TwinBlazar's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tattle & Tale]

Back 10-20 years ago, if I found a game like this, then I would definitely pick it up. Great job with the aesthetics of the game. Your art style got a good signature that gives me an impression of mature version of Yoshi's Island. The art really has a positive charm around it. In fact, it's the reason why I clicked on the game in the front page of Newgrounds.

The character moves quite slow, and it is a bit annoying to move so slow. This pushes me back away from the game. However, when the ghost sibling does some boomerang action, the game draws me back in. Good. I like that ghost sibling. (Yes, I like weird out-of-the-world things)

The music is a bit strange - it adds to that eerie feeling. If that is what you want, then fine.

Level Progression-wise though, I don't see much of "interesting things". You collect lots of items in the first screen, but then... so what? After all these item picking? Then, I came across only a few enemies or two in the next area. The boomerang action and the spinning body shine... for only a brief moment because there are so few enemies. Your characters already have attractive actions but you need to design more creative/interesting context in level design to allow your characters to shine better and brighter to hook the players better in the beginning.

Also, one question though: do you want this to be an action platformer or puzzle platformer?

But other than that, keep up the good work. Your art already pulls me in. ;)

[ICS II]

Congratulation for ICS II. This is what you have been making, eh?

I see that you improved upon ICS I further. Great job on that.

Good things:
+ I see that you keep on adding new gimmicks further in later levels to make sure the game does not feel repetitive.
+ However, some of these cooler features seem to come out so slow. Ex. sleeping to turn day into night come into the game like Level 25? That's a bit late, imo. All other levels before the game, we have been trying to survive burning up and out of nowhere, it's... night time. You know, this changes the gameplay, not only in term of functionality, but also in term of aesthetics and experience. I really wish this feature appear in earlier level. This is because all the things I encounter before level 25 are standard run-of-the-mill puzzle platformer features that other puzzle platformers have. Ex. an object that launches you like a spring, switch blocks, etc. But sleeping on the bed to avoid sunburn is the only feature unique to your game and cannot be found anywhere else.
+ Pause menu: Ragequit. I see what you did there. :D
+ Walk into spike does not kill you. Only jumping on spike will kill you. Good job making the spike this way. I approve.

Issues/Questions:
- Sliding issue: Sometimes if you hold the left/right key and hold down, the character will duck and refuse to move. However, on other occasion, the character will move but you cannot jump. Fortunately, the game has only a few places you really need to slide, but sliding sometimes is a bit tricky given which key has been pressed first. Can this be fixed?
- can variable sliding be implemented? Think Megaman game. When you slide, you can release the button prematurely to cancel the slide. Right now, sliding is always 3 blocks away.
- If you slide off the edge, your character can move insanely fast in midair until he reaches the ground. Is this intentional?
- If you burn yourself and run into the walking spike enemies, they will burn. BUT if you get into waterfall to remedy the burn and touch a burning spike enemy, you will still die. Is this intentional? My personal preference is to not do this, but this is up to you.
- Sometimes when so many enemies burn at the same time, many enemies' burning bars will appear to indicate when they will die. Since the bar design is the same as the player's burning bar, I cannot see when I am about to die. I suggest you remove the burning bars for the enemies because they blocks the view.

[Growing Ties]

I wasn't expecting this sort of experience, but oh well, that was a unique Ludum Dare game. :)

Somehow, I don't have anything to criticize. Everything is simple and it just works finely in its own rights. Great job.

[Dem Alein Gaem]

Alright, you got a game concept here but the way your game design communicate with the player is a bit off.

Although the game's description is "avoiding contact to scientists and monsters.", somehow I feel the game is more fun when the alien grows bigger. It feels rewarding seeing the alien grows bigger and bigger, as it changes. Why? Because right now, he is depicted as the protagonist. We are in a way "controlling" him.

There needs to be some pretext to show the alien as the antagonist instead. Or else I will prefer to absorb everything on my path instead, but that's actually acceptable gameplay-wise as well.

For the bugs, yes, there is a collision bug just like what others mentioned, but again, good job making this game in just 30 hours. :)

CzarSilvestrini responds:

That's interesting, i've never thought about that.
Maybe an animation on the start to try to make the alien doing something bad or even more "despair" in the animations of the humans to make him look more like the antagonist.
But there is still the problem with him being the one we're controlling. Maybe the reason there is few visual rewards for avoiding the humans gives the feeling that you described. We'll have think about it.

Thanks for the feedback!
And sorry for the inconvenience, the collision bugs were fixed.

[Go, Go, Radzilla!]

You got yourself proper visual aesthetics. The audio is simple and already works on its own way. No complain there.

Gameplay-wise, the two buttons with 4 moves are simple and work fine. Remind me of that Simpson game on SNES that Bart becomes a Godzilla a bit.

My only complain though is the game is a bit mundane.

