Delicious FruitCthaere's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: May 25, 2020
Bio:
I play fangames or stuff.
I try rating game compared to what they are trying to achieve rather than compared to fangames as a whole, and with knowledge of what you're getting into; If I rate a corridor needle game, I assume the person reading the review wants to play corridor needle, as if they don't they shouldn't bother playing it anyway. With that said, I tend to be very generous on needle ratings while being very skimpy on avoidances (although you likely won't see it as if I'd give it less than a 7 I just won't clear it instead).
with extremely rare exceptions, 9/10+ is reserved to games that have left deep emotional impact, while 10/10 is reserved for games I love unconditionally.
If I reviewed it and the review doesn't say otherwise, it's safe to assume I cleared it. I try adding my clears to df but I never really cared to keep track, so some might be missing.
don't expect diff ratings to be very accurate.
I've submitted:
237 Ratings!
158 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
237 Games
158 Reviews
Cthaere
For: I wanna realize
For: I wanna realize
Good short light-gimmick needle on the easier side. Simple gimmicks that we've already seen without really treading new ground, but it's solid, fun, and accessible. There are several funny moments already mentioned by other reviewers, but they don't detract from the overall experience in my opinion.
Reveal SpoilerAfter first clear, you get to try your hand at beating each stage deathless; 1 is relatively easy, 2 are challenging but reasonable, while the last one is probably going to be a Moment. Nonetheless, they're fun to attempt so long as you do not intend on seriously grinding them down.
Song choices are good, and alongside simple-yet-effective visuals invoke a strong (although not fully immersive) atmosphere.
I know I've said little about this game compared to my usual inflated reviews, but it really is what it is: A well designed, short & fun accessible version of an amalgamation of new wave gimmick needle. Would definitely recommend.
[4] Likes
Reveal SpoilerAfter first clear, you get to try your hand at beating each stage deathless; 1 is relatively easy, 2 are challenging but reasonable, while the last one is probably going to be a Moment. Nonetheless, they're fun to attempt so long as you do not intend on seriously grinding them down.
Song choices are good, and alongside simple-yet-effective visuals invoke a strong (although not fully immersive) atmosphere.
I know I've said little about this game compared to my usual inflated reviews, but it really is what it is: A well designed, short & fun accessible version of an amalgamation of new wave gimmick needle. Would definitely recommend.
Rating: 8.8
Difficulty: 60
Jan 4, 2023
Cthaere
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
Haven't cleared so no ratings, and no usual really long review.
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
Update: Cleared (any%), and the game turned out to be a lot more mixed of a bag than I expected. The highs are not as high as I had hoped either. Still a big recommendation, but a more cautious one.
[3] Likes
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
Update: Cleared (any%), and the game turned out to be a lot more mixed of a bag than I expected. The highs are not as high as I had hoped either. Still a big recommendation, but a more cautious one.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 14, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
Rating based on "innocent" (normal) difficulty on a previous version of the game.
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
Reveal Spoiler
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
[1] Like
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
Reveal Spoiler
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
Rating: 5.0
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 12, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
If you know nothing about this game and are interested in playing it, I would advise that you do not consume any piece of information about it save for the non-spoilered parts of the rest of this review, lest you decrease the quality of your own experience. Go into this game with an open mind and low expectations to get the most out of it.
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
Reveal Spoiler
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
[4] Likes
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
Reveal Spoiler
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
Rating: 7.0
Difficulty: 75
Oct 4, 2022
Cthaere
For: I wanna Melanzana
For: I wanna Melanzana
As some of you may see from looking at this review page (at least as of the time of me writing this), this avoidance does not have a comprehensive review. And why would it need one? Its reputation precedes it, and the vast majority of people are unwilling to play it to completion due to the high investment and the extremely demotivating feeling it usually brings to unprepared players. It is not infamous for no reason.
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
[7] Likes
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
Rating: 9.5
Difficulty: 93
Sep 29, 2022
Cthaere
For: WannaFest 22
For: WannaFest 22
SPOILER WARNING! (since for some reason the spoiler tag doesn't work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
[3] Likes
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
Rating: 7.8 78
Difficulty: 55 55
Sep 25, 2022
Cthaere
For: Prismatic Needle
For: Prismatic Needle
I generally agree with cLOUD's review, with a few notable differences. I suggest reading it first (although do not reduce it down to the rating), as I will mostly focus on our disagreements.
With that said, assuming you have read it, this is where I would diverge:
- In general, I had a much more pleasant experience than portrayed in cLOUD's review. Partially due to being a hof tier player, partially due to not minding the song too much, and partially due to coming at it with lower expectations (it is a debut after all). With that said, I 100% agree that there are definitely places that could have used a bit more refinement, but nothing felt egregiously bad, and I struggle to see the rest of the criticisms leveled at the gameplay.
