GnomeZome's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Gunhook.io Online]

Super fun!
Very twitchy, and fun to grapple round the map.
Grenades a little short, and being able to set a set gun to be equipped with each spawn would be nice.
I almost wonder about a PVE attack on titan giant boss style game where everybody collaborates.
All in all good stuff, and I am looking foward to more.
Thank you for making this.

keybol responds:

Thank you! You can charge the gun's distance by holding left click. Haha yes I watched Attack on Titans and even had the opening theme playing while developing this. You're welcome! Stay tuned for more updates!

[COVID DANGER :20020]

A bit rough.
I would suggest working on the sound design and slowing the hair trigger movement.
The movement might make more sense on a touch screen, so if that's your target market that scans.
Multiple lives might make the experince feel a bit less fragile, and possibly more experssive or threating enemies would really tie it together.
Keep working, and thank you for making this.

FS2020 responds:

Thank you, this advice is much appreciated and being taken into consideration.
thanks yes I'm new to development and plan on releasing more games
yes it is exactly a watered down clone of a space invader clone. LOL
( belive it or not, t'was my first ever program or app to ever be completed .) I know a 6th grader could do it.
My inspiration to begin compiling sourcecode and developing this type of game are advanced arcade shooters like Shikhondo: Soul Eater, and arcade games like stepmaniax and DDRV

this prototype/gamedemo to use of Smartphones and Web browser, and hopefully smart TV as a promotional digital game until I'm able to release another better , full and complete experience.


the fate of the projects are unknown but thank you so much for the contribution;
im also planning on developing 3D games for smart TV, but im just starting out and going to learn more syntax from the 2d app development so I can familiarize myself with the software I will be using for the 3d game for Entertainment Consoles and Smart Devices...

multiple lives sounds neat idea I might implement in the future.
This was published on 5/16/2020 it was my first program :p

Honestly I love newgrounds since I was a little boy I remember titles such as Xiao Xiao and ganguro simulator

I just wanted to test the HTML5 version of this app before testing the android .APK
the .APK is being tested by amazon and hopefully they will release this app demo for free on the Prime Store.
if accepted I plan on releasing to Play store, and Microsoft store for testing

[Killer Kim and the Blood Arena]

I am super impressed by the Xbox 360 comparability.
I was playing on the easy mode or "fun an gun" and genuinely impressed by the enemy wave patterns, and how smoothly it responded to the controller AND keyboard inputs.
Keep pushing, and consider making some freinds in the art and music portals, but you have a solid sense of game play.
Thank you for making this.

heroyooky responds:

Thank you, I really appreciate your comments.

[VOiD]

Wonderfully atmospheric, and perpetually unsettling.
I will throw this on my steam wishlist, but what I wanted to say for now is that is that you did very well.
I think is a post "Portal" world people understand that puzzles can have their engagement increased by form and function coexisting, and I think you nailed that.
You took a risk that was hot debate in the 90's Dev team scene which if a demo can lead to sales, and as a fan of Serious Sam, the demo and the main games, and Meat Boy's flash version, and it's wider release, I think you have won that gambit.
I'd would almost scale back to fewer levels, to leave people more hungry, but I know there is an economic balance of social good will in being so forward.
Thank you for making this.
(edit)
PS I love your comittment to hiding things. You found some really clever ways of doing so.

Retro-Gears responds:

seriously, thank you for enjoying the demo and adding the game to your wishlist

[Dying In Dungeon]

Hey again Thoof,
It's really good to see your stuff as always.
You really did well this time, and it's really impressive to see your dedication and growth.
The character modle does have a slight chance of becoming stuck to the bottom of the mad if run along, and for a touch pad mouse user, this was actually a pretty difficult game.
That said, it's well enough made that working within the limitations of the touch pad made feel rewarding.
I think the idea acknowledging that in a game like this the character will die, and then embracing that into a full mechanic of how you die mattering really makes some intesting choices.
I think that it's a rare case of maybe needing more narrative context, because it's very possible for most users to just head down and not familiarize themselves with the game's actual purpose.
That a detail that could be easy buffed out, and I understand this was made for a game jam, meaning that it was being made by a developer for developers, and mechanically it just sings.
The atmospheric music is on point, and I can tell I am going spend alot of time seeing how far i can get.
Again making the deaths a necessary part really makes it a fascinating resource management question, and I will edit when I have better sense of how the end game feels.
Thanks for making this,

Thoof responds:

Thanks for the kind words & feedback!
I'll have to look into the getting stuck in walls bit, never ran into that when testing.

Yeah, probably should have done more of an introduction/tutorial, as I am finding that it takes most people a couple deaths before they understand how it works.

Endgame wise... well, it's a tad unbalanced at the moment. :P

[Weird Bunny Banana]

So, a few ideas thoughts on this.
I know my own computer setting might be causing some of these issues, but there is also some presentation and UI issues.

