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KrasherMaBasher

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3 Game Reviews

You have some pretty good stuff here, fun artstyle, music that really fits the atmosphere, but the game really needs some fixing. First off, the control scheme is funky. I'm on a pretty small keyboard, and using the spacebar for jumping feels so bad and puts a lot of strain on my hands. To fix this, you could have tied jump to up arrow as well as space, not like it's being used for anything. Or if you're intent on not having an up to jump option, try tying your keys to QWE as opposed to ZXC so that using space to jump is a lot more comfortable, I mean just resting your hands on those keys feels nice. Also, snow removal and hit could be the exact same thing, they don't need to be separate. That way, the control scheme could be up to jump, hit/snow removal x, and dash z. One last thing, I have a hard time distinguishing between snow, enemies, and whatever the crap those snowballs are for, so I'll use snow removal on an enemy rather than snow and lose all of my progress. Maybe adding an extra color or two into the mix could really help, even just a couple touches of washed out red could sell the fact that that's an enemy, not snow.

Overall, a pretty good game with poor execution of its mechanics. A clean nokia/gameboy esque artstyle is both a selling point and a hinderance. Maybe add some controller support. (If there isn't already)

(Edit) Thanks so much for the up to jump feature! Really helps with comfort for my arrow keys/zxc playstyle! That extra color also helps a lot with clarity and figuring out what is what. I've bumped my review from 3 to 4 stars. Keep up the good work and have fun with your future projects!

Marffnin responds:

ok in 1.6.1 i fixed controls and added extra color

The game feels, how do I put this, unfair? Non-descriptive? I don't know, probably both. It has some potential, but the physics really throw me off. It oddly enough reminds me of Meat Boy, the old school one, not Super Meat Boy, with it being so floaty. At first I thought, "Wow, this game is super floaty, (which I like) yet it can't take advantage of that because the jump is so short." Then I discovered the fact that there's a double jump. And that was a while into the game, too. The player needs to know that, "Hey, you can jump on those white platforms, but don't touch the red, or you'll die. Press up twice to Double Jump," or even the fact that you can stomp on enemies instead of having to avoid them is super important. If you don't communicate to the player what they can do, they'll just end up stuck and confused, and in most cases, think the game is broken.
There was also a couple issues with the level design that made it feel unfair. Like those portals. That very first portal was very poorly placed, since when you jump into it from the bottom, you're upwards momentum from your jump carries you right into the spikes on top. In order to safely get to the other side of the portal, you have to do some very clunky-feeling platforming. If that's just a troll, you should convey that it's a troll rather than some bad game design.
I also got really lost in the levels, because there's just so much going on onscreen at once. I felt like I could make it to a lot of the platforms that I just couldn't, and the level design overall is very poor. I also didn't know what the white outlined boxes do because, again, it wasn't conveyed properly what they do. Then at one point, I hit it on accident and it had those white, thunderbolt-looking appendages come out of it like at the start of the level. Then is when I realized that it was a checkpoint, and that I'd been wrong in thinking that the game was kind of like a Geometry Dash level where you need to have the muscle memory to be able to complete an ultra-difficult 2 minute level.
So what can you do to help combat these things? Well, I know that you just started game development, (due to the author comments stating that) so I'll give you some tips. First and foremost, play testing. Personally, I have some people that I can contact to help me review my games in their early stages through my Email, for you it could be friends, family, or giving it to some gaming forum. Then I can get help with knowing what I did wrong in my game, like something being not conveyed properly or well. Another tip I can give you is to have a difficulty curve. Start out with something really basic and tutorial-like to give the player a feel for how the game works before they get thrust into more difficult levels. Your game also needs to have fleshed out levels. Even just having occasional arrows and warning signs that are purely cosmetic could help out, or stretching out a level horizontally as apposed to more vertically could convey just where the player needs to go. One last thing is that players enjoy instant gratification as opposed to a long grind. The 4 levels in this game are justified because they're so long, however, if you were to make say 20 levels that are shorter but apply the same concepts as what you have in these four levels, the experience will be a lot less frustrating, and a lot more rewarding.
Though you are getting a lot of stuff right, too.

For example, you're (so far) very good at creating an atmosphere. The grungy, Tron-esque yet cartoony art-style is suprisingly good, though it might need some touch-ups. You also hardly have any bugs to speak of. The only thing I could find was that I was able to stand on an enemy right at the corner of it's hitbox without getting killed nor killing it. 4 years of game development (almost 5) and I haven't been able to cinch out the bugs to just 1 in the base game without some patches.

Overall, a pretty decent start to game development, however with a few surprisingly glaring issues that hinder the gameplay a lot. Sorry for the harsh wording at the start, but keep up the good work. Also, PS, haven't finished the game really, so correct anything I said wrong.

GioChiTakana responds:

Thanks for rating.
Thank you very much for giving me so much advice.
I will definitely fix all the mistakes in the future.
Once again, thank you very much

The art in this game is great, it's polished, the characters are pleasing to look at, color palette isn't too bland but isn't too in your face, but that's about where the good ends. I love run and guns, but this game has two flaws that made it too difficult and too frustrating. First of all, the enemies are ranged and can aim. It might seem a little weird that I'm bringing this up, but Cross can't aim. You don't even have the up arrow as an option to jump. If you could make it so that you could aim up and down, that would help it out a lot. I also like the boost mechanic, but because the levels are so tight, I only used when required to get up high. It didn't even help to avoid enemies because of the tight levels. A dodge like something in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Enter the Gungeon would greatly help for avoiding enemies and to give Cross a really good movement system. (I am aware that the transform exists, but it does not grant invincibility like a dodge would, and anyway it's just way too easy to abuse, just spam it on the ground and you cut through enemies like butter.) The effects can also get so in your face at times that I on occasion lost track of Cross. Overall this is a really good game, and these are mostly minor nitpicks, but they really hindered the gameplay in my mind. Keep up the good work! (BTW controller support would be really nice.)

Yword responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback! :)

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Joined on 12/13/22

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