Zir0's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Drug City]

Hey.

Heh! Selling drugs. An interesting game. Though I wasn't sure what to do after reaching a certain point.

1. I couldn't sell any more weed. The game stopped bringing up the prompt to sell. So, I thought maybe I ran out of weed? So, I bought some more from another member, but still couldn't sell anymore.

2. I don't know how to complete the quest, "Break down weed bag large weed"

Any advice?

Arensnuphis responds:

yes press i to open inventory

[Spaceship!! (Alpha v0.7.0)]

Hey.

Cool game this is.

- Needs a preloader, _especially_ since you're loading several sprite sheets. At first, I thought the game had hung at a black screen until I open my dev window (I'm using Windows 7 64-bit pro, and Firefox 43.0.1). I took a look at the sprite sheets, and found a lot of asteroinds, yet I haven't seen any of them in the game. I'm assuming either I haven't reached that far, or they've yet to be implemented in-game.

- I'm assuming "Spaceship!!" is a working title? (:

- The music keeps stopping and starting, so I just muted it.

- Stat system system is nice. I went to your Facebook page, and it answered many of my questions.
"Upgrades will increase in price exponentially at a low rate." Aha! That explains why, even after several deposits into "speed", my ship is still super-slow! (:
You must be designing this game for several days or even longer of play. I just hope it's not all on grinding.

- I was going to say that since the controls are keyboard based, consider making key controls for the audio button during missions. On your FB page, you mentioned the M key for this, so that's awesome.

- Add a way to pause/unpause the game during missions. My bad if that was mentioned.

- Is there any incentive to killing all enemies when you finish a level?

- I'm _so_ glad you can kill the enemies' homing missiles! :-D

- There was a constant lag that occurred throught game play. If I have keys held down while this happens, the actions bound to said keys would continue, even if I released the key. I would need to press and release said keys again to regain control of their actions.

- There is also a lag between the Shot 1 sound and the Shot 1 itself (using Type 01). Occasionally, when shot 1 is fired, the projectile discharges, but I don't hear the firing sound until a short time later.

- Add sounds for hit effects/explosions, firing special shots, collecting H2, and using the Ability, for example. Assuming W.I.P.

- On the ship selection screen:
a). Layout: Consider moving al six ships down a bit, so that 01 and 04 aren't overlapping the bottom of the stats window.
b). The mute buttons are a bit difficult to see. Perhaps add dark back under them when viewing on this screen.

- Player ship should get a big explosion on loss. Assuming W.I.P. again.

- I like the amount of polish added to the game already. From ship tilt on vertical movement, enemy hit effects, particle systems (I really like how the particles are the main color of the enemy that exploded), you put a lot of effort into this. For the player ship and bosses, maybe add "smoking" particles when the health gets critical.

It's an alpha version, so I imagine you're still working on many aspects (including the "coming soon" worlds!)

Good skill on this game.
* salutes *

_______________________
- Ziro out.

ThePandaSenpai responds:

1. Yeah, I realized the file size jumped from 10MB to 50MB after adding tons of asteroids and also after getting a complaint the game was stuck in black screen which was in fact loading. So definitely I will add a preloader for next version!

2. Spaceship!! was kinda of a inside joke. I was watching the Lego movie with a friend and we kept saying that to each other for days. XD

3. I haven't heard of that issue. But I'm glad the mute button served you right. I will still look into the issue and try to solve it!

4. Some ships are kinda slow even after bumping tons of money into speed upgrade due to the fact they have a slow base speed to begin with. Also, as the game allows you to go to level 100 of speed that increment had to be very gradual. You can still get your spaceship to a decent speed at a later point in game. If it's still a hassle for a lot of people I will consider changing the numbers a little bit.

5. Good point! You made me realize I didn't add that info to the description! I'ma do it right now! :D

6. Yes, that's definitely in my mind already. When I started this project I didn't plan to make it big so I didn't use states for movement and such. Now it will be a pain to change lots of coding but I won't let you down and I will work on it! (Being able to pause the games feels you with determination.)

