GnomeZome's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bigger Than Me [DEMO]]

I really like the concept your going for so far, and the design is very apt too.
The lanky "adventure time"-ish style certainly fits the style of a stressed out young person, and the animation was simple but conveyed everything it needed to.
I felt the navigation puzzles where nicely intuitive and just really asked me to carefully look around and think, and it felt good when I got there.
Also on the point and click, I really appreciated the contextual tidbits about the characters past when you interacted with them, it felt quite diegetic.
The delivery game challenge was a little stressful, but I felt that suited the tone very nicely, and the mechanics where handled well, not too much button mashing, and the prompts where reasonably clear but still had a challenging increase in skill.
I did have take M8 occur 3 times in a row, which is a little immersion breaking, but I think quite fixable.
The last set of comments I have is that I think you used music and sound design quite well in this to give the emotions the weight you wanted to express them with, because I think without them it might have been harder to relate, but with them I felt a close understanding.
Finally, I enjoyed the nice simple riff of Space Oddity, well done on that.
Thank you for making this.

DeadPixelTales responds:

Thank you for taking the time to play our game and tell us your opinion!! We are so happy you liked it. We'll fix that little immersion-breaking possibility in the minigame for next versions. See you on full game release! :)

[A Cannoneer's Curse]

Hey Thoof, nice work!
I had seen the post on itch.io and was gonna leave my comments there, but it is always nice to see you on NGs.
I think you did some really interesting things in such a limited pallete, or compacted design space.
It reminded me of my days dragging around the huge grey brick that was my og game boy in a way that filled me with alot of fondness.
I thought it was pretty clever how you used the cannon as not only as the players main form of defense and offensive action, but also as limiting factor by making it unwieldy.
It reminded me slightly of bio shock infinite's take on an escort mission game, where the escort is also a huge asset.
Also back to comparison to game boy, the limited frame made every thing a lot more tense as manipulating the unwieldy cannon was hard enough with out a fog of war limited perception aspect.
It might be pushing too far of a comparison, but as you probably know silent hill's famous smog was a solution to the limited render distance of the hardware, so it makes sense that for a lowrez game you limited player perception to make things more tense.
also your pixel art has been coming along nicely, i highly recommend checking out this great game called Crawl by for references for dramatic pixelated gore.
trailer;
https://youtu.be/2xOib7VKhYY
I liked your choice to have the proximity arrows, especially for the cannon as it allowed moments of panicked running to be non fatal due to lost cannon.
I did have the cannon get semi stuck once of twice, but taking the gunning position was a simple way to get the angles to work.
The problem being you can only gunner position with something other than your self in the cannon so I had to kite a zombie from the east to west at one point to unlodge my cannon.
I appreciate the progression of challenge with the difference in enemy types, and it was clever to use a stationary beater enemy to make a swarm scenario on the east side harder to handle, and kept the following zombie types more dynamic for a bit.
I also like the little touches like the swaying trees, and pink shells, but I do wish I could load more thing in the cannon, like if I shot my self into a coconut tree and it dropped coconuts which stunned the enemies or if the various crates had random different effects if loaded like slowing the foes with ropes, exploding from black powder (friendly fire possible), or just created a dust cloud the enemy would walk around/ not aggro through.
In any case I had a great time playing your game as always.
Thank you for making this.

Thoof responds:

Thanks for playing as always Putney :)
I like the suggestions, I certainly was planning on adding more types of projectiles to the game but ran out of time for the jam.
I've seen crawl before, definitely a good reference for that stuff but I didn't want to make this game too overly bloody.

