FutureCopLGF's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kill The Healthcare CEO!]

Oh man, I feel like I'm back in the 90s! This is quite the authentic recreation of some good ol' Assassin content, but with topical modern content! The nostalgic vibes are immaculate: almost every element feels so accurate, from the smarmy narration, the default radial gradient buttons, meme sounds, traced art, and so on. Certainly a nice trip down memory lane!

Sure, I could have a few complaints over the shooting controls being a bit unresponsive, and the annoyance with how you can't retry the shooting segment once you beat it without going through the whole game again, but those elements just add to the authenticity, so I'll allow it, haha!

[Mazza Claus]

Hey, quite the amusing hop-n-bop platformer you got here! While I could argue that the game is largely bog-standard and being held up by superficial comedic elements, I nevertheless felt like I had a decent time with this game going around talking with the locals and completing the various objectives, so hey, it worked for me! I was also happy to see a lot of the issues I had with the previous Mazza game, such as the camera, have been addressed. All in all, an o'right adventure!

That being said, there were still a few rough spots here and there, such as how hitboxes for enemies could be quite janky: there were plenty of times where I'd jump on an enemy and I'd get hurt and they wouldn't, or we'd both somehow get hurt when it should just be one of us (them, most likely). In the same fashion, it was sometimes unclear which enemies you could jump on or not. Finally, I did get a bit annoyed with how the achievements keep popping up, especially for ones I've already gotten.

Chris responds:

Thats weird how the achievements were popping up multiple times. That is probably a bug with the Newgrounds API rather than the game because aside from triggering them thats all handled outside of the game itself.

I’m glad you enjoyed this one still, I remember you weren’t completely sold on the first game. The hitboxes I do need to address I think and you raise a good point about it not being clear which enemies you can jump on and which you can’t. It was also a little challenging to communicate which are enemies and which are NPCs but I was hoping the speech bubbles would solve that.

[Bonefields]

Wow, this is a pretty impressive survivors-like game! My first impression was very solid as it feels very high-quality in terms of its craftsmanship overall and is certainly a very promising prototype. Gameplay is nice with some decent weapon and enemy variety and it all felt pretty intuitive and good to play. There are also a lot of aspects beyond just the gameplay such as the nice title screen and juicy effects like transitions and animations, and it's nice to see attention given to those.

While I have an overall positive impression, I'll admit that if I examine this more closely, there are still a lot of aspects that need to be worked on, and in the interest of seeing this grow, I'll detail them below:

*I don't like how the tutorial/controls prompt goes away too quickly: I had to restart the game several times so I could read it all. I would much prefer if it only goes away once I move the character or press some sort of 'start' button.

*I found the music in particular to be very loud and was begging for some sort of options menu where I could adjust the volume.

*I feel like it would be more intuitive if you used a crosshair instead of a pointer for the mouse, since the purpose of the mouse is to aim your weapons after all.

*It was unclear sometimes as to whether perks I was purchasing were weapons or trinkets or consumables and so on. For example, I didn't know whether Kirk's Sword was going to give me a new sword attack, or if it was just adding damage to my character passively. Perhaps you can color or label the perks to let me know the difference between them more clearly.

*I wish that collecting gems/exp was more exciting. There really needs to be some sort of visual/audio effect when you pick them up to make it feel good.

*The biggest issue for me was that the game is somewhat generic: not only does it not have any unique elements of its own, but even as a standard survivors-like it is lacking interesting events like waves, bosses, encirclements, and so on, to add some excitement. I would much prefer if the farm aspect was more than just set-dressing, but something unique to the gameplay, like maybe you need to plant crops and feed them with the blood of enemies or something and that's how you level up. Get creative so it stands out from all the other survivors clones!

Best of luck on its development: I think you've already made a lot of good progress!

[Avast!]

Cute game! Reminds me a lot of other ship management games where you split your crew up to handle all the various emergencies, like Guns of Icarus or Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.

While I didn't get to play the game in multiplayer since the servers weren't populated, I still felt like this game was heading in the right direction, what with having to fend off all manner of enemies while trying to get the boat patched up. The potential for chaotic, frantic plate-juggling is there, and I will say that I was impressed with the game's presentation, which was very charming and cartoony: of special note was the tutorial, which I was glad to see had pictures instead of just being a wall of text!

However, while I do think it has a lot of potential and is a good game jam attempt, it did fall short for me as the game was overall too simplistic, lacking the complexities of the other mentioned titles to create true frantic chaos. Many aspects of the game were unclear and not explained properly, and the game was also very buggy, with me having instances where my character would start weirdly sliding around, or dying when colliding with an enemy on stairs yet still being able to move around instead of flopping over dead.

Still, as a proof of concept and rough draft, I think it's a decent result as it just makes me want more and gets my imagination going!

[Robo-Wrench]

As a fan of diagnostic procedure games such as Hardspace Shipbreaker, Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, Papers Please, and so on, I like what this game was going for!

Unfortunately I didn't get to play it with other people since the servers are unpopulated, so I'm not seeing it in its ideal form, as I'm missing out on co-workers screwing each other over and other competitive aspects. Nonetheless, it was possible to play it solo, so I gave it a go.

