Piece's reviews

(I played these in reverse order)

WetWookie - We Live Under The Stairs
Wookie gives us a prequel to the prequel, further deepening the lore of his weird creepy world.
I really enjoyed this one, not necessarily for the gameplay but because it was captivating.
It's an escape the room esque game with the goal of opening the fridge in your home so you don't
starve to death. I personally love the dark themes that wookie incorporates into his games. He went
pretty deep into it this time, with a rather shocking sequence near the end that left me a little uncomfortable.
Music choice compliments the atmosphere very well here. (The atmosphere is also very good).
The main thing that set this game back was that it got a bit obnoxious having to run through the same
rooms all the time trying to find where to use an item. I think it would have been cool if the way you use
the items were more of a puzzle than "try using it on everything until it works". For some items it was clear what
to do, but for the ones that it wasn't I found myself jumping over mom's awfully slow eyeballs a lot.
I find though that this game is definitely more for the experience than for the platforming itself.
Would spook again.
Theme: 8/10
Level Design: 4/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Audio: 9/10
Overall: 7/10

Lumi - I wanna return to Vibrance
There's quite a lot to say about this one.
First of all, it's clear that the maker put considerable effort into it. There are also some great
production value bits. Whether or not it looks "good" is up for debate I suppose, but it picked a style and executed it well.
I think that there are a few major problems with the actual design in this game, however.
The one thing that bothered me the most was that it kind of overuses player-aimed hazards.
In both stages there are things that move toward the player at all times, and this really bothered me because
the platforming has so many moving parts to it and you have no time to wait around. And yet so many of
the obstacles are timing based. This made almost every save in the game kind of obnoxious and I found myself
breathing a sigh of relief after finishing a save instead of thinking "that was fun". Speaking of saves,
I think the game is a bit too stingy with save points. Some sections are really long and the platforming is
definitely not easy. I found myself needing to use the save hotkey at one point because there was an obstacle
at the very end of a save that I actually had no idea how to do. I ended up saving right before it and brute forced my way through.
Short sidenote: I would really have preferred if restarting was instant instead of having a fade-in every time.
There are two bosses in this game. One of them I thought was a fun challenge - the baby - and the other one was
a bit too learn-heavy and left a bad taste in my mouth. It had four phases and the very last phase was where I gave up
and used god mode to beat the boss. Its projectiles are blue and blend in with the background which was a bit offputting
but didn't make the boss unplayable. What did me in though was how everything is shot towards you so quickly that you
are given basically no reaction time. It doesn't help that the hand comes towards you from offscreen.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike the game, but the things I mentioned above made it less fun than I think it could be if the game was ironed out.
Nonetheless, it was a very unique submission and if these issues are fixed I think it's definitely worth playing.
Theme: 8/10
Level Design: 5/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Audio: 8/10
Overall: 6/10

Haegoe - Phobophobia
An epic quest to remove the two great tyrants from the land: evil sonic, and... a warp.
It's nice that you were honest about rushing the game, but I still think it's pretty good in its
current state. It's a barebones, simple adventure game. The one stage you have (and the one screen from the
2nd stage) is well-designed for the most part and flowed well. One thing I noticed is that it felt like
the hitbox is wrong on the evil spike, but it may have just been me.
Production wise, there isn't too much going on. The sonic boss is nice looking, but most other things are just rooms.
The actual bosses themselves are fine. Sonic was more fun than the warp because I felt like it had more interesting
attacks, but there wasn't much wrong with the warp boss besides that it was a bit slow.
(Also, it's a bit inconsistent that you can't shoot the white apples in the 2nd phase).
Theme: 6/10
Level Design: 7/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Audio: 8/10
Overall: 6/10

