FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mini-Putt 4]

Hey, this is a pretty nice! It's a bit old-school and dated, but for the most part delivers a solid mini-golf experience, with everything feeling quite intuitive and plain ol' simple fun.

I found it quite amusing that it tries to be so realistic: you'd think that for Cosmic Golf, since it's a video game and thus can do anything, it'd do some wacky stuff like portals and weird gravity mechanics and other sci-fi shenanigans, but it just does what a sci-fi mini-golf course would be in real-life, which is just shaping the courses like aliens and putting glowy neon paint on everything, haha!

If I were to have complaints, I would say that the game feels rather dry and incredibly plain, lacking any sort of excitement. I'm not asking for explosions or anything, but just more subtle sound effects like the rolling of the ball, slight bumps for hitting slopes, more fanfare for getting under par, stuff like that! One part that really disappointed me was when you finish a course and it just dumps you out to the main menu: c'mon, can't there be a little bit of closure, like some sort of award ceremony where you review the score and get bronze/silver/gold if you meet certain achievements?

I also found the physics simulation for the game to be a bit bare-bones and overly flat and 2D. I know it's to be expected, but I was just disappointed that some events aren't modeled properly: for example, if you're right in front of a hole and you hit full power at it, it'll just plunk into the hole no problem, when it should fly right past it, slightly bumping into the cup as it passes over, or maybe even riding the curve of it. Similarly, I'd have times where I'd be hitting a ball up a slope with power, expecting that it should get some air time, but it just says glued to the ground. Just little subtle things like that missing which made the simulation feel rather cheap: the game is still fun overall though.

Maybe I'm being a bit unfair considering it is supposed to be a blast from the past and my expectations aren't proper for that time period, but I just wanted to give my honest first impression without taking into account that type of subtle context I read afterwards as it might help for future updates!

[Home 15 Min Experience!]

Wow, quite the interesting demo! Definitely had a solid first impression: the art and animation of the world and characters was very charming with lots of fun dialogue and so much extra effort put into special emotes (especially since most games will shy away from creating emotes for things that might only happen once or twice), and the rhythm-based combat was pretty cool and felt surprisingly well-tuned (it's such a common occurrence for the note-charts to be annoyingly slightly mistimed).

That being said, while it was quite impressive and I'm overall intrigued, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows:

The choice for inputs confused me at first: it makes you use the mouse at first so I was puzzled when it suddenly stopped, and instead of using standard buttons like Z/X, Enter, Space for confirmation, it used S, which I've never seen before (maybe it's common in other regions?).

I got really confused at the part where the game is teaching defense: I spent a long time thinking I was just messing up the timing, only to realize that I'm only supposed to defend against the red notes and instead attack with the white notes (maybe mixing attack and defense should be left until the next teaching sequence, or the coloring of notes should be explained better!)

And finally, the demo was pretty dang short and didn't allow me to get a precise feel of what the game is going to be like: I can make some assumptions, sure, but I don't know if there's going to be anything else beyond combat and dialogue.

SquishY-Bottom responds:

Great feedback! I'll try to release a longer demo in the future. I will change the key from z to s. I was considering linking notes to moves using more than just color for two reasons, 1 to make it more readable, 2 color blind people.

[Marelza's Cauldron]

Hey, this is a pretty cute game: reminds me a little bit of Bubble Bobble and Balloon Fight!

It's not the longest game as it does unfortunately seem to plateau around wave 5 where it doesn't seem to get any harder or introduce any new challenges, but in general the game feels very well-crafted and polished and delivers some solid arcade fun: I got very addicted to trying to get max combos with a full train of ghosts while dodging through the chaos.

I also appreciated some of the subtle quality-of-life touches, like how enemies entering from the side of the screen (bats/ravens) have a brief second where they are dulled-out and won't collide with the player: this is great as it prevents those cheap deaths from getting hit by something you have no chance of reacting to.

I don't have any major complaints beyond, as mentioned before, that I wish the game had a bit more meat on its bones like more levels, extra modes, etc: the game is so good yet so fleeting! If I were to be a bit nitpicky, I'd also love some slight touches like having a bit more of encouraging juice to push you towards getting combos: for example, it'd be great if the point sounds would get pitched-up in sequence the more ghosts you put in as a combo, and it'd be great if there was a little fanfare if you get a max combo, stuff like that! I do also feel like certain things like lightning and fire shouldn't be able to be destroyed by your bullets, and skeletons shouldn't be able to be collected after being shattered, as it can make the game a bit easy, but maybe that's just me being too hardcore, haha!

