/agdg/ reviews for demo day 11!

[Notes]
I played through each of these pretty quickly, spent maybe 5-10 mins per game. Or 1 minute. So my criticisms are based on very little experience actually playing something you spent weeks developing. Just saying.
These get progressively meaner and shorter the further down the page you go so I am genuinely sorry if I left a nasty comment on your game. I should have had more coffee before starting I guess.

Please leave a comment if you'd like to respond to what I've said, I need feedback for my feedback too so I can improve!

Ta ta!
-EV

[Game]
Placeholder title
[Thoughts]
Well as we have all kinda known for a while this game could use some prettying up. The hand-drawn numbers and debug info on the screen is just ugly, we all know this.
As far as gameplay goes it's pretty tight, although I feel the movement could be a little bit more snappy and responsive. One of the few games I played on here that is actually pretty challenging though which was nice. Yeah, the difficulty and gameplay are both pretty good.
I think I would like to see a bit more aesthetic though.
On KBM it feels a little difficult to figure out the keys, rather than WASD and then JIKL like some fighting games would have this one uses the arrow keys, which are on the other side of they keyboard so that's a little hard on the fingers. (when you're pressing adz and using the arrow keys it just doesn't fit well with your fingers. So maybe a different layout would be better)

[Game]
New New Sorpigal
[Thoughts]
Couldn't find a download for this, maybe you took it down or something. I have seen a lot of progress posted for this. You already know that the art is pretty fugly and you have some placeholders for different things, but the environment looks good. Trees could use a few more textures, and I wouldn't worry about having moving grass or anything like that. I would say to focus on the team aspect of your game. Make a town where you can upgrade their abilities and stuff like that. That's the stuff I would like to see, over AI. Just personal opinion though.

Oh wait! It has been reuploaded. Let me revise
This game is pretty big.

OK so after playing
This game is really ambitious! It has combat, some sort of town set up, items you can interact with, a really big world. Someone spent a lot of time on this thing, it really shows. I wish I could give you better feedback, but well the game is a bit big for my tastes. I guess I like my games small and focused, with one objective. Most open-world games start out this way, you know. Your goal in morrowind(?) is to escape from prison. Then you get into the real world with a quest. In fallout the goal is to make it out of the vault first. In this one you are just kindof plopped into a huge world without any context or anything. Obviously you're still developing your base assets and figuring out how you want to structure everything but I'm reviewing it as a finished game which is unfair to you. I think you are doing a good job and wish it was a bit more focused at the beginning, that's all. But that doesn't really apply to you at this stage, since this is more of a prototype. I'm rambling, but sorry. Hope you get the idea.

[Game]
Whimp the Bold
[Thoughts]
No download for this one either. Looks like takedown order central though, judging by the water icon.

[Game]
Unnamed Platformer
[Thoughts]
At last an artist! This game has a lot of polish, someone clearly spent some time making a functional tileset, sprites for each enemy, etc. The movement is a bit floaty though. Combat is pretty bad tbh, I would prefer a ranged weapon and some way to aim up or down a bit more reflexively. Spelunkey is a similar game to this, and it did a good job with the movement so maybe that's a reference the movement. Fun game though. Wish I didn't have to restart every time I died twice though. Very pretty, could be even sold in some more dev time. Certainly better than most other games in the jam.

[Game]
Card Tactix
[Thoughts]
The camera kept getting stuck on corners, would be nice if you could mouse out of what you're locked into. I see you have a sort of fog of war camera, so maybe just free up the mouse looking? Would like a short tutorial on what combustion does and how long each card takes to use. Then how many cards I have in my deck and how to use discards effectively.
Art style is serviceable. Wish there was more mechanics, obvs it's in development but two cards feels a bit shallow (even if I didn't know how to use either of them effecively). Difficulty seems about right, I couldn't just get to the end automatically. Proc gen seems to be working all right too.