As said, I like the general gameplay for the most part. Picking up jobs, diagnosing problems, finding the parts and then installing them: it's all my jam! However, while I do like it in concept, I have to admit that the execution didn't quite work for me, and I quickly found myself growing tired of it and quitting.

*I wish the tutorial was presented a bit better: ideally I'd love more pictures and diagrams instead of just text, but even if it was just text, I'd prefer that the sentences are spaced out, bolded, italicized, and colored differently to organize them in such a way to make more palatable. Something as simple as bolding the key verbs or objectives would go a long way to making the information more easy to retain and figure out at a glance: right now the critical instructions get lost in all the flavor text.

*I didn't like the match-3 repair minigame you had, and while one could argue that's a matter of taste, I think it had a lot of issues in its implementation. It's the exact same thing for different parts so there's no sense of progression or difference, it just feels tedious to have to rely on cards instead of being able to move freely, and why are cards even used when you can just keep drawing if you run out (shouldn't it be a challenging puzzle to complete with one hand)? I also just didn't understand the rules: I felt like I should be making matches with the associated part icons, with other matches giving no progress, but then some other matches did give progress, but I didn't know which?

*Finally, the game just felt very repetitive at its core with no real sense of meaningful progression, and with a short music loop that gets really annoying really quick.

For a game jam game, I do think this was heading in the right direction and doing some interesting stuff: I'm sure with more time this could've been fantastic and right up my alley!

[Fist of the Neverwake]

Hmm, this certainly shows some promise! Feels like it's going for a Klonoa-type platformer, what with it's 2.5D track-based platformer vibes. It's a bit slow and unexciting at the start, but eventually it gets somewhat interesting and challenging with its level design: felt good to utilize the bells to refresh your jumps, hold the punch to hover, and race through the timed sections. Not too shabby!

However, if I have to be honest, the game feels very rough at the moment, feeling more like an early alpha or prototype, and I encountered a lot of issues.

*I had some serious control issues at the start where my character would randomly freeze up and stop moving forward despite me holding down a direction. It looks like it might've been because I was trying to use the D-Pad, as it seemed to work better when I switched to analog sticks, so I dunno what's going on there.

*There were a lot of times where the game was just very frustrating, ignoring my inputs when I tried to jump off a platform right when it fell or right at the edge, among other things. Would help if certain subtle designs like jump buffering, coyote time, and the like were added to this to make it feel more smooth and forgiving to control.

*Overall the game just had a somewhat rough look and feel, what with its very bland title screen, pretty generic gameplay design with no special mechanic of its own, weird glitches, a lack of juicy special effects, and so on. It's just got that vibe that makes it very much feel like a game jam game, or an unfinished project.

Despite my issues, I do still think the game has potential. It looks like you've got the skeleton of a game here, an engine that you can use to make all of these track-based platformer levels, and that's quite the starting point to work from. From there, with a bit more fleshing out and polish, I'd love to see what this becomes!

SilviaFox responds:

The input issue you experienced is a Godot 3 bug, you can remedy it by flicking the stick once and then switching back to the d-pad!

[North Pole Noir]

Not bad! It's a pretty charming point-n-click adventure with an amusing concept that mixes noir with Christmas, and for the most part I found myself getting into it.

While I have a decently positive impression of the game, I will admit there were some rough spots to it:

*Sometimes it feels like I'm not playing the game but just being dragged along. Nothing against visual novels and a nice story, but when I play a detective game, I'd like to engage my brain a bit more. I almost would've liked it more if it just gave me the illusion of choice, like letting me choose where to go on a map instead of just taking me there, letting me ask questions instead of just telling me everything in linear sequence, and so on, even if that may seem superficial. An unnecessary necessity, if you will.

*The pacing of events were a bit odd at times. For example, I found it a bit odd with how the interrogations went where the witnesses talk to you in turn immediately after each other without pause, when it would've felt more natural if there is a small break inbetween where you go out to the hall or just fade out and back in.

*I got the right culprit for the first case, but it really felt like the evidence was flimsy: I only picked it because it seemed the game was nudging me towards it as important instead of me actually thinking it was. If this was Ace Attorney, Edgeworth would've called my accusation baseless conjecture, and he would've been right. Just a bit unsatisfying and not the serotonin jackpot it should be.

[Away]

Hmm, not too shabby! The game certainly gives off some chill, stylish vibes with its artistic graphics and sound design, and the gameplay was pretty neat in how you need to trace the shape but more obstacles get in your way as it goes on. The way the poem is slowly revealed as you go through each level served as a neat motivating factor that made me want to get all the way to the end, and I did!

If I have to be honest, though, it did feel somewhat unsatisfying. Yeah, I think it has potential, but once I got to the end, I just had that feeling of "wait, it's already over?" There's just a lack of a satisfying conclusion, and overall a lack of a strong sense of progression, narrative or story being told through the levels. I was also disappointed that the gameplay mechanics weren't more intertwined with the story being told, like using mechanics of weight and wind, changing them as you go to echo the themes.

