LDeins's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rotiart]

i normally like these kind of games, upgrades are always good. But come on .. how many upgrades do i need to buy till being able to finish the first level ?!?!? the upgrades are too expensive and/or the first level is way too long and/or the start stats are too low (especially move speed). Upgrading is fine, but after 7 tries the first upgrades should be strong enough to finish the first level, don't you thing so ?

lwyzlwyz responds:

You're right, my balancing was way off. Sorry for that.
The first level is probably the hardest in the whole game because of this, so if you can get past it it becomes easier.
--Edit--
I've increased the speed of the player and tweaked the money dropped by the enemies so the start of the game shouldn't be such a slog. Tell me what you think.

[We're not ants !]

I like the idea and the design, but the game is way too buggy.
- weakened enemies seems to replenish health in an unpredictable way.
- i had multiple laves running around which were already dead (live = 0) in the underground
- on the second stage the laves began to mine the row before the very top one by themselves !
- switching to a underground stage (from surface or other stage) the fighter laves (medium one) were killed
- also one of there nests had a glitch: the egg lay somewhere on the ground and never hatched.
- returning from the surface leads to the same hole in the first underground stage at 3 of 4 surface levels. even when returning from a surface level from the second underground stage !
- the last bug i discovered i finally wasn't able to re-enter the second underground stage. being on the first stage the tool tip appears, but double click has no effect, i can't continue playing.

At the beginning it looked nice, but the longer i played the more bugs showed up.

PS: i wanted to continue playing and recognized that the tool tip to the second stage changed: clear stage to enter ... and indeed there is still a surface stage which i didn't cleared jet. does this mean that the fact that i was able to enter the 2. underground before clearing everything was a bug too ??? BTW: the surface stage with the 10 armadillo bugs with 1000hp each ... a bit too much isn't it ?

plopix responds:

Hello thank you for your review and report, that is really helpful.

- yes, outside enemies replenish life so you can farm hunting grounds, but inside enemies don't. Armadillo bugs double their HP when in ball shape (then they go back to normal when they turn to their wandering stance).
- I've already fixed the bug with the blocked tunnel to map 2, I'll upload the fix today.
- about armadillo bugs, is that really too much ? Armadillo have a lot of HP, but do not have a lot of attack power.
- the other point really look like bugs indeed, but I still have to reproduce some of them. I guess most of them will be fixed with the update I'll upload in a few hours.

Anyway thanks for your feedback, I hope I had testers like you before releasing a game, but I don't, leading to these kinds of problems.

[School of Witches]

It somehow felt wrong to have 45 stars in the shop after finishing the first level. Guess that's a bug. the witch should move wherever the player clicks, not just to the trees/towers. I lost some coins because i wasn't able to aim at the next tower.
BTW: to make the aiming easier you could change the cursor to a cross on the virtual ground. With this you could enable the player to move the witch to every point on the map and maybe aiming at the towers is easier than.

mcunha98 responds:

Thanks for test and give your feedback.

You have a good point, maybe turn the path of the waves free for the player move the witch. In next month I'll release that and you can test again.

Thanks again

[Abandoned In Ireland]

in my mind the accessible area is way too big. i got lost somewhere in the castle without any clue where i should start searching for new items. more than 4 or 5 areas to play and solve puzzles isn't fun anymore.

selfdefiant responds:

Well, some players like a large map. This isn't even very large compared to some of my games. Some have over 100 rooms.

[Brain Builder]

except the fact that the medals don't work it's a cool game. it was nice to catch my self struggling with such easy tasks.

Lampogolovii responds:

hm... Try it again now, please.

[We Need To Go Deeper beta]

first impression was pretty well. the first 5 runs were still fun. but than it got some kind of boring. getting just something about 150 buck/run was a bit disappointing compared to the prices. especially to the fact that EVERY upgrade cost increased after buying the first upgrade (at least the cost of the first 3 upgrades, the radar not included). The radar is a pretty nice idea and is well made, i like it. the enemy dropping from time to time ... if you add a "how to play" you should mention it in there. secrets and rewards for reaching a certain depth sounds cool. But make sure that these rewards are not essential for being able to further continue the game. There is nothing worth in such a game if you got stuck on a certain point because of the need of some kind of upgrade/bonus but not being able to afford it anyway. I could imagine something like a portal unlocking very 3^x meters reached (1,9,27,81,243, ...).

well, all in all, just keep going. looking forward the finished game.

