TravelSizedLions's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Beneath]

It's alright. I kind of wish more time had been spent polishing the way the player character moves and iterating on level design instead of creating a bunch of weapon types. Here are a few rules of thumb I like to keep in mind for platformers:
- Enemies generally should not be able to attack you from off screen. I felt frustrated on vertical sections because there were enemies just barely offscreen above me that I couldn't have known about, but still took damage from.
- Consider widening your platforms to at least 2 tiles Especially if your player is only a single tile wide
- If you're not already doing it, consider using a capsule collider for the player character.
- If you're not implementing coyote time in your player character, do it! It really helps with game feel.

I look forward to seeing what you make next! :)

ErikSwahn responds:

Much valued feeback! I think I know which vertical sections you mean. I am not sure what coyote time is but will look it up!

[IMP]

Very clever twist on the classic double jump. :)

[Loachie]

HAP__ BIRT_D__ LOCHIE! :D

[Steelcurse]

I love this game to bits. it's difficult, and time consuming. Just the kind of game I want, you know? Something that'll last a few days. Something in which you have to more fully invest yourself. The art was very enchanting, and yet didn't distract from the meat of the game. Well done, in my opinion. Very well done.

Also, I can't stop laughing in my head. The vast majority of negative reviews for this game fall into one of three categories:

1. can't even be bothered to spell complaining that the game is overly complex grammatically or mechanically.

2. too impatient to read through each passage, and thereby accusing the game of being longwinded or boring.

3. too stubborn to just adjust to the mechanics of the game (does 'I KEEP MISSING!!!11!?1!' sound familiar?).

[Skywire 2]

Very nice job with this game. The theming of it was very entertaining, and the variety of obstacles kept the gameplay fresh. Most of all though, I thought that the learning curve on this game was just right, escalating in difficulty, but never at a rate to make the player panic. The game was difficult, and often frustrating, but not ridiculous, which in my book is a plus (yes, frustrating can be a good thing on occasion). You did a great job of teaching the player what each obstacle entailed before throwing it in with the others. And you were forgiving enough to give the player a life set for each level, something I, being a pretty terrible player, can appreciate.

one thing I would recommend, though, is doing something with that hard earned score. My suggestion would be to take one of two options: (1) set up a scoreboard for the newgrounds version of this game, so you can compare your score with others', or (2) make the score a sort of currency, so the player can, say, expand the size of the rail car to allow for more lives, but while making the car more cumbersome. Or, perhaps, purchasing upgrades to make certain obstacles "safe," so the player can relax a little.

Overall, I thought it was a very good sequel, and nice addition to the nitrome collection.

[Glean]

Really a top notch game. I can positively say that this is one of the most in depth games I've ever played by an indie developer. A lot of people have made suggestions about how to improve gameplay, some of which are truly brilliant solutions. My advice to you: listen in on what the players have to say, especially when it comes to improving the menu systems. You don't need to make the upgrade trees any more or any less complex, but having a way to clue people in on what they can and can't upgrade at the moment would make things much more manageable for newer players. Like many others have said, the all red interface can make things a bit frustrating for those who lack patience to hover over materials. Adding a subsystem or module upgrade to add color would make for an entertaining and interesting fix.

anyway, that's just my two cents on how this game could further improve. It's already amazing as it is right now. I would just keep these ideas in mind for a sequel, if you plan to make one.

[Salem Demo]

Wow, the concept of this game is unbelievably fresh, and the voice acting is amazing. I'd love to get this game when it comes out. There's just one thing I'd really like you to add back in:
--
Quality settings.
--
There's quite a bit of lag when I try to use the lantern. The frame rate drops to less than 1 per second. Normally I don't rate down for lag, since it's more of an issue on my side of the game, but you've gotten rid of the quality settings, so now I can't play it at all, even with reduced graphical quality.

Also, I noticed people are pointing out how clunky the controls are. to be perfectly honest, this is your game. You make the controls however you please. if you want the character to face the same direction as the pressed key, you do that. You don't need to copy other control schemes.

Tarienn responds:

Sorry, but I'm not quite sure I understand your meaning! The quality is controlled by the engine and is supposed to lower quality settings under stress so there isn't any need to adjust it yourself. However I am planning to add quality settings in the settings menu, I'm thinking this issue might be caused by using an older version of Flash Player. I tested the game on Flash Player 10, 11.2 and 11.3 Beta, and I did notice that only on 10 did the Lantern become too laggy to use, while 11.2 and 11.3 has fixed this issue. Still working on a fix :)

[Pico Radio]

This should definitely become a permanent feature on either the front page, or at least audio portal page. The amount of work you put into it is very evident, and it's one of the most useful tools I've used since... well, awhile.

deathink responds:

thanks a real lot man... maybe someday tom will

[Fat Cat]

Probably one of the most unique games I've ever played. You took a common genre, vertical shooting, and added a whole new challenge to it. I always enjoy the inventive gameplay your games have.

[Orange Roulette]

man, those puns were really creeping me out...

Very nice job. You managed to take a really nerve racking situation, put oranges in it, and somehow make it EVEN MORE MIND BENDING.

I'm thinking this would've made a great game for halloween, had you used pumpkins instead of oranges.