Xaotik's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shipwreck Survivor]

It's Very Nice...

This is very well done, and even if the graphics aren't the best in your opinion, they still please the eyes.

The music is very good.

Also, this isn't really the same as some other games that are just a test of the maker's abilities, its actually worth multiple play-throughs because it has an interesting line of questions.

My only suggestion for next time, less intro, more game.

Good luck on your future work.

- Sage

Lare responds:

I have a fetish for long intros.

[[Visible] II]

Not a game of legends...

In fact, I hate it.

Original idea, put together in a shotty fashion though.

First off, the background art was very nice. The character art was not. In fact, the main character is just a bunch of gradients slapped on some line art.

Secondly, the button roll-over sound has probably destroyed the eardrums of anybody who has played this game.

Third, the control scheme is stupid. Using the same button for two un-related functions totally screws up even the simplest of movements. And worse, the controls are not customizable.

Fourth, the code used to generate the reflection creates terrible lag even on this PC I'm using (3GB RAM, no other apps open) That's honestly ridiculous, walking back and forth becomes tedious and laggy.

Fifth, the tutorial level is retarded. You have to fail like 10 times on the second level before the floating head comes back and tells you the entire control scheme. (The whole invisibility thing)

So you get a 2 for the idea, and a 1 for art.

Everything else is a zero. So this is not a "game of legends"

And allow me to explain this so I don't seem like a moron who is shooting crap of of his keyboard and into this review.

I honestly gave this game a chance, and nothing, I repeat, nothing, made this a "game of legends" in my eyes. In my eyes, its a laggy and annoying waste of my time. So please, next time take my criticism into consideration as I can see I'm not the only one who had these things to say about the game.

Good luck in the future,
Oldsage10

AethosGames responds:

I will respond to each of your points.

1) Background art consisted of a gradient. Thats all. What you're doing is saying my artists work is no better than a gradient, and I will not stand for that. You seem to be one of the very few people that dont like the art.

2) Turn your volume down. It's better then.

3) Not really sure what you mean by the same button for two unrelated functions. But i do agree that the controls need some work. Give me a break, I've been making flash games for only 10 months.

4) There is no code to generate the reflection. It was put together by hand. I agree that lag is a problem in this game, and it will be fixed for the third visible.

5) Actually, the tutorial guy pops up at the beginning of each tutorial level. You likely pushed a button to skip what he had to say. Oh, and btw, you cant die on the second tutorial level.

Unfortunately, I cant please everyone. I dont really think you gave me a real chance though, to be honest. I believe that the originality, and the *decent* gameplay makes it a game of legends to many people.

I will take your constructive criticisms into account, but not your mad ravings. Not trying to be a moron or anything shooting crap into this rebuddle.

[D-Day Defender]

T'was OK...

It was refreshing to see a game with such a high score that wasn't some puzzle platformer... And it wasn't half bad when it came to gameplay. The game was smooth, didn't create any lag, and the cutscenes synced perfectly to the gameplay. The only thing I didn't like is the inability to buy new weapons and no reinforcements, I mean, arguably, a D-Day turret soldier wouldn't be able to get new weapons, but surely reinforcements would be sent to the pillboxes. Oh, and the only reason that I think reinforcements should accumulate over time is that the amount of vehicles and rocket soldiers start to greatly outnumber the standard infantry, thus making this game uber-hard, right after the 28 hour mark...

Xeptic responds:

It should've had permanent upgrades I confess. I unfortunately had to drop a few features to make the deadline. There's a lot to improve, maybe some day I will :) Thanks for the review

[Aqua Reverb]

Needs Work...

The sound of the Sonar is really not amusing to the ears. The idea of the game is very original though, I honestly can't believe that someone would think out of the box that far. But to improve this, I recommend making the hit areas of objects extend out more, because with the moving objects, this game becomes a hide and seek of geometric points, maybe try collision masking. Otherwise, great concept and mode of conveyance, the music fits well and the graphics blend nicely. If you make a sequel, and just tweak the collision masking (and maybe the buttons for level selection) you might seriously have a shot at a daily feature. Glad to have played this, favorited it.

