MinatoArisato's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Candle in the Woods]

That was super cute. Lots of bugs and stuff, but nothing gamebreaking.
I really liked the art and the little twist. Reminded me of Link's awakening era of GBC games while being something entirely different. You should definitely do more game jams in the future.

[ENERGY SEEKERS: IPD CONTRACTS]

The tutorial is kinda bogging this down, can't skip it and its egregiously slow each time you die

PixelHeadAche responds:

Sorry about that! the infinite tutorial was a bug, the idea was that you could only do it once but it's fixed now! once the tutorial is finished you can't repeat it.

[Funkee Worms]

Fuck these funky ass fucking worms and their smug little faces
soundtrack=my brain becoming increasingly agitated and unhinged as I stack worms

[Race Against a Duck]

That duck is a cheating motherfucker.

[Bleek]

Amazing game.
-10/10 Cute character design
-Surprising amount of content! I kept seeing more stuff and expected like 2 ghost models.
-Black on white easy to read colourscheme
-Built in challenges that feel like you actually playtested and cared about what you made
-Interesting and fun mechanic
-Quite a few creative powerups

The only real bad thing I can say about it is that I wasn't sure if the eyeball powerup was an enemy or not, but that's hardly a slight for something otherwise so fantastic

Instead of just offering praise though, maybe I can ask some questions.
-How many people worked on this game?
-Where did your inspiration come from for the art/gameplay?
-Did you build it in a game engine or make it from scratch?
-Does your character have a name?
-What are you/will you be working on next?

FodderLabs responds:

Thanks for playing!

Yeah, we are thinking of a way to keep the current eyeball powerup design but to better convey to the player that they are friendly. (Maybe we should have come up with something more cute instead lol)

Glad you enjoyed the game and thank you for the feedback! :D

Ooo, great questions! :D

1) Stix and I handled the code + art aspects, with Legobuzz12 being commissioned for the gameplay music. (Cloud Road Music made a track for an old game I was working on a while back but it ended up fitting better for this game!)

2) As far as art inspiration, I would say Undertale is a big inspiration in terms of character design/ aesthetics. (Muffet is my favorite character! :P ) But gameplay-wise, it was more of a last minute decision lol The original game was made for a 1-bit game jam (The theme was "Light and Darkness")

For the gameplay inspiration, I've always LOVED the game "Streamline" as a kid (You can play it here on Newgrounds! :D ) and I have been wanting to make a level around synchronized music + gameplay. (Especially with such talented musicians at my side!) We shall see! :3

Also, vampire survivors was an inspiration as well. (Maybe I can lean in more on the randomness/ rogue-like elements for a spin-off! :P )

Originally, I was going to try making a "Celeste" style game with Violette platforming around instead. (There would be sections of the level that would have darkness that would hurt/ insta-kill the players, so staying in the light was the objective!)

But after a couple of days, I realized this was going to take too long for a game jam (This one gave you a week, so it was a bit better for my schedule), so I decided to scrap what I worked on and make something else smaller in scale.

I knew a single screen game would be easier to manage, just needed to have enough variety + gameplay elements to keep someone interested for a few minutes! :P

Thus, "Bleek" was born! :D

3) This game was built in a game engine. (Construct 3)

But I wouldn't mind re-working + re-tooling from scratch!

4) Yes! Her name is "Violette". (Though, despite the black and white aesthetic of the game, she does have color!) :3

5) Our next focus is going to be working on more Bleek content!

I've already met with Stix and we have a pretty good idea of where to go next with the content. (Also Legobuzz12 is hard at work cooking up some sick beats!)

We are aiming to release it around December 18 - 20.

After that, I want to go back and improve some of the old games I've worked on. (The "Weapon Switch" game on my itch page needs some love, same with Plague Princess and Battle Ninja Otter.)

Then... I dunno, I haven't thought that far ahead lol

Thank you for taking the time to ask these questions!

Hope you'll stick around for the update! ;D

[GᕼOᔕTᖴᗩᑕE ᖇIᗪE ᗪᗩ ᗯᕼIᑭ]

I fucking hate it.
but I appreciate the effort

[Dungeon Scroller]

I went to level 23 before I decided not to finish it.
The simple controls are good, but some of the execution is very clunky. Namely the backdash mechanic, at no point did it ever feel good to use, because you're always auto running forward anyway, so it will always feel like you're fighting the controls in vain. I hated anything where I was forced to use it. The sword however was great, give me the sword from the start of every level with those sound effects and explosions and its instantly a better game. The forward dash on it felt good, but could obviously be better given you die from contact damage accidentally moving into the 2 hit enemies.

One other thing of mention, somewhere in one of the early levels, there are a series of jumps on a lower level, the knight's head doesn't really fit so it obviously doesn't have collision, but the parts you have to squeeze through on the jumps have to be a specific height, and your jump is variable. Even when I thought I was doing a short enough jump, I still needed to go even shorter with trial and error til I got it, they were a bit unnecessary and not really giving a challenge of "wow I did it" more of a "Oh boy, kaizo mario bullshit with extra steps"

Most of the levels I played were somewhat enjoyable, but not without problems. It's not the kinda thing that sticks in the back of my mind that I need to go back to. The music is the highest point

[This is the Only Level]

I forgot how much I hated this game. 7:15, 40 deaths

[Prepare to be a Maze]

Stuck on level 2, my brain is not big enough.
Cool concept, but not really fun for a basic bitch like me, maybe some gigabrains will appreciate it more.