Stopsignal's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Parabellum Rain]

Well, i quite like it!!
The artstyle is really good (very invader zimesque) and it's got some fun ideas. Specially liked how the game would reward exploration and have many different things to buy and places to go, making the world feel quite organic. I always felt as i missed stuff and the world was probably bigger than it was, which is quite cool. Makes me want to replay it, just to check out what's out there.

The art clearly took a TON of work and it shows. The world feels cohesive. It certainly looks like a place that sucks to live on, which is what you were going for, hahahah
Only comment would be that i didn't know what was a platform and what wasn't sometimes! Maybe a more consistent outline width on what can be walked on and what can't would have helped a lot there.

And the music is fantastic!!! It all works together to make it feel like a little world.

I didn't explore much, however, because the walking and jumping felt quite sluggish and bothersome, can't lie there. And the character is so big, walking down diagonal platforms while lasers ran down on me was quite hard!

The bosses were really cool, and not too hard at all. The designs were awesome too, quite the style!
The only boss who felt unfair was the last one, as the random patterns of movement (and the character's really slow walking speed) meant i got hit a lot whithout really being able to do anything about it. It probably wouldn't have meant much, but the cutscene when replaying the fight was a bit long, hahahah. Cool animation though!

Now, on the story and dialogue:
Characters most of the time felt as if they had the same voice, and patterns of speaking. Can't really describe this well, as i'm no writer (and i do the same too)

The main characters themselves, though relatable, weren't really likable, at least for me.

I didn't get what you were going for there, with the politics. I can see the game dislikes the office drone life, and corporation's exploitation of people, yet it also dislikes riots and revolutions, because they are too extremist? Is it approving or disapproving of the main character's apathy towards all of this? Is it just saying that status quo and no extremism is the best way to do things, even when we are all living in some quite complicated times? (i don't have to say what, just go to any social media and check the news)

I do have a brick instead of a brain so maybe i can't see it. It's fine i'm a bit dumb when trying to get the point of stories. But the dialogues are so direct in what they are trying to say i feel weird to have missed the point of it.

Anyways, this was clearly a fuck ton of effort from you guys!!! Best of luck, hope you win many awards for it this month!!! Also, it's really awesome to see the designer's progress through all of this. Keep it up, dude!

DaShahRach00 responds:

Ah, I'm glad you liked the art. I think it's the most appealing aspect of the game! We worked a lot with Kotico to try to create a visually interesting universe. And he was very good at what he did. Same for the music; I really like Connor's soundtrack too ! I'm glad you like what they did

Hm, it's true that the character is quite slow and a bit of a drag. We're going to try to make the raindrop hitboxes bigger so that jumping on them is more enjoyable, and maybe speed up the game a bit! The game wasn't designed to be so gameplay-centric when we started, but the playtesters really liked the rain-jumping mechanic, so I thought I had to capitalize on it and the level design had to be centered around exploration. That's why exploration is so rewarded, by the way ahah
If you come back to the game, try to buy items you didn't buy in your first playthrough; quite a few things have consequences for your run ! You may also have missed some dialogues since you can speak to each character several times!
Hm, we're going to rework the final boss (and the final area, the one with the elevator where you have to go up, and there are saws and cameras. I find it poorly designed cuz lack of time), but yeah you're absolutely right.
I'm glad you like their design too!! Hm, yes, it could be due to the translation; I'm not an native,
and the translators either, I feel that the translation has lost some soul of the text, but I wouldn't know how, nor in what way to correct that given my too low level in English

As for the story itself, I didn't want people to be able to understand the game's political stance, but I simply have messages to convey about politics. I prefer when things are not one sided, and that many views are mixed to give a work which shows different perspectives (this does not mean that I am not on one side)
so everyone will make up their own story by reading the text according to their political preferences. But if you want to know; yeah i think Izmael is a bad character, him and his umbrella, because they are selfish, and even if Izmael has a self-reflection, that's not enough to make him a good character. The world is rotten, so the game rewards them at the end for being neutral and Machiavellian (in the sense that he only does things out of self-interest)
And the reward is the same as all the ones we've received throughout the game: a simple check.
Izmael and the umbrella aren't meant to be pleasant or sympathetic, I just wanted their relationship and their adventure to be interesting, I hope I managed that at least xD!
Regarding the overall message about extremism and capitalism, as well as revolutions, I condemn the economic model and hold it responsible for fascism and violence, which the game also condemns. The game doesn't condemn the revolution, but the way it's done. The revolution doesn't fail because the idea to revolt is bad, but because it's poorly done. If you talk to the NPCs, you'll see that the majority of them don't seem invested or don't understand what's going on.