[Dont Miander]

Hmmm nice work.
I think you nailed a consistent visual tone of "spooky mansion", and kept with in a consistent color pallet.
I do feel the jumps are a little too high, like there is no visual narritve cue that makes the high jump feel natural, but a single screen of exposition explaining some kind of ability or training would help.
Also the jumps are too forgiving at times, like the first long hall puzzle where you can hop back up mid track is kind, but if your going to test player's skill, commit to making the struggle real.
I liked the mid aid jump if you fall off a platform, and I honestly think that make for a very interesting mechanic in the right setting.
I know this is from a jam but the lack sound or music was a detractor, so I recommend checking out this music resource:
https://www.newgrounds.com/wiki/creator-resources/music-and-audio-resources/royalty-free-music
Overall, I like the design, the name is clever, and I hope to see more from you.
Thank you for making this.
Edit:Follow up PMed

flop21 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I need to do more thinking on the high jump issue but id like to ask if you quit after reaching the end once or continued when the main menu became glitchy. I ask this because the game is very forgiving in the first run but becomes VERY difficult in the last of three runs.

[The Flower Arrangement]

I liked this a lot, more than I would have suspected.
It's simple but I think you nailed down the narrative and visual pacing quite well.
Those are also complimented by how intuitive the save and reload features are.
I think it's particularly clever to put extra effort into rendering the detail of the big moments, and leaving transitional moments less detailed because it literally highlight parts of the story, but it is similar to how many people recount memories in that some moments are given the most detail in a story of an entire day in their retelling.
The music is also clever and haunting, so a "nicely done" to the BF.
Thank you for making this.

waffrus responds:

I'm glad you were pleasantly surprised by my little story. It's great to hear that my scenery was conveyed successfully. I went through quite a bit of storyboarding and re-storyboarding while making this. The BF was also pleased to know that you enjoyed the music! Thank you for playing and for your thoughtful review!

[Factions]

A very meeple kinda fun.
I would not recommend using a track mouse for this game, to save any one else the trouble.
That said, it's very fun, and the squeaky little warriors are nicely reminiscent of Wurms.
I had a thought that it would be interesting to make each color faction have it's own tone, and I actually figured out that if you made their tone faster or slower based on the light wave length of their color then you could tell who is fighting who and such.
Also since your considering developing this further, and it great so I encourage you to do so, keep in mind that color based mechanics are a little tough for people who suffer various forms of color blindness.
Thank you for making this.

Frenchie14 responds:

I hadn't thought about giving the different factions their own sounds - that's a great idea! Not sure how to deal with colorblindness; I'll have to do some research!

[Can You Save the World ?]

This is interesting.
I really like the very practical execution of story through mechanics, but I somewhat feel that none of the NPC are actually practicing the practical advice themselves it almost makes a burdensome experience.
I think the simple but art style was useful for making the argument more palatable, and I think you where relatively close to the right level of detail for getting the information out effectively.
I like games being used in this way, and despite my criticism, I am grateful you took the time.
Thank you for making this.

MartinJacob responds:

Thank you for your feedback !

[[BTNverse] There was something here]

And I wanted was to make an apple pie.
It's certainly an interesting take on heat death, but admittedly leaves a apptopriately empty.
I was going to comment on what I thought to a glitch of infinite production, but as you already responded this was intention, it really smooth cements a sense of futility.
With all that said, I did enjoy it.
Thank you for making this.

adriendittrick responds:

thanks for leaving a nice review :)

[Duke Nukem 3D Female Enforcer Stripper]

A rather "Dead Dove: Do not eat." moment for me here.
You had a goal, and achieved it, and I think that's something to be proud of.
Thanks for making this.

pikotime responds:

I didn't know that 'Dead Dove' expression. My art used to be fan service or total wtf.

[Decryption: A Free Online MMO]

I liked how nebulous this was.
It's a sad story, reminiscent in tone.
There are a lot of very simple relationships we have these days, that drift away over time, but are shockingly relevant in the moment.
This a very bitter sweet, and deliberately paced experience.
Thank you for making this.

ninjamuffin99 responds:

ay i gotchu cheif

[SHEEPS]

Nicely Done.
This was honestly a challenging experience for me, but in no way due you excellent and intuitive design.
The variety of Sheeps types and Enemy units was solid, and the level designs also lead to fun variance in play.
The only thing I can really think to add is when a sheep is held maybe adding a AOE type high light so you can be sure the player avatar is properly aligned to block incoming attack.
Thank you for making this.

PurpleClam responds:

Thank you so much for your constructive review!
Interesting idea I'll make sure to look into it if I post an update or a similar project. thanks