JorisRollfox's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Super Sperm]

I can only imagine how you came up with this concept XD
While the art isn't fully polished, it looks unique & holds up quite well. It's a shame that the game is so short, as I think it would've worked quite well as an endless highscore game.

[Broken TV: Video Puzzle]

Really good & unique puzzle game with cute art. While the puzzles can be quite challenging, I feel like I'm always making progress. My only complaints are that the difficulty from one level to the next can vary quite wildly, that there are a few levels where you are constantly waiting, and that there is not enough variety to keep my interest for more than 10 minutes.

[Dark]

I would try more games / art with the black, white & red color. It looks quite good.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is quite generic & unpolished. Next time I would try to add an unique mechanic or objective, something more interesting than just a slide. Things that offer the player dilemmas tend to work pretty good, which this video by Mark Brown explains quite well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5C1Uj7jJCg

Instead, the main appeal of the game is in the story. Though I would pause the text cutscenes for longer. There were 2 or so screens that I could only read halfway, even upon replaying. As such, I didn't understand the jump from the black&white world to the colored one. Could you explain what happened there?

[Wayward]

Though the theme stated in the description doesn't come forward, to me the story was an interesting take on compromises. Both possible endings being bad sucked, but this suited the unique narrative quite well.

I also really like the art, but its inconsistencies feel a bit off. Some things have way more details than others, and the characters are a lot more saturated than the rest of the game (especially the much darker outline feels off). Also, falling in the water looks kinda off, I would just do a quick ripple / splash effect before respawning the player.
I would also prefer the text with the parents to be in a homelike environment, instead of over a pond. You could also put a window in front of it, to show that you're looking outside.

The music is great too, and although it feels a bit weird that there are no sound effect I didn't miss them that much. This also allowed me to take in the music.

Anyways, given the unique narrative I would like to ask what inspired you to make this?

OurLittleStudio responds:

Hey, you raise some great points about the art and overall level of polish. Due to time constraints on this little project we had to compromise on a lot of these things.

In response to your question, we gave ourselves a brief surrounding the concept of motivation, and how this affects decision making, and the result of the choices made.

[Berry The Scientist]

73 ticks.

Quite enjoyable, though it could be more challenging. I rarely thought my actions through and yet I only took damage a few times.

Also, give an in-game description to explain the dash & which button triggers it. I shouldn't have to look at the description to figure out why I can't move across the gap.

I haven't played Terry, but I like the interconnectedness of the two. Makes it feel like a real world, and makes me want to try it. Besides this being the "real" story compared to the fake in Terry, I found the story quite lackluster. I enjoyed the mini in-between cutscenes, but they could be a bit more interesting than "church throws more stuff at you." You can add a lot of flair by adding little details: "The church was running out of options, and desperate enough to promise sacred land to whichever wicked witch would bring your head. Anything was better than the prospect of joining their lord soon."

How long did it take you to make?

amidos2006 responds:

Thanks a lot for the feedback :) It is always appreciated and always fun to see people enjoying the game :) Both Terry and Berry took like 4 days to finish for the ProcJam :)

[Hyper Dimensional Dynamo]

Really good time-waster, though while the constant feeling of progression makes it quite addictive it also becomes repetitive quickly. Especially once you realize that staying on the middle platform in the first level makes aiming a lot easier.

The main variation comes from the many weapons, as there are only 3 enemy types and the difficulty does not increase during the game. Most weapons are quite interesting, though there are also a few that are too similar to each other.

Even though you can buy new weapons in the shop, it is unclear what their characteristics are. I would at least display their names to give a hint. If the large amount of weapons in the shop gives choice fatigue you can always reduce the number of options (e.g. new weapons become purchasable only once you've bought a certain amount).

Buying new weapons also increases the maximum multiplier, though tbh I never reached beyond 6 anyways. What I do like is that picking up weapons increases your multiplier, which makes it feel as a choice even though you're always going to grab it for the multiplier even if you don't like the weapon. If you fail to pick up the weapon before it fades away however, it decreases your multiplier which adds a nice bit of urgency.

The small level also adds urgency. If you let only one enemy pass you want to take it out asap, which means neglecting new enemies that can also pass you, rinse & repeat. Chaos guaranteed. Because you'll constantly be in chaos, it is a shame though that you can't easily see the amount of remaining hits the dynamo can take. I would add hearts or something, instead of a health bar.

