xalezar's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Newgrounds Virtuattack]

Feels pretty polished and intuitive! My only suggestion would be to add some kind of indicator that you need to press a key to read the next message—maybe like a blinking cursor at the end of the dialog box—as I was waiting for it to autoplay. Do you get penalized for shooting the civilian cars?

EDIT: Nice, I see the new indicator for indicating a key press is required after the message ended. Though I think a downwards arrow blinking or displacing up and down is more commonly seen. And I wasn't meaning that being able to shoot civilian cars was a bug; just asking whether shooting them earns you points too.

Default responds:

I added a space bar indicator and hopefully fixed the car problem

[The Nine Puzzle]

I think this game has a lot of potential! The color palette gives it a nice retro feel. That said, there was a lot of walking through empty areas—I’d love to see more interaction or visual variety there. Personally, I found the E key for interaction a bit unintuitive; spacebar might feel more natural. I also wasn’t quite sure what the goal was, so a bit more guidance or context would help.

NomarOmens responds:

Thanks so much for playing! I added a run button on Left Shift, hopefully that can alleviate some of the monotony, but I'll definitely keep this in mind for my next game.

[CARD STOCK]

Hmm I felt the first-time experience was a bit challenging. I did read the tutorial, but it was a lot to memorize. When I clicked "play" I am presented with a blank screen, so I didn't really know what to do first.

So I looked around and realized there were some icons at the top left and saw that I could purchase card packs.

I know it's more work, but I think if you are able to also integrate the tutorial right into the gameplay it might be more natural to learn as you go.

EDIT: I read it was for a game jam so you only had 48 hours. That's quite impressive!

By the way, I think I found a small bug, when you click "how to play" it starts you on the tutorial page that starts with "You can right click cards to bundle..." instead of the "hi, welcome to card stock!..." one.

[Kinesis]

This is pretty fun! I'm wondering if the controls can be smoother. It's kind of hard to control where you direct the objects after linking with them. But maybe that's part of the challenge.

EDIT: Yeah I am using a mouse and keyboard.

crowbarcoder responds:

Thanks! Yeah well are you playing it on a computer or phone? It’s easier to control with a mouse.
Yes the controls are meant to have the objects follow your cursor a bit laggy so you feel like it’s a challenge to have to move your mouse and control the objects. Which is why you can upgrade your manipulation speed.

[Solitaire Battle]

Nice graphics and chill soundtrack!

On the character select screen, it wasn't immediately obvious I had to click the checkmark to continue as it kind of blended in with all the other buttons.

During the tutorial, I realize you explain it in the text, but it might be helpful to highlight draw more attention to where the player is supposed to click, like maybe with a colorful arrow, or border highlight, as there are a lot of things on the screen.

After playing a bit, I get how it works now. The object of the game is to defeat the opponent by discarding cards. You can play any cards that are one higher or lower than the card in play. I think if you make that concept clear right away, it will be easier for the player to learn.

When you explained the same suit bonuses, I felt that was a natural way to do it, bringing it up in context.

I had fun. Thanks for sharing your game!

[Wispy Dreams]

This was pretty fun! I read a bit of the tutorial but it was a lot of information upfront, so I skipped ahead. Maybe the mechanics can be taught gradually as the player progresses, so it's more interactive and natural. Wish I could run faster.

Regarding the menus, the design is creative, but I think the font was a bit hard to read and the press and hold to select the option added unnecessary complexity. Also the menu style changes quite a bit across screens, so at times I wasn't sure which option was highlighted...

Great job on the game!

recon-project responds:

Thank you so much for the kind words!
You're right that the way the tutorial is presented is quite outdated. Since the game is based on old arcade platformers, I kinda tried to imitate the tutorials of games like Snow Bros 2 and Nightmare in the Dark. But I hope it wasn't too confusing.
And, believe it or not, I changed the font a few times to make it less hard to read... But I guess it's still too stylized haha.

[Monster Cycle]

It's kind of hard to read the text and see what's going on... I think I am able to shoot projectiles at enemies, but quite not sure what I am aiming at. Maybe try graphics without dithering?

[UVSU Demo]

Wow this is incredible! Was the artwork digitally rendered or actually photographed from clay? Either way, the gameplay and atmosphere are very polished. Played just a few minutes of it so far and am already intrigued. Seems like it will be available only for Windows it seems, so I'm out of luck with my current MacBook which barely has any space left lol.

What was your inspiration? And was this a solo project? Cool to see such cool stuff made in GMS2.

EDIT: Finished playing the demo, nicely done with the cliff hanger there haha. That last fight was hard, but really fun. I think people who enjoy a mix of puzzling and platforming will like this game.

dietzribi responds:

Thanks! It's real clay that I'm heavily editing digitally.
It's inspired by many things but visually mostly by The Neverhood. Yeah it's a solo project, I'm doing everything except for the music :)

[Grapple Tongue]

This game is very polished! The vibrant graphics, the chiptune sound effects and music all complemented each other well. I think the animations and dust particles really to the experience and make the game delightful.