LuckyDingoStudios responds:

When I was tuning the difficulty for this game, I initially had in mind a steady increase in difficulty that, if you were able to survive for long enough, you would eventually reach bullet hell-like waves that would provide more challenge for players of higher skill levels. But in my playtesting, I found that there was a certain threshold at which having too many obstacles on the screen broke the core gameplay loop. It could very quickly get to a point where it was not worthwhile to go for bubbling ghosts to bring in a full chain, and you would end up just staying in one corner trying to stay alive. So that is the reason why it plateaus at wave 7, after hanging at the difficulty I personally found most fair and enjoyable from around wave 4-6. Maybe not the perfect solution, but it was the best I could come up with.

[1-Bit Explorer]

Wow, quite the cool adventure game! Can't believe it's technically an RPG Maker game as apart from some subtle clues like the sound effects it looks and feels completely different: definitely must've been quite the effort to totally convert this in such a way, and I appreciate that it doesn't fall into the usual RPG Maker trap of relying so much on grindy combat and the same ol' assets!

Game overall feels very well-done and polished in practically all aspects and I was having a blast solving puzzles, running quests, talking to NPCs, collecting trinkets and upgrades, and so on: the world is just so big, charming, and addictive to explore with so much variety, and there's some cool intrigue around the title screen and the ghost that follows. No major complaints I can think of at the moment: still early in the game but first impressions have been solid, so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest!

EDIT: Damn, I ended up getting super addicted to this game! Couldn't believe the amount of stuff that keeps opening up, like the temples and their dimensional versions!

[Forest Shack]

I was really excited for this game and while I think it has improved in some ways from the original prototype and does have a certain mystique to it with its horror atmosphere, I was overall unfortunately quite disappointed and baffled by it, and feel like it actually got quite worse from before.

As said before, the most critical issue I have with the game is how incredibly confusing it is. But before we get into that, I just want to make note that when I say it is confusing, I'm not talking about the elements that are intentionally confusing for reasonable effect, such as how the player needs to pay a fee in order to see where a path leads to, or how certain mechanics are withheld for explanation until later as a means of progression/tutorialization, or how outcomes of events can be a bit vague like when you choose to steal the offerings and some such: those are perfectly understandable and add to the mystique I mentioned earlier.

What really confused me about the game is the absolutely abysmal UI/UX and the bizarre design decisions that made it so difficult to parse. I'm not even sure where to start: it seriously felt like every menu and UI layout was designed in the most worst way possible. Why can I not learn the use of certain items by hovering over them, until I first visit a shop and read the tool tips there, and only there? Why are some elements given tooltips while others are completely absent, such as the aforementioned items and path symbols? What the hell is the bone totem menu and how do you use it? Why do I have to click a bush in the corner, and what does it mean? And on and on.

The worst confusion of all was the combat design: without any proper feedback for attacks and the HUD elements spread so far apart, it was difficult to keep track of what was going on, let alone derive any sort of satisfaction from fighting. Take the lizard spitting some acid onto the ground in front of the player, or the deer just stamping its feet in place: did that hit me? Because it didn't look like it physically connected with me, and my sprite didn't react in the slightest, and my eyes were focused at the battle in the center not the health bubbles in the corner so its difficult to notice any change there: for all intents and purposes, its easy to think that the attack missed!

This confusion extends to a lot of other elements: for example, the feedback for landing a normal or critical timed hit on the arrow QTE is the same, so it's never clear whether you're getting the critical or not. Similarly, I had no idea I was actually succeeding in the knife QTE because the confirmation is so delayed from my input, and I have no idea what success does: did I hurt the enemy, or did I just stun them from attacking me, or something else? Who the hell knows, everything is so vague and lifeless and lacks any sort of logical connection that can be made due to the complete absence of visual or audio effects! A few hitsparks here, some player knockback animations there, a few damage numbers appearing above heads, moving health and turn timers near enemies instead of stuffed in the corner, perhaps slowing down the speed: some very simple things could help a lot here!

