"""""4D""""" Viking Warfare by Mocgames998
- Gameplay: 37/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100
Some thoughts:
> The color scheme in the controls display makes the text painful to read. Some more contrast would help, maybe even adding an outline?
> It was cool that you had controller support but not being able to use the control stick was a little awkward so I stuck with the keyboard.
> It took me a moment to remember that you could enter doors. It could be a good idea to add a prompt (like an appearing arrow when you're next to a door) to help people realize it. It would help especially if the player doesn't look through the controls ahead of time as the doors are hard to tell apart from the background.
> The game looks nice, I liked the screen transitions. The boss arena seems a bit bland in comparison.
> Jumping was tricky to get used to, especially when climbing and jumping off ladders.
> Instead of showing a text once the boss is dead, why not add bars or a locked gate to show you can't enter? As it was I thought the boss was invincible after a dozen or so hits so I left it and tried to exit through the door which unlike all other doors didn't work. Then the boss hit me in the back.
> Why am I climbing this tower, by the way?
> The ending was very confusing and not very satisfying.
Conclusion: A bit generic but still a fully playable game. You could take the effects and polish further but what is there is a great start. Nice!
AfroDitus by Misty
- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 58/100
Some thoughts:
> The majestic music in the intro was kind of diminished when the screen was pitch black. Guess that's windows 10 for you.
> I get that the play button is supposed to be grayed out but it's probably a bit much if I can't even read what it says.
> The gender swap was interesting but didn't always work which was frustrating because it made it kind of unreliable. Sure, it makes sense that they would shoot at any intruder but what's the point of having a disguise then? It was nice when they got suspicious when they saw blood though.
> Some of the encounters let me feel really stealthy. The one-shot executions felt nice when you managed to pull them off.
> It's kind of annoying to have the camera scroll though the level. It could be used to give the player a sense of what's waiting for them but it's too slow and should be skippable in that case.
> I wasn't prepared to lose my pistol when I picked up a machine gun. When I ran out of ammo there was nothing I could do. The poor accuracy of the machine gun didn't help.
> Swapping hands was neat and a cool addition.
Conclusion: Fun but the game works against the player and restarting gets boring.
BattleDancers by Joh
- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 64/100
Some thoughts:
> It's like Simon says but with special moves. Neat, but I wish there were more moves so that you could always have something to work towards even when the AI ruins your planned combo.
> I like the sleek menu design. It has everything you need to understand how to play and the moves list is great. I also really appreciated the in-game auto completion.
> I didn't always understand what to do. When someone failed a move the opponent got a chance to do it right or something? At first I thought it just restarted and got punished for doing the wrong move.
> The last duel went on for too long. At the end it must have taken a minute to perform each set of moves. Letting the player move faster (right when they press the button) would help somewhat. It happened that I'd press buttons that weren't registered because I was too fast.
> How come there was still a move left to learn when I'd beaten everyone?
> I kind of wish there'd been an ending after all that.
Conclusion: Kind of fun but too slow as the battles drag on.
Bit of Gold by S1lv3r
- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 6/9 - Total: 57/100
Some thoughts:
> You should highlight the buttons when you mouse over them to make it more intuitive to press them. Other than that, the controls are really simple.
> I was uncertain as to what were the win or lose conditions for the game. I tried to avoid running out of supplies but it seemed like the events were just random rather than progressing towards something. In the end, it felt like defeat was inevitable because so few of the events had a positive outcome.
> So there was a set number of events? I lost while I still had resources left which was very confusing. In that case, it also felt a bit weird to have repeat events since they seemed to happen in the same order every time and could easily have been replaced with something new.
> The events themselves were interesting, varied and mostly fun. I wasn't so found of the "choose between losing this or that" events as they felt out of my hands (because no matter what I did it wouldn't help).
> The game could really use some music, also why would I have to restart the whole game just to get back to the main menu so that I could play again? Because the random (if they were) events should happen in a fix order? In that case you could just reset the seed or just not have one.