- I actually don't like white screen that much. It felt like some effort went missing; For a "everyone come back together for the final screen" trope, it does not feel nearly as grandiose or as satisfying of a conclusion to the game as it should be. I would have much preferred a descending thin tower with camera following player, an additional layer of visuals, or a combination of previous elements in an ingenious way. There are also a couple jumps I dislike in it which hurt the diffcurve quite a bit imo.
- I do fully agree on visuals & song criticism.
In general, this debut showcases good making skill & understanding of general needle principles, and I hope to see a more ambitious project by this maker in the future. If you want a solid chill needle game to play as someone who is at the skill level to beat consistency HoF games or blaze through 70 diff modern gimmick needle games, definitely check this out.
[2] Likes
With that said, assuming you have read it, this is where I would diverge:
- In general, I had a much more pleasant experience than portrayed in cLOUD's review. Partially due to being a hof tier player, partially due to not minding the song too much, and partially due to coming at it with lower expectations (it is a debut after all). With that said, I 100% agree that there are definitely places that could have used a bit more refinement, but nothing felt egregiously bad, and I struggle to see the rest of the criticisms leveled at the gameplay.
- I actually don't like white screen that much. It felt like some effort went missing; For a "everyone come back together for the final screen" trope, it does not feel nearly as grandiose or as satisfying of a conclusion to the game as it should be. I would have much preferred a descending thin tower with camera following player, an additional layer of visuals, or a combination of previous elements in an ingenious way. There are also a couple jumps I dislike in it which hurt the diffcurve quite a bit imo.
- I do fully agree on visuals & song criticism.
In general, this debut showcases good making skill & understanding of general needle principles, and I hope to see a more ambitious project by this maker in the future. If you want a solid chill needle game to play as someone who is at the skill level to beat consistency HoF games or blaze through 70 diff modern gimmick needle games, definitely check this out.
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 75 75
Aug 6, 2022
Cthaere
For: Eppur Si Muove
For: Eppur Si Muove
I will divide this review into 2 parts. The first is going to be a more player oriented review, dissecting the game into its individual parts (yes this means spoilers for everything) and being a bit more in line with a traditional review, while the second part is going to be about things that generally bothered me when I was thinking about the game as a whole.
3 stages of adventure-y needle, each with their own theme.
The first of these is a space-themed stage with gravity flippers and a focus on symmetrical screen design. Said focus is clearly prioritized over gameplay quality in several sections, in a way that feels detrimental to the stage as a whole; Aside from that, it is your usual voraciousreader needle except without cycles.
The second is split into 3 sub hubs, being pushblocks, block cycles, and laser/buttons. Pushblocks has minor puzzley elements, however they both boil down into 2 tools you have at your disposal and are already forced to figure out from the very start; From then on, these become obvious and unsatisfying to solve. Thankfully, gameplay is introduced early enough on that this is not a problem, but not after putting an end of save trap in a pure puzzle save that is no fun to replay. Block cycles has a few really bad cycles, but is otherwise not notable as a stage. Laser/buttons has timed sections and more interesting cycles and is the best of the 3. The stage ends on a screen combining all gimmicks with a new one, which was hectic, fun to execute, and a good finale to the stage.
The third has a massive visual & thematic overhaul, and introduces new killer objects and has a much, much heavier focus on cycles. While some of these still are not well tuned and require waiting at start of save, these also contain much more fun & developed ideas than the previous cycle stage (although still not immune to "filler" ones either) and even throws some RNG into the mix sometimes.
The third stage ends with the final boss, which is a pretty big mixed bag, between "kinda annoying and can give awkward/uncomfortable situations" (green/trans pride flag/(to a lesser extent) orange), "it's decent I guess but barely noticeable unless it gets too close to you" (orange/purple) and "actually really fun to dodge" (yellow/black(final)).
As for production, it is the usual spritework, in a style which I find a bit off-putting; Something about these feels a bit artificial to me, if it makes sense, however I won't hold it against the game. If anything, the save sprite could have used reskinning based on stage. I cannot say I remember the music choices, for better or for worse, however that may have to do with the conditions I was playing under.
Initially, I did not mention the story. While it does exist, I cannot say it is incredibly well developed unless I missed some hidden lore, but it's a cute little addition and I know others may appreciate the touch a lot more.
All in all this is a good needle game with a decent amount cycle elements that starts a bit rough but gets better as it goes along. I cannot say I would feel like I was missing out on too much were I not to play it, but it is fun, big enough to pass a good hour or two, and well made, so if you're looking for a chill winding down experience you should still play it.
