Verdusk's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chessformer]

Relaxing game with cool ending. The final puzzle feels so appropriate as you make all the pieces (except the banned OP queen) work together and have the king finish it like in the first puzzle.

[Grim Pawn]

Neat little puzzle game, reminds me of when I used to make flash games and post them on Newgrounds.

A save feature and a level select screen would be a possible improvement, just a few more levels and you'd have a lot of people not able to complete it all in one sitting. Another minor thing is to that a more pixelated font would fit more with the pixelated graphics. A BGM may also be considered too, whether using your own or any of the free to use ones from NG.

Also interesting that you used Godot Engine on this, since I've heard about it recently although I'm more familiar with Unity myself.

Good luck with your future creations!

TheMikirog responds:

Thanks mate!

About the font, many playtests with my friends and family (about 15 people, including my dad) played the game from start to finish and one common criticism was that the pixel font was intelligible. When it comes to conveying information, it's more important than immersion. Same with the music, it's only at the beginning and then gives way to simple ambience to help people think.

Same with the save feature, most beat it in 30-60 minutes in one sitting, there isn't a lot of levels and I felt the save feature wasn't needed, since most people just speedrunned the first levels they already know the solution for.

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

[Blue Lights After Story]

I think you mean vials.

Not viles.

(EDIT: Just saw this comment again after years, sorry for being a grammar nazi jerk. I should've done it in a less rude way at least. Nice game, either way!)

JackAstral responds:

Derp sorry, I was rushing to get this finished before uni. Fixed!

[Phantom Reverse #5]

The tripping rocks, they're everywhere, even INDOORS. Across all the universes.

[Blue Lights #6]

Personally the problem with the aliens needing Rey's blood is that I already knew that shouldn't necessarily mean he has to die. We have blood transfusions after all, as long as they don't take it too fast he wouldn't have to die, and it would be to their interests to not let him die even if they need a lot of his blood, as that way he could provide more in the long run, until they got enough.

When following this story I thought the best solution for the humans would be to give Rey's blood to the aliens, not Rey himself as the humans don't trust the aliens enough and Rey's blood is really all the aliens demanded, so they should be able to come to an agreement where the humans would provide Rey's blood in a pace that doesn't pose danger to Rey. And with the government supporting they could've used some medical technology stuff to maximize the blood they can give without putting Rey in danger.

JackAstral responds:

That's true - I guess I just needed to keep stuff like that vague to heighten the weight of Rey's character arc

[Make Happy]

Sadness shouldn't be able to hit you right away after appearing, there should be a few seconds of delay or the game should let us know where it'll appear a few seconds before it appears; I keep getting hit by sadness that appears out of nowhere without a chance to avoid it.

JackAstral responds:

Added! There's now a little notice that appears when you're under 100 points from another enemy spawning :-)

[Chronicle Bulletin #5]

Great episode!

Now we know the Moon King is actually weak against fire, too bad the other protagonists don't know, though they might through the detective.

I've noticed less repetitive standing sprites as well, though probably still too much (when Aria was holding her head with her hands for example, the sprites still show her standing plainly)

Also glad that I got the chance to play this as soon as it was released again, as I noticed it's still Under Judgment.

[Chronicle Bulletin #4]

Another great episode!
Regarding the new format:
+ Allows players to move and explore, offering greater control
+ Search feature is interesting
- Game's pictures become less dynamic as the standing sprites keep getting used over and over again - It may save you a lot of time and effort, but it becomes less anime-like and less dynamic, as in the previous games we get to see how each scenes go instead of standing sprites except in important scenes. (Yes I know pictures also get reused in the previous format, but less so) I really prefer the previous format myself but I figured you may be trying to give each series different format to make them more distinct.

Good selection of music, and story is great. I'll look forward to more!

JackAstral responds:

Thanks!

That was one of my biggest concerns when I changed format - I'll definitely try to find more of a middle ground between standing sprites scenes and dynamic scenes in the next episode. :)

[Shooter 2]

This could really use a lot of improvements.
More enemy types, level selection, upgrades, bosses and so on, be creative.
Not to mention it needs easier-to-use controls. WASD to move and mouse to aim and click to shoot would not be a bad idea, and make it so that you don't need to press a button (or click) repeatedly to fire.
(I made a similar game to this so I know how it CAN be better)

If you can make this, you should be able to make games so much better than this, you just need to be creative.

[Ending]

I don't know how it got to the front page when it's still Under Judgment, but I sure got no problem with it. This game is great, quite original and tons of levels. Could use a music in the game.