> The events with more lasting consequences (for example upgrading the defenses) were the most interesting to me because it let me feel prepared for future events in a way that just trading resources wouldn't. It'd be nice to see more of those events, though they risk being the worst ones to get repeats of. Defending against the red army felt great the first time ("I hope you have good defenses.", "Oh yes, I do.") but when they attacked again right after it not only undid the last moment of preparedness but also turned it into resignation because I knew there was nothing I could have done to stop it.
Conclusion: Some interesting decision and simplistic gameplay that is fun for a while but always seems just a little unfair.
Bit'N'Slash by Turkish Coffee
- Gameplay: 27/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 1/9 - Total: 45/100
Some thoughts:
> Right from the start the game overwhelms you with insane numbers of enemies. Luckily, I could move outside the walls of the dungeon and could kite around the enemies so it wasn't that hard to survive. On the other hand, getting back in was next to impossible.
> The game looks great with nice effects and animations. Some small effects like lingering fire would make it even better.
> The instructions screen was great but some controls were missing. I could easily find that I moved with WASD but I didn't realize I could attack with the mouse button too because all other attacks were told to me.
> The flame thrower spell is pretty much the only viable one and it's super potent. Of course, it would probably be more balanced if the enemies were. Also, teleporting doesn't seem to work. I found that one out at the wrong time.
> There isn't a goal, is there?
Conclusion: Neat but incomplete.
Coin Flipping Simulator by Kepons
- Gameplay: 44/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 71/100
Some thoughts:
> The tutorial texts were awesome. The interface as a whole was really polished and looked great.
> It's a shame that the "goals" disappeared so soon. The game would have been much more engaging had there been something more than just unlocking coins to work towards. A meter filling up to hit different marks would have been an easy way to give the player motivation.
> At first I was a bit bummed out that there was no music. It was mitigated some when you started to have a few coins to flip but the sound effects got a little annoying after a while.
> It was cool that removing coins became a valid strategy when they were relatively useless and you'd be better off having the hands just hit the high value ones. It was a little hard to pick up the coins, especially when the hands wanted to flip them.
> I think the game scaled pretty well until you hit the 2⏠coins at which point you couldn't improve much and had to wait while you built up enough cash for the big coin. > On the other hand, that coin was ridiculously overpowered. I guess it just showed that you had nothing else to spend the cash on so at that point so it didn't really matter.
> The wand was a cool power up. In my opinion you should get it earlier so you can use it a lot more.
Conclusion: The game was entertaining for a while and it felt very polished. The fun ended when the progression did so perhaps it would have been better to make the final coin cheaper and let the game end at say 1000�
Diverge by Bingdom, Iodine, KrotoR
- Gameplay: 34/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 62/100
Some thoughts:
> The intro was a great way to start things off. The game felt lively and animated.
> For some reason I had a hard time pressing the right button and often used E to transform and space to activate stuff.
> I was impressed by the number of props there were. Some of them, like the computers, first looked like you'd be able to interact with them which turned out not to be the case. It could be something to keep in mind, though it definitely wasn't an issue.
> The lights were an issue though, especially the light around the player which made it impossible to tell if you could transform where you stood or if pressing space would instantly kill you. In a frantic scenario you need to know that immediately and I think even if the player didn't have a light the lights were too dim to be clearly noticeable.
> I was not a fan of the level design. I rage quit on the third level after dying repeatedly in what felt like unfair ways. The combination of limited ghost time, slippery ghost controls, hard to see lights and off-screen enemies just became too much. I think checkpoints would have helped somewhat but making sure you see all obstacles/enemies when you start your ghost run is still the most important thing. If you could plan your route beforehand it'd be much easier to accept defeat than if, say, you dash through a vent, past a guard and through another vent where a second guard may or may not be and there's no way of telling in advance.
Conclusion: The game impresses but the level design is infuriating.