The game also looks & sounds fairly good (the screen shake can be a bit excessive though), especially the start menu is dynamic & funny. So I'm curious, how did you make the art?

KanartStudio responds:

Really thanks for the feedback, this kind of thing really makes me happy, I will make sure to add all these suggestion to the list. This game was more like a study to me, trying a score mechanic to see how people react, maybe in the future, I could make a sequel with some new things.

About the art, it was made by thornduck
https://twitter.com/murilo3031?lang=ca
https://gamejolt.com/@ThornDuck
I also did some small things, we both used Aseprite ;D

The Sfx was made in SFXR also by myself and the music by Ekebe
https://soundcloud.com/ekebe23
You can also find everything in the credits at the main menu ^~^

[Just Slide!]

At first I thought "Why isn't it keeping track of my number of moves? Where is the challenge without it?" But I quickly realised it works much better as a relaxed experience, without a constant reminder that you can do better. There's just something serene & satisfying about filling in all boxes, even if it is almost exclusively trial & error. The game is also just the right length, perhaps maybe 2 levels too long I was about to quit at 30 until I saw I was near the end.

The art looks poorly made & inconsistent at first, but it has its own charm (like the constant variation in color). Especially the "Level complete Awesome!!" has a really neat 90's WordArt feel to it. The menu could look more interesting though.

Also, great music & sound effects! I don't think I would've completed the game without it.

Besides some small touches the game is pretty much perfect. I would look up "game juice", this game doesn't <em>need<em> it but it makes pretty much anything more fun. Also, adding some variation to the sound effect via a random pitch shift does wonders.

As it works so well I have to ask, how did you come up with the concept?

AdityaChaudhary responds:

Do you know "GazThomas" or have you ever played his games on Kongregate.
I have learnt a lot from his games.
His website "FreeGames. org" had a similar game. I though of making something more advanced than that and came up with this game.

[Shorties's Kingdom 3]

Unfortunately this game is not for me, it's too repetitive & requires little skill to master. Most of the time you're just watching.

However, it does feel very polished. How long did it take you to make?

[So Much Money]

The concept of the game is great, I think we've all fallen for collecting meaningless coins & tokens in games many times. Unfortunately, the game doesn't provide many interesting choices. There's no reason to try to collect money at riskier places, since most of the money is in safe places & you can always go to the next level without reporcutions. You also start noticing repetition in the randomly generated levels within minutes. Finally, just collecting as much money as possible is a grand goal you'll never meet, so I would add smaller, more digetable goals to keep the players interest. For instance, perhaps you can only pass on to the next level once you've collected a certain amount of money (which becomes more & more).

By the way, did you make the art yourself? Because everything feels slightly out of place. The background is monochromatic with a very different color palette than the high-contrast foreground. The bright green of the money counter also doesn't fit in with the other, less saturated colors. The resolution also appears to be different for everything, which is especially noticeable between different money pieces. And the sci-fi looking goggles on your character also feel a bit random, and the particle effects & exit are the only things that are transparent & fading.
Most of the art looks great, but these inconsistencies make it feel off. I would advice sticking to one color palette & resolution (this limitation also does wonders on your creativity).
The music also doesn't really fit in.

By the way, given that you make many games that all seem so vastly different from each other, where do you get your inspiration?

[Do Not Click The Cookie]

While not my kind of humor, it is definitely original. However, it also feels as if it was haphazardly put together with little care to detail. Adding squash & stretch when the cookie moves & talks would make it feel much more lively, and perhaps some cookie crumble particles when you click on it (I would look up "game juice" if I were you, it does wonders).

Also, because you can only move by clicking on the arrows & the game has no reaction for when you do not click the cookie, it feel less like a game where you have some form of control and more like a movie that automatically pauses.

As a side note, the audio seems quite loud compared to other games on this platform. Though that may just be psychological due to the yelling.

DynamiteFrog responds:

Okay, I understand that I din't put too much detail in the game and the game feels more like a movie than a game. I probably should've added more reaction and details in the game, but I didn't thought of it too much.Thank you for leaving an extensive review of my game! I will continue to make my game better in the future!