Delicious FruitCthaere's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: May 25, 2020
Bio:
I play fangames or stuff.
I try rating game compared to what they are trying to achieve rather than compared to fangames as a whole, and with knowledge of what you're getting into; If I rate a corridor needle game, I assume the person reading the review wants to play corridor needle, as if they don't they shouldn't bother playing it anyway. With that said, I tend to be very generous on needle ratings while being very skimpy on avoidances (although you likely won't see it as if I'd give it less than a 7 I just won't clear it instead).
with extremely rare exceptions, 9/10+ is reserved to games that have left deep emotional impact, while 10/10 is reserved for games I love unconditionally.
If I reviewed it and the review doesn't say otherwise, it's safe to assume I cleared it. I try adding my clears to df but I never really cared to keep track, so some might be missing.
don't expect diff ratings to be very accurate.
I've submitted:
237 Ratings!
158 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
237 Games
158 Reviews
Cthaere
For: WannaFest 22
For: WannaFest 22
SPOILER WARNING! (since for some reason the spoiler tag doesn't work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
[3] Likes
EDIT: When reviewing a game, one usually picks a perspective to do so from. One may review a game while trying to be as objective and detailed as possible, as my initial review was. Alternatively, one may review a game as their own personal experience, so that a prospective player may relate to it and understand they may experience the same things, or utilize reviews as a platform to talk about a game based on its cultural impact and/or how it interacts with the community, both of which I have done in the past.
After doing some introspection, I have realized that while the objective perspective is useful to have, the subjective one is just as important to me in this case, and I will not be able to be truthful to myself without including it. I sometimes go to my profile and look at my rated and reviewed games, and seeing it above games that are much closer to my heart felt extremely wrong. This is not to say I do not stand by the previous review; Far from it (which is why I still kept it). However, I would like to present a more raw, less filtered perspective.
And from that perspective... Wannafest is a mixed bag. The vast majority of the gameplay is certainly enjoyable, but neither supremely fun nor extremely memorable on its own while still suffering from a decent amount of problems. In the first area, much of the gameplay feels dumbed down, with enemies that do not provide any meaningful interaction, to the point the autoscroller didn't manage to stick out as being less engaging than the rest of the stage. The second area is mostly good. The third area suffers from the same emptyness as the first except for having some really awkward segments and suffering from fulljump spam. The fourth stage is the least engaging I've ever seen a rhythm game be (only the 1st out of 4 measures used, and a maximum of 3 whole inputs) while the inputs themselves did felt imprecise, unresponsive and tighter than they needed to be. Monkey ball was fun & neat but dragged longer than it had to. Sonic actually had platforming and cool enemy design but the level design felt extremely claustrophobic in many places and the physics and were prone to jank. Final stage did manage to satisfy the power fantasy part of run n guns... except for the 1 life aspect, which means you had to play it relatively safe, or choose to meatgrind your way through. Dice room felt like it had 20 seconds of waiting per death and the visual design of the block was incomprehensibly bad for needle. Real final stage had some real filler (idk what the 1st room contributes to the game and while guytower is in theme it had no original additions) but was also good for most of the rest. All bosses except for sonic boss were still fun though.
As for the atmosphere, while impressive and immersive, I cannot say it is evocative of anything in me. I do not have the nostalgia factor to any of these barring Sonic (for which my nostalgia is mostly rooted in other games in the franchise) and as such it does not accomplish the intended enchanting effect for me.
All in all, had I had to rate this purely on my own enjoyment and experience, it would be 6.8, and so as a compromise with the more objective review (which was rated 8.8), we would leave neither my personal experience nor the general observer accurately portrayed (as every typical compromise tends to go) and rate it a 7.8. If you find yourself coming from a similar place I am coming from when playing games, I would not recommend this, however a typical player will likely enjoy it a great deal more.
In case you wanna read the previous review (which again I still stand by), here it is:
Wannafest 2022 is an extremely well produced and varied adventure taking the player on a stroll through a selection of old nostalgic games.
