sharpnova's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hold the Fort!]

After I beat the first level and it took me to the training screen, the interface was so completely unintuitive and unexplanatory that I was instantly turned off.

a7s1h1 responds:

Sorry for that. The game is definitely not the best example of casual time-killer

[Bromancing the Stone]

The RPG Maker titles are wearing extremely thin I'm afraid.

But a PewDiePie themed game.... I think many people who don't like him or think game streaming is pointless (why watch someone else play a game when you can play it yourself? This I will never understand but it makes me feel very pessimistic about gaming in the future and the intelligence of young people nowadays)

That will hurt the reception of this game a lot.

I'm sorry but I couldn't be more turned off by a game's theme than I was by this one.

Also I don't like dialog heavy games. I think dialog heaviness is a very very very weak crutch.

I don't mean to be rude I want to give you some potentially useful feedback here. Check this out:

In games, explicit story is kind of a lazy thing. The best games do it implicitly and convey narrative subtlely through the theme.

Theme > Story every time. Story is kind of for the Call of Duty/XBro type gamer imo. It's kind of a zombie thing having everything fed to you like that.

Anyway, good luck in your future game dev endeavors. This one just couldn't have picked a worse theme or engine.

[about-face]

I really liked this. Except for three somewhat serious gripes:

1. The window is WAY too small. I don't know why many developers don't understand this. Especially those targeting browsers. But we're not using 1024 x 768 anymore. I use a 1440p display which is the rational choice. The bulk of people who haven't figured that out yet are using 1080p. And at both of those resolutions this is unpleasant on the eyes. I zoom in to play. I should not have to.

2. Way too slippery. Does not allow for the tight handling that makes a great platformer shine.

3. I'm not sure why you felt the need to have gravity be so high. I'd definitely tweak that.

I liked the minimalist approach. The audio fit but there should have been a little more to the ambiance. Some subtle parallax or particle details. Jumping (color shifting) sound. Landing sound.

The art was good too. It made me nostalgic about the days of games like ZZT and MZX that utilized ASCII characters to surprisingly deep effect.

PeltastDesign responds:

Thanks for the detailed review!

1. In retrospect, it is too small. Since I don't want to use any smoothing/AA my options for re-sizing are limited. I'll be working on that!

2. I've increased traction so hopefully this isn't as much of an issue.

3. I got so used to the gravity during dev I didn't realize how high it was. Tweaking will happen.

[Bloodrun 2]

I really don't like having to run on top of people and hit a key. It just feels awkward and weak.

[Fruit Zombie Defense 3]

1. get thrown into game

2. get killed

3. try again

4. be amazed at how little damage you do

5. be totally unempowered by the game mechanics (opposite of good game design)

The bad news is that this was pretty terrible.

The good news is that this is a studio that doesn't care about feedback and will never ever read this review.

Btw the music was pretty boring and annoying. And the animation was almost nonexistent.

[Shadow Sync]

Just way way too unoriginal. And the shifts to the bottom character's position when letting go with the light orb were weird and unintuitive. Like dropping through a platform to a lower spot... that isn't logical at all.

No audio of course hurts it a lot.

[Not a Clone Demo]

I don't understand why you made a clone of Wario Ware and then called your game Not a Clone.

Is it supposed to be a joke that you ripped off another game completely?

OmiyaGames responds:

Hi, sharpnova! Great question. The title, much like the original prototype, is sarcastic. Not only is it a clone of WarioWare, but it's also a clone of a ton of mobile games. In a way, it is meant to point out the shallowness of these games while trying to be fun at the same time.

[hitBox]

Making it an aiming/timing issue made this not a puzzle game at all.

The art and sound was ok. The UI was bad because of the long delay in between attempts.

The mechanics were just annoying.

whileworking responds:

Ok, guess that just wasn't the right game for you. The mechanics actually work pretty fine but yes, it is rather a "skill" game with some puzzle elements than a pure "puzzle" game. "Puzzle - Toss" was still the most suitable genre to choose. Sorry for the misunderstanding here ;)

[HOLD IT IN]

80sRemaker put more effort into his review than this author put into his game.