JorisRollfox's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Parkour to Treasure v1]

I can't move in Firefox & Chrome (even when using LMB > ESC > LMB) whether I'm logged in or not, and when I move the mouse it moves back to its starting position immediately.
On Internet Explorer it doesn't load at all.

If you can fix this, I'll look at it again.

[Pawnbarian]

Pretty neat, though after playing through it once I feel like I've seen everything. So I'm curious what you'll add to the game to fix this.
Controls feel a bit weird at first but once you get used to them they feel quite refreshing, and they probably work even better on mobile. How did you come up with these controls?

j4nw responds:

This style of movement is just what I did right off the bat when making the game for 7 Day Roguelike, without much thought or conscious inspiration behind it. It worked out nicely so I stuck with it!

[Pumpking]

The sound is stellar, and the art as well. I especially like the dynamics & use of colors, though the black outline on the key & lock can look a little harsh. The 3D aspect & empty void as background also take some getting used to.

The gameplay is quite interesting, and even though it never challenges you to explore the full potential of its turn-based nature (see Rust Bucket by Nitrome for inspiration) it keeps up the pacing & ends quickly to prevent it from getting dull (which is something that Rust Bucket fails). I would've liked to see it end on a higher note though, like a boss fight.

Anyways, I'm curious to what inspired you to make this. Just some random idea that you had to get out of your head & turn into a game?

nyunesu responds:

Hey, thanks for your feedback (:

I had a ton of inspiration from everywhere I'll try to break it down for you.

First thought while starting the prototype stage was to avoid making a platformer, I made three in a row, so I had to make something else because I was feeling "stuck" in a genre.

I started to try exploring more a previous game I made (based on Sokoban - you can try it here: https://nyunesu.itch.io/generator), I never came to add moving NPCs to this game, so I thought of giving this a try.

At first, the objects were just crates that you could destroy instead of pushing. Then I drew some Halloween characters with the palette Matt used for his game PUMP (you should play it, very good game) and I started to get in the mood by the art.

I tried a bunch of random mechanics such as pushing enemies several cells forward, but I thought I was seeking too much in the prototype stage, so I decided to remove this mechanic and focus on the enemies instead of my character. But I got nice info from the experimentation: counting cells to manage your move was interesting.

I created some basic enemy behavior that would move differently each turn, e. g. 1 turn rest, 1 turn move. Then 2 turn move, 1 turn to rest and started to see how those dynamics affected the game. I played redungeon before (from nitrome as well) and since it inspired me a lot so I went to play it again. I tried to use the same mechanic they had of moving stuff in real-time in a turn-based game, didn't work well but it inspired me for other aspects of the game.

That is basically my process, experiment with the things you already have, changing values, see the results and try to get the most out of it. Then add new stuff that affects the previous mechanics, look for other interesting mechanics and repeat the tunning stage.

I tried to explain in the best way I could, hope that helps (:

[Tap-a-Paca]

Lovely art & music, everything looks so fluffy & cute! Though the alpaca's have too much detail & too different colors compared to the rest of the game, Jamy is the only one that fits.

The gameplay is nice & simple but really needs more variation. Also, if the game is played with keyboard I would like to be able to navigate the menu with keyboard as well. Regarding the menu, the way you buy new skins isn't intuitive, and I didn't know how to use checkpoints until I quit.

PS: is there somewhere where I can download the music?

fiddex responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I will bear that in mind about the keyboard navigation a good point. About the variation what kind of thing were you hoping for as we were playing around with some concepts for weather effects that can impact the jump arc and clouds popping in an out of existence.

Soundtrack wise, no, but I can make it available somewhere and I can let you know when it's up. That way you can listen to your hearts content!

[A Grim Granny]

I love the art & music, especially your usage of color in the level-tiles. The gameplay is quite smooth as well, with many moments that make you feel smart (though I can't for the life of me figure out lvl 16).

However, the cutscenes should be more dynamic. I love your idle animations, so I know you can do better! I would also like to be able to speed up the cutscene or skip to the next text bubble, as the pacing is rather slow for me (at first I thought it got stuck).

Hope this helps. Regardless, keep up the good work!

[Start Powerless]

Neat game. There's a lot more potential for puzzles than you covered here, but thanks to the high pacing the game stays interesting regardless. Also, I like how dymanic the art is, but it could really use some nicer colors. It also feels off that the walls have depth (dark & light highlights) but everything else doesn't.

Btw, I had no idea that you could change the game speed in every level, I thought you had to decide in the menu. It really would've helped me out, as I sometimes found the platforming a tad too difficult.

A speedrun option would work quite well (though how you deal with the different speeds is a different story).

[Mars Power Industries: Prototype]

The game looks & sounds astonishingly, and has a lot of smalle touches that show a lot of love & care went into it (like the little animation every 10 years that implies there's something greater going on). The only complaint I have is that I solve many levels instantly without being challenged, whereas others take me a frustrating 10 minutes. I would've loved to see more levels in between those two extremes.

Rarykos responds:

Ah, sorry, it gets tougher later on so that everyone can get to the more interesting mechanics!
Thank you for your feedback! Yes, the story is more expanded upon in the deluxe edition ^^ After the ending.

[Ghost 'n Toast]

Pretty enjoyable for 5 minutes, but after that you notice the lack of variety. It also doesn't help that once you get good enough with the controls, there's little skill left to master. Not that I've beaten the game, but it feels as if all you can do to progress a little is by retrying over and over from the start. As such, I would add 2 more lives (or perhaps you can unlock extra live for every 10 waves you cleared). At least don't make the bullets flash in bright colors, as it makes it hard to focus on them.
Btw, sometimes when I get hit the game flashes white & freezes.

LeviRamirez responds:

Thank you for the feedback, this game isn’t that deep and wasn’t made to be such.

Also. With the glitch it might depend on what browser you use, Your highscore is added to the newgrounds upon death so maybe the game didn’t recognize you were logged in or something with the browser. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Toy Hunter]

The artstyle is really cool, but there is little variation or skill involved. As long as you keep moving, the enemies can't do anything. Also, you can't see how much damage you do against them, and I rarely notice when I kill one of them. This is your only goal in the game, it should be glorifying! Let them explode in pieces, similar to your own toy.

PS: Good luck with your game-a-month! I did it a year ago and I learned a lot from it.

[You Broke the Game]

While I love the concept of the game, I think it would be funnier if it weren't in the title. Nonetheless, it's a solid platformer. Though there are a lot of things that are just slightly off, namely:
- I frequently mistook "W" as jump, which is a shame as I never needed to look up.
- Furthermore, the difference between a short & long jump is so hard to notice that I only found out about it afterwards via the description.
- Why does the creature that helps me have the same sprite as an enemy? It feels unfair that I died from its attack which I didn't anticipate.
- Why does the timer keep running when I'm outside the game? I was typing feedback.
- Also, I wouldn't reset the timer per level or upon death, since you only count the total time anyways.
- Furthermore, it feels unfair that the timer is running during the first cutscenes.
- It also feels off that there is no "talking" sound effect during cutscenes. Anything would be fine, as long as you imply there's actual sound.
- Rats generally run away from you, but sometimes towards you which feels inconsistent.
- It's unclear where exactly certain enemies like the hedgehogs turn around. I would slow them down before turning, as this also feels more lifelike.
- I love the cloud, but it feels very unsatisfying that you can collide with its side. Just let me bounce up when I touch it, or at least go through it.
- The second-last room has 2 routes that both seem impossible. I glitched my way through it.

Anyways, hope this helps.

suVrik responds:

Thanks for the fair feedback! The game was made in 72 hours, so there are many issues like that that differ this game from a regular game.