Kingslendy - Kid Story
This is a very well polished submission. It's another escape the room game, and this time the focus
is entirely on that aspect - to the point where there isn't any platforming at all. Considering that it's
still a fangame, I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any platforming challenges or bosses to be seen.
I also found it to be incredibly easy, with all of the puzzles being solved just by interacting with everything.
With the one exception being the library flower pedestal puzzle, which was kind of clever but still very easy.
The atmosphere and audio were great, and it was good enough that despite the lacking gameplay, I still enjoyed it
quite a lot. I would encourage you to expand on this project since I think there's some potential beyond what you have.
Perhaps you could throw in an undertale-esque battle system, or something.
Theme: 7/10
Level Design: 4/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Audio: 10/10
Overall: 7/10

RandomErik - I Wanna Travel the Night
This is basically a sequel to last year's game, and it doesn't disappoint!
It's quite a meaty adventure game clocking in at 5 stages with bosses (and minibosses).
The overall presentation is exactly what you would expect from Erik. Great artwork, amusing sound effects,
and plenty of jokes and references. The humor in this game is really well done actually, with one trap making
me laugh out loud. The intro to the game is also top notch. You had me already with the text-to-speech but the writing is,
well, so beautiful that it deserves an oscar. No, it deserves two oscars.
Concering the gameplay, there is very little to complain about. The levels are really well made for the most part,
following some clever design principles and incorporating the gimmicks well. There was only one part that made me
go "huh?", and it was a graphical glitch on the last screen of the factory stage where some minispikes were invisible,
presumably accidentally hidden behind the background tiles. I think he already knows about this though, so yeah.
As one would expect from Erik, the bosses are very good. The attacks remain interesting while still being fair and keeping
the difficulty consistent. I liked the inclusion of minibosses this time, it added a nice touch to the flow
of your levels. The best bosses are both in the factory stage, with the miniboss having a really cool dynamic and the
main boss being a sick reference and a memorable fight. I would say at this point that Erik is one of the best boss-makers we have.
Obviously, as he mentioned in his readme, the final segment of the game feels rushed and unfinished. I won't deduct any points
for this because I think the rest of the game is great, and he made it clear that he intends to fix it for the release version.
If I had one suggestion, it would be to give the last stage a new look, since it resembles the factory stage a little bit
too closely IMO. I think it could also stand to be a bit longer, since it only took me a few minutes to get to the top and
I was already at the last boss.
Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this one. Great job as always!
Theme: 7/10
Level Design: 9/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Audio: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Smartkin - I wanna return from silent hill
This is definitely an ambitious project. Despite the lack of content, what's there is already very good and I'll say I look forward
to the full game! What we have here is a demo for an exploration-type fangame with a unique approach to combat that I think works really well. The limited shots on the gun really makes you think about what you need to use it on. The platforming itself is not hard, but it was interesting enough to keep me involved. I have a few suggestions about the system: first, I think the player should automatically equip any new weapons they get. I didn't know I could even use the bloody pipe outside of smashing the boxes and I ended up using all my gun ammo to kill the enemies in the first stage. This turned out pretty bad for me because the boss is not forgiving for melee. I think it would be a good idea to increase the boss's vulnerability time since for some attacks I would be lucky to get one hit on him before he started moving again.
My other suggestion is to add a black/red/something outline to the crosshairs since it's a bit hard to see which enemy you're aiming at sometimes.
Aside from those two points, the gameplay was solid. I think you have a good skeleton to design a full game around.
The presentation of the game is fantastic, and I can tell that this is where most of the work went towards. I love the text box animations (though I think they could stand to be a bit shorter), the menu system is great, the map is very good, everything looks polished. I really commend you on the effort you put into the production aspects. Oh, and the "truth" room was a great reference.
Theme: 8/10
Level Design: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Audio: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

