Delicious Fruit
Download Game Screenshots
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by Gizmo
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by CanusAntonius
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by Kilgour22
Creator's Comments:
phgQED [Creator]
After letting a very small amount of time pass, I'm mostly okay with the reception this game received. My main worry is that people won't have played the original Tethys or its immediate derivatives enough to understand why my approach to needle design was so constrained. Normally, a map needs 3 things for it to feel like 'me': fruit, water, and an f-jump. You can get two out of three here, but my inclusion of fruit is actually kind of controversial in regards to Tethys-likes (at least in my opinion, in that I haven't seen it done before).
The original Tethys is almost entirely straightforward 32px needle for the first half, and many of the screens had jumps I studied directly. In this endeavor, Serotonin was more of a guidance, and the things I took away from that game were t-boned gates and diagonals—lots of diagonals, with 16px block layouts. If possible, it might be more fun to look at this game as a direct inspection and attempted recreation of those specific elements—or, you can just say, as a needle game, it is quite limited and generic. That's a consequence of it being my first game, which is hopefully something I can overcome in the future.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to play and review this game. I'm blown away at how many people left their thoughts and feelings. It's my sincere hope that the next 'real' game I release will be more approachable and enjoyable for everyone. <#~
The original Tethys is almost entirely straightforward 32px needle for the first half, and many of the screens had jumps I studied directly. In this endeavor, Serotonin was more of a guidance, and the things I took away from that game were t-boned gates and diagonals—lots of diagonals, with 16px block layouts. If possible, it might be more fun to look at this game as a direct inspection and attempted recreation of those specific elements—or, you can just say, as a needle game, it is quite limited and generic. That's a consequence of it being my first game, which is hopefully something I can overcome in the future.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to play and review this game. I'm blown away at how many people left their thoughts and feelings. It's my sincere hope that the next 'real' game I release will be more approachable and enjoyable for everyone. <#~
Tagged as: Needle
Tethys-like
[0] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
May 5, 2022
26 Reviews:
CanusAntonius
A pretty solid game that I think accomplished what it sets out to do, it very much feels like Tethys-Like Needle and all the aspects that come with it, and in my eyes is actually better.
One thing that I think sticks out to me from both games is the randomness of everything going on, blocks and spikes just go places, and then you make a path for the player later on. There's an entire sense of madness that I think holds a specific atmosphere to it. This game does have some uncomfortable jumps, but I think it's done in a way that mimics some of the inspiration, I very much think most Tethys-Likes have similar jumps as well. There are always weird sixteen pixels, drops, leaps across the room, some creepy F-jump where you're right under the block, this game feels to be adhering to the source extremely well by including all of these.
I also feel the need to mention that this has the best sprite work of any fangame like it, both stages have animated tiles and spikes, and neither ever get distracting or obnoxious. They also appropriately help set the mood of the game with their mystifying feel, and alongside the backgrounds, they feel like a perfect match. I do wish though that during the second stage the background was a bit brighter so I could see what it was, but that's not too big a deal. I will mention though that the exclusion of a spotlight would probably be best for any future works similar to this, as I think the visuals and music are all that a game like this needs to create mood, trust in them and you'll realize the atmosphere is already good enough to not need a simple gimmick like that. Finally, the music also sounds good for what it is, it felt strange and made me uncomfortable, and did so without sounding like a 100 Halloween Songs soundtrack.
Overall, I think this has platforming that's better than Tethys, and some of the best visuals possible, so I definitely recommend it. If the spotlight was yeeted, I think it would be pretty damn good.
[2] Likes
One thing that I think sticks out to me from both games is the randomness of everything going on, blocks and spikes just go places, and then you make a path for the player later on. There's an entire sense of madness that I think holds a specific atmosphere to it. This game does have some uncomfortable jumps, but I think it's done in a way that mimics some of the inspiration, I very much think most Tethys-Likes have similar jumps as well. There are always weird sixteen pixels, drops, leaps across the room, some creepy F-jump where you're right under the block, this game feels to be adhering to the source extremely well by including all of these.
I also feel the need to mention that this has the best sprite work of any fangame like it, both stages have animated tiles and spikes, and neither ever get distracting or obnoxious. They also appropriately help set the mood of the game with their mystifying feel, and alongside the backgrounds, they feel like a perfect match. I do wish though that during the second stage the background was a bit brighter so I could see what it was, but that's not too big a deal. I will mention though that the exclusion of a spotlight would probably be best for any future works similar to this, as I think the visuals and music are all that a game like this needs to create mood, trust in them and you'll realize the atmosphere is already good enough to not need a simple gimmick like that. Finally, the music also sounds good for what it is, it felt strange and made me uncomfortable, and did so without sounding like a 100 Halloween Songs soundtrack.
