notthisguy's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[FLAP]

A very delightful game.

[Miskatonic Brain Drain]

I love what this game is going for visually and mechanically, but there's just too munch bunk for me to enjoy it fully. The screen is too small, there's no time to actually read the dating option portions, and the progression of craziness eventually stops surprising you, making it hard to tell if you're actually reaching an endpoint or not.

EDIT
After checking out the recent edits to the game, I've changed my rating to reflect the fact that clearly the dev is taking criticism well and using it to improve their work. The changes improve the game very much, and while it's still not perfect yet, it is now a game I would recommend.

Maprower responds:

Shame the game slid off the dome of quality like a wet piece of bologna, but there's no denying it's a bit of a mess.
Did some tinkering, changed sanity effects to be much slowly introduced from mundane to inane, doubled the timeout time for response queues, doubled the text size, gave the player invincibility frames so it's not such a big deal getting hit while reading and changed the actual window to be bigger.
Unless you meant "ingame window for platforming is too small", in which case yeah, not much I can do other than going back in time and slapping myself for choosing a resolution that small. Sorry.

Thanks for the feedback, though. Most I can hope is that the next game is much smoother on launch.

[Where in Space is Baby Hitler?]

A very surprising sequel, but a rapid departure from the original. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it shows a lot of creativity and expansion of ideals. Not so good because anyone coming in expecting a quick moral dilemma, goofy game is going to be thrown into a point-and-click dungeon crawling RPG with Punch-Out combat. It's kind of a lot to take in with very little explanation. Still, as of what I played, it's solid.

ALSO: How do I defeat the robot? It keeps blocking my attacks no matter what.

jacklehamster responds:

Yeah, to me at least, it's closer to the kind of game I like to make: complex games with elaborate stories. As far as goofiness goes, there's actually plenty of that past the dungeon.

Sorry at least for this game, I try not to provide hints (at least for a week or two). Feel free to ask on the community thread! All I can say is that some puzzles in this game have more to do with timing than using the right item.

[Family Mansion]

The aesthetic and music is solid, but the four axis of aiming make the game a nightmare to play sometimes.

[Just one chance]

Despite my constant deaths, I really enjoy this game. The platforming mechanics are smooth like butter, and the death mechanics are delightful.

...also, how am I supposed to get past room 25 with the narrow floor of spikes blocking your path?

EDIT: FINALLY DID IT 5 DAYS LATER! WINNER 53!

leandrodreamer responds:

try just walk in, no jump ;v

[Indie Game Sim (demo)]

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this demo, and you might just have secured yourself a sale down the line.

[Phantom Reverse #1]

It's an interesting first episode, and I'm engaged enough to want to see more, but you have plenty of room to expand.

I'll admit this now, I'm not the biggest fan of visual novels, so do take what I say with a grain of salt if it comes off as missing the point or anything like that, but even if you decide to do a linear story with small elements of interactivity, you can make those interactive elements much more engaging.

For starters, the choices given in this episode appear, for the most part, minor at best. From whether you try sleeping in or getting up early, to how you react to being attacked by the Crystal Clock being, most of what you can choose quickly loops back to the main story, and doesn't feel too impactful. You don't need to make every choice change the story that much, especially with the episodic format you're following with no sign of any carrying over choices or anything like that, but there is a way to still make your dialogue choices feel important. Have what you say or ask reveal more information, and exclude other bits of information to the player. I have no idea who that kid who saves you is, but I now know what those monsters are called. Having what you gain or lose be information allows you to make the choices feel important without greatly altering the linear narrative.

I would also suggest that you alter the inventory system by not highlighting which item you need to use at which time. Imagine if when the lights in the train go out, you were prompted to use an inventory item, but not told which one was correct. You now need to use the context of the situation to realize you could use your phone as a light. You could even expand scenes like that where using the wrong item results in a quick GAME OVER where a monster gets you because you didn't use the right item. Or at the very least, if the stakes aren't that high when you use an inventory item, a character can make fun of you for picking the wrong item at that time, and then you're given another chance to pick an item.

Little additions like that would push this game a long way, I think. Maybe that's not what you're going for though, and it is meant to be more of a straight forward experience without much pull on the player, but I think if you're going to tell a story involving player engagement, find what things you can do, and go all out with them.

JackAstral responds:

Really nice suggestions, thanks for the detailed review! I definitely might try out your inventory idea... :-D

[Bootleg Newgrounds]

This was a really cute and funny homage to the site. Had a lot of good laughs with this.

[Tree House Quest]

I gotta say, this was a really enjoyable game. Cute and visually appealing art style, great humor, and a surprisingly solid combat system. At first I thought the fights would be too easy since there was no sort of experience system, but the addition of various attacks and moves as the game went on turned each fight into a neat little puzzle of sorts. Overall, this a really nice little experience, and if you wanted to expand this concept into a full adventure game/RPG, I think there'd be room to do it. Maybe multiple kids to control, new combat systems, larger puzzles, experience, that sort of thing.

Whatever the case, great game! Will love to see more of your work in the future.

[Ray Bibbia]

As a demo or proof of concept, this game is fantastic!

I really think with further expansion, more levels/mechanics, maybe a story, and other features to grow the game, this could be really good.

Morbidware responds:

Thanks!:)
Maybe a number of boss fights in a row, till the final boss. Unlock new priests with different mechanics and with their own endings.