesn't keep your combo up. I suppose you could argue that it's a test of your skill to try and find a window to get the power-up while still hitting blocks to keep your combo, but even thinking like that I found it rather unintuitive.

I do feel like the game needs a better sense of progression or challenge, as right now it feels like getting a high-score is more a matter of patience than of skill. It took so long for the game to introduce anything new like the bonus stage or gaps, and the timer doesn't seem to get any faster, meaning that I could get a high score if I just keep going but it doesn't keep my interest to do so. It'd also help if there was a bit of pizazz to make you feel like you're moving forward in terms of levels instead of feeling so static and unchanging.

I found the mouse-controls a bit confusing in that they don't lock the cursor in an absolute central position like how some other games do: ideally I wish moving the mouse was more like moving the gamepad joystick, in that if I move the mouse down, it should move the scarab down, and I shouldn't have to worry about how far away my cursor is and factor that in with how big of a movement and so on as it's very easy to lose track of. Sorry if it's a confusing explanation!

There's a bit of a bug with the purple enemies in that when you shoot them and they're disappearing, they still have a collision box until they've completely disappeared, meaning that if you shoot them and then try to shoot through them immediately after, thinking that you've already dispatched them, there's a good chance you'll collide with their disappearing corpse, which can be frustrating if you're trying to hit a block behind them to keep your combo up.

Side note: I found the music to be amusing and goofy in that it sounds like some sort of 80s exercise jam or Rocky training montage, not quite the Egyptian-themed song I was expecting!

[ENDHELL]

Hmm, the visuals are certainly quite stylishly weird in that old-school Flash kind of way, the concept of combining an endless runner with a first-person Wolf3D perspective was quite interesting, and I had some good fun trying to master the moveset and build up combos while dodging the enemies...but there were a lot of small annoyances that got in the way of the fun and I just found it a bit too lacking in content to keep my attention long. Still quite memorable, though!

Probably the biggest aspect that got in the way of my enjoyment was how confusing and muted damage feedback is: there were loads of times that I thought I got hit but I actually didn't, or vice versa. I feel like the game is kind of odd in where the collision boxes are, in that they are kind of behind or below the player, which kind of makes sense realistically but that also means you're getting hit by stuff you've already past and can't see so realism is a bad choice here?

Other than that, the game feels rather shallow and without enough content to keep my interest for long: feels like you've seen everything it has to offer in a few seconds. Don't get me wrong, I like a short arcade experience, but the scoring system didn't really excite me either and it felt confusing that coins are separate from score. I was really hoping that those things we unlock with coins were going to be new levels with more obstacles or enemies, but sadly it was just music which, while nice, isn't much in terms of keeping the gameplay fresh.

[The Planetologist DEMO]

Seems like a decent Survivors-esque twin-stick shooter! Certainly showcases some solid fundamentals, but I do have to admit that while the game isn't bad necessarily and provides some grindy shooty fun for a short time, in this world of millions of Survivors-esque games vying for attention, this really isn't exciting me or being memorable and I drop it rather quickly. You're free to make whatever you like, of course, and perhaps it's unfair of me to compare, but I feel like it's inevitable. There are some aspects on which it shows some potential to differentiate itself, such as the diverse cast of characters might allow for a lot of different playstyles, or maybe the story mode will be unique, but I don't have any proof of those yet in this small demo.

I'm spitballing here, but given that the game is named the Planetologist, I thought that there were going to be more planet or science-based mechanics, and that could be a nice way to make this game stand out in a unique way. For example, maybe the planet could have more hazardous weather conditions or natural disasters you need to deal with randomly to keep you on your toes or prepare beforehand. Maybe instead of just shooting hordes of mooks, your primary objective is to gather samples by searching for locations to setup drills you then need to defend, or hunting down unique boss enemies. You could also maybe have to build up turrets or defenses like an engineer.

Some other minor feedback would be that it'd be nice to have some sort of visual HUD element to see our roll cooldown (similar to the reload bar), and to see our EXP progress in a bigger way than tucked in the corner where it's barely visible. I also found it really weird that our gun doesn't fire a bullet but instead seems to be some sort of invisible laser: makes no sense why we get powerups about increasing bullet size or speed. More razzle-dazzle in general would be nice too.

JamesChapp responds:

Thank you so much for playing the game and leaving a review!

This feedback is fantastic because it gives us a lot to think about and work on. Guillermo and I aimed to get the demo out there to test the core mechanics of the game. It's still a work in progress, and we're receiving a ton of valuable feedback on the project.

Since it's published on Newgrounds, we're dealing with a very demanding audience that, at the same time, understands it's a project in development being carried out by just the two of us. =)

[Boss Rush Delivery Demo]

Yowza, this was a really neato game! I might be bias because I love boss-rush games, but this was a very fun twin-stick shooter with a great variety of boss patterns and some decent combat mechanics! Sure, it's not super original or unique or anything, and it might be a bit too long-winded in terms of dialogue and could use a skip button for that, especially when redoing a boss after a loss, but I do appreciate how goofy and charming it is trying to be. Can't believe this got passed over for the Best of June: would've easily been in my top 10 as it is very promising and I look forward to seeing it develop!

EDIT: Looks like there is a skip dialogue option but I just wasn't aware of it over just clicking madly, haha!

[Munchin' Monkey]

Hrmm, this one is a bit of an odd duck! I definitely love the retro arcade vibes that this game gives off, and in theory I like the gameplay setup, but I don't think it makes the best first impression!

When I first played on the default settings, I easily got bored and disillusioned by the gameplay. It felt like all I was doing was just waiting for the food I needed to continue my chain to finally get dispensed: technically I was dodging other food that could break my chain and that should be exciting, but it didn't feel like that. Eventually I needed to switch to another food type to chain since the capacity filled up, but again, that just felt like an inevitability instead of a choice, and then the boring loop of waiting for my chain starts over again, and the game wasn't increasing speed fast enough to be interesting. It was just too easy, and the hardest challenge the game had was quitting since I needed to keep dodging everything to finally get a game over and free myself!

However, once I tried the game again by starting out on Hard on speed 20, suddenly the game was a lot more exciting! Now since the capacity was rising quickly, I needed to make quicker and more improvisational decisions on when to abandon my chain to pick up something else, or quickly change to chain something else when I picked up the wrong food on a mistake. This is the type of fast-paced arcade fun that I wanted, the type that is really hard because it wants to kick you off the machine and put more quarters in!

Long story short, I think there is a good game in here, but I don't think it gives the best first impression with its default settings as there is no risk or danger. Therefore I feel that the speed should start on a much higher setting, like speed 0 should be what speed 10 is now or something like that (I'd be fine with 20 like I did, but maybe that's a bit much for first-timers).

As a side note, I also think the scoring system should be reworked. I don't like the element of having to always gather the same type of food over and over and over to keep the chain going: I can see why you're doing it, but I think you should be allowed to switch to different foods without breaking the chain, and the only thing that should break the chain would be if you switch in the middle of building a triple. That way you always need to gather in 3s: it lets the player branch out a bit more and not feel hardstuck, but still retains the possibility of picking up the wrong food and breaking the chain. I'll admit that I feel like this change only works with the higher speeds I'm also suggesting, though.