FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[Gods of the Arena Dungeon [DEMO]]

Pretty cool game! Reminds me a lot of games like Realm of the Mad God, or perhaps some competitive form of Risk of Rain. Certainly looks to be a rather charming game in terms of presentation and while it's already quite fun in its single-player state, I'd be very interested to see how the gameplay shifts when you need to deal with other players competing and sabotaging each other. Overall it looks incredibly promising and I'm sure loads of people are gonna love it.

Having said that, though...the game really didn't work for me personally. It's still good, but I felt rather underwhelmed despite what looks like a quality product. It's hard to nail down exactly what it is, but something about it just really didn't gel with me: both the micro minute-to-minute combat gameplay and the macro mechanics of levelling and looting just felt really awkward, confusing and unsatisfying. If it helps, I think it's most likely a personal preference thing, similar to how I don't like The Binding of Isaac that much, but can still see why many others would like it. If I were to offer some feedback, though, it'd be:

*This is a bit vague, but as said, there's something about the combat that just felt really off to me. Maybe it's the slow projectiles, maybe it's the hitboxes being placed or sized oddly, maybe its the way the enemies are placed in the world that doesn't match when viewed in a 3D perspective, maybe it's the hit/death feedback, maybe it's that projectiles can clash, there's just something about it within the nitty-gritty that just didn't work for me. I don't have anything specific, unfortunately, so it's up to y'all.

*I was constantly trying to use my RMB skill and being shocked that it wasn't ready yet. It's ok that abilities have long cooldowns if that's what you want for strategy purposes, but I'd like it if you try to use an ability before its ready, that it notifies the player, like having the cooldown remaining flash above the players head briefly, and their character makes a little noise or shakes about.

*I'd like it if loot on the floor has the little info pop-up when your character goes near/over the item, not just when the mouse hovers over it: would make it a lot more convenient to examine loot as typically I'm trying to fend off enemies and I don't have the luxury to mouse over loot during that.

*For a game that's all about racing to level up, levels come and go with the player barely noticing it. At the very least, I'd like it if there was some more fanfare when you level up to give a sense of gratification, but you could also make gaining exp a bit more exciting by turning it into crystals as they do in Survivors games: this could have the added benefit of making multiplayer a bit more exciting as players could plan to steal the crystals that scatter from another player's kill.

*I found it very confusing to grasp the whole class unlock system: why am I having to jump through all these weird hoops to have fun? I just leveled up, so let me pick whatever one of the two classes on offer I want instead of giving me no choice at all unless I do these quests that I don't even understand: the ones that take honor to unlock are self-explanatory, but I have no idea what the other requirements mean.

*I don't feel like the tutorial prepared me for the game properly. Sure, it goes over the basic controls, but I felt completely unprepared for the actual game as I had no idea I wouldn't be able to start as the fire mage immediately, I didn't know about collecting keys and ascending classes and searching for bosses and competing against other players and moving onto new zones and all of that jazz!

*Loot was a bit boring and devoid of anything really exciting besides minor statistical increases. I also don't know what some of the stats mean, like bullet HP.

*Bit frustrating that you can't pause and read tooltips and such at your leisure. I know it's because it will eventually be a multiplayer game, and eventually I'll learn everything and won't need to pause, but still, it was frustrating, especially since I'm playing it single-player at the moment.

Looking forward to seeing how this shapes up with its final release: as said, I think the multiplayer aspect could be very interesting!

gasgod responds:

Hey man
Just saw your video. I appreciate your feedback and this big review!
This game is essentially if you crossed a .io game (like diep.io) with, as you alluded to it in the video, Realm of the Mad God. It's supposed to be a relatively casual experience you can just kind of zone out to and frag your buddies with abbreviated leveling and RPG-light-light mechanics.
Might make more sense in that context

[HELLFIRE!]

Hmm, it's a little rough around the edges, weird, and doesn't have that much meat on its bones, but the game certainly has an overwhelmingly bombastic sense of style to it that I found quite appealing, and the gameplay does have some slight depth to its mechanics and I enjoyed trying to keep the momentum up and aim for a high score! I think it's a bit style-over-substance for the most part and didn't keep my attention for long, but eh, not too shabby!

[Seeking Peace - Zombeez Jam Winner]

Cute little game! Game has some nice goofy vibes to it, and overall there was a wide variety of obstacles to contend with as you go through the game, so I think it does a decent job at creating an adventure that keeps you going to see what comes up next!

Having said that, the concept of puzzles revolving around zombies, particularly separating your head from your body, was something I was very interested in as a core mechanic, but I don't feel like the game expanded upon it as much as I'd like. It starts off pretty strong and has some other good moments late in the game, but around the middle it felt like it lost steam for me: sure, it was introducing new hazards and mixing it up, but it felt very off-topic and random, basically obstacles you'd see in any other puzzle platformer. It's not bad, but I just felt a bit unsatisfied that I never got a unique and challenging zombie-related puzzle to sink my teeth into, and instead just got a buffet of random simple puzzles. Again, not too shabby overall however!

[Patter]

Cute little game! Reminds me a lot of opening a Highlights magazine or the newspaper and going to the activity center: this game would've been right next to the crossword, spot the difference, and the junior jumble! The title screen was quite novel in introducing the concept, and I had a nice relaxing time going through a few puzzles, curious as to how the generation algorithm works. There's a simple, satisfying, instinctual pleasure that comes when you find that overlap!

Ultimately though it feels like more of a tech demo than a proper game, and I got bored of it quickly since it just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Perhaps if it had some sort of escalation it could bring to the table, like increasing the size or density of the puzzles as you get further, or some other creative twist, it might've kept my interest!