lolbatz's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Colored Moth]

I don't mind the simple looks, it's a bitsy game! But if the primary focus of the game's substance is narrative, I think there should be a little more put into its writing. I know game jams are tight for time, but some dialogue could have been more succinct, and there are a lot of ways that statements seem surface-level or repetitive. Just some more time writing and re-writing could do the trick. Thinking of how to say as much as possible with as few words as possible.

[Dragonsweeper]

I love it! Maths and dungeons! Super fun!
First score: 196

[We live in a Bubble]

Cool concept but I feel like the ending tries to be really profound and epic when the reality is all the player's done in the past 4 minutes is flounder about in confusion! It gets a pass since it's a 24 hour game jam, but it could be cool to expand upon the idea and give the player something to do that actually gives reason to feel the feelings the epic music seems to want me to feel..

Not bad, just a bit surface-level, I think if you iterate on these ideas and feelings you're having you could make a game that's really special. Focus on what the player does and how their actions pair with the feeling you want them to have! :)

amidos2006 responds:

Thanks a lot for the feedback ☺️

[Magnolia Dwindlespark and the Mystery of the Entangled Propurrtions]

A quaint puzzle, with great art! I wish the scaling was more precise. For how exact you must be to get each item the correct size, one would hope that it would be more intuitive to scale in fine increments. It was a little infuriating at times, but I did complete it. I felt like the bookshelf was a bit of a drag; compared to the rest of the items, which one can generally assume how big they should be, the sizes of books and scrolls vary widely, so it was basically just wiggling my mouse a little and waiting for it to work. I did like the premise though, and it was fun to direct my frustration at the game to the cat who caused this mess. Fun, although infuriating, and could use some more testing to see what players find fun and what players find annoying. I do think a more exact way of scaling the objects would help a lot with the frustration. Maybe clicking on it and then using arrow keys to adjust? Either way, I'm glad I played. :)

[Bonefields]

Hi-Score: 1336

Awesome game!! Very fun and neat to play!! I enjoyed discovering what all of the different upgrades do. I did have a bit of an annoying time trying to reach the bits of EXP all over the ground, and I feel like it was sometimes a bit too difficult to cut through the crowd. Maybe it's just slightly too much, maybe more playtesting with non-developers could help. I also had a hard time distinguishing between the skulls of fallen enemies and the skulls of skeleton enemies, making it difficult to tell where it was safe to go. I wish that the firing of the shovels was more responsive; I got the hang of the rhythm as time went on, but some sort of additional audio cue, or a charge meter near the mouse or player (I understand there is one in the bottom UI, but there is no time to look at that), or even just having it be an on-click effect would be helpful. I was also very confused and distracted by all of the farm sprites all over the ground. Being low on health, my instinct is to go to the farm to see if I can harvest the crops there, but clicking still does nothing and it just seemed unfair. I think another commenter said something about the farm aesthetic being a skin more than anything, and I agree. Although it is very cute and thematic, especially with the farming-based projectiles, it would be cool if there were some farming mechanics. Also, some sort of action that is consciously enacted would help the player feel like they have more control over the sway of battle. The rhythm-based attacks are fun, but having at least one super-strong attack to use in emergencies could be a good addition to give the player more options! I found that the dodge roll, the one action the player can make in-combat besides moving and aiming, to be unhelpful at best, as the invincibility time is hardly enough to get in and/or out of where I need to go. Either way, these are just some suggestions I have. I found this game to be a super fun little arcade game with a cute theme, and discovering the unique upgrade paths was my favorite part!

P.S. I found a glitch involving dodging at the same moment I died, which caused my character to roll infinitely until they hit a wall, then continue to roll in the death screen. The oddest thing about this glitch though was... they became bald!??!?! XD

[CULTZONE Sports Jules Rimet]

I think something might be wrong with your game, because when I try to play it hardly functions and causes my whole browser to lag. I was only able to press the space bar to cause a cascade of balls appearing, and then the game lagged so much it froze. I'm curious to play this game, but sadly, it's impossible to play...

cultzone responds:

Lag its a great bigger problem in the UnityEngine... canwe work with the Unreal in the next future...

[JS Tower Defense]

A very fun & charming tower defense game. I enjoy the art style, and the gameplay is genuinely fun. It's exciting to unlock new towers and see what skills they have. The only complaint I have is that the UI is a little confusing--it was hard to figure out what I was meant to do when I first started the game, as the shop button blends in with the scenery and upon clicking "Begin" I had no idea what was going to happen. So, a little UI improvements could make the experience better. I also think some of the gunshots got a little too loud and repetitive, so maybe a volume adjustment on those could be good. But the design of the game is great, there are loads of interesting characters to choose, and the different mechanics of the weapons and enemies are all very neat. Keep up the good work!

Kirbuel responds:

Thanks a lot! I'll try to fix your issues as soon as I can.

[Water Dodge]

Doesn't actually work properly? The art and music is cool, though, shame it doesn't work

PirateFoxyMLG2 responds:

you use the a and d keys to move and also it take some time to click on the game

[rage 1]

The movement and physics are surprisingly very satisfying! I wish the level had more interesting aspects, like some spikes or other hazards. Also, it's not too hard, which is nice, but if you're looking to make a rage game try making it harder? Adding more levels, with each level incorporating a new hazard or element, would be a great idea!

[Ness Ice Skating]

very fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sound effects and physics are perfect!! add some gameplay maybe? like an objective? but as a fun little physics sim, it's very fun

Shmish responds:

That's a great idea! :)