Gaiacarra's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sota]

Too easy.

It's just too easy. It's boring. I don't even have to think for... well, any of the levels. I don't think this is a problem with the level design, I think it's a problem with the concept. I can't imagine how you could make a level for this that would be very difficult.

Some of the levels with simpler geometry were interesting, eg levels 27 and 28. I think it's because the simpler shapes make it into a more precise, logical puzzle than a fuzzy visual-thinking one. You can just look at the topology of the level in order to work out where to place your towers to get 100¨% coverage, rather than just sort of fudging your placements next to corners and stuff in order to increase your coverage as much as possible.

So I would either give up on this particular concept, or reduce it to something with simpler, more precise rules. Notice how a lot of puzzle games take place on a grid (tetris, meteos, polarium). This is because it lends itself to simpler rules that can be parsed in purely logical terms by the mind, which is usually more satisfying than just sort of guessing and adjusting and dealing with nitty-gritty little visual details.

In any case, for future puzzle game ventures, remember to use better music (the music is nice, but the loop is too short. Ideally the music in a puzzle game should be nice enough and long enough to listen to on its own) and maybe avoid having ads on the edge of the screen. That's all just part of making the game relaxing and appealing to the eye and ear, which makes for a much more pleasant environment to do puzzles in. Also include a better interface (for instance, why is there no way of previewing a level from the main menu? why can't I click "next" on a level until I've beaten it? Why is there no way to go back to the previous level? etc).

But, nice effort.

[Alight (in dreams)]

Excrutiatingly BORING.

This game is incredibly boring and difficult to play. The controls feel awkward and respawn times are too long. The level design is very poor, both difficult to navigate on a moment-to-moment basis (platforms too far, obstacles awkwardly placed making for many annoying jumps...) and in an overall sense (difficult to figure out where I'm supposed to go next).

Of course the fundamental problem is that I just don't care about what's going on in the game. How can I? I don't UNDERSTAND what's going on in the game, and it's not even an intriguing lack of understanding. It just feels like shit randomly happening without even internally consistent logic or point to it at all. All I can tell you after playing the first one and a half levels (gave up after that because of how annoying and boring the gameplay is) is that this guy is in a dream. Frankly from second one you've put me off... how do you expect me to care about what's going on in someone's dream, anyway? It's a dream. It'll disappear once he wakes up.

[Babies Dream of Dead Worlds]

Sort of interesting?

The game does have an appropriate "dream like" feel. I suppose the "babies dream of dead worlds" thing implies this is supposed to be some sort of recollection of past life, or something like that. But this is pointless if it's limited to being just something you hint at in a cryptic phrase on the level-select screen.

That leads me to the biggest problem with the game, which is that it just seems... pointless. You've made a game about a baby's dream. Okay. But then you completely miss what's actually so interesting about that idea. It's not the dream itself, it's the fact that it's a baby having it. Why is the baby having this dream? What are these characters? ARE they people from a past life, or are they figments of the baby's imagination? You didn't touch on that at all, which made the game just feel without purpose. You can pat yourself on the back that you got across the fact that this was another world very efficiently (I didn't even read the author comments until after playing, and I still got it), but that efficiency is matched by the shallowness of it.

I like the idea that this is a glimpse into some strange, hidden universe that the baby is remembering in the form of a dream. It's mysterious, disquieting, and compelling. It's great that you managed to bring across that slight alien creepiness through not only music and visuals, but gameplay (with a completely alien form of control and gravity) as well. Nice one. It's also rounded off by the disjointed, non-linear structure of the narrative, which I think adds to the mystery and the incoherent dream-like feel.

...but, it is POINTLESS when it's just left in isolation like that. What is interesting about this world is that it is a baby's dream. But other than the game's title and very brief opening cutscene are the only things that tell us that. You need in some way to link the baby's world with the dream -- maybe splice in gameplay segments where the baby wake up momentarily, I don't know.

Anyway, technical aspects.

Music got the job done even if it wasn't completely stellar, control scheme was interesting and intuitive once you grasped the concept that gravity always tugged you towards the middle of the level. And as I said, it also added to the alien feel of the game's universe.

However, the level design was generally very poor. The racing and coin-collecting challenges were just pointless (not to mention boring to play anyway). The visuals were also probably out of place. You realize not all artsy games have to be done in retro pixellated graphics, right? In this case I really feel something easier on the eyes would have been preferable. I understand that retro graphics comes as much (if not more) from poor artistic skills on the part of the author as it does from artistic choice, but if that's the case surely you must know SOMEONE with better spriting skills that you can collaborate with.