Now that the dry part is over, we can get to the part I want to talk about more.
To cut to the chase, there are quite a few things I simply... do not understand about this game. This is something that I share with SOTN, and I fear that I may have judged that game harshly due to this ignorance. I am going to list what I consider to be the root cause of these.
First, while I do see quite a few themes that repeat themselves in gameplay, I fail to see how they connect together to form a consistent & coherent design philosophy that would also make sense from the average player's/my own perspective. For example, the first stage has a screen that is split into top path and bottom path, which is visited twice; once for each path. However, these paths themselves contain needle that is only marginally better than straight up corridor needle. The mistimed cycles also come into play here, alongside the final save of the orange pinwheel screen where you are forced to spam low jumps in water for 10 seconds and a decent chunk of the overall jumps in stage 1 that just felt awkward to execute. It's stuff that I can't see much justification for beyond "this is kinda cool", and while I do 100% think playability can be justifiably sacrificed for another cause, I did not feel like it was the case here.
The second is identity. This game doesn't tread much new ground (especially with SOTN being there to compare to), and while it is definitely good at what it does, it is not outstanding either. However, it also doesn't really give off any specific or personalized feeling; I do not look at this and say "Only Voraciousreader could have made it" or look at a screen and say "Wow this must have come from Eppur" the way I look at games like Chatran needle, at Synthasmagoria adventures, at Eruna avoidances. This is not to say that production is the main factor in these; Hiddow has his own unique touch despite using only very basic visuals, and Carnival's bosses are legendary regardless of being MS Paint doodles. For this game, I can only really say that some of the cycle patterns as well as general easing function cycle abuse (in a good way) are things I can say stand out in the design. In this, it's hard for me to think of this in any term beyond a pretty generic "enjoyable cycle needle(venture) game".
It is important to recognize that I do not ask these questions from a place of disrespect: I definitely assume answers exist for them, if only partially, and I believe there is insight to be gained here both for me in getting these answers and any prospective makers in starting to think in similar terms. Still, due to this, I will refrain from rating the game. I would likely have given it an aggregate score somewhere in the range 7.2-7.6 though as things stand, but do not give this number much weight.
[0] Likes
3 stages of adventure-y needle, each with their own theme.
The first of these is a space-themed stage with gravity flippers and a focus on symmetrical screen design. Said focus is clearly prioritized over gameplay quality in several sections, in a way that feels detrimental to the stage as a whole; Aside from that, it is your usual voraciousreader needle except without cycles.
The second is split into 3 sub hubs, being pushblocks, block cycles, and laser/buttons. Pushblocks has minor puzzley elements, however they both boil down into 2 tools you have at your disposal and are already forced to figure out from the very start; From then on, these become obvious and unsatisfying to solve. Thankfully, gameplay is introduced early enough on that this is not a problem, but not after putting an end of save trap in a pure puzzle save that is no fun to replay. Block cycles has a few really bad cycles, but is otherwise not notable as a stage. Laser/buttons has timed sections and more interesting cycles and is the best of the 3. The stage ends on a screen combining all gimmicks with a new one, which was hectic, fun to execute, and a good finale to the stage.
The third has a massive visual & thematic overhaul, and introduces new killer objects and has a much, much heavier focus on cycles. While some of these still are not well tuned and require waiting at start of save, these also contain much more fun & developed ideas than the previous cycle stage (although still not immune to "filler" ones either) and even throws some RNG into the mix sometimes.
The third stage ends with the final boss, which is a pretty big mixed bag, between "kinda annoying and can give awkward/uncomfortable situations" (green/trans pride flag/(to a lesser extent) orange), "it's decent I guess but barely noticeable unless it gets too close to you" (orange/purple) and "actually really fun to dodge" (yellow/black(final)).
As for production, it is the usual spritework, in a style which I find a bit off-putting; Something about these feels a bit artificial to me, if it makes sense, however I won't hold it against the game. If anything, the save sprite could have used reskinning based on stage. I cannot say I remember the music choices, for better or for worse, however that may have to do with the conditions I was playing under.
Initially, I did not mention the story. While it does exist, I cannot say it is incredibly well developed unless I missed some hidden lore, but it's a cute little addition and I know others may appreciate the touch a lot more.
All in all this is a good needle game with a decent amount cycle elements that starts a bit rough but gets better as it goes along. I cannot say I would feel like I was missing out on too much were I not to play it, but it is fun, big enough to pass a good hour or two, and well made, so if you're looking for a chill winding down experience you should still play it.
Now that the dry part is over, we can get to the part I want to talk about more.
