Thetageist's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[KINSPLANT]

I love the concept a lot! The lack of instructions, as well, makes it feel more... introspective, I guess, as the player is left to find things on their own.

However, I think that various indicators would help improve the experience. I see that people have already mentioned a map and a points counter (that would be especially helpful given that when I first saw the graves, I thought I'd need to destroy one to get the artifact). I think a clock indicator (probably something that has a sun that rises and sets, to keep the immersion) would be a good way to tell how long you have left before you have to set up camp again. I actually spent more than a day trying to find somewhere to bury the artifact, so I don't know whether that time limit is really implemented in game or not.

More fleshing out the world would also be pretty cool - insides of buildings, various decorations or items that hint at the lore, etc. - though I think the minimalism of art style definitely sets a tone for the game that I wouldn't want to change.

AwkwardSilenceGames responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with everything you've said.

Interestingly, the in-game shadows actually function at a clock, with the end and start of the day being when they're pointing directly up.

[A Normal Game]

Nice Scary Maze Game remake! I wish there was more put into this "game", though. There's a lot of excellent horror games based on the same concept of a labyrinth that you could take inspiration from!

Also, by the way, please credit the music you use in all of your games.

Edit: If it was, then say so.

RaidenKramata responds:

boi the music was literally all made by me

[Skatezz (UPDATE 0.2)]

I really love how this is so far! It's got a lot of stuff that could make it popular once it's finished! I just think this demo needs a little bit more content. Maybe work on a couple more levels and then post it again?

RaidenKramata responds:

i do plan on making 30 levels for a full demo and a interesting story for more content, i also do plan to add alot of secrets so it'll be more fun to play the game

[Creature Collab 2022]

Bug report: Pyrite's X button doesn't work.

I had a lot of fun doing this collab, and it's great to see everyone's creations together! Great job everyone!

MSGhero responds:

It's the same X button for everyone, and it worked for me just now. If you have more details, you can send them to me, especially if you can reproduce it each time

[Le Chat Fonce: Gnome Cafe]

Hey, you're the person who made Le Chat Foncé? These games are so charming, and I love them!

Movement and navigation can be a bit of a challenge, and I personally think the sound design is a bit too loud/grating at times, but otherwise, I love the extra additions to the same exploratory plaformer gameplay!

xinelu responds:

Yeah that's me :) thank you for the feedback and I'm glad you like it!

[Star Trek: Collective Mischief]

This is insane in more ways than one! Difficulty ramps up pretty quick, but it's forgiving in that you restart from the same level. I love the graphics so much, it's got so much charm in it!

Tiny critiques:
- I wish the level start sound was shorter, it's a bit long to wait for it.
- I think there should be a "back to menu" button if you die - I want to see if I can beat the boss with the faster ship even if I can't with the Enterprise.

picochaz responds:

Since it is partially a game jam game I wanted it to be easy to see all the content but beating it in one life with the Enterprise should be a challenge!

You're right about the menu option. I'm working with limitations in the Pico 8 so the best way there is just to reset the system like you would an NES.

[Dream Medicine]

Bug report: After a certain number of rounds, the money could not be clicked and dragged past a certain point, and I couldn't add it to medicine, thus dooming my playthrough early.

Touching little experience, and the message really hits home. Sometimes I feel like I only exist to help others and they rely on me for it, but it's all just a lot of guesswork and it stresses me out sometimes.

Dungeonation responds:

Thank you for the kind words and the bug report!
When you say "certain amount", do you mean score, amount of stuff in the bottle, after enough bunnies processed? It might be an issue with the dragging code

[Dynacore]

Bug report: The "Wealth" achievement doesn't unlock its corresponding medal. I think this is because in the medal, the name and description are swapped. The Generous achievement also doesn't unlock its medal, though I'm not sure why.

Full review will come when I can peel myself away from this game (and trying to slap Telex to death.)

Edit 2: I think because my browser clears its cache when I close it, the cache cleared before I could get the medal, but I achieved 3Easy5Me.

Prox276 responds:

Happy to hear that you're enjoying it!! <3
I've unlocked those achievments manually for you, Imma be looking into it asap! :D

EDIT: From what I can tell it should be working but the API can take a while to actually unlock the medal for you. Please tell me if they don't even after 10-20 minutes. ;)

[Figure Fumble!]

There may be some issues with small details, but the basic foundation of the gameplay is amazingly fun! It’s just too much fun to have an ever-increasing horde to blindly obliterate things with.

Small issues:
- I noticed that in the gacha mechanic, the counter of figures you have counts up even if you got a duplicate of Basic, meaning you can have more than 61 and still not have collected them all. Once all available figures have been collected, you can also still spend your money and it’ll give you nothing. Title screen will only trigger when you’ve run out of money, I think?
- Sometimes the Ungrounded page will reload out of nowhere for me. I don’t know if it’s the game’s fault or my browser/phone not being able to handle it, but it at least kept my progress.
- The game stopped registering input from my fingers at one point, I’m not sure what happened. I couldn’t move my figures or even hit quit.

Bigger Thoughts/Suggestions:
- I’d love the feature of being able to see all the figures you do and don’t have. It’d build up some hype for the gacha mechanic!
- If you keep working on this, I’d love to see more levels! The experience would’ve felt short if not for replaying in order to get more coins!

Overall, this was a great way to use some time and drain some phone battery, and I had a ton of fun!

Update 8/21: The newly implemented Endless mode is way too much fun! I love it! A great way to extend gameplay!

Removed suggestions that have been addressed/replied to.

Jack responds:

thanks for letting me know about the bug with endless mode levels playing out the same as normal levels! i just fixed it and the oversight with the worms being able to spawn/get knocked outside of the playable area

originally the plan was that enemies would be able to kill your little toy dudes, but we decided not to go with that because you have so many toys on the screen at once and they can get scattered easily. enemy placements are also pretty sporadic so that just made it harder to keep track of which guys are in danger. then we decided that instead of killing your little toys, the punishment for getting hit by enemies would be taking time off the timer. this also didn't really feel right because in some of the later waves you're pretty much constantly in contact with enemies. we ended up just doing away with a damage mechanic entirely because the game felt fun enough without it, but I re-implemented it for the boss just to spice things up a little bit

[Casino Roll]

Really good for a game jam entry! I love the art and music, as well as the premise. Gameplay felt a little hard to intuit sometimes (especially the blackjack minigame), and I wish the world exploration parts were more fleshed out (that'd be fun for an update), but otherwise, it makes perfect sense for it to be luck-based, it's forgiving enough to accommodate for that, and it's a fun time!

I also kinda wish that the counter for repair parts updated as you beat enemies, even if it still had to restart when you went down to 0 HP.

HelperWesley responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

And yeah, the card games in general were a little bit on the weak side. 😅

That really should be a thing, getting your part each time you beat an enemy, instead of collecting 3 at the end of a run. Doing it the way it is now was just a rushed decision for the jam, but maybe if we go back and update the game I'll change that. 👍