Zir0's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[Astroid Adventure]

Hey.

Nice game, but I encountered a bug.
When I die, I get this run-time error message repeatedly:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at Asstroidadventure_fla::MainTimeline/hank()

Using Windows 7,
Flash Player 12.0.0.70 (debug version), and
Google Chrome Version 34.0.1847.116 m

Thanks.

______________
- Ziro out.

[Neon Runner]

Hey.

- At the start of the level consider adding a static platform. Basically, this is a platform that's always in the same place. And the player starts off right on top of it. There have been times, when I start a new game, and my player entity would fall right off the screen.

- I would recommend making the player auto-fire when the mouse is held down.

- There are some issues with the game. If too many of the enemies are on the screen, it begins to lag. With the slowdown, the platforms start disappearing before the've moved off the left side of the screen. The lag only seems to happen in rare cases. I can send you a screen shot if you want.

- Is there an item the restores health?

- At first I was going to mention adding some sounds, until I collapsed the flash window and reopened. I was then able to hear some music (yay!). However, I soon received this run-time exception:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at rn::Bullet/CheckShooted()

Sometimes, I get that exception even if I can't hear any sounds.

Henceforth, each time after closing and opening the Flash window (I've even tried reloading the browser page altogether), I was no longer able to hear any sound.

I am using Google Chrome 28.0, and Flash Debug Player 11.

So, I switched to Firefox 22.0 and Flash Debug Player 11. Still no sounds, but the view layers appear misplaced. Also, there is some white space along the right and bottom edges of the Flash window. Again, if you want a screen shot, please let me know. I'll PM you.

Interesting game. Keep working on it. (:

________________________
- Ziro out.

[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.

[Destino Reescrito]

Hey.

This could be a very good game, but it needs lots of polish.

====================
Game Design:
====================
- Please include some audio (good music tracks and sound effects).
- Include variable length jumping.
- When you die, don't just instantly restart the game. Include some sort of pause and/or transition there.
- Shortly after passing the beams, there is this section where you have to jump down. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do there. Basically, when you have is a "leap of faith", when the player is not sure where to go next, so they'll just jump and hope for the best. Include some indication that the player is actually supposed to go down.
- When you pause the game, make the word "PAUSE" stand out more, and change it from the generic serif to something that is consistent with the theme of your game.
- If there are power ups for the player, then I must have missed them. If not,please add some.
Please consider adding a scoring system. Players love getting points. (:

====================
Engine and Mechanics:
====================
- The animations of the characters are jagged. This is especially true on the player character's walking animation,
- When the enemy soldier fires, the shot comes from the middle of his body instead of his actual firearm.

====================
Media
====================
- Graphics need some work. For example, the "streaks" on the player character's pants were
poorly done.
- There is no consistency among the graphics. The title screen is different than the in-game environment, which is different than the characters.
- The red pools (lava?) are just solid red blocks. Please make that more detailed. Same deal with the laser beams.

====================
Conclusion
====================
Based off what I've seen, I'm going to take a guess and say that you're not an artist, and you tried doing it yourself. (: Please collaborate with an artist. If you don't want to do that, of if you are an artist, then please practice your art skills (drawing, illustration, and animation). Otherwise, please find free art, or purchase pre-made art.

On the plus side, it does look like a good start, and other than the issues mentioned above, the engine seems to be fairy solid. The player's character was also easy to control. However, this seems more like work-in-progress than a finished game.

Good skill polishing this game up. (:

___________________________
- Ziro out.

[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.