You made a fairly solid game, and seemed to really focus on it being hard and therefore good.
hard games can be good, if they feel fair to the player.
Since you have no formal tutorial, some people will feel intimated and try the mode labeled "easy" to try to get the swing of the game.

the "easy mode being an very well made homage to the Gameboy Mario games is really cool, but it would have been better as bonus, something unlocked maybe, because it's not visually engaging. You went to a lot of effort to make a version that is very visually engaging, but by lining the the modes up from left to right, how many people read, it visually gives a sense of progression. So, instead of playing the fully illustrated main game, people are going to try the unappealing "easy mode." considering the sensitivity of some of the hit boxes and how important the visual cue are to managing the controls, it's a very frustrating starting point.

Also upon dying the music cuts out, and will not restart until relaunched.

Also I think I saw the girl friend called "retarded" somewhere in the game, and that's just off putting and outdated language. I know people, especially in the gamer community through it around, kinda like "fag", but being edgy is not necessarily an enjoyable product.

What I am trying to say is you obvious have alot of very good ideas, but they all seem to be held back by a weird set gamer dogma's and it makes the game less enjoyable for people who just want to boot something up on a coffee break.

I know some of this worked well in the 90's and I love those platforms, and played the Game versions of Super Mario over and over, but in terms of what people are looking for from a flash game today, I don't think this is it. The punishments are too random and there just some hostile level design choices that it's clear are intentional.

I would like to see the some of the hit box issues worked out, and while there is totally a place for hard games, it doesn't feel like this game earns it, at it comes off to scornful, and simultaneously unpolished. I think got too attached to the idea of a "Hard Mario" and forgot the escalation of challenge is meaningful.

I like your art choices, sound design when it functioned, and you passion.
I would love to play the next version, or Weird Bunny Banana 2.
Thank you for making this.

TristanMX responds:

Thanks! I'm really thinking on doing some adjustments based on overall feedback. I forget we are on an age were people is not as I was used to back in my days (the old man speaking lol) but yea... being a kid in the 80's was different. I love the retro game design (visuals and difficulty) but I'm trying to make it suitable... Not many people will follow since they are used to quick rewards (new gens) and as I said in a previous post, this game ain't easy but is still playable and enjoyable... thanks for playing and I'll try to upload some improvements as soon as I restore my back up... my freaking computer wiped out :(

[Hunted in the Winter]

Hey Thoof,
It's always nice to see your work!
This one was pretty interesting.
I was having trouble understanding if their was an encumbrance mechanic an endurance mechanic or what have you, but I found it an interesting and fairly realistic balance of loss and and gain for survival resource gathering.
I could see this being a goof core mechanic in a survival/spy narrative.
The track covering mechanic is trulr interesting, because you can potentially leave red herrings, and as long as you never leave tracks near your base, the patrolmen are less likely to enter that area, where leaving tracks randomly in the open area makes your home safer.
I suppose never tracks in a line of sight where you liver or intend to gather.
Thanks for making and sharing this!

Thoof responds:

Yeah, the track covering mechanic was originally intended to be the core point of the game, but I ran out of time for the game jam :)

The original idea was that you would also be able to walk backwards so that the soldiers would follow the tracks the other way & into traps and such, but that did not get implemented.

There wasn't any endurance or exhaustion mechanics at play, just hunger and thirst. I was thinking about it but for how simple the game is it seemed unnecessary.

[Coloroban]