To start with the positives, on the production's end, there is a ton of effort poured in. There are a plethora of unique sprites that you don't usually see in fangames, as well as a wide array of effects from the simplistic moving background to the grand intricate 3d worlds, all of which feel completely natural in their respective stages; The visual design has managed to flawlessly replicate the games it was aiming to in a way that is rarely seen. While I do not personally pay too much attention to sound design, it is just as seamlessly handled and integrated into the atmosphere as the visuals. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong emotional attachment to these games, and so the nostalgia is mostly lost on me, but I'm sure there are many out there who would absolutely love this game much more based on this factor alone.
The gameplay is where I will probably diverge from most other reviews. While there is a lot to love here, it takes a starkly different direction from a traditional fangame, and in doing so it feels like a few things fell through the cracks, the most notable and recurring ones being sections that featured forced waiting (such as the loading part of monkey ball, the intersections in the rhythm game part, the dice animation in the final stage, or some of the autoscrollers) (admittedly I have not tried using the skip button until the very end of the playthrough, however if it was supposed to do anything that was poorly communicated), as well as certain issues with enemy design (enemy design that encourages staying back and playing it slow and boring in the first stage, extremely spammy fulljumpy sections in the 3rd stage with very little interesting in the way of platforming to them, certain poorly communicated mechanics in the final stage such as the slime boss not killing you on contact or having to shoot downwards in the engine boss). Aside from those issues, the gameplay is consistently well executed and as such enjoyment depends mostly on how much the issues affect you and how much you enjoy the variety of completely different core gameplay experiences on offer (although don't expect much traditional platforming). In particular, I love the section where Wario chases you, the multiple paths offered in Sonic, and the concept of the dice game in the final stage. In addition, you should keep your eyes open for the bosses: They're some of my favorite parts in the game, offering a refreshing experience from the rest of the stage yet complementing it very well (with the exception of sonic which is a confusing to navigate autoscroller).
The ending of the game remains just as well executed, and contains some of my favorite screens in the game (bubsy 3d), with an amazing final boss to close it out (although I think Colonel is a bit too "avoidance skill" hard and takes slightly too long, and the wipeout attack is not fun or interesting to do) and the obligatory chase sequence and cutscene following it.
All in all, it is an incredibly well made game which was a lot more fun than I expected. While I cannot say that this is a game that I have strong emotional attachment to or would strongly regret to never have played (which means that due to my personal standards, it is not a game I can give a 9 or higher to), it is a phenomenal game and well worth playing, although I doubt you need me to tell you that.
Rating: 7.8 78
Difficulty: 55 55
Sep 25, 2022
Cthaere
For: Prismatic Needle
For: Prismatic Needle
I generally agree with cLOUD's review, with a few notable differences. I suggest reading it first (although do not reduce it down to the rating), as I will mostly focus on our disagreements.
With that said, assuming you have read it, this is where I would diverge:
- In general, I had a much more pleasant experience than portrayed in cLOUD's review. Partially due to being a hof tier player, partially due to not minding the song too much, and partially due to coming at it with lower expectations (it is a debut after all). With that said, I 100% agree that there are definitely places that could have used a bit more refinement, but nothing felt egregiously bad, and I struggle to see the rest of the criticisms leveled at the gameplay.
- I actually don't like white screen that much. It felt like some effort went missing; For a "everyone come back together for the final screen" trope, it does not feel nearly as grandiose or as satisfying of a conclusion to the game as it should be. I would have much preferred a descending thin tower with camera following player, an additional layer of visuals, or a combination of previous elements in an ingenious way. There are also a couple jumps I dislike in it which hurt the diffcurve quite a bit imo.
- I do fully agree on visuals & song criticism.
In general, this debut showcases good making skill & understanding of general needle principles, and I hope to see a more ambitious project by this maker in the future. If you want a solid chill needle game to play as someone who is at the skill level to beat consistency HoF games or blaze through 70 diff modern gimmick needle games, definitely check this out.
[2] Likes
With that said, assuming you have read it, this is where I would diverge:
- In general, I had a much more pleasant experience than portrayed in cLOUD's review. Partially due to being a hof tier player, partially due to not minding the song too much, and partially due to coming at it with lower expectations (it is a debut after all). With that said, I 100% agree that there are definitely places that could have used a bit more refinement, but nothing felt egregiously bad, and I struggle to see the rest of the criticisms leveled at the gameplay.