[Game]
FPSpooky
[Thoughts]
So I played this earlier, I couldn't pick up the paper. The text at the end followed me when I left the room, I don't think that was intended. The controls are (I'm just going to be honest) pretty bad, you can turn faster by holding shift and it didn't really feel like I had much control over my character. Most games would allow you to turn with your mouse and still shoot (I've posted this before) by making a box which you can shoot in. Attempting to leave the box turns the character, and I thought that system worked better. This is by no means a bad game though, I enjoyed playing it and it's clearly new. Just trying to give some honest feedback!  You can of course do whatever you would like as far as the game goes.

[Game]
Sharp Mind
[Feedback]
Well I must say I was skeptical when I saw your icon for this game but it is bitching! Maybe I just have a hardon for wizard games but it was very cool and for being so young a game is quite fun. Game wasn't terribly well optimized though, I think you might want to work on that a bit. I was at 30 fps on my old old laptop but stuff like csgo I can still get 200 on. Might be out of your reach though if you're using an engine but just something to think about. It should probably be running a bit faster. That was before more enemies started spawning, mind. Very fun game though, and one of the few I'll probably keep playing after this jam is over.

[Game]
Elements Torn
[Feedback]
So I never played games like pokemon growing up, but the way this worked was pretty easy to grasp. The pixels were a big large imo, but the way the fighting worked was pretty good. Wish there was stuff like potions to revive companions. Enjoyed playing this, but it was a bit frustrating taking 3 steps and having to fight again, with no place to upgrade my units or whatnot. I mean it sounds picky but that's just what I wanted to see I guess. Not experienced in this genera though. Although I did play 30 mins of FF7 which was fun.

[Game]
Spaceship Crew Self-Defense Simulator
[Feedback]
Well it looks like shit, but was pretty good actually. I know exactly what you're trying to do, this is a hotline miami clone. The thing that made hotline miami successful was you could, if you were good enough, beat levels in like 5 seconds. This one needs a bit of lag between when they see you and when the shoot, just a split second so you can dodge. And PLEASE make the player move faster! The cool thing about HM was that you could just blaze through enemies. Also make enemies "hear" you firing too. I know I'm just egging you on to make a HM clone but these are mechanics that I really liked and uh I don't know, I'm just rambling at this point and making a really shit argument. But you know.

[Game]
Tier 1
[Feedback]
I'm just going to be honest with you, I never liked games like this so I can't give you real feedback. The scope is enormous, and players like me just don't like enormous games. Sorry. Graphics look great though and you clearly polished this thing a lot, in fact it looks close to being able to sell.

[Game]
shooty wizards
[Feedback]
Art style looks great, you clearly spent some time developing this. Gameplay feels good, I can live with taking only one hit.

BUT.

I'm sorry, but it just feels like a shooting game. Wizarding is like the coolest stylistic thing ever, you come up with different and creative spells and use them to get yourself out of sticky situations and it's super comfy. But this just feels like a shooter. I would recommend that it takes a bit of time to cast a spell, and that spells move slower, and that you have defensive and offensive spells. Can you tell that I'm a harry potter fan? But still, mate. Feels like a shooting game. A fun shooting game though. Will probably play this one after the Jam is over, and that's the best compliment I can give a game. Please change it though. I'm just autistic though so I like things to be a certain way without respecting what you want to do, so take my opinions with a block of salt.

[Game]
Aliens Go Home Run
[Feedback]
WOW. I am going to be honest, for some reason this game made me super emotional. Tears literally running down my face. I have no idea why that happened, but this game is great! Your thumbnail was so crappy and the name so poorly chosen (sorry mate, but I'm just being honest) that I thought this would be shit. But it is so amazing! So good. Wow. Really shocked at how good this is. The art is good, the gameplay is good, it could be a tad more difficult, but wow this was unexpected and man. Can't give this enough praise. Don't know why it struck such an emotional chord for me but there you are.

[Game]
Coal
[Feedback]
http://i.imgur.com/HNXTF76.png

[Game]
Catgirl Pool Party
[Feedback]
So first of all, this reminds me of that webm with the catgirl with the huge tits that was a lewd game so I'm going to be disappointed in it no matter what. Just saying.
OK I downloaded it and it doesn't work on windows for me. Oh well. Moving on!