7. I'm thinking of adding a grade system based kill ratio and give you extra rewards. There's also a feature on the way called achievements. It's already half implemented. Basically it will count how many times you have killed each type of enemy and it will reward you with bonus to your stats. I do want to link that to Newgrounds medals but as I was mentioning it to another player it seems Newgrounds API Tools doesn't support Game Maker HTML5. I will try to find a way around that...

8. Doesn't matter how many times I do it but whenever I hit the spacebar on Type01 and I see tons of homing missiles seeking the enemy it feels me with joy! LOL!

9. Not sure if that would help but you could try going to options and reducing the number of particles. Also using Autofire might help you avoid that. Autofire shot I and II have two small lamps on the bottom left indicating if they are ON or OFF. I check the code again for version 0.8 and look for ways to boost the performance.

10. That definitely sounds like performance issues. I will check the code for ways to improve it!

11. Indeed a work in progress! Though it's funny how sound can't propagate in space yet we still crave for it!

12. a) I will probably come up with a better ship selection screen. I already have something in my mind for a long time. I gotta sit down and get down to it!
b) I haven't noticed. I will check it out and fix it!

13. How come I missed that? I mean I knew that at first but somehow I think I got used to that. Let me add that to my to do list!

14. I thought of something like a ellipse with a red tint flashing to represent a warning signal when you are at low HP. As for the boss I might add some effects as well. I will see what I can come up with for the next version. I must also say the most of the polishing will be done once the game mechanics and features are fully implemented, though nothing stops me from adding a bit of polish here and there every now and then, right? :D

Yep, I do plan on having the game ready in 3 more updates but that still won't stop me from working on it even further.

I also would like to thank you for spending your time writing this detailed review. I really appreciate it and it helps me choose a direction for the future updates.
I will be looking forward to get another review like this one once I get a new version up again! :D

Cheers,
ThePandaSenpai

[Give Me The Moneys]

Hey.

Interesting game.
It took a while for the zombies to come out, though. (:

Things start to pick up once the zombies appear, and all is going well, then I received this message in the console:

"NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
> treechopping.Update ()"

The console also printed this message repeatedly:
"NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

Using Unity version: 4.6.6f2

______________________
- Ziro out.

therealgamingturtle responds:

yeh its because i had to build the game a diffrent way to upload it here but thanks for pointing it out i can fix it now

[Cube-y Escape]

Hey.

Nice game.

Consider adding some simple audio to this. Also, when the game is over, I couldn't find a way to restart the game from the Game Over screen. I needed to collapse the window and re-open it.

_____________________
- Ziro out.

SuperWerer responds:

Thank you^^

I will make sure I add music and a restart function by the next update.

[Aliens Attack]

Hey.

Nice game.

I found few issues/requests while playing:

1). To control the player's ship, you're using the keyboard like a keyboard instead of like a gamepad. For example, when I hold down the left or right keys, my ship increments by one movement, there is a delay, then it resumes moving, just like if you help down a key. The ship should move without interruption as soon as I hold down the key.

2). I can change the score, lives, and level by entering text over them. You should disable input from those TextFields. In fact, they shouldn't be Input type TextFields; change them to Dynamic. Also, the values for score lives and data shouldn't be driven by the content of their respective TextFields. They should be stored as variables. Update those variables, then reflect the change in the TextFields. I also noticed, that I can change the value of the lives to 0, then get killed, and lives changes to -1.

3). When an alien missile passed the bottom of the screen, I can see it momentarily jump to the x-position (while still at the bottom) where the next alien will fire its missile.

4). I can still move after I've been killed.

5). For the font that shows the values of the score, lives, and levels, choose a more consistent font. The font you used for their respective labels looks awesome.

6). The music doesn't seem to fit the theme of the game.

7). Consider adding sound effects to the game.

Other than those, the game plays quite well! (:

_____________________
- Ziro out.

PapoFuradoPA responds:

Thank you very much! i did this game so many time ago... i even notice this mistakes, but i'll fix it. Thanks for being so polite. See ya!

[Destroy The Meteors]

Hey.

Nice game.
I like the retro environment. both audio and visuals.

I found three issues with it.
1). Sometimes, my lasers go right through the asteroids.
2). When asteroids blow up, the explosion graphics also show in the upper-left corner of the screen.
3). The scores fail to load at the end of the game. I get the message, "[ERROR] Unable to load scores."