- I actually don't like white screen that much. It felt like some effort went missing; For a "everyone come back together for the final screen" trope, it does not feel nearly as grandiose or as satisfying of a conclusion to the game as it should be. I would have much preferred a descending thin tower with camera following player, an additional layer of visuals, or a combination of previous elements in an ingenious way. There are also a couple jumps I dislike in it which hurt the diffcurve quite a bit imo.
- I do fully agree on visuals & song criticism.
In general, this debut showcases good making skill & understanding of general needle principles, and I hope to see a more ambitious project by this maker in the future. If you want a solid chill needle game to play as someone who is at the skill level to beat consistency HoF games or blaze through 70 diff modern gimmick needle games, definitely check this out.
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 75 75
Aug 6, 2022
Cthaere
For: Eppur Si Muove
For: Eppur Si Muove
I will divide this review into 2 parts. The first is going to be a more player oriented review, dissecting the game into its individual parts (yes this means spoilers for everything) and being a bit more in line with a traditional review, while the second part is going to be about things that generally bothered me when I was thinking about the game as a whole.
3 stages of adventure-y needle, each with their own theme.
The first of these is a space-themed stage with gravity flippers and a focus on symmetrical screen design. Said focus is clearly prioritized over gameplay quality in several sections, in a way that feels detrimental to the stage as a whole; Aside from that, it is your usual voraciousreader needle except without cycles.
The second is split into 3 sub hubs, being pushblocks, block cycles, and laser/buttons. Pushblocks has minor puzzley elements, however they both boil down into 2 tools you have at your disposal and are already forced to figure out from the very start; From then on, these become obvious and unsatisfying to solve. Thankfully, gameplay is introduced early enough on that this is not a problem, but not after putting an end of save trap in a pure puzzle save that is no fun to replay. Block cycles has a few really bad cycles, but is otherwise not notable as a stage. Laser/buttons has timed sections and more interesting cycles and is the best of the 3. The stage ends on a screen combining all gimmicks with a new one, which was hectic, fun to execute, and a good finale to the stage.
The third has a massive visual & thematic overhaul, and introduces new killer objects and has a much, much heavier focus on cycles. While some of these still are not well tuned and require waiting at start of save, these also contain much more fun & developed ideas than the previous cycle stage (although still not immune to "filler" ones either) and even throws some RNG into the mix sometimes.
The third stage ends with the final boss, which is a pretty big mixed bag, between "kinda annoying and can give awkward/uncomfortable situations" (green/trans pride flag/(to a lesser extent) orange), "it's decent I guess but barely noticeable unless it gets too close to you" (orange/purple) and "actually really fun to dodge" (yellow/black(final)).
As for production, it is the usual spritework, in a style which I find a bit off-putting; Something about these feels a bit artificial to me, if it makes sense, however I won't hold it against the game. If anything, the save sprite could have used reskinning based on stage. I cannot say I remember the music choices, for better or for worse, however that may have to do with the conditions I was playing under.
Initially, I did not mention the story. While it does exist, I cannot say it is incredibly well developed unless I missed some hidden lore, but it's a cute little addition and I know others may appreciate the touch a lot more.
All in all this is a good needle game with a decent amount cycle elements that starts a bit rough but gets better as it goes along. I cannot say I would feel like I was missing out on too much were I not to play it, but it is fun, big enough to pass a good hour or two, and well made, so if you're looking for a chill winding down experience you should still play it.
Now that the dry part is over, we can get to the part I want to talk about more.
To cut to the chase, there are quite a few things I simply... do not understand about this game. This is something that I share with SOTN, and I fear that I may have judged that game harshly due to this ignorance. I am going to list what I consider to be the root cause of these.
First, while I do see quite a few themes that repeat themselves in gameplay, I fail to see how they connect together to form a consistent & coherent design philosophy that would also make sense from the average player's/my own perspective. For example, the first stage has a screen that is split into top path and bottom path, which is visited twice; once for each path. However, these paths themselves contain needle that is only marginally better than straight up corridor needle. The mistimed cycles also come into play here, alongside the final save of the orange pinwheel screen where you are forced to spam low jumps in water for 10 seconds and a decent chunk of the overall jumps in stage 1 that just felt awkward to execute. It's stuff that I can't see much justification for beyond "this is kinda cool", and while I do 100% think playability can be justifiably sacrificed for another cause, I did not feel like it was the case here.
