glider521al's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Laser Stryker]

Retro game + amazing modern day polish

GRAPHICS AND INTERFACE.
You've taken the concept for a retro game, and made full use of modern hardware capabilities to add in amazing sounds, graphics and particle effects.
Everything from the menus, to the design of the ships and dreaded magnetic mines fit in well with the space theme.

As mentioned by other reviewers the explosions and missles are just spectacular, Please tell me where you learnt to do that...
:)

GLITCHES (only found one):

-You programmed this incredibly well, but I did find one glitch:
If the player can't submit the score (e.g. due to a temporary internet connection), the server just gives up and refuses to allow them to try again.
I.e. (The yes button doesn't work) even after the connection is restored later.

[GAMEPLAY]:

The gameplay was generally well balanced, with upgrades being gradually introduced to reward the progressing player, and a cool variety of enemy
A.I. to match.
It was quite challenging to maintain a balance between spending power on shields and missiles, all whilst fending off waves of alien attacks:
Making for an awesome frag fest where split second reflexes determined whether you lived or died.

Having said all that, it would be nice if some of your energy regenerated after they died. Thus rewarding, rather than punishing players who take risks such as firing the super missle, rather than leaving them vulnerable to attack.

One thing that really Annoyed me (like salt rubbed into a plasma wound):
was that the extra lives exploded if you shoot them.
I would often lose two lives (particularly on the later grids), because I was trying to shoot a chirper, or blast my way through a swarm of enemies, when a life appears out of nowhere, in the same lane I happen to be in.

[SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW FEATURES]:
I know that after 2 years, you'll have probably moved onto bigger projects/busy with other work, but please consider the following list, if you ever make a sequel/expansion to your game.

1. No exploding extra lives (see [Gameplay])
2. A fraction of your power regenerates once the player respawns to reimburse players who take risks, such as utilizing super missles.
3. Fix score board glitch (see above).
4. Practice Mode for each grid, that the player has completed, so players can experiment with different tactics, without having to play through from the start

[SUMMING UP]
Depite the incredibly high level of challenge on the later grids I just kept coming back for more.
I reached Grid 20, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the game
(Though I ended up banging my head against the monitor when I failed to defeat the final of 5 guardians in that level, dieing just before a chirper appeared onscreen).

Visual effects, particles, polished pixel art: 10/10
Storyline: 6/10
Appropriate sound and music: 9/10
Gameplay, level design and replay value: 27/30
Overall score: 52/60

RATED: 5/5
Voting Power:5.13
[Favourited]

From a member of the:

[Review Request Club]

Zir0 responds:

Hey.

Wow, didn't expect to get any more reviews on this game, let alone especially nice detailed ones. Thanks! (:

Regarding the particles and explosions: They're powered by a particle system I wrote myself, and made the sprites used for the particles as well (using Paint.NET). I got the inspiration from a company called wondertouch (http://www.wondertouch.com/), who has some AMAZING particle effects. Man, I saw some of their stuff, and I was all, "DAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNG". O_O

If you'd would like to see a demo of some more particles I made, please let me know. (:

Regarding thanks glitch: Thanks for the report. Obviously didn't catch them all. Thanks for noticing that.

Regarding the gameplay:
- The exploding of extra lives was a design from the original Beamrider game, and I wanted to preserve that. You can look on YouTube of people recording their sessions of playing the original BR games, and you'll see them shooting their lives, and some comments telling them not to shoot those. :)

- Actually, some of your power already regenerates when your next ship spawns after dying.

- Practice mode sounds interesting, perhaps somehow integrating that into the tutorial.

Yeah, I've moved on to freelancing, and haven't had much time to add to this. I'd like to get back to it one day, though.

Glad to hear you made it to the end of the game. I have a question for you (please PM when you get a chance if you read this). You're a member of the Review Request Club, which is awesome. How did you find this game? I'm just curious.

Thanks again for the elaborate game review, soldier.

* salutes *

_______________________
- Ziro out,

[Grape galaxy japanese]

Getting better...

I played your original "Grape Galaxy" game, and this newer version is definitely an improvement to the overall gameplay:

Instead of having more and more enemies crowd up the screen, you added in boss fights, and transitioned the background each time the player reached a new area in the level.
The game also pauses quite nicely when the screen loses focus.

Having said all this, the game still needs work in several areas:
1. It would be awesome if the city background scrolled with the player parallax style. It was a bit odd for the backdrop to fade to a woman's face.

2. More enemies: The two main enemy types still have the same A.I.:
Move straight and shoot or move to the players y coordinate (whilst spinning) and shoot.
3. All projectiles have the same trajectory (straight).
(Maybe add in homing missles or magnetic mines....)
4. The boss battles are a little too predicatable, as they always use the same attack at regular intervals.
5. I see you have a cash system. While it's mainly for scoring, it would be cool if I could spend some of it on ship upgrades.

Rated: 3/5
Keep up the good work

I hope I've given you some helpful advice.
From a member of the:

[review request club]
(I suggest posting there to get more feedback)

P.s. I love the artwork, please tell me where you learnt how to draw like that.
I'd like to learn how to incorporate some decent isometric art into my own projects...

[Ultimate Gun Rage]

Not bad, but needs work

Quite good considering this is your first game. However...

1. The gameplay is a little repetitive. Although you have a variety of enemies,
the only form of A.I. I saw was: step towards the player and attack by touching him.
Perhaps make the playing field a little larger and have enemies that shoot at the player.

2. The armoury:
I like the idea of being able to purchase/upgrade weapons at the end of each level.
However as ammo needs to be replenished, it would be nice if you gave some indication of how much of it the player had in his inventory

3. The controls:
The character freezes when you try and make him walk diagonally.
I know a work around to this issue (as someone who's also made a top down shooter before).

