Creator's Comments:
ActualKale [Creator]
I made this game so not gonna rate it. Forgot the password for my "Kale" account so can't review it as the maker either. Lately I've felt like talking a bit about the thought process behind some of my games so maybe this will be a series of reviews for a number of my games.
I made this game in collaboration with Zero-G. He tested the game, made some graphics things, helped with music picks and did some quality of life coding. I came up with and designed the rooms.
My inspiration for making a game always arises out of a single idea. That idea is usually not identical to what the final game turns to be, for example every room in CN1 was gonna be the same difficulty, but it's usually enough for me to get motivated and know where to start with something.
In "Thank the Geezer" the idea was to have short saves and to use and build on the gimmicks that I came up with for "Haystack 2" but this time in a much more accessible game. I also wanted to only use the in-engine assets to challenge myself in seeing what I could come up with. These mainly include platforms, water, spinning and bouncing apples, blocks of various sorts and gravity flippers.
The perhaps hardest restraint I put on myself was to never repeat the same concept for two screens. Some of the ideas in this game, such as the sideways platforms, the moving gravity flippers, spinning water, disappearing block puzzle, moving platform jumps and the extended moving sideways platform are interesting and deep enough to build full games around. If the concept of various spike and block configurations with nothing else is good enough to build thousands of games around it, then surely some of these gimmicks could stand being repeated more than once.
Additionally I wanted each screen to look drastically different from all the other ones. The graphics switch up every screen and the room layouts are pretty unusual and distinct as well. Hopefully this added some to the excitement of seeing what each new screen has to offer.
Similar to the production of Haystack 2, the hardest part of making this game was to come up with new implementations of the same old objects we've all seen ad nauseum. The screens themselves are very simplistic in design, I didn't want to make any rooms feel long or complex and I deliberately avoided combining gimmicks (which is another thing that has a lot of potential for future games). The game took around 2 weeks to make which on average means a little over 1 screen/day. I am happy with the result.
Max beat this game in almost no deaths, p sick.
[14] Likes
I made this game in collaboration with Zero-G. He tested the game, made some graphics things, helped with music picks and did some quality of life coding. I came up with and designed the rooms.
My inspiration for making a game always arises out of a single idea. That idea is usually not identical to what the final game turns to be, for example every room in CN1 was gonna be the same difficulty, but it's usually enough for me to get motivated and know where to start with something.
In "Thank the Geezer" the idea was to have short saves and to use and build on the gimmicks that I came up with for "Haystack 2" but this time in a much more accessible game. I also wanted to only use the in-engine assets to challenge myself in seeing what I could come up with. These mainly include platforms, water, spinning and bouncing apples, blocks of various sorts and gravity flippers.
The perhaps hardest restraint I put on myself was to never repeat the same concept for two screens. Some of the ideas in this game, such as the sideways platforms, the moving gravity flippers, spinning water, disappearing block puzzle, moving platform jumps and the extended moving sideways platform are interesting and deep enough to build full games around. If the concept of various spike and block configurations with nothing else is good enough to build thousands of games around it, then surely some of these gimmicks could stand being repeated more than once.
Additionally I wanted each screen to look drastically different from all the other ones. The graphics switch up every screen and the room layouts are pretty unusual and distinct as well. Hopefully this added some to the excitement of seeing what each new screen has to offer.
Similar to the production of Haystack 2, the hardest part of making this game was to come up with new implementations of the same old objects we've all seen ad nauseum. The screens themselves are very simplistic in design, I didn't want to make any rooms feel long or complex and I deliberately avoided combining gimmicks (which is another thing that has a lot of potential for future games). The game took around 2 weeks to make which on average means a little over 1 screen/day. I am happy with the result.
Max beat this game in almost no deaths, p sick.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 58 58
Mar 2, 2017
45 Reviews:
PlutoTheThing
While I did do the "extra", it was not factored into this review as it's just an excerpt from Haystack 2.
Cool gimmick game, has some fun little ideas that feel really nice to play, the only screen that's a bit shaky is the second to last one because it's hard to learn and a bit obtuse, but it's a neat idea. There's not much to say beyond that, it's just a cool game!
ad of sticking to needle with just water and vines as "gimmicks" has it's own set of unique concepts and ideas, such as shooting walls to get a double jump or blocks that bounce you up very high, these are combined with so many great and creative jumps. I mean it honestly when I say I thi
[1] Like
Cool gimmick game, has some fun little ideas that feel really nice to play, the only screen that's a bit shaky is the second to last one because it's hard to learn and a bit obtuse, but it's a neat idea. There's not much to say beyond that, it's just a cool game!
ad of sticking to needle with just water and vines as "gimmicks" has it's own set of unique concepts and ideas, such as shooting walls to get a double jump or blocks that bounce you up very high, these are combined with so many great and creative jumps. I mean it honestly when I say I thi
Rating: 8.3 83
Difficulty: 51 51
Sep 5, 2023
abaghost
Really fun gimmicky needle game, pretty much every screen in the game is well made, there were only a couple that i didnt like, such as the the penultimate room which in my opinion is by far the hardest, it also had a trigger you could access through a hidden wall which i felt was unnecessary, and the flipping gravity room, the games biggest flaw in my view is the difficulty balancing, but that most likely wont be an issue if you are good.
[1] Like
Rating: 8.0 80
Difficulty: 62 62
Mar 28, 2023
Mster
One of my favourite needle games in the community is Needle in A Haystack 2. The game is a collection of floors 25-51 from the game Crimson Needle. The reason why it works as a game is that Kale completely flipped the script on the original style of the game and remade the floors with simple, yet effective gimmicks that challenged the player and made them think about what's going to happen next.