For a game jam game it's decent, and as said it's got some cool vibes, but there's just something missing for me to make it feel like the elegant poetry I want it to be. I dunno, maybe I'm being unfair holding it up to other artistic games like Journey or Gris and so on.

Heytibo responds:

Yes, I totally understand.
This is the kind of project I'd like to explore further and flesh out.

[Micro Metroid]

Welp, I got exactly what it said on the tin: a cute little mini metroid game! For the most part, it was a nice short and sweet adventure with some amusing moments like when you learn you already had the ability to double-jump, as well as some exciting moments such as the challenging precision platforming.

It was ok, but I'll admit it was a tad bit unsatisfying, and while understandably it's likely due to time constraints from the game jam, I'll expound on them nevertheless:

*I didn't like how when you acquired keys and other items/knowledge, the associated door would just disappear off-screen, leaving no trace behind. Not only was it very unsatisfying to not be able to physically open the door yourself by walking up to it and using the key, it was also confusing for navigation sake as sometimes I wasn't sure whether I remembered exactly where the door was previously.

*I was confused about the hint regarding finding the flute, as I spent a long time trying to press down around the first snail's location, thinking it was buried underneath and pressing down would dig it up or something. Dunno why it expected me to go into the hidden cave and see that the rock that previously blocked the way was now magically gone.

*The boss fight was super confusing as I had no idea that the brief moment where he stops moving was supposed to be some sort of weakened state where he can be jumped on. It would be much more obvious if the boss would emote in some way, like looking tired, dizzy or breathing heavily.

*There are some weird graphical issues, like how the text was very blurry when you stand still, but it would get sharper when you move? Dunno what the heck's going on there.

Again, a lot of this feedback might be stuff you already know and wanted to address but couldn't due to time limits, but I just want to be sure. Anyway, well done for what it is!

[Graveyard Shift Online Demo Edition]

Hmm, pretty interesting arcade game! Certainly makes a great first impression with its very authentic retro-arcade presentation: I do love me a classic attract/demo mode to learn about the game, and this delivered!

I do think this has a lot of potential from some fun times, what with its deeper potential strategies involving squashing enemies with tiles or combining them to form the numbers you need...but I will admit that I had a rough time getting into this! My feedback would be thus:

*I found it odd that you need to hold a button to push a tile instead of just naturally walking into it: just felt really awkward and unnecessary, what with the game not making the character sprite look any different when its in pushing mode, and while not holding push mode lets you go over flat tiles, wall tiles still block you, so it can be weirdly inconsistent despite seemingly allowing more freedom.

*Maybe I'm missing something or just being unlucky, but I felt like I was getting screwed over by tiles constantly spawning on the edges of the screen where I can't do anything with them except push them over the edge since, to my knowledge, we don't have a way to pull them in.

*I can't figure out how the math works when you combine tiles: I thought I had it at first, but then I started to get unexpected results that just seemed to make no sense. Maybe the order in which you combine them makes a difference as well? Without being able to rely on that mechanic, I gave up and it again felt like randomness screwed me over since there were times I just couldn't find the number I needed to complete anything.

*I don't understand the time limit as it feels very short and doesn't seem to refresh when I complete matches? Feels like you can barely get anything started, especially due to the aforementioned annoyance regarding so many tiles being spawned in areas where you can't use them, never mind waiting for tiles with good numbers to finally show up.

*Dying is a bit of a bummer in the way it resets the whole board instead of letting you continue where you left off: sucks to be so close to finishing a match and then having to start from scratch while time ticks away.

So yeah, I tried to love this one, but confusion and frustration were unfortunately in high supply here! There's definitely something in here, but I'm just having a tough time understanding it: hopefully this can provide some insight for the final version!

captainfailmore responds:

Thanks for the in-depth feedback! I'll reply to a few things here, since I didn't leave much information on the page and it might have helped if I did.

Something that I did a poor job of communicating is that the time limit is something that only exists in the demo, and you aren't the first person to remark that it's a little too short. In the full game, the time limit doesn't exist at all. It's hard to make a good first impression if you can't even figure the game out before it sends you back to the title screen, so I'll probably amend that when I update it next.

Combining numbers works like this: If the number you squash is lower than the number you're pushing, it subtracts. If it's equal or greater, it adds, rolling over past four. The only exception to this is two fours, which gives you a one. It's weird, but you basically have the opportunity to make whatever numbers you need, even if all you have are a bunch of tiles with just one single number.

Tiles replenish once they're below a certain quantity on the field, so shoving tiles you can't use over the edge is the right move. You can use those to get rid of gargoyles, too - that's not hugely relevant early in the game, though. Markers appear on the map's edge frequently enough for edge tiles to not be completely useless, too, but that isn't going to be readily apparent within the demo's short time span.

I've actually considered having the board populate with random tiles after you lose a life, since waiting for them to replenish creates a bit of a lull. On the one hand, I like giving the player a breather, but on the other hand, dying later in the game can be really punishing, since it takes a while for the game to pick up steam again. I'll probably revisit this idea when I can get around to updating again.

Thanks again for your constructive feedback and for giving the game a fair shake, I really do appreciate that.