FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[• Dread Chess ✣]

Hrmm, this is a rough one for me!

On one hand, I find the game rather fascinating in how opaque and unorthodox it is: I feel like an explorer who unearthed an alien device and I'm trying to figure out how it operates. It's like not only is there a game to play and win, but there's an extra puzzle game on top of figuring out the game itself, and I enjoy that sort of meta stuff. The game also adds to the sense of mystique with its cool, horror-themed presentation, hardcore no-second-chances rules, and weird usage of both chess and visual novel elements. I really wanted to get into it!

On the other hand, though, I was hopelessly lost in what the heck I was even doing, and my faith in the game was under attack by the constant, never-ending typos and just altogether badly-written and confusing script. Perhaps this was written in another language and you had google auto-translate it? But that wouldn't explain why there was a typo in practically every single sentence. I don't want to be a grammar nazi or anything, but when you've got a game that's all about words and it doesn't get that right, it makes me less inclined to give the rest of the game the benefit of the doubt, since it's a natural assumption that the rest is probably just as shoddy.

So yeah, I tried to get into this, but the script issues and lack of direction wore down my faith and made me feel like this game is just a buncha style-over-substance. Shame because it definitely looks like it has potential, but yeah, needs some proofreading!

[Luck of the Draw]

Pretty neat board game with some rather unique twists, such as the dice being a physical object that can be used to attack: certainly some clever stuff that makes for a cool game jam experiment!

I'll admit that I'm not the best person to review this game, as I'm not much of a fan of board games. In my experience, they typically result in a lot of tedium where people are just slowly making their way around with low rolls and resets, and also a lot of RNG that just screws you over. And unfortunately, I was still experiencing those same elements in this as well, so it definitely wasn't my cup of tea.

Trying to look past my preferences though, I do think this has a lot going for it. As stated before, the dice being a physical element makes for a lot of interesting strategies, especially when you add on ricochet shots and the various types of dice you can get from crates, which is yet another thing that adds a layer of whether it's worth it to risk going off the beaten path for. You can also use classic CTF strategies where you decide to keep one of your people behind as a defender, or risk going all in on offense to grab that flag. All this strategy, and the game has a nice sense of presentation and polish too (though I'll admit that the backgrounds are quite bland).

So yeah, it's not for me, but I can see why people would find this rather impressive and interesting. If I were to have any feedback, it'd be that I wish I could move the camera around to survey the battlefield freely instead of always being locked-in to looking at what is currently under control.

[Soup Time]

Whoa, quite the interesting game, being some sort of fusion of a roguelike deckbuilder and one of those rules-heavy job sims! It definitely tickled my fancy with its unique concept, and I found the presentation to be rather cute and charming as well: I found it amusing that it ran with the concept to an extreme degree, even making health represented by physical documents when it could've just used a non-diegetic HUD for that.

For the most part, I had a good time playing the game and trying to strategize the best way to approach the fights, balancing what cards will ensure that I don't violate any rules not just for the enemy I'm fighting, but for the remaining enemies as well until my deck gets to draw again. There were some subtle tricks to consider here and there, like how as long as it's a killing blow, you can use any card you like, allowing you to save some critical colors for another opponent.

It could certainly be me just being bad, but in spite of my best attempts and how much fun it could be, it felt rather inevitable and frustrating that you could just get screwed over by bad RNG. Compounding this is when I swear I'd used the appropriate card but I'd get counter-attacked: wish when that happens that the rule I violated would be highlighted or something to give me feedback. Sometimes I also feel that the rules just weren't written in a clear manner, both in terms of wording and as to whether they have preference of order, and that could be leading to my failures as well.

While I had a rough time, I'd still consider this a nice game jam result as the experimental concept hooked me and had me very intrigued at all the different ways it could be iterated upon, so well done!

[good (Demo)]

Huh, pretty neat stuff! Reminds me a lot of games like Night in the Woods, what with the youthful vibes, amusingly paced dialogue, and general adventure game structure with minigames, though this game goes hard on the minigames which was rather unique.

Overall I find the game rather charming in many ways, but I will admit that, as a demo, I'm not quite sure if it did enough to interest me in the full game, as I still don't feel like I have a good grasp on what exactly the game is, nor what the story is: it just felt like we were goofing around and while that's nice in a sense, it's like, why should I care?

Going back to Night in the Woods as a comparison: sure, that game is similar in that you're farting around town, hanging out with friends and shooting the breeze, but there is also significant intrigue introduced early on to keep the player hooked, around why May is back home and why there was a severed arm outside the diner and so on. I feel like I needed something like that to be introduced in this demo as well. If it's not that type of game and this demo is representative of what the game is, though, well, fair enough.

[Sally's House]

Pretty neat horror adventure! Certainly throws a lot at the player to keep things interesting, what with all sorts of strange changes to the house popping up that you swear weren't there before, various minigames like leading the candles or dodging the spiders, and so on. The presentation felt polished as well, and I liked the inclusion of multiple endings. I wish the game didn't lay it on quite as thick with hints since I'd like if there were a bit more of a challenge to the puzzles, but it was still fine for a straightforward trip. Definitely impressive stuff for a game jam entry!

If I were to be critical, I'd say that I don't feel like the game has a cohesive vision or story. Once I got to the end, I felt rather unsatisfied and unsure of what even happened, with the preceding events being just a random, disconnected assortment of minigames and cliche horror setpieces that were neat and fast-paced enough to keep my attention but didn't lead anywhere. Since this is a game jam game, perhaps the idea was just to experiment with a lot of concepts for funsies, and that's fine, but it is what it is. This could be on me too: mayhaps I missed some critical info somewhere by getting the good ending first?

