Score: 8

"The Boss Didn't Work :("

submission: Blood Shed (Revised)

date: July 13, 2003

I really liked the camera "pan" and the overall art style - having a leg shot death animation missing seems strange but I guess it's really not THAT important; Not being able to get pass the boss is the only thing that ticks me off... while I'm at it, the health indicator seems to disappear a few scenes into the game also; you might want to look into that.

Score: 10

"By personal request."

submission: Hyrule High

date: June 24, 2003

Scores given because of an anonymous request.

Score: 8

"It was pure joy until level 20."

submission: Defend Your Castle (Full)

date: June 8, 2003

First of all, the bugs:

1 - Well, not exactly a bug, but when the first pawn came out after 10 seconds of wait, most people will think the game doesn't work and quit...

2 - If you are using a spell icon while the level finishes, you'd lose the mouse cursor afterwards.

3 - Loading a save game puts you back with 1000 points of HP (with the maximum intact).

The game was fun, fast, and furious until I start getting magicians - once I'm able to cast area blast once before a pawn (any pawn) reaches the gates, I can simply blast a group as they come without fail.

Then it gets even more ridiculous when I start to be able to blast and convert before a group reaches the wall. I'm converting people like crazy; I can get about 200-300 converts per level.

Then it becomes completely insane - by the time I collected about 500 archers and 180 magicians at level 22 (craftsmen are useless since nobody ever touch the walls), the castle is just about self sufficient - all I have to do is sit and watch and occasionally blast a few people if I feel malevolent or convert a few if I feel benevolent.

Which makes the level ending very lengthy and exhausting. Because the unit upkeep counts down by 1, by the time my upkeep goes to 10,000 it literally takes 3 minutes for the countdown to finish...

The enemy suicide bombers also feel unfinished - as an experiment, I built my wall up to some 50000 units and just let my units do all the work; it turns out that the bombers hurt my enemies more than my castle - especially when you can left click and all the units near them go boom. For the most part, when they pop up, I don't even have to bother casting spells - I just click the bombers and everything dies.

Fun thing to do though - try and collect about 50 converts and send them all out into the screen (suicide bombers), and watch the fireworks lag your machine like hell.

When the game was about throwing people to their deaths while occasionally casting a spell and converting a pawn, it was mad fun... but then afterwards, the game degrades into a broken click-fest.

No words of complaint from me, though. Quoting the famous webcomic RPG World - "It's a single player game... we don't need balance!"

Score: 9

"fan service episode...?"

submission: 5 More Minutes

date: May 28, 2003

Heh, I actually feel a little more uncomfortable now that Germaine speaks. I've always liked Foamy (who doesn't), but Germaine just lacks a little something (I really can't tell exactly what) that would make the duo more dynamic. She used to have some sort of silent power when she couldn't speak, but now she seems to be dragging the story down compared to Foamy's mile-a-minute voice.

I mean, it's not bad voice acting, it's just too... normal. You'd expect something more "wierd" from a goth chick like Germaine.

Also, it seems like there's a lot of extra booty shots in this episode, is it just coincidence or are you finally succuming to the fan's demand to show "cartoon drawings of naked girls"?

Score: 8

"Just Finish It!"

submission: Slacker 2 (Preview)

date: May 27, 2003

Everything looks great so far, even though the story is a *little* pointless (but what story isn't?). A little more sound effect would be nice but what you already have isn't too bad either; the dialogs are a little dry right now, maybe if the dialog actually contributes more to the puzzle (as in, you might need to ask a few questions before you know what a person wants).

Or, just finish the game and we'll all be happy.

Score: 9

"t3h lag iz too great lolz !!!11"

submission: Resident Koopa: Outbreak

date: May 25, 2003

Oh good old days of MMORPGS, how can we live without them.

They really should consider making a Resident Evil MMORPG though, the action MMORPGs that are currently out there all sucked.

Score: 6

"Getting there..."

submission: Pico's Cousin

date: May 13, 2003

Hey, it's a good start. True homage to Pico's School. Take your time on your next project, refine some elements, and you'll get yourself a smashing hit next time.

I agree with some comments about the guns, the candy, and the IR security - I admit, the IR security is a smart quirk, but casual flash viewers usually don't know about the right-click/zoom in option. Perhaps if one of your post-its has some hints about right clicking... it should help.

Giving the player more freedoms to move around helps too. I like to see places that are not part of the story- shooting things randomly is a nice touch; if the candy store is not an essential part of the story, it would have been a fun addition. Or, if you shoot out the lights in a room and later your enemy has a disadvantage because you blew out the lights earlier (or similar things), it would have been great.

My greatest gripes would have to be sound effects- a lot of essential sounds are missing from the game, it shows especially around the credits, when it's just absolute silence. Hint: download tons of game demos. Especially ones from cheap ass companies that you've never heard of.

Still, kudos, man. This game really captured the pico spirit.

Score: 7

"......"

submission: Stardust

date: May 5, 2003

So much good materials, and not enough content to show it.

Tracing drawings like those are pretty tire-some and labor intensive; I can well imagine most of the production time going into that part of the game. Sadly, the eye candy warps from one to the other in a matter of seconds, leaving some well paid effort unnoticed.

Of course, a more sensible story would be nice. But you alredy know that, right?

The music are rather chaotic... they cut in from mid-song and cut out in mid-song. If you're going to start the sound track midway through, try employing some fade-in techniques.

The clean layout, the short combat sequence, and the overall presentation of the game all shows that you have a lot of potential to create something really great. Now that you've had a first taste of success, just sit back, and take your time on your next project.

I am more than willing to collaborate if you need some programming help, by the way.

Score: 7

"Getting there..."

submission: Gutz - Level 1

date: April 25, 2003

The game feels really (almost exactly like) Tsunami. I understand that you changed the textures and such, but even the level layout seems too similar to Tsunami.

The blood looks a little excessive - There's obviously the reused splatter image, but you painted over those images with a different color, making your strokes visible as they fade out. I'd recommend taking the extra paint and half of your splatters out - there's a line between excessive violence and pointlessly excessive violence.

Nonetheless, if you can keep the story consistent, after the full game is complete it'll be something for you to be remembered with.

Best of luck.

Score: 8

"Getting there..."

submission: Spindle: Character Beta

date: April 25, 2003

The basic engine seems to be doing well. Most of my recommendations will come in the form of game tweeks.

In the traditional fighting game the player usually has a better vertical reach while the computer enemies has a better horizontal reach (see: Angry Domo-Kun Smash Fest FAQ). I don't feel that this is present in the game; but of course it'll be up to you to decide if you want to stick with the classics or try something innovative.

It's most probably because you're placing dark characters in a deep blue background, but the animation cels are hard to tell apart - and some people may get frustrated to memorize combos involving 6-7 keys. I would recommend breaking it down to a combination of two smaller sets (i.e. there'd be two sets, AAA and SAS, then you'd have combinations of AAAAAA, SASAAA, SASSAS, etc.) It's easier to remember combinations that way.

It's a bad idea to have AIs all gang up on the player, although that's what happens in real life. Have some idle states for the AI so some would stand around for a bit before attacking, and some would walk away then run back and tackle, etc. You can also consider having some enemies intentionally moving around the player toward his back too, for more variety and challenge.

Try punching random objects in the house, record them and amplify the sound. You'll be surprised at the interesting sound effects that you'd get.

I'm a little worried about the frame rate though - your characters might be a little too detailed, especially the enemy characters. When it starts to lag with 4 characters and no background, you should start worrying about the frame rate...

Best of luck. It's looking good.