JamesTDG's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Underboard: Omen]

The game looks fun, but the performance is really poor on my Thinkpad W520 with Brave, hopefully, a patch will be developed?

chazmuco responds:

Please try playing our desktop version, we will see what we can do to improve the web version
https://headless-games.itch.io/underboard-omen

[Tidying Up + Secrets of the Sewers]

Beat the whole game, was a bit fun, but it feels a little too easy. I don't think there's any way to resolve this problem without removing the capy collisions for roombella, though this would also seemingly break a few puzzles, especially a few of the community made levels. Still a good game.

Review regarding the update:
Very nice update you added here, my only complaint with the traps is that I have accidentally entered them far too often, and an undo button would help out a lot more than a restart button...

Bleak-Creep responds:

We might look into adding a few new types of blocks to spice things up in a future update. I thought it might be fun to have things that’d push you, or even some big boxes that spill out trash blocks too, but it’s up to Scarygoose and Intrapath what we might add there. :)

[Auto Necrochess]

Pretty decent game. I like the difficulty ramp, but I do find not being able to hoard gold to be a bit odd...

Stopsignal responds:

Took that mechanic from Super Auto Pets, and i think it works quite well, actually! Makes you reroll and lets you see more units, and have a chance to freeze them instead of hoarding the gold! Also it's easier to balance for me, as the power curve is more consistent!
Thanks for playing, dwarfbatman!! <3

[Nutbuster (✨THE CANCELLED UPDATE ✨)]

Seems like a nice game, but the tutorial seems a bit bugged right now. Also I am dumbfounded by the lack of WASD controls...

E: so, during the tutorial, for some odd reason it does not react when I hit the boost key, preventing me from completing it half of the time, I think it is something to do with how the dummies trap me, as I can't move as well if I am stuck in this part of the tutorial.

ChalTheChalk responds:

Would you care message me the tutorial bug? I NEED to know what the problem is so i can fix it later

[Hello User]

Would be nice if there was a NG achievement for getting all icons (and/or pop-ups)

CaperCube responds:

not a bad idea, hmmm....

[Feedwater]

Edit: IMPORTANT! The following review covers an incredibly outdated version of the game and does not reflect the current state of the game.

The gameplay is alright, but the lack of checkpoints just ruins the main game for me, screwing up ONE puzzle will put me back to the beginning of Feedwater, and I don't like that at all. As for graphics, they are pretty meh and don't fit together well, perhaps hire a pixel artist to work on making visual assets? (For example, the balls could take advantage of a scrolling texture to properly imitate rolling in a 2D environment)

Edit: Okay, so I am going to be documenting some puzzles in Feedwater that are too difficult to clear:
Bottom left: Arrows are clumped together far too closely to be capable of dodging them, I also cannot document the path I should take to complete this puzzle.
Left: Requires an absurd level of timing to fire 2 groups of arrows at once JUST to clear BOTH walls
Top left: Is actually the only puzzle I can beat here, however boulder recovery is impossible so if I slip up, I have to deal with it. Also failing to time this puzzle adequately is far too punishing for the player, perhaps switch this to a mounted crossbow section?

For all puzzles, PLEASE add checkpoints when I successfully open a door on the right. I could screw up ONE section and have to redo SEVERAL puzzles just to regain progress. Other puzzle games don't punish players for screw-ups by throwing them back to the beginning, this WILL harm the popularity of your game, even in this demo.

JamesBrill responds:

EDIT: I've published a version with checkpoints in the "Feedwater" level.

Thanks for the review and valuable feedback! The game does have checkpoints, including Feedwater, but admittedly that level can seem punishing when going straight from the tutorials. I will eventually be adding more levels to build up to it so the player is more prepared when reaching that level. Currently, the game throws you right in at the deep end without any learning curve.

You're right about the art - they are placeholder assets intended to serve the prototype only. I'm gradually replacing them with something more polished. Watch this space - the game will become much more refined over time! :)

[Crop++]

Highscore: 5420
NEW High score: 50370
It is a quaint little game, but the sheer stupidity of the sheep AI really makes it difficult to work with it. I lost just because there were too many flowers growing and all of my sheep clustering to a small section of the land

Edit: I would then recommend leaving some sort of preview of the 2x2 area the sheep would cover before placing them down, just to not allow any errors to happen

TheShelfman responds:

Wow that's a great highscore!
Thanks for playing. What isn't clear (but will be in an update coming very soon) is that the sheep only cover a 2x2 area, so they aren't too OP. Hope that clears things up haha

[Miocraft Next]

The controls are too painful to work with, I would rather have my cursor locked here. Also the UI clips into the terrain, you might want to dig up how to fix that in your engine

gsxr1100 responds:

Thanks for the report, now I have added the lock pointer option in-game