Overall, I think this has platforming that's better than Tethys, and some of the best visuals possible, so I definitely recommend it. If the spotlight was yeeted, I think it would be pretty damn good.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 26, 2022
Gizmo
I am not familiar with dopamine needle (or needle styles at all) so I cannot comment on how well the game tries to imitate that style. However, the needle is still good, but as others have already said, the precision required for jumps varies wildly. Some are long jumps/drops, others are 16px squeezes. Saves are short (at least in Easy mode) so losing to these precise jumps was fortunately not too punishing, but still a little annoying at times. I particularly had frustration where you start the save surrounded by 8 cherries, but this could just be player rust on my part.
The visuals and music were quite good, however I feel that using a spotlight was a peculiar choice. The intention was probably to add some moodiness to the atmosphere, but personally I felt that the aesthetics would have been more impactful without the spotlight. More importantly, there were several drop jumps that essentially required the player to go in blind because you can't see all the way down from the top -- again, since the saves are short, it's not too bad here, but may be something to watch out for in future development.
Overall I think this is a solid first game with great aesthetics, but maybe needs some work on balancing. Being a jtool map compilation, this game feels like an exploration of ideas at times, as the creator is getting their feet wet, but again: for a first game, there's nothing wrong with that. I look forward to what phgQED will release in the future.
[2] Likes
The visuals and music were quite good, however I feel that using a spotlight was a peculiar choice. The intention was probably to add some moodiness to the atmosphere, but personally I felt that the aesthetics would have been more impactful without the spotlight. More importantly, there were several drop jumps that essentially required the player to go in blind because you can't see all the way down from the top -- again, since the saves are short, it's not too bad here, but may be something to watch out for in future development.
Overall I think this is a solid first game with great aesthetics, but maybe needs some work on balancing. Being a jtool map compilation, this game feels like an exploration of ideas at times, as the creator is getting their feet wet, but again: for a first game, there's nothing wrong with that. I look forward to what phgQED will release in the future.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 50 50
Apr 26, 2022
shign
Review based on easy mode, I have no idea if it's the intended difficulty.
Decent game with a strong emphasis on visuals. Gameplay is kinda ok with a few bruh jumps here and there, nothing outstanding but nothing too annoying (except one that is totally stupid). The spotlight effect looks cool but it sometimes hide where you need to land which can be very annoying.
[2] Likes
Decent game with a strong emphasis on visuals. Gameplay is kinda ok with a few bruh jumps here and there, nothing outstanding but nothing too annoying (except one that is totally stupid). The spotlight effect looks cool but it sometimes hide where you need to land which can be very annoying.
Rating: 6.7 67
Difficulty: 55 55
Apr 26, 2022
Nearigami
Disclaimer: I was a tester.
Pretty alright first attempt. I gave a lot of relatively extensive notes, but unfortunately forgot to address some save blocker problems. I addressed that the save balance was all over the place, and some individual jumps are stiff and awkward and not really in a fun way. It's overall a step in the right direction, though I would have loved to play the game a second time to iron out issues. Needle like this is bound to only go up in quality over time because there are occasionally some jumps where I legitimately went "that was really satisfying."
A lot of jumps feel simple and uninteresting as if they were built on autopilot. Ultimately this game has a problem of too many filler jumps on an individual level. At the same time, I would rather PHG work on this going forward rather than just polish these average maps over and over again.
Looking forward to seeing your evolution as a maker. There's some potential here.
[2] Likes
Pretty alright first attempt. I gave a lot of relatively extensive notes, but unfortunately forgot to address some save blocker problems. I addressed that the save balance was all over the place, and some individual jumps are stiff and awkward and not really in a fun way. It's overall a step in the right direction, though I would have loved to play the game a second time to iron out issues. Needle like this is bound to only go up in quality over time because there are occasionally some jumps where I legitimately went "that was really satisfying."
A lot of jumps feel simple and uninteresting as if they were built on autopilot. Ultimately this game has a problem of too many filler jumps on an individual level. At the same time, I would rather PHG work on this going forward rather than just polish these average maps over and over again.