Otherwise, not bad for a 4-hour job.

_____________________
- Ziro out.

soyrandom responds:

The explosion in the corner is a bug that i can´t repair, so i need to re-code it XD
I don't know if the scoreboard work when the game is under judgment

[Dark Ocean - Browser Vers]

Hey.

Nice game here.

The main game entities (player, enemies, etc.) are low resolution pixel graphics, which are fine, however, the particles look like they are either high resolution pixel graphics, or not raster, but vectors, creating an inconsistency with the overall look.

The flashing of the background looks to be a vector gradient which is also inconsistent with the low resolution pixel graphics. Consider using dithering and fewer colors for that background.

The explosion sound effect is overdone; sound effects consisting of waveforms would better suit this game. Take a look at a sound tool called Bfxr:
http://www.bfxr.net/
The kind of sounds you can produce with that tool would better suit this game.

You may also want to experience with bitmap fonts to find a font that is more consistent with the old Atari look and feel, which it looks like you were going for. (:

Good skill on your game.

________________________
- Ziro out.

alexbrunoyo responds:

One of the best comments ever, thank you for everything! :D

[Rombo]

Hey.

Not a very intuitive or user friendly game. I couldn't figure out what the hell to do after going inside that building.

1). You have to click too many times before you actually get into the game.
2). When you're progressing through the pre-game comic, if you click the ? icon, it takes you to the help. All's good so far, but there is no way to return to where you left off. You have to start over from the title! That help screen should be a sub-screen of whatever main screen you're on, so you don't lose your place.
3). Graphics and sounds were annoying, and I wish I could mute the music - it's too short of a loop, and it gets annoying quickly.
4). Why is there an "ugh" sound when you talk to the person outside?

On the plus side, I am pleased to say that I did not encounter any run-time exceptions (using Google Chrome 28.0, and Flash Debug player 11).

Please stop focusing on whatever it is you're focusing on, and start focusing on actually designing a more user friendly game, with a clean user interface.

______________________
- Ziro out.

Munguia responds:

ZIr 0, thanks for comment and play, too many questions of ? mean of you fockus, the game is friendy, you need to be a friendy gamer to get it, the music and graphics are ok, you need better eyes and ears to get it, maybe one day you´ll upgrade your self to Zir+Something and let the 0 behind.

[Ninja Virus]

Hey.

Nice throwback to the Ninja Gaiden games for the NES.

Gameplay and Design:
The controls are solid. Wall-climbing is quite easi to do, although I wish you had some kind of offense while on a wall. The graphics look great, and the sound effects are done nicely - although I was hoping not to find anything ripped here, but sadlye, that was not the case. ): I'd like to be able to re-enable the special weapon, but if I deselect it, it's gone for good. When you get hit, there were two aspects I was observing here: knockback, and grace time after getting hit. I would say increase the grace time, but since you can quickly regain control of your character after getting hit, it seemed to balance out well.

I like the sound test you have, but it's more of a BGM test; inlcude all the sound effects in the game, too. (:
Your music sounds good, too. However, it seems like songs 5 through 8 are much louder than the other songs, don't know if that was intentional or not.

Glitches:
Here is where I've encountered the most problems.

1) At the start of the first level, I can fall off the ledge on the left side and die. If I simply try to move over there, the game keeps me from falling off. Butm once I scroll the screen to the right, then come back, I can fall off. It only happened in BL1-1 and BL1-2. It did not seem to come back in BL2-1.

2) In level BL1-1, when I'm in the water, if I run the to the right, then run to the left and jump, while continuining to move left, I get this message:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at Objects::CCounter/setChildIndex()
at Sprites::CRSpr/handle()
at Objects::CCounter/handle()
at RunLoop::CRun/f_GameLoop()
at RunLoop::CRun/doRunLoop()
at Application::CRunApp/loopFrame()
at Application::CRunApp/playApplication(
)
at Application::CRunApp/stepApplication(
)

Other actions with my character in the water seem to also throw this exception.