Duality by matharoo
- Gameplay: 47/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 73/100
Some thoughts:
> For some reason it never occurred to me that I could attack as well until I found no way to get pass the tall grass or whatever that last wall was made of. It's interesting because I clearly saw that space was listed in the controls but I guess it was a combination of it doing nothing during the dialogue and Misty taking care of the first set of enemies pretty much on their own.
> It was fun to see so much variation. The crossbow gallery was a fun surprise.
> The bosses were good though the first one pretty much beat itself.
> Misu was a great and reliable sidekick. The game as a whole was just fun, if a bit slow.
> You can definitely get past those trees, you're practically standing under them!
> I'd have liked a way to speed up the dialogue.
Conclusion: Fun, simple and just long enough. A good game.
Endling by Oyakiiv
- Gameplay: 31/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 49/100
Some thoughts:
> The screen feels cluttered which makes it hard to find anything to focus on. Everything is drawn in different styles and it is hard to tell background from foreground. The intro was still nice though.
> The gameplay seemed fine with some variation.
> If there's no goal there really isn't that much of a reason to play the game, is there? You quit not because it gets hard but because it starts getting repetitive. Some kind of progression is really important.
> The game doesn't seem to end just because it says game over. You can just use the generator (even if it's gone) and continue.
> It was a neat touch to give the bats supporting strings.
>The gameplay works fine, though it's a bit barebone. Things just popping away when they are destroyed makes the game feel incomplete in another way. You could make it much more satisfying to defeat enemies with some visual flare. The sound effects are good and lessens that issue a bit.
> The music loop is really, really short!
> It would be nice with some way to tell where enemies spawn so that you go the in the right direction to take them out.
Conclusion: Without goal or variation there's no reason to play. It's a nice concept that could probably be expanded upon.
Games by Robert
- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 63/100
Some thoughts:
> I had no idea when the game had started and just sat there waiting for something to happen.
> I think most people here can relate to your story one way or another. It was really cool to see and made me think about why I make games.
> The gameplay was pretty lackluster though, not that it was in focus.
> The whole experience was polished with good visuals, audio and a good balance between story and interaction.
Conclusion: Not much of a game but a neat story.
Heads or Tails by Nallebeorn
- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 7/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 63/100
Some thoughts:
> I liked the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the game. It's calming yet upbeat.
> The ceiling felt very unpredictable, you also couldn't adjust the force you pushed the coin with so you basically had to keep flipping it until it came down correctly on its own.
> If the coin flew off the table at the start, there was little you could do about it.
> It was a good call to make the instructions so clear. It's easy to tell which side is up and which is down. You might want to "cheat" with the very first coin flip as the coin was landing correctly for me without my interaction, making me having to wait while it slowly fell as the game wanted me to flip it even if it made no sense.
> Is tails just slightly more common or is it just me? Could be chance I guess.
> Oh, you can tie too. Awesome!
> There's no goal, is there?
Conclusion: A fun distraction and for going literal with the theme it was still unique and interesting. The lack of a goal or progression keeps it from being engaging for any longer time.
Hunted by Snail Man
- Gameplay: 28/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 47/100
Some thoughts:
> The information dump in the beginning was overwhelming and I felt like I forgot the first text wall when the next appeared. When the game started, I was not prepared to face several ships coming from nowhere.
> Because you could walk outside of your ship while still inside I didn't realize that you had to go to the door before you could jump to another ship. It took several deaths before I got a hang of it.
> The game is really unfair I think because you're always pitted against several enemy ships that are at least as good as yours. As a result, you can barely dent one's shields before you have to leave your ship, making you spend almost all the time jumping between ships and never taking any of them down.
> The slow motion really helps. Without it I wouldn't last for seconds. On the other hand, it makes gameplay really slow when it's used constantly.
Conclusion: Probably too complicated and definitely too hard. While a cool concept it's just frustrating to play.