The second is identity. This game doesn't tread much new ground (especially with SOTN being there to compare to), and while it is definitely good at what it does, it is not outstanding either. However, it also doesn't really give off any specific or personalized feeling; I do not look at this and say "Only Voraciousreader could have made it" or look at a screen and say "Wow this must have come from Eppur" the way I look at games like Chatran needle, at Synthasmagoria adventures, at Eruna avoidances. This is not to say that production is the main factor in these; Hiddow has his own unique touch despite using only very basic visuals, and Carnival's bosses are legendary regardless of being MS Paint doodles. For this game, I can only really say that some of the cycle patterns as well as general easing function cycle abuse (in a good way) are things I can say stand out in the design. In this, it's hard for me to think of this in any term beyond a pretty generic "enjoyable cycle needle(venture) game".
It is important to recognize that I do not ask these questions from a place of disrespect: I definitely assume answers exist for them, if only partially, and I believe there is insight to be gained here both for me in getting these answers and any prospective makers in starting to think in similar terms. Still, due to this, I will refrain from rating the game. I would likely have given it an aggregate score somewhere in the range 7.2-7.6 though as things stand, but do not give this number much weight.
[0] Likes
3 stages of adventure-y needle, each with their own theme.
The first of these is a space-themed stage with gravity flippers and a focus on symmetrical screen design. Said focus is clearly prioritized over gameplay quality in several sections, in a way that feels detrimental to the stage as a whole; Aside from that, it is your usual voraciousreader needle except without cycles.
The second is split into 3 sub hubs, being pushblocks, block cycles, and laser/buttons. Pushblocks has minor puzzley elements, however they both boil down into 2 tools you have at your disposal and are already forced to figure out from the very start; From then on, these become obvious and unsatisfying to solve. Thankfully, gameplay is introduced early enough on that this is not a problem, but not after putting an end of save trap in a pure puzzle save that is no fun to replay. Block cycles has a few really bad cycles, but is otherwise not notable as a stage. Laser/buttons has timed sections and more interesting cycles and is the best of the 3. The stage ends on a screen combining all gimmicks with a new one, which was hectic, fun to execute, and a good finale to the stage.
The third has a massive visual & thematic overhaul, and introduces new killer objects and has a much, much heavier focus on cycles. While some of these still are not well tuned and require waiting at start of save, these also contain much more fun & developed ideas than the previous cycle stage (although still not immune to "filler" ones either) and even throws some RNG into the mix sometimes.
The third stage ends with the final boss, which is a pretty big mixed bag, between "kinda annoying and can give awkward/uncomfortable situations" (green/trans pride flag/(to a lesser extent) orange), "it's decent I guess but barely noticeable unless it gets too close to you" (orange/purple) and "actually really fun to dodge" (yellow/black(final)).
As for production, it is the usual spritework, in a style which I find a bit off-putting; Something about these feels a bit artificial to me, if it makes sense, however I won't hold it against the game. If anything, the save sprite could have used reskinning based on stage. I cannot say I remember the music choices, for better or for worse, however that may have to do with the conditions I was playing under.
Initially, I did not mention the story. While it does exist, I cannot say it is incredibly well developed unless I missed some hidden lore, but it's a cute little addition and I know others may appreciate the touch a lot more.
All in all this is a good needle game with a decent amount cycle elements that starts a bit rough but gets better as it goes along. I cannot say I would feel like I was missing out on too much were I not to play it, but it is fun, big enough to pass a good hour or two, and well made, so if you're looking for a chill winding down experience you should still play it.
Now that the dry part is over, we can get to the part I want to talk about more.
To cut to the chase, there are quite a few things I simply... do not understand about this game. This is something that I share with SOTN, and I fear that I may have judged that game harshly due to this ignorance. I am going to list what I consider to be the root cause of these.
First, while I do see quite a few themes that repeat themselves in gameplay, I fail to see how they connect together to form a consistent & coherent design philosophy that would also make sense from the average player's/my own perspective. For example, the first stage has a screen that is split into top path and bottom path, which is visited twice; once for each path. However, these paths themselves contain needle that is only marginally better than straight up corridor needle. The mistimed cycles also come into play here, alongside the final save of the orange pinwheel screen where you are forced to spam low jumps in water for 10 seconds and a decent chunk of the overall jumps in stage 1 that just felt awkward to execute. It's stuff that I can't see much justification for beyond "this is kinda cool", and while I do 100% think playability can be justifiably sacrificed for another cause, I did not feel like it was the case here.