In addition, the anarchist leader doesn't wait for all the people's opinion or want their approval to launch the revolution. And he himself is confused and impatient with someone who has a different point of view.
The game doesn't condemn or mock radicalism because that's how things move forward and change. What it does condemn, however, is the closed-mindedness and authoritarianism that can exist in revolutionary movements, which leads to the failure of the revolution.

Anyway, thank you very much for this long review, I hope this answer will be enough to answer your questions!! And thank you for the feedback, we will work to make it a better game. Even though it's a big game, I always try to experiment with new concepts, new ideas and even strange stories, I always try to implement some part of experimentation and innovation, it's cool, but the risks that people don't like it are higher!! Thank you for playing, and thank you for the review again dude :)

[Babel Adventure]

Hello! DaShahRach00 asked for a review, so il go a little bit in depth!

I see this as some kind of I wanna be the guy-esque lite game (a simple game with easy rules with high difficulty and lots of "gotcha" moments)

First, the positives!
I really like the art, and the weird theme in general. The main character looks great, and every sprite has a good size for this type of game and convey good character! I even think it should have been pushed a lot more.
I also liked the variety of obstacles, and how well timed some of the traps were, even considering that the enemies are always consistent to their rules (though sometimes these are kinda broken, like the enemy hiding under the stairs, it's just for a gotcha that only works once). It felt satisfying to beat some of the levels!

Now, the negatives! (and this will probably be long, but don't take that as a negative, just giving feedback! Can't give much feedback about the good things, they are already good lol)

First thing that I realized is that it seems some of the art wasn't made with the camera resolution in mind, and therefore some pixels are missing sometimes, specially in thin stuff, like vines or character's hairs. Something to consider for next game!

The next point is, ironically, feedback: I think the game lacks a lot of it.
Starting with the main character, i think an important part of a game must be that just controlling the character must feel good. Things like squashing and stretching the character when he jumps or lands, giving him an extra bouncy/satisfying animation when moving or with any interaction, maybe even dust when he jumps, whatever to make him feel more grounded In the world of the game, and responsive to the player.
If I'm hit, I need to feel like it, the camera could rumble, there could be a loud punching sound or a scream, the character could flash white, and become transparent while invincible. Thinks like that would add a lot already!

Enemy feedback could also help. I think shooting enemies, if they don't shoot every 2 seconds or less, should have a windup animation to their shots (I know this is subjective). I think it's a good opportunity to add character to the enemy and also give information to the player.
Spikes rumbling before going up, to signal the eye better, a warning before an enemy spawns on the side of the screen, a rumble before shooting, stuff like that helps!

Some gotcha enemies were too annoying. The birds spawning on the side of the screen felt too assholeish. I can see it's one of this game's traps, and I know different people like that sort of gameplay (I mean, IWBTG, kaizo Mari, stuff like that has its audience). Personally I don't vibe with that kind of stuff, even If I know how tempting it is to do so as a designer. I try to balance having fun myself with how fun it will be for the player. If I sense the player will think "oh, this designer definitely thinks they are clever" I try to avoid it. (unless the result is not that severe, but in this case it kills you, so it is)
The tendril of the final boss, the king, was that kind of annoying too, personally.

About the design, I liked the coins and how it was a challenge to grab them, but I ended up seeing it as a losing proposition, I'd die more grabbing the coins, and I would end up losing them all. It was faster and easier to just go up and ignore them after a while.
Also, some better sound and feedback to grabbing a coin could be nice. They *must* feel satisfying to grab! Make them make a satisfying sound, fly up faster, then slowly stop, and probable flash white while doing so, or something like that!

I guess I would forego shops and just make a few items a pickup? This could also give you more space to make puzzles. Maybe make coins just an achievement thing.