Mirror Image by BionicFrog
- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 60/100
Some thoughts:
> Wow, that's a lot of text to bombard the player with. Perhaps you could find a more interactive way of conveying all that?
> I got incredibly confused and died almost immediately when I was suddenly thrown into the game without much explanation of what was what. I tried to shoot down the big bullets, didn't realize one ship had inverted controls and died miserably. Next life went better.
> The limited use of special moves made me really conservative with using them. They seemed to recharge at some points or after some time though so I guess using them turned out to be okay.
> The charge time of the moves also made it really hard to anticipate when they would trigger. As a result I never used the dodge and only occasionally used the laser (mostly against the boss).
> I found shooting to be a bit tricky because of the slow fire rate and slow bullet speed. Combined with the unpredictable movements of the enemies aiming was difficult. It seemed that I learned to do slightly better after a while which was a bit surprising. I wonder how the game would have played if the bullets were faster, your fire rate higher and the enemies just had a bit more health. It would probably have been a different game then (for better or worse).
> The dual ships was a cool idea. Focusing on both at once was a challenge but the levels were just rightly balanced to keep it from being too rough.
> There was some pretty good variation to the enemies and it was easy to tell them apart.
> It was hard to tell why a level started (if you cleared the previous one or died to an unseen bullet) A progression bar of some kind would have helped and given you a sense of how close you are, increasing the tension. A short animation of some kind could also help, especially if you die (consider the game freezing, then highlighting the impacting bullet followed by your ship's exploding).
> Nice boss battle! Game felt complete.
Conclusion: The game was fairly basic and had some issues but once you got past them it was fine.
Nightsideslide by Wraithious
- Gameplay: 25/61 - Graphics: 9/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 41/100
Some thoughts:
> It seems like your game had a case of "Windows 10's black full screen" where everything is black unless you change to windowed mode. It was a little hard to tell it had actually started as the menu had no music.
> On my first playthrough I couldn't get anyone to say anything to me. I didn't know if you had to press a certain untold button or if the game was just broken. It turned out only certain characters would talk to you which I later found out. I think having everyone say something would both make it easier for the player to understand what's going on and do some world building for you.
> Movement was a bit unreliable, especially when you were far away and tried to enter houses. It's also difficult to tell what is solid and what you can walk straight through.
> Because I couldn't get anyone to talk to me, I never found any items and had no idea how the whole picking up and using stuff worked. This lead me to wander around aimlessly and not understanding what to do. As a result, none of the in game text or readme actually helped me.
> Suddenly vampires took over the world? That is sad indeed. They probably transformed as I was trying to talk to them.
> Even with items, I didn't understand how to use them as nothing seemed to happen when I pressed X.
Conclusion: If played "correctly" the game worked fairly well but if you didn't do what was intended from the start, the game would appear broken and unplayable.
NO PAZ by Freedom2Fight
- Gameplay: 42/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 0/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 60/100
Some thoughts:
> The whole combination of using several keys to shoot felt awkward at first but once I got the rhythm it was actually rather fun.
> The graphics were pretty good but why were the bullets large squares? I didn't even realize they were bullets until after a while when I'd taken some damage and noticed that I shot squares from my gun too.
> Most of the enemies are off screen when they fire at you which makes the above issue larger. When you see squares flying around without a source and disappearing after a while they could be anything. It also made the encounters less satisfying as you didn't see when you hit some of the enemies.
> I liked the story and while I always cringe a little when people quote the theme exactly I think it at least worked pretty well here.
> The game would really, really benefit from sound effects and probably some western music too.
Conclusion: A nice game that could certainly be expanded upon with a few more levels. Also audio, add some and you'll won't want to play without.
Obverse - Reverse by Alice, 0.Bytes
- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 84/100
Some thoughts:
> The puzzles were great. They got more and more complex (the last one was devious) but were always manageable through trial and error combined with logical reasoning.
> I loved how streamlined the experience felt. The interface makes sure you always know exactly how you are doing and what you are currently editing without getting in the way.