To cut to the chase, there are quite a few things I simply... do not understand about this game. This is something that I share with SOTN, and I fear that I may have judged that game harshly due to this ignorance. I am going to list what I consider to be the root cause of these.
First, while I do see quite a few themes that repeat themselves in gameplay, I fail to see how they connect together to form a consistent & coherent design philosophy that would also make sense from the average player's/my own perspective. For example, the first stage has a screen that is split into top path and bottom path, which is visited twice; once for each path. However, these paths themselves contain needle that is only marginally better than straight up corridor needle. The mistimed cycles also come into play here, alongside the final save of the orange pinwheel screen where you are forced to spam low jumps in water for 10 seconds and a decent chunk of the overall jumps in stage 1 that just felt awkward to execute. It's stuff that I can't see much justification for beyond "this is kinda cool", and while I do 100% think playability can be justifiably sacrificed for another cause, I did not feel like it was the case here.
The second is identity. This game doesn't tread much new ground (especially with SOTN being there to compare to), and while it is definitely good at what it does, it is not outstanding either. However, it also doesn't really give off any specific or personalized feeling; I do not look at this and say "Only Voraciousreader could have made it" or look at a screen and say "Wow this must have come from Eppur" the way I look at games like Chatran needle, at Synthasmagoria adventures, at Eruna avoidances. This is not to say that production is the main factor in these; Hiddow has his own unique touch despite using only very basic visuals, and Carnival's bosses are legendary regardless of being MS Paint doodles. For this game, I can only really say that some of the cycle patterns as well as general easing function cycle abuse (in a good way) are things I can say stand out in the design. In this, it's hard for me to think of this in any term beyond a pretty generic "enjoyable cycle needle(venture) game".
It is important to recognize that I do not ask these questions from a place of disrespect: I definitely assume answers exist for them, if only partially, and I believe there is insight to be gained here both for me in getting these answers and any prospective makers in starting to think in similar terms. Still, due to this, I will refrain from rating the game. I would likely have given it an aggregate score somewhere in the range 7.2-7.6 though as things stand, but do not give this number much weight.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 55 55
Jul 22, 2022
Cthaere
For: RNG Dungeon
For: RNG Dungeon
Do not expect anything sort of resembling a traditional review; These are just some of my thoughts as a developer that I wanted to put out publicly.
This was meant to be the final game of the I wanna tourney. Luckily, it wasn't.
To put it bluntly, this game is both hard, and was never meant to be a grind. We knew it from the very beginning, and we have decided to make it for ourselves. A game where the mask is half on, half off, where we can be ourselves while also making a show out of it. Furthermore, the final boss took up most of the development cycle since the IWT, and so did many balance changes; Both the game and the tourney would have likely been much worse were it to be its final boss.
This extends further though. The readme states it plainly, I have already made that point, but it still bears repeating: This game was made with a specific audience in mind, and is likely too abrasive for most outside that audience. It was thoroughly tested, balanced and reiterated upon, until the final release was deemed not merely satisfactory, but excellent in delivering the experience we want to the audience we wanted to deliver it to, being released with the maker's full intent behind it. In that, the game fulfills its purpose; If you end up disliking it, it is much more likely it wasn't aimed at you rather than it was aimed at you but fell flat. If you choose to make yourself play it still, after discovering it isn't for you, don't expect much sympathy.
For those of you who I did make this for? I hope you enjoy. I put a lot of work into it, and had some fun (and some rage). It was a journey, and in the end, that is what matters the most. This release has definitely had me do some thinking, though. You'll hopefully see what comes of it.
There's a lot more I could say about this game, however this platform is inadequate for that. To put it simply, this game and the development team have gone through a LOT during the time of making it, and there is simply too much missing information for the outside player to understand where we were coming from sometimes. The stories are nearly as good as the content that was generated by them. This goes a bit beyond, in that the dev team has a general perspective about avoidances that is not shared by many outside it yet allows us to reach the levels of avoidance making we have, and while this specific project was about messing around, having fun, and showing off, it is also clear that for some parts in this as well as many of our other projects (and upcoming ones), people are unable to grasp where our perspectives come from (as evidenced by anyone who thinks milky ways is more than the bare minimum for mediocrity (yes I got razzor's permission and approval to say that)). I will ask that you trust us when we make takes based on these views when it comes to our own games.
[14] Likes
This was meant to be the final game of the I wanna tourney. Luckily, it wasn't.
To put it bluntly, this game is both hard, and was never meant to be a grind. We knew it from the very beginning, and we have decided to make it for ourselves. A game where the mask is half on, half off, where we can be ourselves while also making a show out of it. Furthermore, the final boss took up most of the development cycle since the IWT, and so did many balance changes; Both the game and the tourney would have likely been much worse were it to be its final boss.