If you're using Actionscript 3.0 here's a simplified version (I hope you can see it properly):
[code]
//First create an array corresponding to which keys are down
//E.g. the keycode for enter is 13
//If keyDownArray[13]==true
//it tells the program that the enter key is down.
var keyDownArray:Array=new Array(300);
//Every time a key is pressed
function checkKeysDown(event:KeyboardEvent):vo id{
//Set the corresponding array element to true
keyDownArray[event.keyCode] = true;
}
//Every time the key is released
function checkKeysUp(event:KeyboardEvent):void {
//Set the corresponding array element to false
keyDownArray[event.keyCode] = false;
}
//Add in the event listeners
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.
KEY_DOWN, checkKeysDown);
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.
KEY_UP, checkKeysUp);
[/code]

For example to check the up and right key are pressed at the same time
[code]
if(keyDownArray[38]==true && keyDownArray[39]==true)
{
//Move Player North East
}
[/code]

I hope I've given you some helpful advice.
Good luck! from a member of the:

[review request club]
(I suggest posting there to get more feedback for your games)

[Hole Quasar Battle]

Nice work, but gameplay could be better

The graphics, interface, animation and music were all beautifully made.

However the gameplay could do with a fair bit of work:
1 .Hit Detection was problematic at close range when it came to bullets and alien soldiers (missing them more than half the time when they were only one block away).
2. Having more than one type of turret would have made things much more interesting (e.g. snipers which can hit any target, stun grenade launchers etc.).

3. Increased Difficulty:
My overall tactic was just to spam turrets evenly throughout the map, and it seemed to work every time (I reached level 4 before losing interest).
Perhaps make faster/stronger variations of enemies, with the option of barricades to balance things out.
4. More upgrades: The only upgrade I found available was repair (correct me if I'm wrong).

Anyway, keep up the good work:
Voted: 4
voting power: 4.84

[Review Request Club]

[SpaceMadness]

Well polished, but checkpoints would be nice

Stylized graphics: 10/10
Storyline: 10/10
Appropriate sound and music: 10/10
Gameplay, level design: 20/30
Overall score: 50/60

The eerie yet often calming soundtrack and the awesome visuals gave me the feeling of being in an abandoned space station.
The physics are certainly good, as was the story line and concept.
I'm glad that the ship has its own automatic breaks on Normal difficulty, else I'd be dieing three times as much. :)

The only thing I found irritating is that if you died you had to go all the way back to the start of the level, and replaying the same section over and over again wasn't always fun.
Checkpoints/health at the start would have been nice (but that's just my personal prefference).
I'm stuck on level 7 so I'm not sure if you added these later on.

Anyway, overall great job!

[Exit Path]

A well polished platformer.

Stylized graphics: 10/10
Storyline: 10/10
Appropriate sound and music: 9/10
Neat story: 10/10
Gameplay, level design and replay value: 23/30
Overall score: 52/60

I love the story line: of a lonely individual trying to escape a life of oppression and deception; braving rather gruesome fates to get his/her freedom.
This game reminds me of Portal with its witty dark death pan humour, and those intricate false promises by "The Government" of a slice of the cake of freedom.
The dark background, illuminated only by lime lights, gives the impression of a high security prison (with deadly automated defences instead of guards).

The gameplay is challenging with plenty of cool deadly mechanisms such as giant pendulum axes and lasers, but never frustrating, as checkpoints are placed at regular intervals.
The controls were responsive, and the character physics well done.

My only gripe with this game, is that its a bit short, and the replay value somewhat limited.

Overall I enjoyed your game:
Rated 5/5
Voting power 4.55 votes

[Armor Mayhem]

Really Awesome

Fitting stylized graphics: 9/10
Appropriate sound and music: 9/10
Neat story: 8/10
Gameplay, level design and replay value: 28/30
Final score: 55/60

This game is really well polished and addicitve. The game just keeps getting better as you progress with unlockable maps, armour cosmetics and weapons to match.

The A.I. is brilliant: the pathfinding algorithms kept the characters moving through all key parts of the map (rarely landing them in acid or worse fates), and The targeting system was rather accurate.

The level editor is a wonderful idea to allow people to further customize their experience, and will keep people coming back for more.

You have set a high standard for the platformer combat games to come!

[Get the Cake]

Not bad but lacks replay appeal

The story line is humourous and the interface and gameplay was intuitive and simple.

However the game in its current form lacks replay appeal:
The gameplay gets a little repetitive after a while, with only one kind of enemy, that predictably bounces back and forth, and the goal (i.e. the cake of awesomeness) always too readily obtainable.

Maybe turn this into the game, where the cake is at the far end of a dinning room table, and the character needs to run through a gauntlet of various obstacles and enemies to reach it.

Overall the game made a nice enjoyable way to burn a few minutes.

I wish you luck on future game endeavours. :)

[Bluescale Escape Kitchen]

Nice point and click puzzler

Once a puzzle is completed in this game, it's challenging enough to give oneself a nice sense of accomplishment. The music and graphics are quire fitting giving the feeling of being entraped.

However as a previous reviewer mentioned, The objects you can interact with, don't always react when you click on them.

I've found 3 marbles, 2 keys (the ice one I've retained), a screwdriver and a hammer. I have no idea how to progress further:

In particular, I really don't get the phone puzzle: I've tried "AGCD" and "DCGA" and even even "651, "0651" and "1851" from the clock. Either none of them work, or dialing is broken (which is possible as I haven't been given any indication of "Number does not exist" and the like). :(

Anyway nice game, I hope you release the walkthrough soon.