Creator's Comments:
TheNewDerf [Creator]
Hey -- I appreciate everyone who has taken time to leave feedback, even though I don't make games anymore.
Just to clear up a common observation on XIFT: this game was part of a larger structure of games which all had certain states of mind as their theme. This game's theme was anxiety. That's the reason why the saves are invisible (to keep players in a state of unease), and it's the reason why the visuals force the player to constantly focus on reading the spikes, instead of passively relying on knowing their shape. These decisions clearly have quality-of-life drawbacks (as with most of the games I made, I was to a certain degree trying to alienate the player), but at the time I felt they were justified to make a unique experience which was different to a normal 50-floor needle game.
You can make your own mind up as to whether or not this was a worthwhile trade-off (just because these decisions were intentional doesn't mean they were good design choices for you, of course). I just wanted to leave this here for the people who think these decisions were thoughtless or arbitrary. Nothing in my games was ever thoughtless--even if a lot of what I made didn't work out the way I wanted it to, and in a lot of respects failed. I was a teenager, and a novice--but I was always passionate about fangames. I think a lot of people were like that, and that's part of the joy of the community.
[14] Likes
Just to clear up a common observation on XIFT: this game was part of a larger structure of games which all had certain states of mind as their theme. This game's theme was anxiety. That's the reason why the saves are invisible (to keep players in a state of unease), and it's the reason why the visuals force the player to constantly focus on reading the spikes, instead of passively relying on knowing their shape. These decisions clearly have quality-of-life drawbacks (as with most of the games I made, I was to a certain degree trying to alienate the player), but at the time I felt they were justified to make a unique experience which was different to a normal 50-floor needle game.
You can make your own mind up as to whether or not this was a worthwhile trade-off (just because these decisions were intentional doesn't mean they were good design choices for you, of course). I just wanted to leave this here for the people who think these decisions were thoughtless or arbitrary. Nothing in my games was ever thoughtless--even if a lot of what I made didn't work out the way I wanted it to, and in a lot of respects failed. I was a teenager, and a novice--but I was always passionate about fangames. I think a lot of people were like that, and that's part of the joy of the community.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Sep 14, 2019
61 Reviews:
CeleCele
Pretty unique needle game.
It took a while to get good, but stage 3 and 4 are pretty fun. Stage 5 had a bit too many fulljumps and 16 pixels though. The invisible saves didn't really work for me until the final stage, however maybe for newer players they would work.
[1] Like
It took a while to get good, but stage 3 and 4 are pretty fun. Stage 5 had a bit too many fulljumps and 16 pixels though. The invisible saves didn't really work for me until the final stage, however maybe for newer players they would work.
Rating: 7.8 78
Difficulty: 55 55
Apr 26, 2020
Nick24
What are these last tags
Tagged as: Needle
Visual_Challenge
[1] Like
Rating: 8.0 80
Difficulty: 60 60
Aug 19, 2019
moogy
Style over substance.
Almost every jump in this game is either trivial or annoyingly precise, and it attempts to cover up for the latter with very frequent save placement. Unfortunately, all this really does is kill any meaningful challenge the game might have had, as it devolves into repeating one specific jump for a minute or two before you move on to the next save, repeat. Put simply, the design as a whole is disjointed; there's no sense of "flow" and it honestly feels like grinding a single jump game at points.
The first three stages are so easy that they might as well not exist, but stages 4 and 5 are filled with incredibly obnoxious nonsense, so they're not fun to play either. I don't know where the creator got the idea to spam floating vines everywhere, but it resulted in some of the worst jump sequences I've ever done in a fangame, even if they're not necessarily "hard."
And to top it all off, the saves are all invisible touch saves that lag the game and restart the Kid in the same position every time. Hope you enjoy setting up the first jump of a given save over and over each time you have to respawn! Oh, and you can't pause the game or check your death/time, so I hope you didn't care for those basic engine features that should be in every fangame by default.
There were a few cool setpieces here and there visually, but they weren't worth putting up with the atrocious needle design and general poor play experience. Avoid unless you think pretty graphics are more important than good design.
[1] Like
Almost every jump in this game is either trivial or annoyingly precise, and it attempts to cover up for the latter with very frequent save placement. Unfortunately, all this really does is kill any meaningful challenge the game might have had, as it devolves into repeating one specific jump for a minute or two before you move on to the next save, repeat. Put simply, the design as a whole is disjointed; there's no sense of "flow" and it honestly feels like grinding a single jump game at points.
The first three stages are so easy that they might as well not exist, but stages 4 and 5 are filled with incredibly obnoxious nonsense, so they're not fun to play either. I don't know where the creator got the idea to spam floating vines everywhere, but it resulted in some of the worst jump sequences I've ever done in a fangame, even if they're not necessarily "hard."
And to top it all off, the saves are all invisible touch saves that lag the game and restart the Kid in the same position every time. Hope you enjoy setting up the first jump of a given save over and over each time you have to respawn! Oh, and you can't pause the game or check your death/time, so I hope you didn't care for those basic engine features that should be in every fangame by default.
There were a few cool setpieces here and there visually, but they weren't worth putting up with the atrocious needle design and general poor play experience. Avoid unless you think pretty graphics are more important than good design.
Rating: 3.5 35
Difficulty: 55 55
Jun 29, 2018
ShrooM
one of the best needle i've ever played
Trippy scene and house music
a bit difficult but fun
press f2
Trippy scene and house music
a bit difficult but fun
press f2
Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 55 55
Feb 28, 2018
quadstuffed
10/10 atmosphere, a game with fully realized artistic vision. The platforming is arguably uninteresting with many "hallways" and short hops that are become trivialized with jump cancel tech, but I'd argue this game shows that a great needle game doesn't need to be mechanically mind blowing, or have never before seen techniques and movements.
[0] Likes
Rating: 8.8 88
Difficulty: 60 60
Feb 5, 2024