Lesuperchef's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sun Temple]

Pretty cool :)

I confirm I had the same bug than @3p0ch - on a computer running Linux, so it wasn't the OS's fault. Could manipulate the rocket properly, but thrust wasn't strong enough to lift rocket. Fortunately, I have another computer and it worked fine on that one.

This looks pretty basic, but quite good for an HTML5 game and the idea has a few good things to keep. Overall looks promising, if you ever intend to work on something like that again :)
+ The game was surprisingly easier than expected - I expected playability to be atrocious with such a control mechanic, but it went pretty well, I managed to get the rocket where I wanted without much trouble (had to try a few times over, but that was expected). Also, the passages are (often) large enough so it's possible to get the hand of it and not constantly hit the ceiling or the walls. So, good thing there :)
- The health system does feel a bit random. Losing health isn't always proportional to the impact that feels when the rocket hits an obstacle. It wasn't too much of an issue to me because I'm used to the kind of game that would straightforward crash the rocket the moment it merely touches the corner of an obstacle. But I'd understand
+ Short levels, and not too many levels. Prevents boredom as well as some risk of rage :) (Not all risk, but some of the risk)
+ There's only one song throughout the whole game, but it felt quite in-context and not too repetitive.
- Graphics. They look pretty cool but they feel a bit... unrealistic? I'm not expecting the whole thing to be photorealistic - it's an HTML5 game after all - but it really felt like models placed in Unity. I'd recommend 3 things : adding small visual effects to make it look more natural, make the movements of the blocks more natural (it's a basic ease method - I'd expect rock-against-rock friction to be more linear and irregular) and make the textures more rough (add dirt, sand, cuts in the stone) and the models' corners smoother (if it's an old temple, erosion rounds the corners of stone). Also make sure blocks don't pass through each other and that they are always linked to a static object (in opposition to floating in the air).
+ Graphics (again, but a plus this time). Despite what I said above, I have to admit the amount of models is just right, not too many, not too few. I can see where I'm going pretty easily. Even the bright lights weren't a distraction :) What I mentioned in the precedent point are only minor changes, just to make the whole thing look less like it has been edited in Unity.
+ The hitboxes of the coins are super large, making them easier to collect. THANK YOU! Also, you can't crash on the landing pad at the end of a level, avoiding common deaths at the very end of the level. THANK YOU again!

Overall looks promising, I don't know if you intend to go back on this game and improve it (or make a sequel?) but it would definetly be worth it. If you want me to explain better anything I just said, feel free to send me a message :)

Keep up the good work! ^^

R3CO1L responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I was thinking of coming back to this game after a long time :)
This helps a lot.

[Memory.exe]

Pretty cool game! :)

I like these puzzle that links everything together :) My only question would be related to the ending; I read a sign saying I should go back to the beginning when I completed the, yet I didn't find what to do there.

I also found a small bug that kept me form searching further than I wished : when I managed to get my cube higher than the screen limits, the cube simply disappeared (clearing the memory) but did not respawn. I got stuck there and I couldn't do anything.

It's a pretty fun game despite that small problem ;) The simple design and music are just enough to be clear without being invasive or distracting. Good job overall!

squidly responds:

Did you search the true beginning? The very beginning.

[Brutal Planet]

So, well...

First time I loaded the game, first match :
- Everything went normal, except for two details : 1) there was gravity for some reason and, as expected, the top of the screen was empty and therefore seemed pointless to me (before I understood there shouldn't be gravity) and 2) the symbols did not show up correctly (Life was "$", time was "%" and money was "&". This applies only to the interface, interactive objects in-game were fine).
It felt a bit weird to me, but it didn't prevent the game from being fun.

Second match.
My headphones and my ears almost exploded as the game decided to generate objects 10 times faster. At this point, I went up to the thousand in money and reached 500 seconds of time. I wasn't sure what kind of bug was that, or if I activated some cheat code without knowing it.
I bought every item in the shop, essentially finishing the game. Tried to play a third time, same thing happened; way too many objects spawned. (Nice sound effects on that special mode, btw)

As I read the review @FishPudding left, I recognised the symptoms and tried refreshing the game. This time everything went fine for me.

I'm running Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. I've been playing several Newgrounds games for a while now, and no such bugs happened to me before.

List of noted symptoms when it doesn't go well :
- Symbols for health, time and money are shown as ASCII symbols (respectively $, % and &). Note that in-game collectible items are shown correctly.
- The item description text did not auto-size. Some text was going off the text container bounds.
- Gravity, somehow.
- Overload of objects after the first match.
It happened only the first time I load the game. Maybe it happens when the game can't find any save data?

