MLScherbatov's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[EVO]

i love search for eden so just based on the description im hoping this is a similar title (that game is fucking impossible even with emulator save states lol). i will just write random notes as they come up now
music is pretty nice. animation seems about as good as anybody needs for a flash game, and the backdrops are really great

obviously we have enough hp to test which tokens are gonna hurt vs help us, but you really should tell us that the red dots are hostile and the bubbles are evo points. the sound effect for taking damage still seems like a positive noise and i was down to 7hp before i realized that it was a sort of minefield. its not like a conscious player would fail this first segment, but i think you could have made them more obviously dangerous (idk, make them jellyfish even if they are immobile, and add an electric buzz sound effect, etc) i realized later that this sound is the failure noise from pazaak in kotor so golf clap and all for sourcing but it wasnt clear that i was being hurt at first

frame rate slowed significantly just before the first evo checkpoint. this may have just been my pc, but having played a number of browser games as well as like anything else on pc, im pretty sure this was a problem on your end. ill make note of whether it continues consistently or sporadically

apparently i can only get 50 tokens max here? idk if it really makes a difference, but maybe consider only having 50 tokens in the area with 30 easily accessible ones. i didnt notice the number wasnt going up until i had already got them all

i know this is an issue ppl are divided on so go ahead and take it with a grain of salt, but please add WASD controls. arrow keys are simply not convenient for most users. if im using my mouse at all its a chore and a source of back pain to keep my hand on the arrows. im assuming ill have a jump and attack button later, but its still pretty normal for popular games to use wasd and arrow keys optionally with alternate action keys as well

funny that you had jellyfish in the next stage lol
im still feeling a little underwhelmed but ill keep playing. wish you had more choice based evolution (for instance a lot of games dont give u complete customization like the original evo, but have an evolution tree of preset organisms)

i probably would slow the difficulty curve a little bit. the big brown fish are too much to deal with for the 2nd level, and we havent encountered moving objects at all yet, so its probably better to stick with jellyfish and goldfish, then maybe the big turdy bois + jellies on the 3rd stage.

the parchment thingies in between stages are cool. i know its probably more of a hassle for u to do this, but for the larger bodies of text, id recommend partitioning them and adding a next button or scrolling or whatever just so that u can increase the font size.

when the actor jumps, you really need some forward momentum. it seems like im just jumping in place regardless of whether i was moving when i left the ground. again im sure this is more difficult than the layman would assume, but stage 3 is a little too difficult. the jump imo should be at least enough to completely leap over one of these enemies, whereas now its difficult to even hop n bop them.
when i transform from reptile/amphibian duder into what seems like a qt ferret, i lose the ability to even jump on enemies heads to kill them. as with the first stage, its cool to have the player explore the environment to some degree and learn how to play vs different enemies or with different characters on our own. on the other hand, losing my only method of self defense while surrounded by 6 enemy lizards is no fun.
upon further inspection, some of these enemies just dont die. im still getting damaged by most if not all enemies near the rock on the right side regardless of whether i am a qt ferret. this level is proving to be extremely tedious given the slow move speed, weak jump, and the fact that i lose all my eggs when i die. i know its difficult to make a balanced game, so pls dont think i hate u for it or anything, but wow is this level frustrating. just because ily i am gonna try to beat it tho

spongebob french accent voice 12 hours later
yo this level is not really possible imo
i like this game and i support anyone who is trying to make a game like the original evo cus that game was beautiful but had major flaws. i just cant keep playing level 3 all day tho bb im sry. ill follow u and hope that u put out an updated version even if its just little things.

ty for contributing to independent gaming. this type of thing is what i come to newgrounds for, and i know its not gonna be anywhere else :)

paulocosta0194 responds:

@MLScherbatov UAU !