Mattinj - I wanna play kiduija
This game is incredible. I honestly think it might be better than Mattin's game from last year, which was a feat in itself.
Out of the games I've played so far, this one makes the best use of the "fear" theme. The HP bar being a fear meter was a really nice
touch and it worked well with the game's design. The final boss using the kid's four biggest fears to attack him was pretty funny and
made for a really memorable fight. One thing I would say about the final boss though is that the shooting phases might be too slow.
The atmosphere and production value is basically perfect. Everything looks amazing and there are even some awesome 3D effects.
I liked the way you had the player explore a large mansion, it reminded me of the castlevania games. The world layout is good with some
puzzles sprinkled around and shortcuts for backtracking. One thing though that I think the game could use is a map, because at one point I got lost and had to backtrack through a few areas before I found a way I hadn't gone. It's not a big deal, but it flustered me a bit not knowing what to do. One last small thing - the vines might be too hard to notice when you first encounter them. I saw them right away, but they blend in with the tileset a little so some people might not notice them. I'm just nitpicking at this point though.
Really, it's just a great experience of a game. The gimmicks were fun, the controls were good, and the bosses were intense and interesting.
Would buy on steam.
Theme: 10/10
Level design: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Audio: 9/10
Overall: 10/10

Cosmoing - I wanna go trick-or-treating
I liked the premise behind this game. Having the kid get over his fear of spooky trees is a good use of the theme.
The atmosphere and production value of the game were also well done. The central gimmick of fear slowing you down is pretty interesting, but I definitely think more could have been done with it. Obviously, since he only had a month to make the game, I won't put it against him. What's there is a nice little game where the kid explores a forest and defeats the head honcho tree using candy.
Some suggestions: I think the candy and fear meters shouldn't be under the kid all the time. It might be better if they were in the corner of the screen. Also, I wasn't a big fan of the way you damage the boss. If you miss once with the candy, you need to restart, and this got a bit annoying. I think there should be some sort of way to reload your candy gun during the boss fight. Other than that though the boss was actually really cool, I liked the idea of having to find which tree the boss overtook.
I can't really think of anything else to add to the review, so I'll end it here. Thanks for the submission!
Theme: 9/10
Level design: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Audio: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Neos - I wanna get freedom
I appreciate the classic adventure game feel you have going on with this game. It doesn't do anything revolutionary, but what it does it does decently well. There isn't any story, but you know, it's a fangame so whatever. What I care about the most is that the game is fun to play. I think the level design is pretty good in this game, but it might actually be better if it was a bit more challenging. In the 2nd stage, for example, I was just mindlessly running through until I got to the boss. I couldn't remember a single screen of either area even after finishing the game, and that's a sign that maybe the platforming needs to be spiced up a bit. I thought the first boss had some cool attacks, but it takes too long for it to actually do them. I killed the boss during the second phase before it even got to attack. It also has an attack where it lingers up at the top of the screen and you can't damage it, which is usually not a great design choice for bosses, because it makes the player wait around.
I won't comment much on the second boss since he mentions in the readme that it's unfinished, but it seems alright from what I played.
I think the production value was well done. The areas looked good and the effects were nice. The lighting was a good touch as well.
Overall, it's an inoffensive adventure game. Maybe plays a bit too safe with its design, but I would say I still had fun playing.
Theme: 6/10
Level design: 6/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Audio: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Arthurtheguy - I wanna escape the mansion
More voice acting!
This game has a good style to it. The text box is cool, the death effect is funny, and the graphics look good.