Also, perhaps I didn't play this long enough, where is the "grow" part of Ludum Dare here? I see the game gets faster after a short while, but I don't see anything grows? Correct me if I am wrong.

CrownoO responds:

Thank you for the honest feedback!
It's on the description of the game, but I'll explain with a bit more depth:

About the theme, this LD had 2 themes but you could pick just one as an option.

My original idea consisted in having Razilla growing and evolving, gaining small boosts to his abilities as he consumed more radioactive energy. He would be able to destroy smaller buildings simply by stepping on them, for example. The game even has some unused assets for nuclear plants that you would be able to destroy in order to get more energy (you can see them on the source file).

Truth is, I wasn't feeling too much inspired and wasn't even sure if I would be able to finish the game at all, not to mention that I also work on sundays. So I decided to work on the basic gameplay idea, that was the 2 buttons thing. Then if I had enough time and willpower, I could add the "growing" part . If I didn't, at least I could deliver the game with only 1 theme. And as you can figure out, it ended up being the latter.

So yeah, in general, I had to opt for a simple and safe game in order to be able to accomplish it. On the previous LD I tried to make a game that was waaay too complex for 2 days, so I tried to do the opposite this time around and it worked. Maybe next time I'll try to step up the game a little bit!

Again, thanks for the honest feedback and compliments, I really appreciate it :)

[From Sprout to Splendor]

Simple and relaxing. The three of you do make quite a tree game. :P

What shines the most in this game is the feeling, thanks to the music and visuals. However, there is a bit of issues:

1. Once you know what to do, you will never lose the game ever again. The players might lose one time figuring how to play the game but that will be it. Once you get the hang of it, no more losing.

2. Balancing. After having the 2 passive resource upgrades, you pretty much win the game.

3. You can't pause the game.

4. I know you have limited time with Ludum Dare, but right now, all the upgrades are permanent and work too well. For example, with the ants, the caterpillar might sap a few HP and then immediately died. The player will never lose here unless he waited for almost a hundred caterpillars.

Perhaps if these upgrades are one time off or expired in several seconds, this might make the scenario more interesting in that the game will now have risk vs reward system. Should the player go for ants to strengthen the tree or should the player go for the passive "economy" boost, hoping that caterpillars won't come and risking for better "economy" for more upgrades a few moment later? So yeah, just some idea.

The game is already beautiful, so just tweak some game design stuff and the three of you should have a great tree game. ;)

[Ourobos]

A Pocket Metroid made under 72 hours? Impressive.

This game got everything it needs to be a proper game. If polished and fine tuned some more for richer experience, this will be a solid game.

Questions/issues/Comments:

1. I intentionally jumped into the lava and see how the game will respond. Obviously, I died and returned to the main menu. Then, I was a bit lost about "how to save" and "how to load" the game. Like that last 10 minutes that I played, did the game auto-save or ...must I do anything?

2. Can you pan the camera faster? It's too slow, I think.

3. Press Enter for pause menu? Say so next time.

Other than that, you got a good game. :)

[Kissy Square]

You know what? Given the game's simplicity, its idea just works.

I am not sure whether you will agree with me or not, but I suggest finding some artists to create some kissing characters and replace the squares. This game could be more than just boxes and could get more romantic with the right visual presentation.

[The Devil's Daughter]

"Aww.. watch it bitch!" "Aww...that fucking hurts!"

NOW, THIS IS THE MONSTER GAME I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR Ludum Dare #33 You are the MONSTER!

All right, the whole thing is great from the beginning to the end. I really like the protagonist. She is a cute little girl that is cheesy, demonic, spoiled, swear a lot. She is the MONSTER! This is excellent for Ludum Dare! Seriously, if I can help vote for you, gimme a link, and I will help you voting your game!

Visual: The choice of aesthetics is made finely to be fit. Red, white and black color palettes serve the whole game pretty well. I do like this choice of presentation.

Audio: "KITTY KANNON"! YES! Monster theme Ludum Dare, baby! That announcer + unique weaponry + cute little protagonist kick the theme of monster up to eleven! Great job with the sound of the girl and the announcer! I was busy tight today and want something to chill off, and your game, sir, blaze me up to some thousand degrees and there, I got chilled by the heat. :D

Gameplay: now, there is a few kinks that might need to be iron out, but they are pretty minor. The only thing I would note though is the final boss. You got all the interesting guns in the stages, but the final boss, I only got the pistol. :( ...that's sad. I thought I can exchange bullet hell with the final boss. But that's the only bad thing.

And actually, 72 hours for all this!? You, sir, win two Internets! Excellent work!

[Attack of the Lobizarudo]

The game needs more content. You got the gameplay defined, but ...I am not sure about many things... you provide us the Ikaruga gameplay but you are a big godzilla monster walking in a city being bombarded by those cross things...

There are many simple games out there but this one, something is off given this premise.

Were you thinking of making the game from the gameplay mechanic first or the gameplay aesthetics first?