The second is identity. This game doesn't tread much new ground (especially with SOTN being there to compare to), and while it is definitely good at what it does, it is not outstanding either. However, it also doesn't really give off any specific or personalized feeling; I do not look at this and say "Only Voraciousreader could have made it" or look at a screen and say "Wow this must have come from Eppur" the way I look at games like Chatran needle, at Synthasmagoria adventures, at Eruna avoidances. This is not to say that production is the main factor in these; Hiddow has his own unique touch despite using only very basic visuals, and Carnival's bosses are legendary regardless of being MS Paint doodles. For this game, I can only really say that some of the cycle patterns as well as general easing function cycle abuse (in a good way) are things I can say stand out in the design. In this, it's hard for me to think of this in any term beyond a pretty generic "enjoyable cycle needle(venture) game".
It is important to recognize that I do not ask these questions from a place of disrespect: I definitely assume answers exist for them, if only partially, and I believe there is insight to be gained here both for me in getting these answers and any prospective makers in starting to think in similar terms. Still, due to this, I will refrain from rating the game. I would likely have given it an aggregate score somewhere in the range 7.2-7.6 though as things stand, but do not give this number much weight.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 55 55
Jul 22, 2022
Cthaere
For: RNG Dungeon
For: RNG Dungeon
Do not expect anything sort of resembling a traditional review; These are just some of my thoughts as a developer that I wanted to put out publicly.
This was meant to be the final game of the I wanna tourney. Luckily, it wasn't.
To put it bluntly, this game is both hard, and was never meant to be a grind. We knew it from the very beginning, and we have decided to make it for ourselves. A game where the mask is half on, half off, where we can be ourselves while also making a show out of it. Furthermore, the final boss took up most of the development cycle since the IWT, and so did many balance changes; Both the game and the tourney would have likely been much worse were it to be its final boss.
This extends further though. The readme states it plainly, I have already made that point, but it still bears repeating: This game was made with a specific audience in mind, and is likely too abrasive for most outside that audience. It was thoroughly tested, balanced and reiterated upon, until the final release was deemed not merely satisfactory, but excellent in delivering the experience we want to the audience we wanted to deliver it to, being released with the maker's full intent behind it. In that, the game fulfills its purpose; If you end up disliking it, it is much more likely it wasn't aimed at you rather than it was aimed at you but fell flat. If you choose to make yourself play it still, after discovering it isn't for you, don't expect much sympathy.
For those of you who I did make this for? I hope you enjoy. I put a lot of work into it, and had some fun (and some rage). It was a journey, and in the end, that is what matters the most. This release has definitely had me do some thinking, though. You'll hopefully see what comes of it.
There's a lot more I could say about this game, however this platform is inadequate for that. To put it simply, this game and the development team have gone through a LOT during the time of making it, and there is simply too much missing information for the outside player to understand where we were coming from sometimes. The stories are nearly as good as the content that was generated by them. This goes a bit beyond, in that the dev team has a general perspective about avoidances that is not shared by many outside it yet allows us to reach the levels of avoidance making we have, and while this specific project was about messing around, having fun, and showing off, it is also clear that for some parts in this as well as many of our other projects (and upcoming ones), people are unable to grasp where our perspectives come from (as evidenced by anyone who thinks milky ways is more than the bare minimum for mediocrity (yes I got razzor's permission and approval to say that)). I will ask that you trust us when we make takes based on these views when it comes to our own games.
[14] Likes
This was meant to be the final game of the I wanna tourney. Luckily, it wasn't.
To put it bluntly, this game is both hard, and was never meant to be a grind. We knew it from the very beginning, and we have decided to make it for ourselves. A game where the mask is half on, half off, where we can be ourselves while also making a show out of it. Furthermore, the final boss took up most of the development cycle since the IWT, and so did many balance changes; Both the game and the tourney would have likely been much worse were it to be its final boss.