~Oldsage10~

Ondure responds:

Wow thanks man! I do like to do games that are different and new.
This actually was a project I started a good 6 months ago, and finished it not long after. It never went anywhere and I just recently beefed it up. Thanks for the great review though, it makes me appreciate myself haha.

[Stick Puzzler]

Ok...

I'm going to give a stark honest review, but coming from someone who grew up playing games and has a year of hobbyist programming under his belt,

I don't like it... But, I will make this review probably the most worthwhile one of them all by telling you how to correct it.

1. The Collision Detection and Gravity is all off, chances are this was made based off a tutorial, which is fine, we all need to learn, I'm still learning. But when making something by the aid of a tutorial, your final product after the tutorial is the least important thing and the least valuable to you. The value is the concepts and principals of Actionscript that you learn as a result of the tutorial. So I would suggest what I always do after learning something new with Actionscript. Study over what I've just learned, look at the original author's comments in the tutorial, and then close up the tutorial and the game I just "programmed" with the help of the tutorial... Then I open a fresh document, draw a couple of circles or squares, and apply different scripts to the to see what each individual section does, that way, I can gain knowledge from the tutorial. Doing so really helps, in fact, in a year's worth of weekends (I'm a hobby programmer, remember that) I've learned almost half of the stuff there is to know about Actionscript, and I can write the code for this platformer in my head, that's because I disassembled what I originally was taught, and made it my own through experimentation.

2. Art and Music are a Programmer's bread and butter, they fit along with the "Main Dish" which is programming. Your choice of music worked in an OK way, and the looping was nailed perfectly, but the art needs drastic improvement. You can't slap a stick-figure and a bunch of gradients together and call it a game, that just doesn't work... I suggest working on matching platforms to the background, I also understand that it's difficult, matching colors and such, but if you need to, begin with graytoned schemes, it will still be practice.

3. You can't place a whole bunch of restart buttons all over the place, if the player reaches an area in which they cant get back from, a game designer's ace-in-the-hole is to place a killer there to kill off the player and restart the level.

4. If a game is to be a true game, it must have a goal. You cant just expect people to run around with their jolly little stick figure and go "lalalalalalala, omg this gam3 is teh 1337 lemme get it a fiven!" players won't be happy without any goal in sight.

5. Disable the Context Menu, its a simple script, and it would stop players from right clicking and going to the "You Win" screen...

zachtejeda2 responds:

thanx for the review. im new to flash so i know it wasnt the best but ill learn im already getting better.

[Cute Avoider]

Very nice.

For a first. There are a couple of things I would suggest.

A bit more of a challenge as far as the little stars go, why not make them disappear after a certain amount of time? Also, the bug's graphics need to be tweaked a bit, I recommend removing the shadows underneath them because it looks very inconsistent with the graphics of the sky in the background. Also, jumping over the bugs would be a clever twist, and with your current programming skills, that would be almost no difficulty to pull off, search around the internet for the "Negative Gravity" platform engine if you're interested, its a simple concept that can be adapted to almost any game.

And for a first submission, you've earned my favorite.

Solidsnk65 responds:

Thank you so much for such a detailed review! I'll definitely look into your suggestions. Thanks for the fav. and score. :]

[Are You Cool On NG?]

OMG Please?

I'm sorry but if you're gonna put a song with the F-Bomb in the lyrics and draw a brush-tool penis, don't submit this as "Suitable For All Audiences"

Mechabloby responds:

i'm sorry, but i was under the influence that THIS WAS A FREE COUNTRY

[a simple maze game]

Since this is how I started programming...

I can't be too critical of this, you're on your way =]

acedareaper responds:

thanks do you think you could help me out with the second one? please pm me i could really use the as2 help

[Platformer game]

Sorry but...

Zero... Not only can you not respawn if you die, there is no way to stop anyone from just continuously clicking "Done", and that snow is just really annoying, its always in the way...

Chase1336 responds:

Thats the point to distract you thanks for the review

[How to make a gun (n19)]

I like it...

Has potential... I really think this goes better with a drawing tutorial, but the only thing is the spinning button is so hard to click on...

neo191996 responds:

Ok, sry.Wanted to make it look cool.I'll make it stop spinning