Checkpoints were a bit far apart, it was kind of annoying. I know it's the genre, but I would have appreciated longer single levels with a checkpoint between each, rather than a checkpoint every three short levels or so. With maybe, "boss" longer levels for every end of a segment?

Also I think you should leave the screen completely before appearing in the other side, as to not make the teleport obvious

Also, in a game that you'll be dying a lot in, I'd like deaths to be more fun! Make some particles fly, make the guy fall down, make the whole screen rumble and stuff! And don't even bring me to another screen, just let me press R to restart really fast, because again, I'll be dying a lot!

Commenting about art, I quite liked it! I wish there was more and more polished animation, showing more character and personality.
Also I think I would have made the floors black, and most units dark, while leaving the backgrounds bright. That along a really limited palette could have emphasized the tone you guys are going for, imo!

Sound design could have been a bit punchier IMO, but I don't know much about the topic so that's all I can say!

I think that's it. I liked it! Specially the art and tone. I'm glad the visual character of the game was emphasized because with games that are short and simple it's what will stick in your head the most. I'd wish there was a lot more polish in the feeling and feedback of the game, but it still works!

I'd focus on more art and animation for the next time, and polishing that feedback.

DaShahRach00 responds:

I thank you very much for having done such a long review, the points you raised are very interesting. The game-feel in terms of the character is not very good, you are absolutely right. And in fact all the sprites were made to fairly random sizes !
I understand that you find checkpoints annoying. I actually thought about doing as you said, I don't really remember when I changed my mind about that.
I will pay attention to making better visual effects for the next games! Even if my own animation skills are very limited ha ha
And you understood very well my sources of inspiration, I am a big lover of i wanna be the guy and syobon action ah ah
Enemies with a design and patterns as special as the burnade (the bird) will be much less punishing, but I think there is something to playing on enemies with "impressive" patterns!
In any case, thank you for everything, I'm glad you liked the game despite all these flaws :)

[Handle With Care]

ohhhh yes i love this

EDIT: though using the little dude to build the machine feels quite cumbersome! i wish i could just use the mouse instead! It's extremely hard to choose what to place if there are many things together.

I did end up being able to deliver the cake with a flying machine so i feel pretty good though, hahahah
I think the mechanics weren't really built for that? The umbrella feels quite weird, does it only lower your falling speed, or something?

Frogrammer responds:

thanks! yes if we release an update in some future, it will have mouse controls instead and umbrellas activate on a key

[Gooby]

Extremely charming, as always! Helped gooby sit on his throne next to his dad!

Guy-Unger responds:

thank you stopsignal <3

['Curse of the Sock']

Greetings!! I said i was gonna write one so i will!
Love the game! I love bite sized cool things like this, specially when they are filled with personality, hahaha

Some really small nitpicks:
Took me a while to get used to the controls, can't lie! Jumping on ladders specially!
Some dirt tiles have some seams! You can see where it does the tile effect, a little bit.
If you spam the attack button, sometimes the animation borks and it doesn't attack!
The part where the swinging axes and the platforms with spikes are introduced has a checkpoint that is a bit punishing! (going all the way to the start)

That's it! Loved the music and the personality, wished there was an ending drawn so i could see what happens after that, as i liked the character, hahahaha
I think with really simple castlevania-like controls there is quite a lot of possibility, as there is quite a beauty in how simple it controls, so looking forward for more, if you continue!
Saludos desde Uruguay!

Butzbo responds:

Great you took the time to drop the review!
Also I always appreciate these comments on details from the game:
-Funny just how much I understimated the difficuly of just jumping into a ladder, I've been still tweaking that detail over multiple iterations, on the last update I just made a few of them longer to help out a bit more, hahah.
-Good eye on the tiles too, I like how the tiles worked out but I'm still finding a few parts where I messed up lol.
-Oh! and I just made an extra update with an ending so it makes a liiitle more sense now, also hinting at a possible expansion, hahah!

Glad you liked it! Saludos desde Santiago! :)

[The Interview Codex]

I always enjoyed that interviews. This makes everything better.

DeathInk, you rock.

deathink responds:

"I do a considerable amount of rolling too"-toonhole