TomFulp's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[ClimbTheMountain]

You're off to a promising start! There was one star under a ledge that I was having a hard time getting to and it was becoming cumbersome to keep circling around to attempt for it... So not sure how much more is past the first door, although that fireball in the thumbnail looks cool.

This appears to be made with GameMaker and I'm wondering if it's running as fast as it can in my browser or if it could run smoother. You could try setting the room_speed to 60 and see if that makes a difference in the browser.

Sound effects and music would of course be great, the first three sounds I would plug in would be the jump, the stomp of an enemy and the collection of a star. When you land on an enemy, it would be great to see their face turn sad and give them a quick squashing animation.

yosri3 responds:

Thank you very much for the feedback! i appreciate it.

Since this is a prototype i made sure both levels were accessible so you can actually start level 2(which has the fireball from the thumbnail).

The comments about the sounds , animation were already in my todo list. About the room_speed thanks for letting me know about this since i didnt know it was a problem for other people (because the game runs fine for me) so i'll see what i can do about that!

[Steam Heart]

This is so darn impressive for 72 hours, let alone any amount of time. I love the Gunstar Heroes vibes and I'm liking the difficulty curve so far, I'm at that boss who reaches his arms up from underwater. All the weapons have been a lot of fun too!

SinclairStrange responds:

Thanks! I wish I had a bit more time to polish up and balance some stuff out to be honest, I started to crash towards the end. Can't beat a bit of Gunstar Heroes! Never know I might continue with it and upload a more finished version in a later date :D. Glad ye enjoying it!

[Super Gonad Smasher]

Runs fine for me and this computer is pretty old! All the boss phases were awesome, it's amazing how quickly you pulled this all together and have it be so polished. All the art and animation is great.

PestoForce responds:

Twas fun! Thanks for graciously lending your voice!

[Hyper Halloween]

The shooting / enemy impact has a good feel. Frankenstein is tough, still trying to get past him! If you expand on this, weapon and player upgrades would be a ton of fun.

svaerth responds:

Fulp Sempai! *eyes tear up*. thanks man! Maybe next Halloween I'll take it further.

[Box Story 2]

I like what you're trying to do here but it does feel too hard to get a knack for / develop proper control over the box. I'm hoping you can tune this up so players can get more predictable results and feel better control over their ability to land on specific sides. It's possible I'm missing a trick... Just seems really really hard at the moment.

[Roundabout]

Totally hypnotic! I asked PsychoGoldfish to get in touch with you about our new API version, would be great to get this hooked up with scores.

BryceSummer responds:

Awesome! I look forward to hearing from them :).

[Minotaur]

I like the theme of being the Minotaur in the maze and I also like the Minotaur art. If you keep making updates, it could be interesting to make use of stereo sound for the humans running around, so you can listen for which direction the nearest human is. Maybe humans could turn and run if they get near the remains of a dead human, so you could use that to sort of control their movements in the maze (not sure if that would work out).

Maybe humans could see you if you are in the open but not if you are behind a wall, so you could see where they are on the screen but they would react to you as soon as you come out. Then maybe you could set traps for humans to lure them into places they can't easily escape - such as trying to get some treasure from a dead end, where you then block their exit.

Did you try a WebGL export?

FSt-Germain responds:

Your ideas are really awesome. This was my first attempt with AI, and the time limit didn't help with that too much, but I like your ideas and also the footsteps the humans could make. I will consider an update, but no promises. Also I had tried a webgl export with my last game, however I ran into many issues while trying to upload to newgrounds.

Also, I just realised your the guy who made newgrounds! Thanks man! I never would've been able to publish my games without this site.

[Robo Platform Run]

Things get buggy on level two with the moving blocks - got stuck into a platform while playing with one. What I do like however is that this is your first project and I can feel the heart and appreciate the celebration of ParagonX9, it has a good spirit to it. You should try reaching out to an artist here on NG for your next project; combined with what you've learned so far, I think you'll really take things up a notch!

[RUSH]

Great visual style and runs well on my PC. Was really confused on the first play through but got the hang of it on the second, although I played a long time without ever making it to the end goal. Would have felt more satisfying to have an obtainable initial goal, although not sure what happens after that goal at the moment.

Since you can't jump while carrying a crate, it might be cool if pressing jump also throws the crate. Sometimes when you're in the thick of it, you just accidentally mash the wrong button and while that's proper punishment on one hand, it would also feel great to blast your way out of trouble despite the mix-up.

I like that there are two sets of controls based on which side you want to use, however I think some confusion comes from the controller references to A and B button being more prominent in size... As a newcomer your eyes just sorta glaze over ALL THOSE KEYS and the A and B are the two biggest. It also doesn't mention what to press to start the game; I initially was looking for a place to click (was clicking CONTINUE even though I didn't have any save data) and then was trying SPACE and ENTER before I mentally focused and tried K.

Once I got in the zone, I had a nice groove going on! Could definitely see a whole grand adventure in this style.

Zielak responds:

Hey, thanks for the review, Tom. Means a lot to me!

The game is short, so it's just a nice ending and game over after you reach the girl.

I've made a quick update with both throwing crate on jump and more "start" keys in the menu (space and enter now works). The "A" and "B" keys were in fact unfortunate choice, I tried to get with the GameBoy theme.

Hope to make a bigger game out of it someday :)

[Decepticide]

I really like the theme and ambiance but wanted to reiterate what some other reviews have noted. The first place you can possibly die is on the first plant, so if you die there it would be great to start in the room before the plant vs going back to the title screen and watching the tutorial text again. Every elevator could be a checkpoint from then on.

Also to help new players who might not have picked up everything in the tutorial, when you first grab ammo, it could prompt you to "Press A to Reload" - my first time through I didn't think to load my gun and was killed while trying to shoot the plant. When you do reach the first plant, it could also prompt you to "Hold X to AIM, Press C to Shoot", so in the moment people can be reminded. This would make a big difference in getting people into the game and ongoing checkpoints would make progress less frustrating.

Joben7 responds:

Thanks, great tips! I've put in a checkpoint system already and I'll add the improved prompts a bit later, I appreciate the help.