Even if I were to put this all aside, learn all of the game's rules through trial and error, and just focus on the gameplay...there's not much there either. Combat pretty much boils down to mashing attack, chugging a potion when you're low, and reacting to random QTE prompts: there's no real engaging strategy to the fights that I ever found, like having to prioritize certain enemies first, managing supplies in the long-term, or having to stay alert for powerful attack telegraphs and pre-emptively defend against it or stun them first. To add salt onto the wound, the game seemed incredibly buggy, with QTEs sometimes appearing behind enemies thus making it impossible to read, it losing my save file due to oddly-worded instructions, and with it just looping me back to the start despite my best attempts to progress over and over. Finally, without having any real sense of an ultimate goal or story from the very start to strive for, what's the point?

It was unfortunately a big miss for me, but as said, I think the concept behind this game could be nice, and for your first foray into game design, these kind of things will happen. As you create a game and get used to all of its systems, it can be very confusing to realize just how much you need to teach a player and facilitate their experience since it all seems so obvious in your head. Best of luck in future.

HatiValcoran responds:

Looping you back to the start? ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ❓

The save system doesn't load your save unless you *click* load at the very beginning.

It is likely you were confused by the overworld travel, after you reach the campfire you enter a different area, it is not visually distinguished but it becomes obvious as you unlock new runes and new enemies that show up as you progress.

It feels wrong to say it, but most of your complaints touch the things I focused in the least in this project, I learned the most on how to craft an atmosphere, a progression system, different types of encounters, balance, coding, planning, prototyping, developing a concept, and *so* many other things.

A far smaller, more tightly designed game where I focused on a small gameplay loop and clarity would had made the more solid experience you were looking for, but unfortunately it would had taught me much less.

Thank you for your feedback, I'm still learning so any feedback into the parts a player might find the most confusing about my design is very valuable. ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ✎❑

You would had made a great playtester. ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ❤

[Bleek]

Hey, pretty dang cool game you got here! The game may be bleek, but the design of this is hella sleek (pardon the dumb poetry): everything about this looks and feels great overall, with a very professionally-crafted impression. The good times don't stop there, as the gameplay is also pretty cool with a nice core design of having to avoid ghosts that can only be seen and defeated with your limited flashlight, while the game keeps ramping up the stakes with new obstacles and enemies that push you out of any potential safe zones and encourage fun chaos. It's technically a bit shallow with it being the same progression over and over with no big story to strive for, but nevertheless its a fun, addictive romp.

If I did have one big complaint, is that it was very tricky at times to determine when I would take damage: many times I would get hit by a bullet or ghost that I thought would only graze past me since the perspective makes me think that they, while technically overlapping, were not actually colliding with me. Upon testing, the game does seem to be rather generous with the hitboxes and only counts it if you get hit dead-center in respect to the 2.5D perspective with depth, not reducing everything to a flat 2D perspective, but still, without shadows for bullets and ghosts it was difficult to discern their actual position: just how far are they actually hovering over the ground?

FodderLabs responds:

Thank you for playing the game!

Sounds like the collision boxes from Bleek will make you "shriek". :P (Bring on the silly poetry! >:D)

We are working on adding some additional content, with different mechanics + additional power-ups.

As for a story... We are thinking of keeping this as an arcade style game, but I would love to explore a story with this character and it's world for a sequel/ spin-off! :D

We've made some tweaks to the collision box (now it's the shadow of the player), but maybe we should revisit the collision boxes of the enemies + projectiles.

But currently, the collision for the ghost and projectiles is actually flat, no hovering or any collision on a z-axis for this game. If it overlaps with the player's shadow, she will take damage.

Hope this helps!

And thank you for the kind words and giving some good feedback! :D

Hopefully we can keep up a good streak with Bleek. ;D

[Dinosaurs Attack Collab 2023]

Pretty cool art collab! It is just a slideshow which is pretty plain jane, but it makes up for it with an interesting concept, reactive buttons, fun interactivity in flipping in cards to compare/constrast with the original, and some nice quality-of-life features such as being able to immediately go to the artist's page by clicking on their names. I easily found myself getting addicted at flipping through all the entries: well done!

As a side note, one of the song intro's sounds so similar to the Leviathan raid theme in FFXIV, at least to me if I'm remembering right, maybe it was another raid but it was definitely from FFXIV: wonder if the musician @namosaurus would find that amusing, haha.

namosaurus responds:

Thank you so much for the love, I know nothing about FFXIV but thanks! I'll def gonna check it out!