[Mouse Mouse]

Pretty cute speedrun game! I wasn't aware of what the goal was at first, and the controls took a bit of getting used to, but it didn't take long for me to get really into trying to master the controls and replaying for higher ranks! I consider this a great game jam result, as while it doesn't have much content at the moment, it was still charming enough with its presentation and unique controls that it left me hungry for more: it's short but stacked with potential, much like the mouse character is!

[G-News]

Hah, quite the interesting game! I certainly enjoy the incredibly high-energy vibes it gives off with its presentation, especially with its music which stylishly and seamlessly changes dynamically based on game states, and the goofy concept of trying to keep a stream going while swatting away gnomes and repairing damages is simple but fun, giving me shades of Warioware meets Not For Broadcast!

I know this is going to sound like nitpicks, but while I did find it rather charming, I couldn't help but feel the experience was lessened by certain aspects, making it feel rather style-over-substance:

*For one, it was a real letdown on the sound effect front: actions like punching gnomes felt rather hollow and unsatisfying due to the muted/missing audio not providing feedback.

*I also wish there were more hand animations beyond just punching, like having the hands fiddle around for repairing the wires. Punching being used for everything makes it confusing as to what you're even doing: for example, you'd think that the hand would remain over the button when you're holding down the speed-up instead of retracting since it doesn't make sense to do so.

*I didn't like how the tutorial doesn't wait for you as it made me completely unable to read the popup explaining the speed-up mechanic as it disappeared too fast.

*The score system was confusing in that it seems to reward you for punching gnomes, but you'd think that the aspect it should be rewarding you for is whenever you're holding down the speed-up button, because that's the most difficult and risky thing to do.

*The game can easily get repetitive very quickly due to the limited amount of interactions you can do: would be great if the game had more days which introduce more mechanics to deal with to keep things interesting and up the challenge progressively.

*Finally, there were technical aspects like how the screen size is just way too bloody large, with no option to full-screen or resize to make it fit!

Now obviously a lot of the feedback I raised can be easily explained away due to the limitations of the game jam time limit, and that's fair. I still think it's a good game jam result in spite of its issues because I think the core on display here is very fun, charming, and has loads of potential for expansion!

[Zombies Ate My Fruits]

Hmm, this one was a bit weird to me! There's definitely some interesting elements at play here: the presentation is pretty nice with good pixel art, sounds, and animations, there's a bit of a strategic element with limited ammo usage, and it does seem rather charming in some way. However, the gameplay never seems to coalesce into a unified vision or loop, with me getting confused at certain elements like how ammo doesn't reset on death. And then before I know it, the game was already over with me feeling rather unsatisfied and unsure of what the game was trying to go for!

Obviously you have my sympathy because it must be very difficult to make a game in such a short time limit. If it helps, I did feel like the game showed some potential to be something like a roguelike survival horror game. The tomato and corn weapons reminded me of a handgun and shotgun: one being good for taking out single targets, while the other being good for taking out crowds, but being much more rare. Perhaps if the game was randomized and punished you with a full restart on death, it'd force the player to be more improvisational to make it through the gauntlet: they'd have to decide quickly whether to save ammo and avoid the zombies by jumping, or whether to spend their precious ammo to completely wipe them out or at least thin the herd to make avoidance easier. The player could then be given a score at the end for how fast they make it through and how much ammo they saved and so on. There's definitely something in here if it made me think about it that hard!

speed8327 responds:

Yah I really wanted to add more features but ran out of time for the jam.
I might update this game at some point.
Thanks for the awesome feedback! I really appreciate that.

[Color Critters]

Hey, this was a nice little puzzle game! For the most part it hits all the right notes to deliver a fun experience: neat concept, intuitive design, simple but cute presentation, good escalation, and so on!

Most of the feedback I would have is just nitpicks and obviously due to the limitations of the game jam time limits: you know, stuff like I wish the sound design was a bit more varied with different sounds when you're crossing water/lava/electricity, a better death/reset transition, and, of course, just wishing there were even more levels because I was really getting into it!

I'd consider this a good game jam result because, despite its simplicity and shortness, it still hooked me and left me hungry for more!

F1Krazy responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I've begun development on a full-sized version which should address most of these issues, in particular the short length (I'm aiming for 60 levels but that's subject to change depending on how many more mechanics and level ideas I can think of). Glad you enjoyed it!

[MÆRE II: Hypnagogia]

Very cool horror game! I was a fan of the first Maere, and I'm a fan of this one as well: the concept of trying to sleep while strategically scanning the area for safety while risking your sanity by doing so is very clever and nostalgic. My favorite part was definitely the sound design, not just in how it creates a creepy atmosphere, but in how it intuitively gives feedback and teaches how to play the game: hearing your heartbeat pound from seeing a ghost, turning away, eventually looking back, and having your heartbeat return to normal upon seeing it's gone is so cool and communicates how the game works incredibly well. I also liked the inclusion of a scoring system as it naturally incentivizes replays and makes the short length less of a problem. Cool stuff all-around!

While I do like it, I did still find myself a bit letdown by how easy and short it is. I was able to get an S rank without any sort of problem on my second try, and I couldn't help but wish the game had more meat to it. Would love if it was more like Five Nights at Freddys, where it slowly builds up the difficulty over the days, both in how punishing it can be and in new mechanics and obstacles to contend with. Right now I can't even see how a player could ever fail, but maybe if you introduced more ghost types that need to be handled in different ways, like having to look at them instead of away, that'd be neat. Couldn't help but want more, and I hope you can take that as a compliment, because it means you've got me hooked!

Chris responds:

Thanks! I think there will be a third game next year so there will be more. I like that idea about having certain ghosts that you have to look at, it would be an interesting twist to keep it interesting. It might make it into the third and final entry next year if I can figure out a way to make it immediately obvious which ghosts you need to look at and which you need to avoid.