[Game]
Everest Climbing Prototype
[Feedback]
This is my game! I'm a mathematician and don't even really have a game but I know it's unoptimized and empty. I just wanted to submit something and hear what people thought maybe so it was good motivation to get started.

[Game]
Dead Protocol MG
[Feedback]
I would like to walk a bit faster. Also enemies can walk through walls and I can shoot through them! How does that work? In fact I would like to walk a LOT faster, would like to be able to blaze through these levels wasting zombies. So you have a good idea, but the execution needs work. Also couldn't see my cursor in the main screen. Sorry for being harsh on your game, mine is a peice of crap way worse than this but you know. I'm just being honest. It's late at night. I would say nicer things but I'm tired so I apologize.

[Game]
The World
[Feedback]
403 MB! Wow. OK so. I have never seen your progress here before, so that's a bad sign. I don't think you're part of our AGDG community, so I'm going to pass up playing your game. Sorry bud.

[Game]
Arborgore
[Feedback]
This is a pretty short game. Your pixel art is beautiful. I think you did a good job on the proc gen. It was a little unclear how combat worked. I would prefer to move around smoothly I think along the XY plane, rather than snapping. Kinda hurts your hand to have to snap around all the time. Fun game though. Make the girls tits bigger pls. :D

[Game]
Super Space Jam
[Feedback]
I'm gonna be honest with you, I played this for like 2 minutes. I think it is fun, would like to be able to dodge a bit easier, it feels kinda bullet helly but usually in bullet hell games there are patterns you can hide in. But on this one it's just random so you can't really dodge very easily. THe key setup was wierd, s to switch and z to fire. I wish switch was tab and fire was click or something, I think I would like to be able to aim up and down with the mouse rather than by direction. Just personal preference. Sprites look decent, tutorial screen could use some text rather than a picture. I just couldn't read it well, sorry. Pretty fun though. More games to play though so I'm speeding through and not giving enough focus to each game like I should. Already spent 3 hours on this!

[Game]
The REM Project
[Feedback]
OK so I couldn't play this at 1366x768, the top and bottom concealed the play buttons. I am not sure I like the ship-building aspect I could see, but then again I like my games small and focused so I'm just not a good fit for your game. Sorry mate, let's just pretend I didn't say anything!

[Game]
Ctesiphon Demo
[Feedback]
(Already gave you some feedback, but I'll repost. But I did like it)
Fun game! Look sensitivity is a little weird though, like the vertical look is slightly slower than horizontal. Would be OK with the difficulty being a bit higher (taking more damage and doing less) in exchange for some faster default movement speed (like CSGO does). I just like the sensation of rushing around though like you can in Hotline Miami (kinda feels like a similar vibe). Also might suggest making the atmophere a little darker, if you are trying to go for cyberpunk
Was pretty fast-paced though, was very fun to rush though. And it worked. And it was written in java of all things! Why on earth would anyone want to do code in that!
Nice work though

[Game]
Cleft Knight
[Feedback]
Can't move, appers you need a controller. Can't review it, so sorry. I know you worked hard on it, it kinda sucks that I have to pass it up.

[Game]
Consecrated Rampage
[Feedback]
What a badass name, first of all. Second of all, let's talk about your game. With clicky fighting games like this one style is very important. You need to give the player options and comboes to just fuck shit up. It's not very fun if the player character has two moves and can't bounce around messing up enemies. This is definitely working though. And of course it's an early prototype so mostly you're just trying to figure out where the fuck to go. Anyways so that's what I have to say. Art ofc needs work but then again you're either an artist or a gameplay guy in these indie games. Games with amazing art usually have pretty shit gameplay, and vice versa. Sad but that's the way it is I suppose. The screen shake was a bit much but the fighting wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound. It was just fine. Don't let me get you down.