The main gimmick is a gun that fires a large bullet and recoils you backwards for a short time. I think this is a cool
weapon and it leads to some nice level design. The platforming is fair and challenging for the most part, with some clever use of the push blocks.
Most of the difficulty comes from the boss. It makes good use of the central gimmick, but there are some parts where it feels like
you can die unfairly. For example, when the boss moves across the screen you need to jump and propel yourself over him, but you can die
if there are small rocks falling from the ceiling and one is in your way. Despite this, I thought it was a fun boss.
He's already released the game so there isn't much point in giving a ton of feedback. I look forward to more games from him!
Theme: 6/10
Level design: 7/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Audio: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Asza - I wanna enjoy my yellow shoes 2
There's a lot to like about this game. Its style and plotline are charming and the level design explores the gimmicks in a fun and
challenging way. I think it went wrong in a few places though and that could put off some people playing the game.
The design is creative, but in some parts it feels needlessly precise. i.e. the precision doesn't add anything to the segment.
For example, in one save there is a 2-block trick corner that serves no purpose other than to wall a player who doesn't know about the
2-block trick. The bubble drop save, while really interesting, was too precise to pull off with the timer you give for the "curse".
I would probably recommend you increase the timer a little on the curse (and maybe the drowning in the water level too) so that this is more lenient. I would also ease up some of the space you give for the bubble drop, because it's quite a long and learny segment.
As for the curse gimmick, I think it's neat but you didn't introduce me to it, you just threw me into a segment utilizing everything.
One of the best principles of level design is that when you give the player something new, you need to ease them into it. A short segment showing that it ticks down when i'm in the air, followed by a segment showing that vines refresh it, and finally a segment that shows red vines don't refresh would do wonders.
In the water stage, I would give the jellyfish a short tell showing which direction they are going to float before they go. It would make dying to them feel less unfair. Also that giant room with the whales didn't seem to serve any purpose to me and it just confused me because I didn't look for the
bubble on the bottom at first. Maybe put some challenging obstacles guiding the player in there? It's just a weird segment.
The lasers in the last stage were good, just a bit too precise in some spots I felt. It wasn't bad though.
The final chase was a nice touch with the blood on the walls. The actual platforming also isn't bad compared to the rest of the stage.
Your boss is pretty simple but decent enough. If you're going to keep working on this game it might be cool if you added a second phase to it, but I understand if you don't want to.
To sum up, I liked the way you used the gimmicks for the most part in your level design, it should just be loosened up a little bit.
Theme: 6/10
Level design: 8/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Audio: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Lss - I wanna be the graverobber
Out of all the submissions we got, I think this one oozes the most charm. The story is so goofy but it works perfectly, and the way you
build up courage to do things is a great use of the theme. What I loved the most though was how you made every grave feel special. I was actually excited every time I went into a new one because I wanted to see what you would do with them. And don't get me started on Molestey's grave...
Even aside from the humor and the creativity, it is super polished. The game looks beautiful and the use of sound effects is great too.
Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about this game. I liked every part of it. Even before you get into the graveyard there's a good moth meme that made me chuckle. And the attention to detail on everything is perfect, down to the kid progressing through K3 in the credits sequence. (I think the kid is Stonk, by the way, because he clears the game in one sitting).
I have nothing else to say really other than I wish it was longer. Awesome game!
Theme: 9/10
Level design: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Audio: 10/10
Overall: 10/10