> Though the graphics were certainly good, they could feel a bit stale, especially in the menu with its gray background. I also think you could add some more effects for when you beat a level (fireworks, flowers, coin showers, what have you), because you had to work for it it should be satisfying.
> Bad puns are awesome.
Conclusion: Great game that could use just a little more of everything to get even better.
penitentiary by TehPilot
- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 9/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 87/100
Some thoughts:
> Sweet intro, it set up the game's premise well on top of being a nice tutorial.
> The levels felt really clever and used the coin's travel time and distance in good ways. It wasn't just a tucked-on mechanic for the sake of the theme.
> It seems like you can toss an unlimited amount of coins which breaks the level if you do (the teleporter stops working).
> It also seems like I "cheated" on the last level as flipping a coin just below the arrow caused some weird repositioning of the player.
> The game feels very polished all the way to the end.
Conclusion: A good, clever and complete game.
Ping by Nocturne
- Gameplay: 42/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 72/100
Some thoughts:
> I really like the visuals of this one. The effects look both cool and pleasing to the eye.
> This has got to be the best interpretation of the theme ever.
> The options menu was neat. I liked that you could change color of the game.
> The controls were a bit awkward, not least in 2 player mode. I was also thrown off by the fact that the paddles can move further up and down than the ball, making it bounce where it seemingly shouldn't.
Conclusion: A fun take on the theme that is certainly polished but at the day's end it just isn't that entertaining.
Pyramid rush by MikeeyBikeey
- Gameplay: 53/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 7/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 79/100
Some thoughts:
> Oh dear, the music in the menu cuts through my ears and stabs my brain. Frankly it's horrible. Thankfully the in-game music is much better and even catchy (although it too suffers some from the super high pitch sounds).
> Looks like I can create coins by punching thin air. Who knew.
> I liked the gameplay. Those gray disks were on the verge of feeling unfair as you couldn't hurt them but sidestepping worked pretty well. It was nice to see the amount of variation between the floors, with new traps being introduced.
> The voice clips were really neat and the text messages / final words were a nice touch.
> I think there could have been a few more sound effects. Changing floors comes to mind as the most obvious addition. It's a good way to give the player some cred for beating a floor.
> Beating the boss and getting to the credits made me smile. It also made the game feel complete.
Conclusion: A fun little game with a good amount of diversity in its levels.
Reflectonauts by DocNogloff
- Gameplay: 40/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 65/100
Some thoughts:
> Interesting mechanics. Though they were simple enough I still found it hard to navigate the mazes when you had to account for both characters. Having some kind of effect highlight a collision might make it a bit clearer why you suddenly couldn't move in a direction.
> For some reason I often looked at the blue character and got confused when it had inverted controls.
> The game was really short. It felt like it could use a few more levels and new mechanics to keep it interesting.
> The shoot and block mechanic worked well but I feel it wasn't used to its full potential. You rarely had to place a block once you picked it up and didn't have to consider the shots anymore other than hitting all the yellow blocks.
Conclusion: A short burst of an interesting idea executed well.
Reverie by GhostlyFeline
- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 60/100
Some thoughts:
> I liked the story. I kind of saw the end coming but it still had impact, especially killing that last enemy.
> The graphics were pretty bland but the characters and effects looked good and well animated and the overall impression was good.
> It was a nice touch to let the attack animation move the player character forward as it helped convey a sense of momentum.
> The game really needed checkpoints. Getting forced back to the start whenever you got hit just once was tedious and took from the experience.
> This was especially problematic early on when you didn't expect them coming or knew how to react.
Conclusion: Short but still rather satisfying.
Rulesquest2 - Oxymoron by Adrien Dittrick
- Gameplay: 31/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 49/100
Some thoughts:
> While the text was still readable, the changing background made it a pain to read through the intro.
> The sound effects were mostly fine but the shooting sound neither fit nor were very pleasant for the ears.
