teremaki's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lab Lights]

Nice puzzle game.
It's a pretty good entry for the Dare.
The puzzles were very challenging, I couldn't pass the 7th level.
I agree with Revengeofthefallen , Level 2 was a lot more challenging than the next 3 levels. You should have saved it for later.
For the ones who are finding that level difficult, even if you place each battery against a light and connect the rest with wires you will be one wire short always. You have to find a sweet spot which can reduce the spread of wires. I had 1 wire remaining after I finished.

You should provide hints or make a walkthrough, so we can attempt the other levels atleast.

Zanzlanz responds:

Thanks!

Aw yeah level 7 is a bit tough. Maybe you'll get it later?
Well okay, I suppose level 2 can be hard if you don't get it right from the start. I find it very impressive that you used one less than I ever did. Fantastic job!

I would love to make a walkthrough eventually. I just finished the game last night, so I'll start making a walkthrough this week :)

[Cult Prophecy]

Fuck you, Emby ! I almost had a heart attack at the last scene!
That was a nice and scary game full of cheap scares... Just the way I like it.
The story reminded me of many horror movies in different places.
The sounds were pretty good although I can't say the same for the music.
The music kept stalling, there should have been a somber ambience atleast.
I liked the use of dark backgrounds that keep you guessing what could spring out of where.
The hand at the stairs and the corpse scared me pretty good but the last one made me actually scream.

The words were nicely composed, although I had an annoying problem with the notes.
If you click on a note when it's moving up or down on the screen, it freezes and you have to click 5 or 6 times to bring it up/down frame by frame.
Also in the room with the bloody "30" on the wall, the second note has a typo: " hided" instead of "hidden".

Most of your scares are predictable (they only occur after you click on something) so here's some advice:
Execute the scare when your mouse is hovering over a random object or when your mouse is halfway to reaching some object instead of after you click on it. Like for example when you see the body on the table, every one's natural instinct will be to click on it, so execute the scare when the mouse crosses the base of the table on its way from the compass to the body
That way the scare has the element of surprise and does double the damage.

For your first game, it's glitchy and irritating but, its pretty damn impressive.
I'd love to see more, perhaps a sequel. But with better executed scares i hope.
Cheers !

Emby responds:

I'm glad you thoroughly enjoyed it! I never fixed that problem with the notes because no one else mentioned it, so I didn't feel like it! Now that you have, I'll get around to fixing that sometime. That typo you mentioned was on purpose.

Thanks for your input! I will keep those tips in mind when I make another one of these games (sequel or not). Also, thanks for putting the time into your review - it gave me something to read and means a lot.

[Seedling]

Excellent game, Connor! I truly enjoyed playing this.
Classic 8 bit fun with so many different elements.

The difficulty was bang-on. Not too much, not too less.
The was certainly a lot of adventuring in this, and I prefer these kind of games to the RTS games like Final Fantasy.
Nice work with the different environments, I particularly liked the blurring effects of the blizzard.
The music went together with it, amazingly.
The bosses were pretty challenging, I liked that too.
The puzzles were nicely done and the treasures were so carefully tucked in into places you would never think of looking in.
The follower's light was a nice visual touch.
The story was great. I liked the little white Watcher character standing everywhere like a pervert, and how his head moves around wherever you go.

Now for the suggestions:
Instead of using the 'R' button for game restart, you should use it for stage restart, as it is an unspoken rule in games that most of us are accustomed to. I know you can just kill yourself off to restart the stage but unsuspecting people will get pissed off.
The movement could use a little more precision. Just one tap of the direction key sends me lurching forward instead of a tiny step.
I faced a little discomfort when rounding corners really fast. The diagonal movement of the character kicks in when I change from one direction to another and I end up in the lava or abyss. But, I guess it's just my own inability to handle him.
Some of the obstacles and enemies could be made more obvious with better lighting. I didn't know what kept killing me in the Owl's nest (those damn instant kill mouths in the ground!) until after 5 tries.
Unlike all others, the Stab in the Dark boss fight kept taking place every time I went there even after killing it.
You could leave the Lacste castle open, so we can play that level again.

This was a wonderful and fun game.
After this, I expect nothing but spectacular games from you.
Keep making more games like this.
Cheers!

[Resonance]

Not bad at all.
A decent obstacle manipulation puzzle game.
The character physics work well and I didn't face any glitches.
The artwork is simple but could have been better.
I didn't quite like the music.

Altogether, it's a nice game that can be greatly improved.