FictioN - I don't wanna hide when it's dark outside
This was a trip down memory lane for me. I used to love the Pajama Sam games when I was younger. People who haven't played the first Pajama Sam might not understand how it fits the theme, but it was about getting over your fear of the darkness. That's a great idea to make a game out of.
Obviously, this game wasn't made by the most skilled of programmers. That's okay, we all start somewhere. If this was your first fangame, I think it's pretty decent! It was well-balanced and stuck to a theme. And the ending made me laugh.
If you want to continue making fangames in the future, there's a lot of things you can do to make them look and feel better.
Putting the 2D kid in a 3D environment almost never goes well. Thankfully you only had it as an overworld, but it still feels clunky to walk through.
I can see why you just took backgrounds from Pajama Sam because they would be basically impossible to recreate in 2D. What I would have done is made an overworld version of the kid that can walk around on the map.
Another thing that helps a lot is having things be animated. I'm not sure how exactly I would have done that in this case since there doesn't seem to be actual sprites for Pajama Sam out there, but in the future it's a good thing to keep in mind.
Anyway, it was a decent effort, and a good use of the theme.
Theme: 9/10
Level design: 5/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Audio: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

Trelaxium - Endless Mirage
This game basically speaks for itself. Everything is self-made - and it looks amazing.
I think it's astounding just how good Alex has become at making production value. And the fact that this was made by one person in a month is pretty crazy. The graphics are 10/10. Sound effects are a little primitive (probably made with bfxr) but they work. The music is good too, and added well to the atmosphere.
There are some cool things going on as well with the level design. The enemies actually add to the level instead of just being "there", and there is a good mix of short and long segments. If you wanted this to be good for casual players, it might be a good idea to ease up on some of the instant-death things near the end of long segments. I died like that several times and it got a little frustrating sometimes. Notably, in the puzzle box room I kept dying to the boxes by being crushed and forced to restart and do the first puzzle again. Not a big deal, but it felt a little tedious.
I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, but I kept finding myself missing my charge shots. Some of the enemies like the ninja fruit are fast and small and I had a hard time aiming at them. Maybe if you make this into a full game (which you absolutely should), you can add an upgrade to make the charge shot bigger? Just an idea.
Let's talk about the boss, because I think this was the best part of the game. It's a block monster that moves around the screen, and you need to shoot the eye to damage it. I love basically everything about the boss because it has everything a good boss should have. It immediately teaches you that you can't hit its eye when there are spikes when it starts, which is useful because the player already knows about it when it happens later on in the fight, reducing confusion.
It has different phases that all behave differently and are interesting. Its movement is predictable and able to be reacted to. The projectiles it fires are just enough to add challenge but not make it unfair. Basically, I had a lot of fun with it and I think it might be my favourite boss in all of the submissions we've had.
I'll wrap up by saying that this is a great prototype for a real game. Like actually a real one. Looking at the amount of self-made content I could even imagine selling it, but that's entirely up to you. Anyway, really great job.
Theme: 8/10
Level design: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Audio: 8/10
Overall: 10/10

Lovey01 - I wanna rid the black mist
Well this is certainly interesting. There are some good things going on here like cutscenes and dynamic sound effects, but I found that there were also a lot of problems. The very first thing I thought when starting the game was "ouch, my eyes". That's because there's a seizure inducing flash effect in the background. This establishes a running theme with this game, where the visuals kind of bring it down. Granted, I can see some decent effort that went into the production value; particle effects and such were used well. The problem lies mainly in that the game is hard to look at.
The triggers, for example, are very hard to see sometimes. I got lost on one save because I didn't notice that a trigger had spawned next to the save point.
This is a major problem in the spotlight stage, because 90% of the screen is pitch black and even the background is quite dark. If the background was pure white it may have been better. There is also one save in that stage with falling platforms, but I could barely even see the platforms. I get that limited vision is a theme, but there is a good way and a bad way to do it. I think the last boss was an interesting idea, though perhaps it would have been nice to have a guider on where the triggers are, or at least an indication that the exit was open. I ended up zig-zagging along every row which got a little tedious.
As for the platforming itself, I think it's okay. Not bad really, but not very exciting. There were a few things about the design that bothered me as I played. The platform cycle on the first screen with the shoot blocks was too fast and I had to wait every time for the platform to come back. There are also some unclear screen transitions, such as one point where you hug a wall and there is a random opening, or where there is a warp at one specific point in the ceiling.
What are some things I liked? The sprite on the turret was awesome, though I might turn down the shooting sound it makes since it's pretty loud. Some of the sound effects were good, such as the sound for the shoot blocks. The music was pretty fitting for the mood you're trying to invoke, although I found a few of the tracks somewhat irritating. The game had a unique feel to it, and I like the somewhat artistic direction you took.
I don't think this is a bad game. It's got a lot of issues but I didn't have to use the dev tools or anything, and it's clear that effort was put in. And I don't know if this is your first fangame or not, but I encourage you to use this feedback to improve. There's plenty of potential in what you can do already.
Theme: 8/10
Level design: 5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Audio: 6/10
Overall: 5/10

Arzzt - A Minimal Adventure
This was the last game I played out of all of them, and I was honestly kind of happy that he just completely disregarded the theme.
Nothing against the other submissions, I was just a bit tired of playing spooky games.
This is a really simple game, but there is nothing wrong with that. The best thing you can do as a newer game maker is to go simple.
There are three platforming stages, each with a central gimmick. I liked the NANC callback on the second stage.
The level design is pretty solid, making good use of the obstacles. The last room that was split in 3 parts was a good final segment.
The visuals are also simple, but they work well. (and fit the title of the game, I suppose).
The only downside really is that it isn't super memorable, but that's okay. What's important is that you have a good handle on design and difficulty balance.
Theme: 1/10
Level design: 8/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Audio: 6/10
Overall: 6/10