However, the game itself is really inaccessible to newer players due to the extremely challenging needle featured in the game. However, imagine if the concepts and variety from that game were made into its own game. That is the story of Thank Thenewgeezer.
Thank Thenewgeezer is a collection of short screens that all use one particular gimmick for that screen. This gives off the impression that the screens featured in the game have their own unique personality and it seems less factory produced than it normally would. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what they were going for since Kale, Zero, and PlasmaNapkin did this concept in CN3 with floors 70-90.
What do I think of this game?
I think it's something of a landmark in terms of game-making.
I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I truly think there's a lot to take away from this game. This is one of the only games that showcase a wide variety of gimmicks in a shorter-than-usual game than Kale makes but makes the experience of playing it feels fresh and exciting without making it overly rushed or quick. At the same time, the game doesn't feel overly strenuous or tedious. Anyone can be able to try the game out and see what it offers.
The gimmicks in this game are incredibly unique and offer a challenge to it. Here are some standouts that are featured in the game.
Spoiler Warning.
One of the first rooms that you have to go through is a small screen where all the spikes are invisible, but there's only a line probably made on MS Paint that guides you through the screen. This forces you to have to be precise with your movement and how you follow the line. Personally, I think that this adds a new level of uniqueness as you can add a ton of new creative ways to do this format, such as adding traps or combining it with other gimmicks. Overall, the line screen was a very fun and well-done screen. CN3 even comes back to the concept in Floor 72
Another screen showcases a very strange trigger screen that seems easy to navigate until you step on one of the platforms and it has a falling platform effect where you have to be careful about your movement. This creates a very fun puzzle-like screen where you have to navigate a seemingly open environment and having to be cautious about where you go and when. I think this is a very fun gimmick type for puzzle games and it would definitely be a lot more unique than the millions of box moving screens I've seen.
Going back to the first screen. The penultimate screen is creative as it relies on having to pay attention to small details in the top segment while executing those jumps in the bottom section. The gimmick works because the jumps aren't overly hard and it looks super cool when clearing it all in one try. Plus, the way to get to the portal is super clever as well.
Overall, the gimmicks featured in the game are very fun and creative.
Is it perfect? No. A lot of the moving water screens struck me the wrong way. There's nothing particularly wrong with these screens, but they just weren't as fun for me as others. My least favourite screen would probably be the moving gravity flippers screen. The entire screen relied on precise timing to get to the end and after a while it just got repetitive. The pathing in it could also throw some people off as well.
Overall, I think that this is a wonderful game that newer players should try to beat to try to get an understanding of how to deal with gimmicks in fangames.
On a side note, I don't think the Fangame Caeser ever actually made any statement about what he thought about the game. It's a shame. I actually wanted to see what he thought of the game. Im sure he would've liked it.
[1] Like
However, the game itself is really inaccessible to newer players due to the extremely challenging needle featured in the game. However, imagine if the concepts and variety from that game were made into its own game. That is the story of Thank Thenewgeezer.
Thank Thenewgeezer is a collection of short screens that all use one particular gimmick for that screen. This gives off the impression that the screens featured in the game have their own unique personality and it seems less factory produced than it normally would. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what they were going for since Kale, Zero, and PlasmaNapkin did this concept in CN3 with floors 70-90.
What do I think of this game?
I think it's something of a landmark in terms of game-making.
I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I truly think there's a lot to take away from this game. This is one of the only games that showcase a wide variety of gimmicks in a shorter-than-usual game than Kale makes but makes the experience of playing it feels fresh and exciting without making it overly rushed or quick. At the same time, the game doesn't feel overly strenuous or tedious. Anyone can be able to try the game out and see what it offers.
The gimmicks in this game are incredibly unique and offer a challenge to it. Here are some standouts that are featured in the game.
Spoiler Warning.
One of the first rooms that you have to go through is a small screen where all the spikes are invisible, but there's only a line probably made on MS Paint that guides you through the screen. This forces you to have to be precise with your movement and how you follow the line. Personally, I think that this adds a new level of uniqueness as you can add a ton of new creative ways to do this format, such as adding traps or combining it with other gimmicks. Overall, the line screen was a very fun and well-done screen. CN3 even comes back to the concept in Floor 72
Another screen showcases a very strange trigger screen that seems easy to navigate until you step on one of the platforms and it has a falling platform effect where you have to be careful about your movement. This creates a very fun puzzle-like screen where you have to navigate a seemingly open environment and having to be cautious about where you go and when. I think this is a very fun gimmick type for puzzle games and it would definitely be a lot more unique than the millions of box moving screens I've seen.
Going back to the first screen. The penultimate screen is creative as it relies on having to pay attention to small details in the top segment while executing those jumps in the bottom section. The gimmick works because the jumps aren't overly hard and it looks super cool when clearing it all in one try. Plus, the way to get to the portal is super clever as well.
Overall, the gimmicks featured in the game are very fun and creative.
Is it perfect? No. A lot of the moving water screens struck me the wrong way. There's nothing particularly wrong with these screens, but they just weren't as fun for me as others. My least favourite screen would probably be the moving gravity flippers screen. The entire screen relied on precise timing to get to the end and after a while it just got repetitive. The pathing in it could also throw some people off as well.
Overall, I think that this is a wonderful game that newer players should try to beat to try to get an understanding of how to deal with gimmicks in fangames.
On a side note, I don't think the Fangame Caeser ever actually made any statement about what he thought about the game. It's a shame. I actually wanted to see what he thought of the game. Im sure he would've liked it.
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 65 65
Oct 11, 2019