This extends further though. The readme states it plainly, I have already made that point, but it still bears repeating: This game was made with a specific audience in mind, and is likely too abrasive for most outside that audience. It was thoroughly tested, balanced and reiterated upon, until the final release was deemed not merely satisfactory, but excellent in delivering the experience we want to the audience we wanted to deliver it to, being released with the maker's full intent behind it. In that, the game fulfills its purpose; If you end up disliking it, it is much more likely it wasn't aimed at you rather than it was aimed at you but fell flat. If you choose to make yourself play it still, after discovering it isn't for you, don't expect much sympathy.
For those of you who I did make this for? I hope you enjoy. I put a lot of work into it, and had some fun (and some rage). It was a journey, and in the end, that is what matters the most. This release has definitely had me do some thinking, though. You'll hopefully see what comes of it.
There's a lot more I could say about this game, however this platform is inadequate for that. To put it simply, this game and the development team have gone through a LOT during the time of making it, and there is simply too much missing information for the outside player to understand where we were coming from sometimes. The stories are nearly as good as the content that was generated by them. This goes a bit beyond, in that the dev team has a general perspective about avoidances that is not shared by many outside it yet allows us to reach the levels of avoidance making we have, and while this specific project was about messing around, having fun, and showing off, it is also clear that for some parts in this as well as many of our other projects (and upcoming ones), people are unable to grasp where our perspectives come from (as evidenced by anyone who thinks milky ways is more than the bare minimum for mediocrity (yes I got razzor's permission and approval to say that)). I will ask that you trust us when we make takes based on these views when it comes to our own games.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jul 18, 2022
Cthaere
For: I wanna best the 100 floors
For: I wanna best the 100 floors
Best the 100 floors is a 100 floors jtool needle game which seems to come from the late CN2 era of needle, where needle started to become refined in both visuals and gameplay, slowly incorporated the standard jtool gimmicks more, and has moved on to incorporate more open space and less corridors in the design.
I would like to say that this game is akin to a lunch at a local mom n pop restaurant. Something that doesn't try to be fancy or shoot for the stars, but rather a solid, overall enjoyable experience that clearly has some heart poured into it. The amount of jump heights, maneuver complexity, and save length are all positively varied, without any particular effort to make any of these elements pronounced. The music and visuals are also simple yet charming. Unfortunately, I am unable to make the initial comparison, as a result of something that will cause me to violate Kale's commandments: Difficulty balance.
While I am a firm believer in difficulty diversity, and that difficulty is meant to serve the game rather than the player, here it manages only to annoy and frustrate. It is not just the difficulty either; Many jumps in the harder saves are awkward or overly precise, and difficulty seems to be the result of these deviations from the more lenient, natural style most of the game goes by. The usage of 8px grid in gross ways (squished/altered normal jumps, jumps that are a bit higher or lower than you expect initially, 4.25 jumps), forced low jumps, and drops that have very little leniency all contribute to this.
As a result, while I did enjoy a decent amount of this game, I find it hard to recommend it. Play only if you don't care about clearing/grinding it but rather about just having a good time, and are ready to drop the session whenever you stop having fun.
[0] Likes
I would like to say that this game is akin to a lunch at a local mom n pop restaurant. Something that doesn't try to be fancy or shoot for the stars, but rather a solid, overall enjoyable experience that clearly has some heart poured into it. The amount of jump heights, maneuver complexity, and save length are all positively varied, without any particular effort to make any of these elements pronounced. The music and visuals are also simple yet charming. Unfortunately, I am unable to make the initial comparison, as a result of something that will cause me to violate Kale's commandments: Difficulty balance.
While I am a firm believer in difficulty diversity, and that difficulty is meant to serve the game rather than the player, here it manages only to annoy and frustrate. It is not just the difficulty either; Many jumps in the harder saves are awkward or overly precise, and difficulty seems to be the result of these deviations from the more lenient, natural style most of the game goes by. The usage of 8px grid in gross ways (squished/altered normal jumps, jumps that are a bit higher or lower than you expect initially, 4.25 jumps), forced low jumps, and drops that have very little leniency all contribute to this.
As a result, while I did enjoy a decent amount of this game, I find it hard to recommend it. Play only if you don't care about clearing/grinding it but rather about just having a good time, and are ready to drop the session whenever you stop having fun.
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 8, 2022
2 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wanna Musiclock | 74.7 | 9.4 | 18 |
| I wanna Xanadu | 59.4 | 8.2 | 6 |
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