xlomid's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Frances' Food]

Nice little visual novel! I enjoyed the setting, the gorgeous art, the writing, the music, the emphasis on character relationships -- pretty much all of it :) When serving customers, I wish my choices were a bit more informed: e.g. how much they will be charged for each dish. More broadly, it would be cool to have a more of a management/simulation aspect to it: the game could keep track of the player's spending and revenue, their reputation with customers, etc. It would be nice to see what day 2, 3, etc. look like, and what are the repercussions of the player's previous interactions with the NPCs.

And, to spice it up a bit (what with it being a cooking-themed game), it would be great to have some mini-games based on the cooking process itself. These, too, can be menu-based and revolve around deciding e.g. on what ingredients to use during a shortage and how to replace things that are listed in the recipe but that are not available to the cook.

P.S. I'm also having a scaling issue in Firefox (didn't test with other browsers): unless I choose Fullscreen in the options, the right and bottom parts of the screen are cropped, and I can't see the dialogue in its entirety. Might be a RenPy issue, but worth looking into.

[Pixel Fall]

Nice little game, but I feel it would benefit from more variety: e.g. moving or disappearing platforms, collectibles, flying obstacles, etc.

QuanDiep responds:

lol i will get into it next times

[Euler Climb]

This is a fun little game, but I feel it would work better as a 2D platformer. 3D doesn't seem to add much to the experience, and due to the level layout being circular, I'm getting a bit dizzy playing it... could be just me.

Chaitanic responds:

Thank you for the criticism! I'll keep that in mind :)

[Project sa MADS]

This looks like a decent game, perhaps too difficult for my skill. This wouldn't be much of a problem -- I don't mind restarting and trying again -- but I can't find any way to! Do I really have to *refresh the page* every time I want to retry? Or is there a restart button that the game doesn't tell me about? Either way, it's irritating not to have an easy way to restart, e.g. by pressing Up again.

[spider man]

Hi! I'm sorry you didn't get a warmer welcome to Newgrounds: you generally get good feedback on this portal, but it can also be quite harsh. I am assuming this is one of the first games you've made, and I'll make a few suggestions for how I think it could be improved.

1. Story: What is Spiderman doing collecting coins and mushrooms in the forest? It would be nice to have a story that would explain what is happening in the game, giving the player character a meaningful purpose.

2. Inconsistent assets: The sprite for Spiderman is pixel art, the coins and cactuses do not have an outline around them, the mushrooms do, etc. In short, all graphics in the game have a different style, so it doesn't feel like they belong together. There are many Creative Commons tilesets and character sprites available as free downloads online; it would be good to use assets from the same set (or with a similar aesthetic) and make sure it's not copyright protected. Also, you don't even need detailed graphics to make a good game - look up "Thomas Was Alone" as a good example.

3. Difficulty progression: in a longer game, you'd normally have several levels, with each new level being more challenging and introducing new gameplay elements. You could do this too, e.g. with the first level focusing just on coins, the second introducing mushrooms and potions, and the third having some kind of boss at the end. This would help the player have a sense of progress in the game.

4. Guidance: at the moment, the game doesn't make it clear what you should do. It wasn't immediately clear to me if I had to collect all the coins, or just reach the end of the level, or do something else. It's good to give players more specific instructions. (Granted, you wrote about it the description - but people seldom read those.) Also, I think I reached the end after collecting all coins, but nothing seems to have happened? I wish the game would tell me something.

Anyway, I hope you don't get disheartened by the comments -- and good luck with your games!

[Tiny House Escape]

You're obviously a talented person, but I wish you would invest your time and effort into something that is less derivative and tired than generic room escape games. I realize you've kind of found your audience with them, but what's the fun of doing the same thing over and over again? This game makes no sense (who on earth lives in a house full of puzzles which you can't go out of until you've solved them), it has the same puzzles as gazillions of other games, and it offers very little that would set it apart. I may be tired of room escape games in general, but surely there are ways to make one that's more original and interesting? I'm sorry if this is too harsh.

[Dead Horizon]

This was a brilliant piece of storytelling! I loved the aesthetics of the game as well. But I wish the game communicated more clearly whether my last shot was successful or not (it took me three replays to reach the conclusion that I'd in fact gotten the last guy every time).

Emptygoddess responds:

Only know you if you missed or not.

[I woke up next to you again.]

This is an excellent game. Lovely visuals and great story, too. It reminds me of Bentosmile's Air Pressure, which has a similar theme.

zephyo responds:

thank u! yes, it was inspired by her work!

[Alone The Empty World]

Lovely RPGMaker aesthetics and atmospheric music. The town is well designed and big enough to explore.

However, I feel the game could use more interactivity (why can't I check my laptop? Use the phone booth? Try to open most of the doors? Read signs?). And a bit more guidance would also be useful, because at some point I just got stuck and have no idea what to do.

Also, the town might be a bit too colorful. Maybe bleaker colors would contribute to the overall atmosphere. Oh, and a minor thing: you can walk into sinks in bathrooms.

[Yo Escape The Office]

I thought the game suffered a bit from being too generic and could do with more "personality" (whether expressed in the story, aesthetic or mechanics). But otherwise, it's pretty solid. Nice graphics and smooth gameplay. The music is too repetitive, though.