goldenPiGames's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tidying Up + Secrets of the Sewers]

Very cute! Although the level design is far too unchallenging, and it's sorely missing sound effects.

Bleak-Creep responds:

Very fair! I think we’ll probably try to add a few sound effects in a future update as well as a few more types of blocks to make things a little more challenging too :)

Thanks for playing!

[Super Hard Quiz P2!!!]

I appreciate the throwback to old classics like The Impossible Quiz, and I don't even terribly mind the nonsense answers. The real problem is having to start all over from the beginning, especially with the ones that are more involved like the debugging and the simon says. I wouldn't expect to just get to continue from the same point, but what about some kind of compromise? There could be checkpoints. Or when you game over you get sent ten or so questions back. Or once you've done a question ten or so times it skips that question.

octopus58 responds:

Glad to hear :)
I definitely thought of checkpoints but... ultimately decided against it. I do see what you mean and where you're coming from but at the same time the game is quite short (60 questions) so continuing from a checkpoint would make it feel even shorter imo. Plus I think that it kind of gives an extra challenge to get through all 60 while still keeping your lives.
If I ever do a part 3 though... I'll definitely consider adding check points especially if there's gonna be 100+ questions haha

Thanks for playing the game!

[Nutbuster (✨THE CANCELLED UPDATE ✨)]

literally how do you damage sack's second phase

ChalTheChalkyOne responds:

By parrying ofc

[Rolus in the Outskirts]

I can't figure out what to do next - I can't find a way past the mousetraps in the building, and I can't find the "tube of lube". I like the style so far though.

My main feedback is I think the controls would be improved if you always strafe while holding the shoot button. I always press the strafe button every time I shoot anyway. If you wanted to change direction you could easily stop holding the button for just a moment.

Wasabiheat responds:

both rooms with mousetraps also have something in them that can be pushed around, give that a try. You may need a special item to access one of them though. (also, don't worry about that lube tube, it's not necessary to complete the demo)

[Pixel Mania!]

I have to wait for a minute every time i die? Screw this. I could tolerate the repetitiveness and complete lack of any kind of originality if the rest of the game was playable.

blit-blat responds:

Not sure what you mean, sorry. Where are you dying and why are you waiting? There shouldn’t be any big delay like that.

[Fire]

Biggest problem with this game is that the resources are completely unbalanced - wood is required for nearly everything yet the one single way to increase wood production requires spending wood. I hate pretty much everything else about this game too but I already spent way too much of my life playing this piece of garbage and I won't spend more of it writing an essay.

ErikSwahn responds:

I agree the management is unbalanced. Too bad the rest didnt capture any interests.

[Cross Strike]

My biggest complaint here is that there were two separate occasions that I didn't notice there was a breakable ceiling above because of how the short the screen was. Once after checkpoint 06, I didn't see the shortcut back to the central areas and ended up backtracking all the way through 05 and 04. And again when I missed the way to the flight upgrade near 10, I threw my head against both the updraft shaft to the left and the teeth tunnel to the right before giving up and looking at the map.

Second complaint is that the visual effects are too much and make it hard to see, especially in the flight sections.

Anyway, I thought it seemed familiar, and of course, I remember Radiance Hearts and my complaint about the rotating laser attack. Is the "Lumina" sword a connection or a throwback?

Yword responds:

Sorry about those issues, and thanks a lot for the feedback! :)

(Actually the games are somehow connected, they take place in the same timeline/chronology, Radiance Hearts should be a few thousand years after Cross Strike...)

[Aurora]

Very interesting. Have some feedback though.

- The confusing instruction manual is not good, and it needs basic tutorials. You already have to deal with the difficulties of both doing things in machine code, and actually understanding the level itself.

- There's also the inconsistencies of how the inputs and outputs behave differently from other hexagons. I think making the input/outputs different, like being circles, would help clarify that they're different.

- The hexagons having separate sides really doesn't add anything to the game. It's just unnecessary confusion that doesn't allow any additional capabilities. You could replace the "rotate" and "copy" commands with something like hex copy (like "move", but doesn't clear the source).

crow-seeds responds:

Yo, just updated the game to address your feedback. Thank you so much for the feedback, as always!

There's an optional video solution demo in the game now. It used to be only in the description (added the video there like 2 days ago). Currently working on a better demo that's in lore with actual voice and explanations, but a video solution should be helpful. I've also added a toggle to see the instructions in English, though you will still have to code in binary.

Inputs and outputs are now circles as per your suggestion. Circles only have 1 side after all! I've reworded the manual a bit to emphasize their difference too.

Hexagons having different sides is important for iterating and sequence handling. Storing multiple values in a hexagon and traversing them through a rotate used to be a big portion of the game, but ultimately for people who don't have that much programming experience, the concept of loops and iterating was a bit much (especially considering that it's all in machine code!). A lot of the sequence related puzzles were moved to the post-game (Everything level 10 and below doesn't touch on it). Levels like Sequence Reverser, Random Access Memory, List Traversal, Recent Memory Checking are now post-game levels.

Speaking of which, I've added about half of the post-game levels. Some of these deal with sequences.

[Coca & Their Shotgun]

The problem with jumping isn't just that it's overpowered, it's that trying to dodge without jumping is just about impossible. The keyboard controls and 3/4 view mean you can't tell exactly where you and the bullets actually, so you can't effectively fit between the bullets in rings. Not to mention the chase patterns being as fast as you, and the random pattern changes, minion spawns, and knives.

Just-a-ng-dummy responds:

I do the same thing, I told you that I never would
I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could

[Logica Emotica]

shouldn't the hint button give you a hint instead of solving the entire level for you at a painstakingly slow pace that can't be quit?

bontegames responds:

Thanks for your feedback, you can now quit the solution with any key press, cheers!