> At first I thought the game was interesting with all the different kinds of ships but I soon realized how unfair some of them were. How well you performed became almost entirely dependent on how many homing ships appeared. The fast ones were especially frustrating because you couldn't shoot them down in time and with all the other ships you didn't have room to out maneuver them.
> Blue mode was an interesting surprise that but I don't understand what it has to do with anything. In fact, I don't see how the story has anything to do with the game at all.
> I wish there was a goal besides scoring high as there's nothing to engage you and keep you playing.
Conclusion: A decent game that works well but suffers from unfair encounters and lack of purpose.
Side By Side by Dalesome
- Gameplay: 35/61 - Graphics: 16/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 61/100
Some thoughts:
> The game looks great and I love the small details like stretching out the player when you move but something seems to reduce the framerate quite a lot (and I have a fairly high-end computer). Are you using a shader for the outlines? Might be that.
> It was cool that you could not only switch realm but that you could go half and half. I wish moving the world edge (or what to call it) was bound to different keys than movement as I was often forced to use neither as dodging would switch me into another obstacle.
> The circles don't have circular hitboxes. For the larger circles their hitboxes were bigger than them which resulted in unfair losses.
> At first I didn't understand the HUD and since enemies were clearly black I thought that maybe I should collect the squares and circles. After a while I realized that the big squares were some kind of power meter and that you could shoot a cool (if a bit pointless) beam.
Conclusion: It looks really cool but the mechanics work against each other.
Soul Catchers by Barvix
- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 57/100
Some thoughts:
> I thought the plus and minus at the start of the game would be some kind of options for the screen scale, I had no idea that they would change the game.
> There isn't that much of a difference between the plus and minus sides and I can't really feel how they are opposite in anything but name.
> Combat is very basic but works fine.
> There's a good amount of enemies and they look varied and distinct. On the other hand, while enemies have different attacks there's nothing really that differentiates the attacks themselves. Some visual flare or special tactics would make them stand out more and be much more interesting.
> There isn't much of a story and what is there is mostly confusing. A more interesting approach could be to let the player choose to find and fight either god, rather than having the path predetermined from which button you pressed. Give the player some agency over their choice.
Conclusion: A nice enough game that just fails to be very interesting in its mechanics.
Sumoball by GhandPivot
- Gameplay: 45/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 8/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 73/100
Some thoughts:
> I like the duality of the game but I don't feel like I was ever really in control. The balls were so fast and massive that at first I couldn't really aim them and later could barely push them. It became a game about staying on screen and letting the balls score themselves.
> That too quickly turned into a game of chance. I often found myself getting launched out and then barely saved by a ball from the other direction or a goal post. Sure, it felt great to barely hang on but it also felt like it could have gone either way. Perhaps making the controls slightly less slippery would help you react faster?
> I liked how the game got progressively harder and not only by increasing the size of the balls. Some more variety would have been great and it feels like you could do a lot of fun stuff there.
> The presentation as a whole was good. The graphics are fine but could probably use a little more effects or animations, especially the background. The sound effects when the balls appear is very satisfying.
Conclusion: Solid and fun but the player could use a little more agency.
Teotl by Fel666
- Gameplay: 48/61 - Graphics: 15/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 74/100
Some thoughts:
> The coins are impressive and gameplay is surprisingly smooth. The transitions between levels further added to this.
> The levels scaled nicely but given how short they were I was a little disappointed there weren't more of them. On the other hand, that might have made the mechanics a bit repetitive.
> The text wasn't that nice. While a cool effect, it would probably look just a good with a single color.
> I think the first level was an excellent tutorial that showed everything the player needed to understand.
Conclusion: Nice and polished but very short game.
The Coin of Janus by Cloaked Games, 0.Bytes
- Gameplay: 36/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100
Some comments:
> It took some time to realize I could break the walls. Before that I left the dungeon off screen and established that there was no way to reach the goal.
> I loved the different flavor texts for the items. There was a good number of them too.