[The Ghost of the Witch: An Ear-ie Halloween Headphone Adventure]

Wow, quite the interesting adventure game you got here! I unfortunately never experienced one of these so I don't quite get the nostalgia, but as a fan of adventure games like King's Quest, I was down for what this was offering.

I gotta admit, considering I'm a person who needs to put on subtitles for everything and has a severe lack of imagination, I was really worried at whether I'd be able to play this audio journey. And yes, while it was tricky to navigate with a lack of visuals, no text log, and some difficult to parse voices (not so much a problem with the VAs I think, more a me problem with understanding accents), as well as tedious to replay voice lines to get the one bit of information you want, I did nevertheless appreciate the commitment to the bit and greeted the development with good cheer, especially since it was presented with such charm and care.

For the most part I really enjoyed myself with this, but if I did have a substantial complaint, it would be that I was frustrated it had no save/load option: I find it difficult to beat games like this in one go, and with my slow pace, I believe I might take even more time than the estimated 40 minutes. Hoping to beat it at some point, but I'm almost hoping that there is a save/load that I missed in the overly verbose instructions that you could tell me about (or maybe patch in later)!

KittyhawkMontrose responds:

Thanks so much for the thorough and awesome review and for appreciating the commitment to the bit, which, granted, is sometimes a barrier to getting to the adventure. XD

There was a planned password feature (again, in keeping with the bit) but the passwords were overly long. You're right that it's a worthy concession to QOL though. All of the save menu dialog was recorded, so if we do go back, we'll definitely add saves.

Again, thank you so much for giving this so much of your time despite the frustrations. If you do decide to give it another go, there are a few features that you might have missed that help to speed things along! The first is that ALL dialog is interruptible, and there's no need to wait between presses for choices to become available. You can literally beat the game in moments by pressing a "correct" sequence of keys one after another. The second is that most locations have a long and a short description, with the long one always being played when you move from one location to another. By using the '5' key when you move into a location, you can interrupt the long description and hear the short one. Lastly, and this is almost more of an easter egg: try playing the game in a browser with the JavaScript console open. ;D

Again thanks so much for meeting this little novelty on its on terms. Your thoughts are always helpful!

[Hauling Ass]

Quite the goofy game! I quite like the presentation and general comical appeal the game has, as well as the nice touches to certain aspects like the credits and the menu especially, where you made aspects like difficulty selection have a physical satisfaction to them by flipping a switch. Speaking of difficulty, the choice to make it require a more diverse selection of buttons was a much more interesting choice than other typical difficulty modifiers like just increasing the amount of laps and such.

While the general gameplay is somewhat fun, I do feel like its ultimately rather one-note and easily loses its appeal quickly, especially since it is rather dry and devoid of any juicy effects that you think would be present in such a goofy game like this: the most it has is playing a fart sound when you miss a key and it just doesn't feel like enough. I'll admit that I might not be getting the best experience since I'm playing it singleplayer, though.

If I were to be nitpicky, I also found it a bit annoying that we can't use the numpad for entering numbers in gameplay, and I found it a bit odd that, if you lose in singleplayer, it still plays victory music, which should technically only be heard by our opponent while we should be hearing downer music instead.

[MÆRE]

Wow, quite the spooky game! Really impressed me a lot and reminded me of other games like Amnesia (where looking at monsters wracks your sanity but is necessary to determine where they are) and FNAF (having to juggle so many different elements that force you towards taking scary risks). Absolutely loved having to strategize, listening intently with my headphones to determine where the monsters were and therefore when it was safe to glance at areas and regain my confidence. All in all just felt wonderfully crafted in many respects, and not only delivered some great scares in gameplay, but had some stylish poetry intermissions as well, haha.

The only thing that really brought it down for me was that the game was a bit too easy and short, what with its bite-size levels with constant checkpoints for break time: it just doesn't really allow you enough time to build dread and tension and deal with the repercussions of errors in the long-term. I know it's a bit unfair to say since I was technically engaged and enjoying myself, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of my head that thought it might all just be smoke and mirrors without a proper fail state or actually engaging strategy. It's not necessarily that I want it to be hard, but I do want to be properly, convincingly engaged with the mechanics and be fearful of failure, and this kind of lost me there.

As much as I was a little let-down, I still found the experience not only incredibly memorable, but very promising for improvement. I would absolutely love some sort of endless mode where you evade random scares as long as you can for a high score, or some sort of FNAF-style level structure where you need to survive a series of long nights that get more and more challenging as you go.