Monkius's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lobster Clicker]

Lol, the air horn gave me a chuckle. As did Larry and the "BFF."

Silly, weird, awesome; solid early effort. I am subscribing for more.

The "Ultimate lobster" button doesn't work, though. Not at 100k points, or even a million. :(

EpicNarwhal responds:

Thanks for playing and enjoying my game! I will check why the final button doesn't work. All that happens after you click it is an end screen so you really didn't miss much.

Update: I fixed the final button:)

[Zeta Outpost Defense]

Pretty sweet for a game jam game! I played until level 10, if the upgrades are any indication (4,7,2.) A level number in the corner would have been nice, as would a "Round # Complete" message at the end of the level.

I know a huge backstory is beyond the scope of a game jam, but I hope you add more of a story, should you ever make a larger-scale sci-fi game in the future.

zwolya responds:

It tells you the number at the /beginning/ of each round ;)
But I agree, I also debated whether to put the high score (should you fail to meet it) when you lose, but I figured you could see that as soon as you click back to the menu.

[Finn's Fantastic Food Machine]

Fresh concept (as far as I'm aware) and infectious soundtrack; sort of a shame that it was so short.

LightWolfStudios responds:

Thanks for playing! The game was initially created as part of a game jam but was never released, so we decided to finish up what we had so everyone could have a chance to play it. :)

[Out Of Fuel]

I was very confused, until I read the word "prototype" in the author comments, lol... Maybe you could put that in the title, as well?

The "neon" colour scheme goes nicely with the simple controls and graphics and would likely gain popularity for the final version of the game--if you make such a thing--what with this rampant '80s nostalgia that seems to be going on right now.

The presence of what appears to be gravity would suggest that the ship is trying to make a crash landing on a planet; but perhaps I'm overthinking it, since there is also an ability to fire the ship's weapons. If it *is* about a ship crash-landing on a desert planet or something, I'm fairly interested in seeing where you take the game, from here...

plieguito responds:

Yes, I already put "prototype" in the title.
I also plan to give it an eighties style, so you guessed :)).
And coincidentally I also thought about the fact that there was gravity, and that implied that there was a force that attracted him, I am still thinking how to explain that in a narrative way XD.
And I hope you are attentive when I launch the full version (I hope to release it in 2 more months).
And thank you very much for taking the time to discuss details of the game, it is always interesting to read them.

[Puzzle Brick]

I think that the tutorial text is not needed, for the most part; you could perhaps put an "E" by the first block and a "Q" by the first block-pressure-pad-thing (my vocabulary is failing me...) I find that the best puzzle games are the ones where the player can learn by intuition alone; that is definitely possible with this game and the way the progression of levels is set up.

In level 9, you can cheat a little by just stepping on the pressure pad intended for the block and beating the door. Is this intentional? I only did it because I bashed into a corner with the block in my haste and lost it. You may want to make the blocks a bit more "sticky." Oh and you can use the pressure pad trick on other levels, like another reviewer mentioned.

It would be nice if restarting the level were hot-keyed. I understand that hot-keying it to "R" is a bit close to the movement and pick-up/set-down keys, so maybe "L"?

Isaac-Newton responds:

I was also in favor of not having the instructions, but everyone who tested it said that they did not understand what the buttons did. For example, they would press a pressure pad and then ask, "when will it close?" I will find those areas where you can cheat and see if I can fix them.

[Water the Village Demo!]

- There should be a way to disable the text bubbles in the demo (it looks like you can do it in the full version, or they simply go away.)

- It would also be nice if there were a fast-forward button; the last level went like: "leak," "leak," "this is going way too slowly now that I have figured everything out."

PowerKnight responds:

Thank you so much for the review.. In the full version, if you tap the hint it will be removed.. and I'll add the button that speeds all water branches and remove all timers for fast level completion.

[Extraction (LDJAM version)]

- The puzzles were logical and intuitive; I really liked not having to deal with bat-shit insane "logic" or a pixel-hunt, like most point-and-clickers.

- The tool-tips are a really good idea, especially if you start making games that are lengthier than a Ludum Dare entry.

- The big mainframe computer-jobbie threw me off a bit in the beginning; I was so used to bat-shit insane point-and-clickers, I thought it actually had something to do with what was on the card, until I discovered the other room, lol. This point is not so much a criticism of your game as it is a criticism of most other point-and-click games, lol.

- I think that if you put more than 72 hours of effort into a future game, it will end up really awesome. But for now, this and "The Treasure Tomb" are pretty good teasers. "All my 5 R belong to this" and you have a new follower.

Criobite responds:

Good points! And I'll definitely be moving into doing bigger games!

[Tower Defense: Alien Invasion]

Everything is great, but god I wish it would save my game...

guyhezi responds:

a fix have just been uploaded to support a different type of data saving, hopefully your problem will be solved now :)

[Tactical Retreat]

After wave 16, I encountered a glitch where I upgraded my base before repairing it and it put it at 108% "health."

It also seems a little bit easy, but I understand that you did that because people were complaining. Perhaps having different difficulty levels would help with this.

The story was pretty interesting and I enjoyed the silly creature names/puns. Online games like this are becoming a rare breed, in times where everyone is either going to phone-based games or trying to grab cash with those dreadful "clicker" things.

Thanks for enriching everyone's Hallowe'en with a game that neither bores you to death nor necessitates repeatedly slamming your finger into a touch-screen like a mad(wo)man.

All my 5 are belong to this!

Psionic3D responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback, Please try version 1.4 online now ;-)

VERSION 1.4
*Added Normal & Nightmare difficulty for those that want a challenge.
*Fixed Upgrade/Repair % issue.
*Tweaked various minor things.