GabeMalk's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wink & the Broken Robot Beta 5.8]

The game is very charming, the art is neat and the music is cool albeit a bit repetitive. The problem, for me, is that the game seems a bit "pointless", I don't know where I am going, I don't know why I'm collecting stuff or what all of that means. I did have fun playing a few levels, but mostly because I was enjoying the "feels" and aesthetic of the game. Anyway, keep going!

maxoakland responds:

I’m glad you enjoyed the feels and aesthetic! Once you win level 3, I introduce the goal of the game

['Tower of the Missing Sock' - DEMO]

What a charming game... My favorite from you! This could easily turn into a "full" game (it is already tbh). My only criticism is that the character is a bit too slow, and the attack should have a bit more range maybe. This can get you hit quite easily and sometimes do get stuck in enemies, but you probably know that and that's why health pickups are aplenty. But this is a minor criticism, the game is, overall, great!

Butzbo responds:

Wow thanks! Yeah the player speed was a difficult one, I agree with it being slow, but at the same time didn't wanted to make him so fast so that the roll can be still relevant, a lot to test on that side, once I get back to the lab I'd like to test out other speeds.
Glad to hear its been your favourite!

[To-do: be CEO]

I really love the visuals and the concept, it's short but sweet. But I found a bug, apparently clicking the cat without cat food breaks the game.

JinxSpell responds:

Whoa thanks for catching that bug!! I will definitely be fixing it after the jam! Thanks!

[PIPIKO]

I like a lot of things in this game but I feel it has some fundamental problems. First, why not "hold to shoot"? Second, the level design bothers me... It doesn't feel very organic, and enemies are just thrown in without much consideration. I like the enemy variety but they feel so random that you get 5 or 6 different enemies during the first 3 minutes of the game and you can't really understand what's unique about each. So yeah, great game, but there are some design decisions to improve. Keep up the good work!

sheebstuff responds:

Good criticism here, thanks man!

[Holey Ship]

The concept is good, but the execution needs some improvement... The "help" screen doesn't help very much, specially since you need to press a key to fish and not only click, so at first the game was really frustrating as I couldn't figure out how to get the rubber tape, and managing the water was quite hard. Most of the times I lost almost instantly, but sometimes it would drag a bit in a challenging but somewhat interesting experience. The I figured out how to get the tape... But the game became too easy, easy and monotonous, repetitive, so I stopped playing. The art is nice, the idea is neat, but this needs improvement, maybe it's the first game you guys made, if that's the case (but tbh, even if it isn't), congratulations! Keep improving and making more games!

Robeanie responds:

yeah this was our first game+it was made for a game jam so it's not super polished
but we'll probably come back and update it at some point!

[Yu Jammin]

And through this review, I hereby concede to Stepford the title of the current king of Newgrounds. The court aplaudes.

Stepford responds:

Pfft. Thank you! :D

[Drone Head]

This is very well done, but I think the gameplay would be more interesting by having levels instead of the survival mode it has.

MadNukin responds:

We had 48 hours so the smart choice was to keep it simple and actually finish the project.
If I was going to rebuild this it would be more rogue-lite with randomly generated rooms.

[Trail Of Pigs]

It's almost perfect... The art is great, the gameplay is solid and interesting, the theme is very well executed.... But the game drags too much, it becomes repetitive. It's hard to nail the aspect of creating tension and making something that is hard and slow in according to the games theme, so I understand where this problem is coming from. So yeah, keep making great games!

Stopsignal responds:

Thank you!! It's something weird: If you actually don't stop every time you run out of supplies, but rather only stop when you are about to die (the game stops you automatically) you can go really really fast through the game. But if you go slow, it's *even slower*. For the next time i explore this concept, i'll need to check out how to fix this weird design quirk.

[Sporelunk]

The art is great! The music suits the game, but I have to admit I'm not very fond of the gameplay loop... It's hard, but not interesting enough to hook me. But still, this a great entry for a game jam!

crelish responds:

thank you for the feedback, it's highly appreciated! we'd love to build and improve upon the game in a possible post-jam update : )

[Pico Untamed Demo]

Well, you got something cool here, but I believe you're on the wrong direction... This game format has a lot of potential for good storytelling, good puzzles, and an overall great adventure! But that is not the case, the real gameplay here consists of the stealth section, which is a bit frustrating when you play for the first time and doesn't understand, then it just gets easy when you know what to do; and then there is the boss, which is quite hard, but not very interesting since all you're doing is just clicking.

What I'm trying to say is that the Pico School format is really coo, so use it's strengths! Puzzles, character dialogues, environmental story telling and yes a few enemies and bosses here and there, each with some unique and interesting twist or puzzle attached to, but I wouldn't actually give the player a full game over, just a "go back to the previous room".

Hope this feedback helps you improve, keep making games ! :)

TrickWithATwist responds:

I definitely see where you're getting at with this review and you're right. As of now this game is pretty hollow and doesn't use the strengths/aspects that the gameplay format is for. We did plan to add more storytelling through being able to interact with the prisoners but just couldn't due to time constraints :(( . But what u said rlly opened my eyes and we're definitely gonna take this to heart. Thank you so much man! : D