Markface's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Meet The Dev]

Clever concept for a game, refreshingly unique. This reminded me a bit of The Stanley Parable. The game was funny, offered good replay value and genuinely spiked my curiosity throughout.

The only thing that bothered me was that it was quite short, and in the grand scheme of things didn't offer a great deal of variation in paths you could take. I feel this could have been a seriously stunning game had it been a bit more expanse in terms of what you could do. A game like The Stanley Parable worked so well because you had the freedom for exploration, or to challenge the game you were in, and within this you were limited to only a few choices. The game would have worked better if you had pre-empted what people were going to do a bit more.

Minor grammar and spelling mistakes become far more noticeable and distracting from the immersion of the game since it's solely text based.

All in all though, cracking and original idea. I can see this is only your second game and the fact that you've managed to come up with something so entertaining and unique means I'm looking forward to what you'll put out in the future. Following you now, keep it up.

Namlich responds:

Thank you for such expansive feedback. It really means a lot to me. Im glad you enjoyed the core concept of the game and my writing.

I woke up 3 days ago and this idea just popped into my head, and i've been working on it since. I got so much in doubt of the idea though. I feared that it was just too weird, and generally boring. So i decided to uploaded it, and hopefully get some honest feedback. Though, as i mentioned in the game, my mom said it was good ;) But getting more unbiased feedback is to prefer after all.

This review in particular has me considering if i should take it down, work a bit more on it and hopefully make the best out of it. Including getting some help with the grammar part, as english is not my main language unfortunately.

Getting compared to The Stanley Parable is amazing. That game is great! I will definitely work a bit more on freedom of exploration, and make your choices have an impact on the story!

Thank you for your feedback!

[Future PONG N.W.O]

I tried to treat this kindly because you said it was your first game, but it really needs some work. Obviously there's very little practicality to this unless you have another person with you, so I'd recommend building in an AI opponent. If you had done that I would have scored you much higher.

Sound effects are a bit harsh on the ears. Considering they happen so often perhaps try something softer next time. Can't really judge the visuals as it's just a simple pong game made of a few pixels.

Best of luck in the future.

TheGamingNoob20 responds:

Thanks alot for your response I'll try to fix the things you said (thanks for your advice).

[Mario and Lucario Early Demo]

Not a bad game start, definitely with areas to improve but I guess it's a demo.

The game as a whole just didn't feel that polished. There were a lot of little things missing and they definitely added up while I was playing. No noticeable visual or sound effects when I stomped Goombas or Koopas, no death sounds, things like that. It just made the game feel like it wasn't acknowledging me as a player.

The actual movement of the game seems a bit choppy. Quite frustrating losing your speed once you land from a running jump. Music choice was good, even if you didn't compose it, made the game feel comfy in a way.

If you develop this into a game, try designing your own characters. The game looks promising if you can polish it off a bit and it'd be a pain if you lost credit towards your work because you used pre-designed characters.

Keep it up.

2Mickennxtre68 responds:

Thank you.

[Formula Z]

Love this. Love the old school vibe about it, the birds eye view and insane racing.

UltimoGames responds:

thanks!

[Trio TicTacToe]

Fun idea, though not an original game (even with the trio rule, it's been done). AI is challenging but there's the annoyance that you're trying to get people to download it and therefore withholding the tougher settings. May have given it a go on the iPhone had you given me the chance to play the full game.

Simple graphics, would have been more interesting with online play to allow longevity.

id8games responds:

Thanks Markface, I'm hoping to implement online play in the next update. This has proven the hard part to implement.

[Swarm: Survival]

Simple

You've taken a seemingly simple design and added a few features to it. While a lot of other game makers could of been lazy and just left it to a simple point and click, you've gone a step further to make it less repetitive, good job.

I like the track of score, really builds up a level of competitiveness in the game, even if it's just against myself. I enjoy the implementation of health, a lot of games like this are very harsh in the sense that it's one hit one kill, you've gone out of your way to give us a chance to fight of the swarm, and closer enemies.

The visuals are very, very simple. But with a game like this they don't need to be so special. Maybe a background to play on would be nice? But I understand a blank background would mean players wouldn't get distracted as often.

It's a fun way to kill time, the only real downside to this I could see would be the constant barrage of advertisements. Other than that, good work.

benolds responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I really do appreciate it.

And I just took out the extra ads from when ever you lose :)

[Sydney Shark]

Painfully accurate.

This is pretty much what happened last time I was in Sydney.

Wiesi responds:

lol

[Maths Challenge]

Horribly laid out.

This game in a visual concept is very dull. White background, circular buttons, plain black text. There's nothing interesting about this game from glance... and it is important to have a visually expansive game if it's just a point'n'click.

Now, the math. VERY basic, but I fear you're trying too hard to make it look complicated. Instead of using key substations, try and write it out in page. The equations were simple, but deciphering all the jumble that is the keyboard substitutes was more time consuming.

Games like this also are best for taxing ones time in solving said problems. A timer and point allocation would go well, rewarding points for quicker answers.

The music was distracting and wasn't needed. Don't play a generic techno song that's heavy on beat, play something simple, allowing the user to concentrate more on the math.

Difficulty setting wouldn't go a miss either. I'd at least like to try something more difficult next time.

Good luck in the future.

Clever-Man responds:

Your comments were right and I did lots of mistakes. However this was my first try, you don't have to judge so rough.