Great check list. First of all thank you very much for playing EVO, I am extremely grateful. Second and what makes me happier still, is this your genial comment, passing improvements for future corrections. It was simply spectacular. Some things I noticed just like you. On the third level, mainly, I've had the most work to create a certain idea, but when I played I felt the same thing as you, regarding the jumps and the monotony of the game itself, because really "boring" being in a single environment reaping Some eggs, but I could not see / fit a better idea, and I'm too embarrassed by enemies to be born "in the void, in the nothing", but in fact I could not see an incredible improvement yet.
This is just a playable prototype, the next one will take a little more time to get out, because the base is all ready and the transmission of the idea too, however I will work on constructing and redesigning the whole new layout, leaving the whole game in pixel Art, involving scenery, enemies and player. And of course some bug fixes of course. Like the collision boxes it has also been making me upset. The question of sound effects I intend to change very little.

Thanks for this check list, I am extremely grateful and happy as I was able to tell you earlier.

Good morning, my friend, and when you want to come back, you will always be welcome.

Hugs,

Paulo Costa

PS: Actually, I've removed the respawn effect from phase 3 so that the staff can continue the game, but I can not upload it here, and I do not know what the reasons are. :(

[Explore, Expand, Exploit!]

the explorer wouldnt move for the first 10-20 times i tried, the map wont scroll so its pointless to expand past the borders of the screen, and although i got the explorer to move this is in general not a finished game. it honestly seems pretty cool, like an open ended and more detailed settlers of catan, but it really falls short of what i expected it to be within a few minutes. id gladly send you some music if you need it, too.
i was frustrated by this but definitely wont blam it. it just hurts me deeply that there are so many great games on this site that are never completed

[The Unknowns Saga Remake]

the game doesnt progress past the first image. im just staring at a meadow with an empty text box labeled "angel" and nothing to interact with.
opening menu seemed alright, i liked the sound effects, but this isnt even a game, its just a title screen.

Bigattck responds:

fix, the problem was with bust image not working well with javascript, i had to remove everything in battles to get it working in html.

[Bundle Kitt]

pretty good. i kind of wished there was a follow up on the ants, but nbd
only flaw is that at the end there isnt any fade out or w/e other effect. it just shows an empty text bubble. this did not inconvenience me in the slightest, but you could maybe just have kitty stay on the screen while the text bubble fades ? like leave only the background?
music was good, game was funny, etc etc 4/5 good job frindm

[Soda Dungeon Lite]

this game is cool but whyyyyy does the "____ sold for ___ gold" have to stay on the screen over all of the items in exactly the wost possible place for like 10 seconds afterwards??? it really makes the store difficult to use.
otherwise this seems like a rly good title. not too complicated, but not boring or overly idle

[Clash in Dark Maze]

i thought your level selection was the game for a few minutes and couldnt figure out how to move. once in the actual game, it was just kind of tediously slow and i kept getting stuck on walls along straight hallways for no reason. this might be cool but it is just not appealing to me right now and is moving way too slow

DimPossible responds:

Well, thanks for the tip. In the next version, the game interface will change, features will be added. Now the approximate version is in Google Play, and it will undergo changes.

[Millika Village]

i feel like im having to switch between the mouse, arrow keys, e, and spacebar too often when there really doesnt seem to be any need for multiple "continue" buttons. we could easily be using just E or just spacebar instead of both options and i have yet to see any situations where two separate keys are necessary. tbh this would be a lot easier if we could just walk with wasd or arrow keys and then all other interactions were done with the mouse. aside from the controls this game seems pretty cool

[Construct]

this is not in any way finished. its like 2 screens of decent platforming playing as a pink rectangle and then when you get to the end of those 2 screens the game just stops and there is nothing to interact with. the platforming itself is fine but theres no story, no instructions, etc. this is barely an alpha test and should not be in the portal in its current state.

[Royal Offense 2]

i had fun for the first 2 missions and then it just seems like the enemy has 10x as many units as me no matter how many times i replay the level. id definitely come back if u make it a little more playable.
good music, but the spells shouldnt cost money. give us mana. using a lightning bolt means i lose immediately unless i already have a huge gold advantage, and i never do because im facing at least 5 orcs by the time i build 2 tax collectors
youve started a good game, but im not sure how you thought it was playable if this difficulty is "easy". we havent even learned all the features of the game and the levels which teach us new things are nearly unbeatable. i think it has potential and youve clearly put in a lot of work so ill give it a 3.5, but its not beatable in this state and nobody is gonna keep playing until you make it easier