Looking forward to seeing your evolution as a maker. There's some potential here.
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 60 60
Apr 26, 2022
Kilgour22
I don't know which difficulty was intended, so I cleared both Easy and Hard. I don't think playing on Hard adds much, other than longer saves and thus more deaths, so players should choose accordingly. Easy felt about 50 difficulty for me, while Hard felt about 60. I would recommend playing on Easy for most players, so that's what I've based my rating and difficulty on.
Easy cleartime and deaths: 19:52, 368
Hard cleartime and deaths: 29:10, 488
I've played (and beaten) each of the 261 levels QED has uploaded on IWM (as of this review), so fair warning that I generally like, and am good at, this style of needle, which I would call "modified generic jumps with a dose of awkwardness." If you struggle or dislike ledge jumps and f-jump variants or non-linear difficulty, then you may want to give this game a pass.
I find that QED's style can be quite enjoyable in reasonable doses. Playing a few screens in a row tends to be pretty fun, but the style can start to feel repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated towards the end of my Hard playthrough. The two stages, aside from visuals, didn't feel much different, either in difficulty or gameplay. It left me questioning why the stages were broken apart where they were.
The black background for stage 2 was a detriment for me. One of my pet peeves is not being able to see where I'm standing, and this was sometimes worsened by the jumps I had to do (16-pixel gaps were the most common culprits here). It felt like I was dying not because I was bad, but rather because of RNG. This held true occasionally in stage 1 as well with (an admittedly generous) spotlight mode making blind drops a thing. It made those deaths feel akin to screen transition ones, and I don't think I'm alone in being annoyed by those.
The gameplay is pure needle: no water, vines, or platforms are to be found. On a meta level, it was interesting to see if QED's needle would deviate from what I've come to expect, given the frequency with which these basic gimmicks appear in their levels, but I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that there wasn't a drop in jump quality, albeit with jumps feeling a touch more generic. I think the added genericism was counterbalanced by the reduction in awkward manoeuvres that also often appear in their levels, leading to a fairly balanced result.
I think this needle style would benefit from the occasional use of gimmicks, or a full-on adoption of specific gimmicks for the duration of a stage. This would help reduce some of the monotony that I feel plagues the game, even if it doesn't cripple the quality.
Overall, I think most needle players will derive some enjoyment out of a playthrough, probably on Easy mode. However, don't go in expecting a masterpiece.
Easy cleartime and deaths: 19:52, 368
Hard cleartime and deaths: 29:10, 488
I've played (and beaten) each of the 261 levels QED has uploaded on IWM (as of this review), so fair warning that I generally like, and am good at, this style of needle, which I would call "modified generic jumps with a dose of awkwardness." If you struggle or dislike ledge jumps and f-jump variants or non-linear difficulty, then you may want to give this game a pass.
I find that QED's style can be quite enjoyable in reasonable doses. Playing a few screens in a row tends to be pretty fun, but the style can start to feel repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated towards the end of my Hard playthrough. The two stages, aside from visuals, didn't feel much different, either in difficulty or gameplay. It left me questioning why the stages were broken apart where they were.
The black background for stage 2 was a detriment for me. One of my pet peeves is not being able to see where I'm standing, and this was sometimes worsened by the jumps I had to do (16-pixel gaps were the most common culprits here). It felt like I was dying not because I was bad, but rather because of RNG. This held true occasionally in stage 1 as well with (an admittedly generous) spotlight mode making blind drops a thing. It made those deaths feel akin to screen transition ones, and I don't think I'm alone in being annoyed by those.
The gameplay is pure needle: no water, vines, or platforms are to be found. On a meta level, it was interesting to see if QED's needle would deviate from what I've come to expect, given the frequency with which these basic gimmicks appear in their levels, but I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that there wasn't a drop in jump quality, albeit with jumps feeling a touch more generic. I think the added genericism was counterbalanced by the reduction in awkward manoeuvres that also often appear in their levels, leading to a fairly balanced result.
I think this needle style would benefit from the occasional use of gimmicks, or a full-on adoption of specific gimmicks for the duration of a stage. This would help reduce some of the monotony that I feel plagues the game, even if it doesn't cripple the quality.
Overall, I think most needle players will derive some enjoyment out of a playthrough, probably on Easy mode. However, don't go in expecting a masterpiece.
Tagged as: Needle
Visual_Challenge
[2] Likes
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 50 50
Apr 26, 2022