[Game]
Crystal Chialis
[Feedback]
(Reposting)
Fun game, pretty high-quality for an indie game
Could see the body sprite when I looked down though. Also the screen cut off the top and bottom, I think what happened was your HUD stuff was at an absolute resolution. I was playing at a lower-res 16:9 resolution and couldn't see health or what was at the bottom
Nice work though, liked the style of the enemys and the controls were good

[Game]
GunMetal
[Feedback]
This game is a lesson in kiting enemies so far. I just ran arond in circles killing enemies. Got a few frame dips. Obviously this is just in development and it'll be something like a doom game when finished. I enjoyed it though. Art looked ok. Never seen it on /agdg/ though, are you not a part of our community possibly? I am not here all the time though so maybe not.

[Game]
Pinblast
[Feedback]
I'm going to be honest with you, I did not like this idea from when I saw you first post it. I like pinball games and I like shooting games but I thought this would not be to my tastes. But it doesn't really matter because I can't play it on windows, so I can't give you feedback! I am sorry mate, I am just shitting on your game but I know you have worked hard on it so I'm sorry. I'm just sorry, lad.

[Game]
Project Wingman
[Feedback]
So. This game is the goldmine you've been sitting on for quite a while. Everybody on PC is literally starved for a flying game and you haven't even released this! I mean we have GTA V but not real air combat! Gosh. Makes my heart hurt. I'm just typing some stuff you while I wait for it to finish downloading. 500 mb is quite large, mate.
OK I've finished downloading. I can't run it at a decent framerate on my shitty integrated graphics, so I'm going to have to wait until I can get it on my 1060 build at home. Looking forward to playing it though.

[Game]
Insect Adventure
[Feedback]
So I'm getting pretty tired of doing this, and my feedback is going to be kinda shit. But I'll tell you what I saw.
I couldn't get up that first level on the left. Your sprites are cute. Your artwork is looking very nice. Wish there was more to the combat than just the one hit. Felt kinda like a spelunkey game. You might want to model it after this indie game Saira. I really liked that one, it was unique and quite similar to yours but very fun. I think you might learn a lot from it if you spend a few hours in it (it's not fun at the beginning so you might need to grind a bit). Anyways that's what I have to say about your game.

[Game]
Umbrella Warriors
[Feedback]
Before playing, I'll say this game looks awesome, as it always has. Reminds me of that Commando game on Miniclip from all those years ago.
Now that I have played it, wow, it is better than I was expecting! It is so damn high quality, the animations, the sprite work, the effects. You are not an amateur game developer! This game is ready for serious production. Looks great, and I don't have anything mean to say except that I think I would prefer to aim with the mouse rather thana the arrow keys. That's all. Very well-made game.

[Game]
Clarent
[Feedback]
So this game was made by a team, as I understand it. I've already posted some feedback, but it was just basically saying I couldn't figure out how to use abilities and would prefer some sort of tutorial text for it. The style looks amazing, and so does the art, of course. This is a very high-quality game though, and the progress you post always looks good.

[Game]
LUZ
[Feedback]
I have no clue what is going on in this game, but I imagine it's showing off your physics ad level generation and shaders. And they all look cool. The stars, though, don't appear to be a skybox but actual points in space. I think I would recommend against that, that can be very taxing on computers and it also is unrealistic because real stars don't move around relative to eachother. They're so far away they look perfectly still when you move around. Couldn't see much with the different shader settings, but I don't really think that was the point. I think this was showing off your level generation. And I can tell you that that level generation looks fantastic!

[Game]
World of Horror
[Feedback]
I posted about this yesterday. I think it's a bit cluttered and doesn't make sense and events are all over the place. Also don't feel like I have any control over the world. It's just not my type of game though, and some players just aren't going to like your games and that's OK! You do you. That's just how I feel about it. Art does look like ito's style. Wish it were a bit more understandable and creepy. Go for focus! Make a narrative.

[Game]
therobot
[Feedback]
This game looks and feels great.  I couldn't get past the part with the barrel and the minecart though, so I didn't get very far. Fun though. Sorry I couldn't give you any better feedback than that. Wish the movement was a tiny bit faster.

[Game]
Monolith
[Feedback]
Couldn't play. Fuzzy stuff on the side of screen and the rest is black. Sucks, because I know you put a lot of hard work into it. Sorry mate.