Rarykos's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[very long dog]

I didn't really understand how fire hyudrants work :(
A tutorial level for them would be great!

cccmccc responds:

thanks for playing! Fire hydrants are just an obstacle, like the cats XD I'll try to make things that a bit clearer in the future though, thank you for your response!

[ISHI]

Haha nice story and an intriguing game! I was expecting a simpler one, but wow!
Good job, it was fun! :D
And I'll steal your twine technology for my twine games :D

maruki responds:

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Oh, and please do! If you want any piece of code to include something I used on your games, just PM me!

[TAMUTU]

Haha the story got me!
I was expecting a simple game. But it was more polished and thought out than most LD games.
And then with the twist, oh man, good job!

dietzribi responds:

Glad you liked it! Thanks a lot!

[Running out of Power Inc.]

Good one Wombat!
I'm glad you're learning and expanding, not just sticking to tiny little mechanical timewasters.
There will always be people angry at you because you've made a thing "not specifically for them".
There are still people who think dark chocolate is terrible and nobody should like it because they don't like it. Incredible, childish and sad but that's what we have to deal with in the entertainment world. Managing people's expectations. What's the promise you're making to the players in the first 2 minutes of the game?

The game is fine, maybe a bit too hard sometimes, but it's a solid okay game. The main reason I like it as much as I do is because I've followed you on this journey, and it's impressive to see your progress. Good job :D

StuffedWombat responds:

oh thank you :)

I am not angry or sad bc people dont like what i do.
I very seldomly like it myself all that much :)

The thing about the pomise in the beginning is a very good tought!

[Pivot Pilot DEMO]

I like almost everything here :D I wish the puzzles were a bit more interesting but they're okay!

The basic problem is controls. And for me it's an okay game so far, but the controls make it feel like a failed jam experiment :(
As someone who works as a game designer:
1 - write the keys on the robot arms! Every time I want to do ANYTHING I struggle to remember what does what. Because the focus of the puzzle lies in understanding WHERE and HOW you should move your arms, and NOT in struggling to move them. More radical solution - switch between the current active arm/boy.
2 - there is nothing more frustrating than a skill check after a puzzle. At its core the game here is just sokoban - what pieces, when and where do I move them. By adding a skill element you're making me pass a skill check every time I want to move a piece. Not fun. And then every time I fail a skill check the whole puzzle resets. Not fun. One possible solution (because changing jumping will annoy your current fans) - reset only the piece that died. If orb dies - reset arms. If boy dies - reset boy. This way you have even more room for interesting puzzles.
3 - level design. I gave up playing on level 3. Because when I opened the barrier I realized I had to pass a skill check in operating the robot arms. I know exactly the solution to the puzzle. I know how to arrive at the solution. But the actual moving of the pieces in a tight corridor is so difficult it's frustrating and not fun. I'd focus more on the "what's the solution" and "how do I get there, what do I have to do and in what order". Every time I died I had to move the boy to the button AGAIN and AGAIN. I'd much rather ONLY move the orb to the end goal. I'd much rather do the challenge again, instead of the setup. Because I win at the setup every time and it gets boring, but I fail the challenge every time!
4- win screen. I'd add a super bombastic win screen when the player finally completes the level. Make him feel good about this.

I'd suggest to take a look at snakebird , thomas was alone, 1001 spikes and mushroom 11. Analyze why the feelings in Pivot Pilot are off. I'm buying Pivot Pilot right now, but please make an update where you address these issues, just so the game is more suitable for more people. I understand what you're going for. The thing is that the current balance between puzzle and skill makes the game way too frustrating for too many people. Fixing these issues doesn't take away from the enjoyment that current fans get, but allows more people to have fun!

I'd love to see more interesting content from you on twitter. I got my eye on you!

sleakku responds:

Thank you for the very helpful feedback! I will check into these issues.

[The Sword and the Fox]

Quick fix for your problem and the reason people are hating this- if it's a bug with simulatenously displaying text and playing sounds like you wrote, then disable that sound. Nothing to think about and maybe your vision for this game will suffer but at least people will be able to play the game.

Even normal text should be 30% faster.

It's really good, but please fix it quickly!

megadrivesonic responds:

I have been working at fixing this issue with the text being slow. an update should be live soon to fix this.

[Agree to Agree]

This is a Political Choose Your Own Adventure. Do you want to be insulted by an asshole liberal or by an asshole conservative? Validate your political views and make the other side look stupid TODAY!

I understand the message you were trying to convey. You did the opposite. Everyone's experience playing this game - "I was just saying my opinions mildly and this crazy ____ got triggered. The OTHER SIDE really is crazy, they need to sort their issues."
Games like these don't make the situation better, don't make people kinder and don't change people's minds. They only validate views. Beliefs are cemented.

Same fault with "We Become What We Behold". Everyone sees it as an accurate representation of the evil OTHER SIDE. Both sides agree the OTHER SIDE is evil so the game gets popular. You can already see a review below where an impressionable child feels like this speaks to him - "oh this is definitely about liberals".

I used to like these games when I was a teen, but you make the polarization in society worse with a game like this.

JackAstral responds:

it's just saying that no matter what your opinion is, people are going to get mad at you. no matter how reasonable it is - you can't win. both sides have gone crazy and toxic

[Rearmed Trials]

Wow that's nice!
You've always made these polished black&white brawlers and they looked beautiful but had steering problems, there was always something off about them. But that's not the case here! Controls are fine and when I noticed I could hit stones to kill enemies I was amazed! Good job :D