This extends further though. The readme states it plainly, I have already made that point, but it still bears repeating: This game was made with a specific audience in mind, and is likely too abrasive for most outside that audience. It was thoroughly tested, balanced and reiterated upon, until the final release was deemed not merely satisfactory, but excellent in delivering the experience we want to the audience we wanted to deliver it to, being released with the maker's full intent behind it. In that, the game fulfills its purpose; If you end up disliking it, it is much more likely it wasn't aimed at you rather than it was aimed at you but fell flat. If you choose to make yourself play it still, after discovering it isn't for you, don't expect much sympathy.
For those of you who I did make this for? I hope you enjoy. I put a lot of work into it, and had some fun (and some rage). It was a journey, and in the end, that is what matters the most. This release has definitely had me do some thinking, though. You'll hopefully see what comes of it.
There's a lot more I could say about this game, however this platform is inadequate for that. To put it simply, this game and the development team have gone through a LOT during the time of making it, and there is simply too much missing information for the outside player to understand where we were coming from sometimes. The stories are nearly as good as the content that was generated by them. This goes a bit beyond, in that the dev team has a general perspective about avoidances that is not shared by many outside it yet allows us to reach the levels of avoidance making we have, and while this specific project was about messing around, having fun, and showing off, it is also clear that for some parts in this as well as many of our other projects (and upcoming ones), people are unable to grasp where our perspectives come from (as evidenced by anyone who thinks milky ways is more than the bare minimum for mediocrity (yes I got razzor's permission and approval to say that)). I will ask that you trust us when we make takes based on these views when it comes to our own games.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jul 18, 2022
Cthaere
For: I wanna best the 100 floors
For: I wanna best the 100 floors
Best the 100 floors is a 100 floors jtool needle game which seems to come from the late CN2 era of needle, where needle started to become refined in both visuals and gameplay, slowly incorporated the standard jtool gimmicks more, and has moved on to incorporate more open space and less corridors in the design.
I would like to say that this game is akin to a lunch at a local mom n pop restaurant. Something that doesn't try to be fancy or shoot for the stars, but rather a solid, overall enjoyable experience that clearly has some heart poured into it. The amount of jump heights, maneuver complexity, and save length are all positively varied, without any particular effort to make any of these elements pronounced. The music and visuals are also simple yet charming. Unfortunately, I am unable to make the initial comparison, as a result of something that will cause me to violate Kale's commandments: Difficulty balance.
While I am a firm believer in difficulty diversity, and that difficulty is meant to serve the game rather than the player, here it manages only to annoy and frustrate. It is not just the difficulty either; Many jumps in the harder saves are awkward or overly precise, and difficulty seems to be the result of these deviations from the more lenient, natural style most of the game goes by. The usage of 8px grid in gross ways (squished/altered normal jumps, jumps that are a bit higher or lower than you expect initially, 4.25 jumps), forced low jumps, and drops that have very little leniency all contribute to this.
As a result, while I did enjoy a decent amount of this game, I find it hard to recommend it. Play only if you don't care about clearing/grinding it but rather about just having a good time, and are ready to drop the session whenever you stop having fun.
[0] Likes
I would like to say that this game is akin to a lunch at a local mom n pop restaurant. Something that doesn't try to be fancy or shoot for the stars, but rather a solid, overall enjoyable experience that clearly has some heart poured into it. The amount of jump heights, maneuver complexity, and save length are all positively varied, without any particular effort to make any of these elements pronounced. The music and visuals are also simple yet charming. Unfortunately, I am unable to make the initial comparison, as a result of something that will cause me to violate Kale's commandments: Difficulty balance.
While I am a firm believer in difficulty diversity, and that difficulty is meant to serve the game rather than the player, here it manages only to annoy and frustrate. It is not just the difficulty either; Many jumps in the harder saves are awkward or overly precise, and difficulty seems to be the result of these deviations from the more lenient, natural style most of the game goes by. The usage of 8px grid in gross ways (squished/altered normal jumps, jumps that are a bit higher or lower than you expect initially, 4.25 jumps), forced low jumps, and drops that have very little leniency all contribute to this.
As a result, while I did enjoy a decent amount of this game, I find it hard to recommend it. Play only if you don't care about clearing/grinding it but rather about just having a good time, and are ready to drop the session whenever you stop having fun.
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 8, 2022
2 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wanna Musiclock | 74.7 | 9.3 | 20 |
| I wanna Xanadu | 60.7 | 7.7 | 8 |
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