> The number of enemies was a bit disappointing with only three varieties as far as I could tell.
> Was the coin random or did my actions affect it somehow? I made it down nine floors before I quit and only got the bad side once.
> Ultimately, the lack of progression made me quit the game. Had you seen one floor you'd basically seen the entire game.
Conclusion: Fun game but progression needs to be more than just increased numbers.
The Forbidden Bond by iMilchshake
- Gameplay: 43/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 64/100
Some thoughts:
> There was a good amount of content and the areas were varied. It would have been nice to have some climax, like a boss in the end. I also wonder what the point of the journey was, why did I go there and fight all the goblins in the first place?
> The graphics were pretty good, mostly. While I could figure out what everything was, some things didn't fit in as they had a very different scale or style compared to the rest of the game.
> It was a bit hard to know what was solid at times. Often you could walk over things that looked like they should have been walls.
> I would also have liked some more feedback on if you could change world or not. A sound effect saying transforming was impossible would have been a good start. Even better would have been some kind of indicator showing if it was possible or not. That way it'd be easier to hide secret areas along the ghost only routes there were.
> I think the ghost realm looks great and could be expanded upon. Right now it's little more than an alternate path with a few walls changed and enemies in different locations but it's really not that different from the normal world and has the same kind of content.
> Having both a close combat and ranged attack felt great. I had a lot of agency in my moves and it was nice to push back goblins with a swing and finishing them off with a thrown knife as a combo.
> Getting unlimited gold in the end kind of makes collecting coins even more pointless, right? Even without a use collecting the coins was its own reward but it'd been nice with something to spend it on.
Conclusion: A solid game but it's a game for the sake of game, there's no real progression or point to it.
The Parallel Medal by Misu
- Gameplay: 39/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 61/100
Some thoughts:
> Yeah, the line glitch is annoying but whatever.
> Contrast was a little weird in the white world where details blended into the background at times.
> The story was interesting. I liked the duo mechanic in the beginning, it was neat.
> I had an issue where I fell out of the world just after the first medal flip and respawned in mid-air, dying repeatedly from the fall.
> There seem to be a general issue where your y-coordinate ends up strangely (often in midair) when you flip. I don't know if it was intentional but as a result I had to be careful every time I flipped so that I wouldn't fall to my doom.
> Walking up and down the geometry worked well with a slight exception of the very highly slanted walls which was a little awkward. Over all I think the curved geometry added to the experience and gave variation.
Conclusion: Nice but needs polish and a proper ending to match the great start.
Tossup Shootout by Sammi3, JacobV
- Gameplay: 29/61 - Graphics: 11/20 - Audio: 6/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 50/100
Some thoughts:
> I wish I could see how far enemies could move so that I could plan accordingly. Some kind of health display would also be nice.
> The movement system was a bit hard to understand. You could move each character twice on their turn? But sometimes the enemies moved dozens of tiles.
> It also seemed a bit finnicky where your characters would end up if they attacked someone and I couldn't always move to highlighted squares even though no-one stood there.
> If the view was centered on an enemy character when they moved it would easier to know what was happening on the opponent's turn.
Finally we've got this (after an enemy shot me, possibly with the last squad member to move):
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object objEnemySquad:
trying to index variable that is not an array
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
called from - gml_Object_objEnemySquad_Step_0 (line 69)
Conclusion: A cool idea but the execution needs more polish to make it easier to understand and plan.
Treasure Hunt by Siolfor the Jackal
- Gameplay: 40/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 3/9 - Total: 59/100
Some thoughts:
> The game plays smoothly and works without issues. I found the floatiness of the character to be a bit annoying as it worked against precise platforming.
> While the game looks good it also feels very generic, both when it comes to graphics and gameplay. The dialogue from hitting enemies was a nice touch but also the only thing that stood out to me.
> I would have liked a little more range on the slap attack. Given how much you lost when you got hit it was always risky to attack enemies.