­> Since I'm leaving a review :
It's a pretty decent game. The bug described above do make it look unprofessional, but I won't take away stars for this, hoping it gets fixed. Good timekiller imo.

Bigaston responds:

Hey thanks for the comment!

For the different bug you said, I don't know why. This is the first big game I create with Construct2 and all work on my computer.

For the special caracter it's because I use this caracter and a custom font to display that. Normaly, Construct2 don't take lot of time to add the font but maybe on your computer, the font take more time to load than on my computer.

So I've try to upgrade the game but maybe it's not fix the bug :/

[Rotate]

Pretty cool game! I can feel the inspiration from "Shift" ;)

I suggest you add more easier/tutorial levels at the beginning to explain us the mechanics of the game. I didn't know I had to move right after rotating (while falling) in the second level :P

For those struggling with a level, spot all the flat surfaces and try to reach them all, one of them will lead to the right path.
And for those who keep rotating in the wrong way, the gravity will go in the direction the letter is; E is on the right, you'll fall to the right, Q is on the left, you'll fall to the left. These little tricks helped me complete the game ;)

Criobite responds:

Thanks, glad you liked it! :D

[Puzzle Jumper (LD 41)]

Interesting objective, very flawed result.

I like the main idea of adding a character to the Tetris game. Even though very basic, it adds a little plus to the game. But there were many major flaws that counter-balanced this...

Let's start with the bugs :
- There is no horizontal collision between blocks. As long as it is not grounded, you can spam left or right very quickly to make your current block pass through currently grounded blocks.
- Once grounded, the blocks don't always 'freeze' the correct tiles. It often blackens additional tiles that weren't covered by the block. For example, let's say you have a block shaped like ¬ (if you can't see the shape, it's an L flipped and rotated), it would freeze the entire surrounding box. I'm not sure if I'm clear here, but try playing the game, you should encounter the problem pretty easily.
- At some point the character refused to jump. Also, I didn't find how to make it move.
- The character later ended up stuck inside a block.
- There is no game over; once I reached the top, blocks kept appearing.

Some more suggestions :
- Add a music and sound effects. These can help liven up your game. (Be careful to not make them too loud/distracting, however)
- Try finding a graphic theme for the game. At the moment, all I can see it a texture for the background, a solid black color for the foreground, and a drawing for the character. Think about what theme you would like you game to be : Do you want it to be futuristic, technologic? Or would you rather have a peaceful, joyful, natural-themed game? A dark hell-themed one, maybe? There are plenty of themes you could use, just choosing one would already help making your game more interesting.

These two last points are optional and less important than the bugs listed above, but I think it would be useful to give more thoughts. Even if you won't ever touch this game ever again, at least you have something to help you if you make any other game.

Here are my thoughts. It feels like this started from a good idea, but it was rushed and untested, which let many severe flaws in the game. I understand having a short deadline can be stressful, but you might want to at least test your game before uploading it. That being said, nothing prevents you from improving your game outside the bounds of the contest :)

Best regards,
~ Lesuperchef

BlazeLeeDragon responds:

thank you for the feedback, yes this is a majorly rough draft for the lundum dare 41 challenge. Only been working on it on and off for the last two days. I did just upload the latest version that corrected the horizontal issue. I also added controls to the description. I'm trying to find out how to sync the fall rate of blocks with the player. once I fix this i'll make it so you can't move the blocks or rotate them unless he is on them. falling blocks should kill him and end the game, score should increase per second as well as if lines are completed. However I have not figured out the issue with the lines not resolving...so a lot to be done before playable :)

still appreciate you taking the time to look and try it out.

If i can get more done before the challenge is done i'll upload..

[Running out of Power Inc.]

Cool game, but it feels a bit short :)
I played the game twice to see all possible paths, and I ended up finding how to keep lights on at the end :D But I thought different paths would actually bring different endings :/
Good job, though! ^^

StuffedWombat responds:

they do tho.

the light is supposed to be the sun, so by keeping it on, humanity cans survive in eternal dimness
well, i guess its not clear that the ball is the sun, but thats ok :)

[Illumination]

Nice game! Well explained, interesting puzzles that involves both a cube and light systems, cool simples graphics and relaxing background music...

Even though the game seems short, it's just the perfect length so it's not repetitive or boring ;)

My only suggestion would be to make text bigger (If this problem prevents anyone from playing, just put fullscreen and it should be readable ;D)

Overall, nice job! ^^

Jkoey responds:

Thank you for taking your time to give a response to my game. Your feedback/support means so much to me. I have taken your thoughts and noted them down. I have/will (for a bit) improve my game based on your input. Thanks.