[Virtual Handgun]

Unlockables?

Why in the name of sanity would you put unlockables in a flash like this?

[Closed In Addendum]

Bad.

Was not enjoyable to play.

Made me feel no emotions, other than a little bit of tension at the beginning because I thought it was going to be a horror game.

Did not provoke thought.

Will not make me want to come back to it ever again.

[Doodle God]

Meh.

At first it was interesting. With the mystical-sounding music and the chinese-esque art style, it had this kind of sense of wonder at making all these complicated things from absolute scratch. Then I combined Water and Fire. Alcohol ...ok. Well, it's still reasonable, alcohol is a common chemical substance. Alcohol and water. Vodka? WHAT.

That's one of the game's problems: you can create some seriously stupid bullshit. For a start the whole mythological creatures section needs to leave. Alcoholics and wizards and DEMIGODS (what the hell) can get out too. Especially if they're not going to be useful later on. This means you basically just don't know what to expect, and hence don't know what to look for. It's like looking for a needle in a hay-stack, except you can't even be sure if it's really a needle you're looking for. Fish, Dolphins and Whales probably shouldn't be separate, for instance. Just stick to "Sea Creatures".

Same goes for the combinations: some of them are really stupid. Life and stone creates an egg? Screw you.

It seems to me you need to play this by looking at what you have and imagining what you could make from it. Whereas I'd rather look at what I want to make and figure out how to make it from what I have. But you can't do that, because most of the logical paths one might take don't work. Especially after finding that Life = Swamp + Electricity, I figured humans would be Beast + Tree, but no dice.

This game could kind of work if the elements you could create were less dumb, and if the game gave you more of an idea what you were shooting for. Giving you hints like "Create three early human inventions" or something. Once I've created cars and airplanes I don't think it's fair to expect me to notice that I forgot to make bricks and parchment.

[Diesel Valkyrie]

Eh.

It was fun at first, but by level 4 it started to feel like a chore, and I was playing on the highest difficulty setting. You boast 10+ different weapons, but I don't really think that's enough here. 20+ might be more like it, but that's just speculation because I only managed to unlock one of them.

Game might have more lasting interest if the weapons didn't have to be unlocked (or if they were unlocked much quicker), if you could perhaps hold two or three weapons at once (allowing for more strategy), and if the levels were more varied (like maybe including interactive stuff, hazards, different terrain types...).

Also, nice coding. My computer is really slow and I didn't even get any lag at all even when the zombies were mobbing me.

[Dress Up Raven]

Well, I won't Blam it.

Not worth a Blam, I mean it's functional and some people will probably want one of these featuring Raven, so... 2/5 I guess.

Can't really give you a good score though, I mean there's not much TO a dress-up game, and you don't have any of it. Really to make one of these worth-while, you'd need an animated and possible voiced character, at least a few dozen of each piece of clothing, the ability to individually customize colors, and a much better interface (for a start, your menus should cycle, and second of all they should be the sort of menu where you can see all the items at once rather than just looking through them one at a time).

I realize this is all probably because you didn't particularly feel like putting weeks of effort into some simple thing you were knocking together for your wife, I'm pretty much just musing out loud about what a dress-up game would need to warrant a good score in my book.

powermanX responds:

Thanks for the crit. All things taken into account, Yes i did actually sit on this for a while so it wasn't just a quickie but it wasn't on purpose either.

I did say this was my second submission to newgrounds, and was hoping for some mercy...so i gotta ask...is this you going easy ? LOL, Oh well i tried and hope someone derives some enjoyment from my efforts.. ;)

[Throw]

Fine.

Fun mechanic and good level design, unimpeachable controls, made for an entertaining 5 minutes. Good but unremarkable visuals and sound.

But: no challenge, and far too short. Overall not worth more than a 5/10.

[The Unfair Platformer]

Sort of fun.

"and yes, the game is possible"
No shit, that was easy (about half an hour, roughly 160 deaths).

Seriously. I mean, I wasn't gonna swear or freak out because I went into this knowing what to expect, but... I wasn't even freaking out on the INSIDE. I never really felt that the game was being that unfair at all. It certainly pales in comparison to IWBTG or Kaizo Mario.

In fact, the game was more than fair, it was actually pretty easy. Several times I was like "there's gonna be a trap here... oh, there isn't" or "wow, the checkpoint already?". When I finished it I just thought "...is that it?".

So... sort of well made, decent graphics, acceptable level design, sort of fun. But you fail at making ridiculously hard games (not that that's a particularly desirable skill anyway).

2/5 | 4/10