> What was the point of collecting the coins anyway? They didn't seem to do anything in the end as I'd lost most and could still buy myself an island.
Conclusion: Works well but has little new to offer.
TwainShadow by SSJCoder
- Gameplay: 27/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 48/100
Some thoughts:
> There doesn't seem to be a goal to the game. There are the strange white circles but you can't interact with them.
> The mobility you have feels good. Just jumping around is fun.
> It took me a moment to realize that the squares were enemies.
> Switching between realms was cool, I liked the lens flare when you made it into daytime.
Conclusion: Some fancy effects but nothing more at the moment.
twowt by Yal
- Gameplay: 43/61 - Graphics: 13/20 - Audio: 5/10 - Bonus: 5/9 - Total: 66/100
Some thoughts:
> Clever and pretty cool use of the theme. It's simple but it still gets pretty interesting and I found it tricky to gauge where to go in some of the levels.
> I'm glad the first one was so simple because it took a moment to understand how the flipping mechanic worked.
> My favorite levels were the ones where the patterns resembled some shapes and weren't just cut off paths.
> Good length on the game. The end after the last level was a bit weird though, why not return to the main screen?
Conclusion: It's really just a maze, but it's a nice one.
UpDownDuckAround by TonyStr
- Gameplay: 46/61 - Graphics: 18/20 - Audio: 9/10 - Bonus: 7/9 - Total: 80/100
Some thoughts:
> Great presentation! The game's visuals just fit and the transitions are super sleek.
> It seems you can jump in midair if you walk off a platform. This often had me jump back onto it which was an issue.
> The game felt somewhat unfair as there just weren't enough platforms at times, forcing you to fail.
> It took a few tries to understand what to do and what everything did. Extending the tutorial to show what was dangerous and what was positive would have helped a lot. At least it was easy to understand why things had happened afterwards so you wouldn't repeat mistakes.
> I feel this game could really benefit from a highscore table, preferably online.
Conclusion: The game is really polished but the gameplay could still use some balancing.
UpGo by Dr. Wolf
- Gameplay: 41/61 - Graphics: 14/20 - Audio: 4/10 - Bonus: 4/9 - Total: 63/100
Some thoughts:
> That initial quote is fantastic.
> The gameplay is interesting with all of its parts. At times the word typing felt a bit tucked on and annoying but I guess it makes sense and connects to the story a bit.
> I didn't like how finnicky the landing was. It often felt like I was about right and still I exploded.
> The interface was great. It'd have been nice if walls were displayed on the radar/compass too because if you were going fast you wouldn't have time to react as it is now.
> In the end I crashed into a tree that I thought was part of the background and got a game over. I'm not replaying the entire game (I didn't even know you had a set number of lives) so I quit.
> Why use F3 as a key? It's a bit off and it's not like you'd accidentally press another button.
Conclusion: Impressive and well-made but with also unforgiving and a bit repetitive.
Veiled in Shadows by The M
Epic, awesome and simply amazing. Carry on!
Verizon Horizon by Team JBOMB
- Gameplay: 36/61 - Graphics: 12/20 - Audio: 3/10 - Bonus: 2/9 - Total: 53/100
Some thoughts:
> When the game started I tried pressing space, then used the mouse and finally hammered the keyboard randomly. All I found was that space seemed to restart the game so I figured it was a joke entry.
> The controls aren't intuitive so they really need to be explained somewhere, preferably in game. In fact they seem almost to be deliberately counter intuitive. Space restarts everything even in game and the players must have their hands on top of each other which isn't very comfortable. If one use a controller it works somewhat better.
> The music could drive you insane, it really needs to be a longer loop. I'm surprised you could stand it for so long while testing the game.
> It's cool that there are so many characters, though not all seem to work. One crashed and the other had no cooldown on its primary attack. Another issue is that there is no way to tell how long cooldown abilities have. Some kind of indicator of if the ability can be used would be of great help.
Conclusion: A neat game with poor control schemes that makes playing it a challenge.