Ok, so;
A: I thought "it might be an interesting take on the Thomas was alone minimalism genre, so let's see what's up." I was not disappointed.
B: Thank you for mentioning the term "Sokoban-esque" I had remembered playing similar puzzle games back in the 90's in a game I had to boot fin dos from a "floppy disk" that was in fact floppy.
Having the cultural context for that is incredibly cool fro me, because I saw plenty of flash games using this puzzle style, and most of them might having been referencing similar mechanics in the Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy franchises.
C: I was originally going to compare, before you mentioning "Sokoban-esque", the aspect where you can mess up the puzzles permanently with one wrong move because of the nature of the lines being permanent, and having to mind the edges and corners you create, and how they will correspond with the existing ones. One wrong move on that Atari/Nokia and you where toast. I know snake predates Sokoban, so I wonder if Thinking Rabbit was inspired by Gremlin Industries. Gremlin put out "Blockade", the first formal use of the Snake/Worm Genre, in 1976, and Thinking Rabbit released Sokoban in 1981. (Atari made a few Snake Genre clones in 1977)
D: The color pallet idea seemed very modern though I am sure it has some history somewhere.
The close thing I can actively compare it to, and the overall puzzle solving nature of the game, is to Portal, Portal 2, and the "Portal" Flash game. This felt mostly reminiscent of playing around with different paints and liquids in Portal 2, because understand those contexts where incredibly important.
E: The GOSH DARN "BRIDGES" - an amazingly minimalistic way of making your puzzles more complicated, with out having to explain much. A beautiful use of minimal show don't tell! I am curious how you got the programming to work, but I suppose it's just a layering yes/no (1 or 0) scenario The fact that crossing the lines made things an order of operation kind of thing, and that the bridge where necessary for helping with that was very cool!
F: It felt almost like soldering onto a circuit board for getting some the puzzles to yes/no. Especially since where your path ended up was crucial to how you made those choices. It also is comparable to very basic software programming, and it shows a kindness in the way you present rules. It felt like a "write what you know" because it feels like you are learning all of that right now too. I felt excited for each puzzle because it felt like you had an end goal in mind and everything was just the process of teaching me how to get there.
G: It's funny, your game tough me how to solve that last puzzle so effectively it almost felt like a let down. Like being competent enough to achieve that was cool, but back in the quarter muncher days, before my time to some extent, high score boards game you some sense of how good others around you where at their attempts. A hidden timer, and a simple message suggesting the person post their time in their comment would drive people to keep playing, and also work the social promotion feature of sites like this by making people want to comment.
H: Also a "par" system of the minimum number of moves the puzzle could be completed in would be fun. A simple move counter presented at the end or after you completed each level. There also felt like the game was developed in chapters in the sense that once you had Mechanic of Chapter A down, you Where introduced to Mechanic of Chapter B that built on the previous chapter. Just like a story, but with only the mechanical enforcement as narrative. People being able to state what level or chapter they got stuck on will also make their comments more valuable, and allow you to respond more effectively to good and bad criticisms.
I: Well done! It felt very much like a combination of "Thomas was alone" + "Sokoban-esque" + Snake Go + Portal ooze painting, and I mean that as deep compliment. There is a difference between theft, fandom, and homage. You are thoroughly, in my take, on the path of homage, where you appreciation of the art created before your own informs your creative process in a super positive way! The game is fun simple, and a few minor improvements to UI would really make it shine.

P.S. The Z for reset is something that has been migrated away from in the last 15 years or so, and as had been commented before, "r" is more common, possibly because "ctrl + r" reloading a few different browsers.

PPS
Way to be a good collaborator by listing the source of the music and the type face.
The music is also well chosen and minimalist in a way that is enriching, and not distracting.

Thoof responds:

Again, thanks so much for the detailed feedback and compliments.
I'm glad you like the bridges -- as you guessed it's mostly just a very long series of conditional statements.
The final level was just a gimme level to demonstrate that you could make the white color. If I'd had more time during the week I made the game, I certainly would have tried to make more challenging levels involving 3-way color mixing.
I don't feel like a timed mode would work well for this type of game. Once you play through once, you can run through it fairly easy the second time through. All the novelty is burned through in the first playthrough.

[100 Bullet Dungeon]

Very cool.
The rules, are very, very fair, which shows very intentional creation and an interest in showing telling. Every new challenge is presented in a way that shows the threat, then the next room escalates it, then the room after integrates it into the previous challenges. The use of tactical training with, and puzzle solving is very cool.

A few things that I really liked the hidden shot gun effect, it seemed under certain circumstance you got a shot gun burst. It seemed to be triggered by killing something. Maybe while at full heath as a combo, if you killed something that triggered? also seemed to be a rate of fire thing. A nice homage to the zelda lazer sword.

The shooting range option does exist in some rooms, where you can pick of your enemy, but it appears the more your shoot in succession the less accurate, or that on 2/3 seem accurate and the quicker the rate of fire the more that stability degrades? It encourages close combat which is much more tense, and fun.

resource management.
It was really cool thinking about how accurate I had to be when engaging in open spaces. Close mean i get more of my ammo back but I am in more danger, far might mean I have to hustle to reclaim my ammo.

Bugs?
Standing near a wall that is south facing makes it so you can not shoot out, but also enemies can't see you. It would be cool if this was a stealth thing, but it seems unintentional, but it seems like a good way to add a stealth mechanic.

Storing a doge.
if you hit space while stationary the doge effect will not trigger....till you move. So if you are about to take a pot shot, hit space and you have the doge ready to go when something comes at you.

I did have trouble using the doge ability, but I often focus on shooting and resource management in this kind of run and gun. I see dying as sign of poor allocation, and I often don't waste time with dodging as I find it more efficient to just fight well and conserve my resources.

It felt like the doge was added in because it is part of the genre, not because it was key to the game play.

Thoof responds:

Thanks for all the feedback! I wasn't aware of the "dodge storing" bug at all. The not being able to shoot next to walls I was somewhat aware of, but I didn't realize it also stopped enemies from moving. The "shotgun" thing was just another bug, though having it as an intentional mechanic would be pretty cool.

I agree that the dodge needs some work, probably in the form of increased speed/an invulnerability frame, however that also might reduce the need for the resource management that you mentioned.