PineappleAlarmClock responds:

"especially to the fact that EVERY upgrade cost increased after buying the first upgrade"
Purchasing an upgrade doesn't affect the price of the others... Either I have some unreproducible major bug, either you have been mislead by the fact that I put prices too high from the beginning for the Speed and Selling upgrades.
However, the prices are clearly too high, I'll fix it.

And it seems like making deeper loot worth more isn't enough, I need to add content the deeper the player gets.

Another reviewer suggested your portal idea, I'll consider adding it.

"the first 5 runs were still fun. but than it got some kind of boring"
This is useful, it tells me at which point the problem becomes noticeable.

Thanks for your time !

[I am vomiting hair]

I'm speechless. such a great game. the atmosphere is just right and the puzzles are pretty well. it took me some time to figure out the effect of switching on/off the lights, but finally i got it. But just a bit later the puzzle with the sheets of paper gave me the rest. unfortunately it looks like you didn't made a walkthrough jet. could you pls PM me some additional hints ?

oh, one last thing: you definitively need to add a volume control.

Fakewisdom responds:

Thank you
Is a walkthrough important? For the puzzle with the sheets of paper you are supossed to take the green valve-like thing, wich you should be able to get by collecting two or more keys and putting then on the keyholes inside the drawers, once you have the green thing you are suposed to think that it and the green piece of paper are related in some way because both are green, that was yet another of my amazing game desing choices, after playng with the green thing for a while you will realize that it fits in holes, you then procced to the room just below the left side of the green room with the windows, there is a plate like structure there with 8 holes, the hint of the green sheet of paper tell you exactly, sort of, in what order you are suposed to shove the green thing on the holes, and how many times in each, clockwise, AND you are to guess that you should do it like an 8 hours clock, starting from the first diagonal hole instead of the very top one, because there is where the number "1" would be if there was a 8 hours clock, just put the "8" in place of the "12" TA-DAA, 8 hour clock, sounded amazing on papper...
I will learn how to do the volume control thing, im sorry you had a hard time tryng to figure out my unintuitive shit, if you had issues with the volume i should warn you about the sound made by the green valve like object, for me it sounded alright, but you are talking about the guy who tough that a 8 hours clock would be the best puzzle idea since the piano in silent hill, the sound may become annoying...

[Magicraft : Balance WIP]

well, i wasn't able to figure out the controls by my own without reading the instructions. after playing the first round i accidentally found the menu. What this essence stuff is i need to do some stuff (whatever these stuff is) ... i don't know. What your game needs ? a tutorial and ingame instructions.

Like:
- a explanation screen with arrows to the hotspots
- click here to ... here you can ... and so on
- this is your score
- this is your essence, you can by stuff with it
- this is the playground, use arrow keys to play
- click here to expand/hide the menu
- ...

also: after having no more moves left i hat only about 500 and 1300 points (whatever which one is)
should these points be saved to upgrade the stuff ? cause the counter reset to zero and i'm pretty sure 4300 points to have just a little one time advantage later ... not likely right ?

the mechanism seems to work, but i simply don't know what i'm doing or supposed to do.

StormBringerStudios responds:

Hi and thanks. Yes tutorial and other features are not included in this build and I will add them gradually.

There's 2 numbers, accumulated essence and score. Score will be needed in final game to submit online and shift world balance !

Essence is used to make "cheats" (By clicking some objects on table and spend them), Also you may need to upgrade vial or extra essence will be lost.

In final title there will be challenges, many interesting puzzles, in game Wiki etc...

[Sneaky Ranch]

wait a moment. The guy has hundred bucks in his pockets but no quarter to call someone ?!?!?

selfdefiant responds:

Thanks! Go figure huh!

[Dr. Spacezoo]

pretty hard to play without a visible pointer. the buttons work, but i spend some time to aim and hit them (i tried to make some changes in the options). i'm pretty sure that's a easy to solve bug, but it makes your game hard to play.

edit: while in a mission the cursor/cross is visible.

smashriot responds:

Mouse cursor should be visible as long as you don't have a joystick connected. What platform/browser are you using? Thanks!

Edit 2015-03-30: control issues are fixed in v0.4.4, please PM me if you run into any other issues!