[Steam Rogue]

For shame....
In GTA San Andreas you have to control airplanes with more than 10 keys. I thought that was complicated. But you did more than that with only 2 KEYS !
I played a similar game called "Wheel vs Flowers" which was far simpler and only used one key (only jumping, no stopping) . Now, that was fun. Not this.
At the end of the game, I felt a wave of relief as though I had gotten over a nightmare rather than a sense of accomplishment.
More levels coming soon? This is one game I won't be playing if you don't reduce the difficulty.

Alright, enough of that. Let me start with the constructive stuff:

It looked good in the beginning but got progressively worse.
There is a thin line between challenging and frustrating and you crossed that by a mile.
The difficulty factor in this was over the top. You need to understand that games stop becoming fun at that point.
You literally had me pounding the keyboard in frustration.
The platforms were way too close to allow for comfortable jumps, you should cut some slack there.
There is another problem where the keys don't register on time and exactly at crucial moments. At first, I thought my keyboard was busted , but then I tried out other games and it worked fine.
Having said that, the levels were well designed and the artwork was good.

This shows promise, but you need to design the game from an average gamer's perspective.
Sure, you may like it hard, but you need to think about the masses and keep it simple and fun.
Best of Luck !

AdventureIslands responds:

Now this is how you give critique, people! Take an example of this good sir, kids.

I'll be doing some difficulty adjustments with next update. What stages you had the most trouble with?

[Opposite]

Nicely done.
Everything was pleasant and easy.
The medals were easily achievable.
You should try adding more elements like in the game "Obey! The game"
Cheers!

Satyre responds:

Thanks for the suggestion. Maybe the next update or a sequel will contain some elements of obey :)

[Battery Powered Adventure]

WOW! Are you F**king kidding me?
This has got to be the most inconspicuous art game of this year.
At first, I was appalled by the sub-par controls and movement, and the medal name seemed ridiculous for such a crappy game.
After I managed to get into the city, I started to feel some elements that can only belong to an art game.
It felt a lot like the art game "Little Wheel" which is also about a robot that fixes stuff to progress.
There was something that kept me going.. I had to know what this was all about.
The ending totally blew me away, I had goosebumps on my skin.
And I suddenly realized how apt the medal name was.
My rating for this game suddenly changed from 2 stars to 5.

Here are my suggestions:
I was stumped at the power box. After I clicked on the car, I had no clue that I had actually picked up something (the battery). There was no indication other than an ugly lump which I thought was a part of the robot.
Also, if you return to the train scene from the power box close-up without attaching the wires, you can't return to the close-up. I found out the hard way.
You could mark the usable items clearly so we don't fumble around too much.

Great work with the basic premise, although you could improve on the controls and visuals and make an even better game.
Cheers !

[R0B3R7 the Robot]

Very nice!
It was simple and yet required a lot of thought power.
Some of the puzzles were really simple and repetitive but I liked them nevertheless.
I liked the different effects that the various powerups have on the spinners.
Some movements had to be done in squares adjacent to the spinners and I did a few times by pressing the forward key a millisecond longer, so it was pretty intense.
You could build on this and make more obstacles like moving spikes and periodic shooters , and more powerups like teleporters.

All in all, a good game. Keep up the good work!

[Fort Blaster. Ahoy There!]

Highly annoying game, although good intentions.

I rage quit once after 30 levels and when I came back I found out that my game hadn't been saved.
Almost every other time I press restart, the level reloads without any on-screen options available ( i.e The different cannons , the menu and restart buttons and coins and collections indicators). Then I have to press "R" twice or thrice to reload it perfectly.
I found the Buckshot cannon to be highly unpredictable in where it made contact.
But my biggest problem with this game was the automatic adjustment of the view.
Most of the levels require you to make annoyingly crooked shots with the cursor dangerously at the edge of the screen, and just when I slowly move the cursor to get the perfect shot, the view adjusts itself and my aim is lost.
You could have included an auto adjustment ON/OFF button.

The swaying of the ship was a nice touch though.
The music and sounds were also good.

All in all, it was a good effort but the numerous bugs nullified the effect.

[Dress Up Tomato Soup]

Hmm.. Can't say I'm really a fan of tomato soup.
As a dress up game, it could really use the snap back mechanism when you place the eyes and noses back.
And it could use more bodies.
Anyways since you pride on being the Soup Squad, you could gain more recognition by making a few better games rather than by making a lot of mediocre games.

TastyPotion responds:

It's not a real dress up game. More like a parody .