3). When my game was over, I got this message:
TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at Extensions::CRunNewgroundsGlobalData/
onScorePosted()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEvent()
at com.newgrounds::API$/dispatchEvent()
at com.newgrounds::API$/callListener()
at com.newgrounds::API$/doEvent()
at com.newgrounds::API$/onCommandComplet e()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatc hEvent()
at com.newgrounds::SmartURLLoader/onComp lete()

This same error returns at the start of BL2-1. Here, a;; I have to do is run to the right a little bit, then run back to the left. The exception can then be thrown.

4). When I completel beat the boss of level one, I got this error message repeatedly:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at Actions::CActExtension/getParamExpStr ing()
at Extensions::CRunNewgrounds/action()
at Objects::CExtension/action()
at Actions::CActExtension/execute()
at Events::CEventProgram/call_Actions()
at Events::CEventProgram/computeEventLis t()
at RunLoop::CRun/f_GameLoop()
at RunLoop::CRun/doRunLoop()
at Application::CRunApp/loopFrame()
at Application::CRunApp/playApplication(
)
at Application::CRunApp/stepApplication(
)

It eventually stopped, and the points tallying continued.

Overall, nice game. I hope you attact a nice crows with it. Good luck.

_________________________
- Ziro out.

SinclairStrange responds:

Thanks for the review! With the bugs that give the messages, can you tell me what browser/flash version you're using because I and some of my friends can't re-create the bugs at all using chrome or firefox. (Send a message or somethings (= )

With regards to the other bugs (sound/falling off) I'll get onto fixing them. Thanks again for the good review! ^^

[Amber Helix]

Hey.

Gameplay and design:
- Interesting game, even though I'm not into bullet-hell and flooding the screen with enemies. In the game, it seems that my shield regenerates when I am not firing, although in the author comments, it states that my shield regenerates when I fire (unless I am missing something here). Which brings me to my next point - assuming the former is true, you don't get much opportunity to recharge them, because you're constantly firing at the hordes of enemies coming at you.

- The ability to direct the speed and direction of your shots is nice, but I wish you could toggle that. Sometimes, I find it difficult to lead my target.

- Grinding: The levels are too long, and include too much of the same thing, and it seems like you're trying to increase the length of gameplay with the upgrade system, It does take a while to be able to upgrade your ship to a decent level.

- Explosions: The bland white leaves them a bit lacking. There is definitely room for improvement here. With crisp, clean graphics like these, consider adding more fiery explosions and a particle system.

- Is there any way to see the menu (controls, etc.) without having to kill yourself? (:

- You should not be allowed to move behind the HUD at the bottom of the screen. It's too easy to lose track of your ship (and other enemies there, especially proximity mines, because you're thinking they have already moved off screen).

- Not a dram llama, so I'm glad we're allowed to skip the dialog. (:

- When you're looking to purchase upgrades, I noticed the values used on some of them. For example, "Increase armour by 5". Ok, what is "5"? Does it show our stats somewhere? Is 5 good or bad? the same with percentages: I don't see my current stats anywhere to be able to determine if I'm getting my "money's worth" out of them. (Although I suppose, eventually, one would buy all the upgrades, but in the beginning of games with purchasable upgrades, sometimes, some earlier upgrades are better than others).

Controls:
- The controls are solid. I like using the keyboard much better than using the mouse, as I have more control over how my ship moves.

Graphics:
- As I mentioned, the game's pixel graphics are nice, clean and crisp. Just need polishing up.
- The player's ship looks a bit dull. Perhaps that's because it doesn't have any or few upgrades on it. (: Although, having a dull-looking ship from the beginning may turn some players off. This is the thing they;re going to be looking at the most, so it should be appealing to them, regardless.
- I like the font used. Looks like a direct throwback to the NES / SNES days.

Audio:
- Sounds used are pretty solid. I also like how you included more than one sound for many different events, so that it doesn't get monotonous.

- Normally, I'd say that the music used doesn't fit for a space shooter, but this game seems to have a bit more of a casual aspect to it (other than the hordes and bullet hell (: ), that it seems appropriate.

Good skill on your game.
* salutes *

______________________
- Ziro out.

AmberHelix responds:

Thank you for the review. =)

About when the shield regenerates: It seems I dropped a word there. It's supposed to say that the shield only regenerates when you don't fire.

EDIT: And about your other points and what PoesRaven brought up below: I think I will be making an update soon which will address some of them. I do really appreciate your thoughts.