Kajenx's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cavern]

I gave up on level 7 as well. I saw that you made some changes to it. are you sure you put the locked pieces in the right place? I found what seemed like the only solution that would fit the completely while piece in there, and I couldn't get one of the other tiles to fit no matter what I did.

Game as a whole is kinda interesting, but I won a number of levels without completely understanding why haha. I think the beginning part was a bit odd, too. I could see it turning some people away from the game.

TurkeyOnAStick responds:

Hey, yeah, my original plan with the the start was that the cave would be labyrinthine, and that the player would be both navigating a maze, chalking their passage while uncovering the hints to what lays at the end .... and THEN the game does a 180 and it becomes a puzzle game. That didn't happen, so we typically end up with some naff puzzles at the beginning.

Level 7 ... I think it mostly comes down to us hurriedly resolving problems post-submission, so we redid the puzzle (from spinning to swapping) and locked a few tiles to ensure there was only a single solution.

And yeah, I'm sure some people solved a few puzzles without knowing what's going on! I was hoping to avoid using text or a familiar number system, because I thought it'd be weird for an ancient/alien civilisation to talk in English (plus the game becomes multi-lingual!). But there comes a point when there's only so many tokens you have on the screen without it being a completely confusing mess that somebody has to code.

... this is probably a longer reply than you expected (or I intended), but what the hey. I'm really happy this has pulled lots of views, but also think there's some potential or ideas that's missing.

[Gravity Den]

Cool idea, but omg, it's so frustrating! Haha... Not my kinda game, but it's quality, I think. I played about half the levels, but on level 2 (14th try) I was like, "Ok, no stars, just go for the exit." Then even that was like, "...no" on the next few levels. XD

Denver2003 responds:

Thank you for review)

[Koan]

Interesting end, haha. The game wasn't the most fun, but I enjoyed it for the most part. I liked how you put together the ideas and made the levels reflect various concepts. Kept me playing. :)

[ALZ]

Right arrow, the game! Would have worked better as a video, I think.

dylan responds:

whoawhoawhoa, let's not be hasty. There's totally some spacebar action in there too

[SNATA]

Haha, I liked it. :3 Nice levels, and it wasn't too long for the content. ^^

[OFFS3T game]

Kinda fun. :)

[Labyrinth: SoS]

It's actually pretty fun, and I liked the character's ridiculous jump animation, haha. I think the randomizer for the levels needs work, though. It's a bit like someone just when into MSPaint and used the airbrush to place tiles, haha. Treasure chest were often stuck in the walls and stuff. Maybe this is actually secrets? I just thought of that lol, but it doesn't clue you in to how to find them, so I'm not so sure.

Luckily the controls were fun enough to keep it interesting, and the art and music was nice. If you do a sequel though, please invest some time into the level randomizer. I'd suggest designing small level "chunks", like various small series of platforms/floor patterns, and then stringing them together randomly into larger patterns so it gives it a better flow (I was thinking about doing this for a future William and Sly game). A lot of what makes a platformer fun is the rhythmic aspect of it, you know? Maybe scrap the random levels and just make them by hand is another option? The pure randomness of the levels made them all feel a bit similar, which is an ironic outcome.

It was still pretty fun, none-the-less! :D I haven't played very far, but I might come back to it later.

PestoForce responds:

Sounds like you need to play more! ;-)

The stuff inside walls becomes accessible with certain wall-breaking powerups. The fact that those scenarios exist is a hint that those kinds of powerups are possible without needing an overt tutorial explaining it. (at least that was the intent)

For a sequel I have some ideas on how to make the random levels feel less chaotic. The way you described the level chunks is actually how I did the randomization in this, but there's still lots of room for improvement in my approach.

I would like to do more hidden stuff also in a sequel... I kept thinking of William and Sly while playing and how you could walk "behind" terrain and have it fade out to reveal hidden areas... I think that'd be cool in a game like this. W&S was another inspiration for this I think, thus the 4-legged protagonist! ;-)

[Swapster]

Great graphics! The game was funish, but it's been done a lot before so it didn't feel too new. I enjoyed it for a bit, though. :)

[The Great Bazooki]

LOL, the ending cracked me up...

[Venusian Vengeance Ep. 1]

Pretty fun. :) Jetpack man was damn hard haha, but I got him in the end.