Score: 6

"You have a suicide button but I can't move in "Y"?"

submission: Attack45

date: July 23, 2009

First off, good menus, very easy to navigate. The graphics were very clean and blended well together. While there wasn't much difference between the levels I could see an increase in difficulty. I'm glad I could place my shots on the screen but it became very easy to anticipate and destroy targets before they were even visible.

One area that needs major attention. Your bounding box. In flash the bounding box is made to encompass every pixel and point in your graphic, this could lead to very huge bounding boxes, like in this case. I found myself getting shot even though my plane was well out of the influence of the bullets. One way to fix this is to create a new bounding box. This can be very simple, like drawing a rectangle. The shape shouldn't be complicated or you'll run into the same problem as before. Once you have this new bounding box, parent it to the main character and set its location to 0, 0 (origin). Turn off the new bounding box's visibility by setting it's alpha to zero. Now you can use this smaller, more reasonable bounding box to deal with your hit detection.

I thought the game was a tad short but the initial difficulty held my attention through all six levels. Having only one weapon ensured the game would be challenging as the difficulty progressed.

Overall a 6, the bounding box cost you two points and short levels, lack of variation in enemies and environments, and the inability to move along the y-axis cost you another two. But! The game was very solid, had good programming, and got me hooked, which is far better then most games I've seen. Good Job.

Score: 10

"This is fantastic!"

submission: Rumblah! Demo

date: July 12, 2009

Distributing this will make it so much easier for non-programmers to make fighting games! Even a simple engine gives us a leg up but you guys really took it to the next level. You have done a great service to the flash community and I for one thank you repeatedly for it.

Score: 10

"This is a game you can look at from many angles"

submission: Gray

date: May 14, 2009

If we were to look at it from the view of the main character. You could say this game proves the power one person can have on society, even in extreme circumstances. Which may suggest that we should actively participate in local political events.

If we look at it from the mob's point of view. This game could say that people are fickle fair weather fans. You can probably convince society that a certain viewpoint is correct simply because it is the popular and most talked about one. Plus, should the public opinion change, either through the media or the subtle coercions of select few, it would be pretty easy to make people switch standpoints.

Then again, if we look at all of this based on the city, we get a different message. The entire background is in shades of gray. This could mean that no matter the stance of a certain group of people, the world will always stay divided. There is no clear cut right and wrong. The frequent swaying of the people's opinions merely adds to this.

Finally, if we look strictly at the game play aspect of it. One could say that the waveforms symbolize a persons message vs. a person's beliefs. If one preaches to them long enough, they will eventually convert to your side. The more ridiculous, unpopular, or drastic the proposal, the harder it will become instill. But should one keep going, the person will eventually see their side of things. Plus the undertones of hypocrisy added to the game increase the difficulty of converting someone.

I've always been a huge supporter of art in games and interactive art in general. What you guys have done here is fantastic. The way you've set it up, the gameplay, and the sound all add perfectly to the entire piece, making it easy for a viewer to come up with a theory or idea without getting distracted by a flaw or irritant in your design. Keep up the work gentlemen, I can't wait to see more from you.

Score: 10

"*Claps for the Programmer*"

submission: Spewer

date: May 9, 2009

Fantastic job all around. Amazing character, inovative gameplay, and the physics... inspiring. Really, I had no idea flash could do so much. Easily could be game of the year. Reminds me of "World of Goo" in it's simplicity, physics, and progression. I can't wait to see more from you guys.

Score: 5

"A solid first"

submission: im having a bad day

date: May 7, 2009

I think you had a lot of things going for this animation. You had some solid drawing, decent timing, and a variety of movement. These things can be made even better with a little more practice.

I think you cheapened it by repeatedly telling everyone to "Vote 5." You have a lot of potential as an animator, there's no need to badger the voters.

Good luck and I hope to see more from you soon.

Score: 7

"You sure love squash and stretch."

submission: Three Little Sisters

date: May 4, 2009

It's rare to see a person on Newgrounds who mentions the principals of animation. And even rarer to find one who is willing to accept all criticisms. Both of these are very admirable qualities in an animator.

Like Ceid said before me, this is a very good first submission. You set up your scene nicely, and you had a simple yet entertaining character. I noticed your use of overlapping action in the arms and in the hair of the three sisters and it's obvious you understand the concept of squash and stretch. You need to be careful with it though, you squashed his head in many areas where it wasn't really needed. Yes, it's very useful for showing sudden changes in velocity but you took it to such extremes that it seemed like he had either fallen from a great height or his head had the consistency of jello.

If you want something to improve on next time, try working on the flow of your characters. One of the 12 principals is Arcs. In this video, you character moves from point A to point B in a very linear fashion. It seems very mechanical. If you have your character follow a curved path he can seem a lot more organic. It happens naturally in your walk animation and the three little sisters definitely used it when they fell from the phonograph but you can use arcs in smaller motions too, like when he was watching them. He sat up, shifted to the side a bit, then plopped right back down. Throw some more curvature into the motion and it will seem a lot more natural.

Score: 10

"Why this isn't rated higher is beyond me."

submission: ERROAR

date: April 27, 2009

Your timing on this video was impeccable. I found myself smiling the whole way through. The characters were simple yet solidly drawn. The theme was fun. I'm sure your friends loved it. The pacing was fantastic, it just kept coming at me.

If you're looking for a way to improve, look up the twelve principals of animation and see for yourself what you can touch up.

Kudos to Waterflame too. His music added a lot to your video.

Score: 7

"Well this is new."

submission: A* Episode 2

date: April 22, 2009

I've never seen a flash video done in a noir style before. You seem to have a really strong grasp of the technique behind it. Visually it was a very solid piece. But you story telling is soooooo... slooooow! It takes you about 3 times the amount of time to say a few lines of dialogue.

I gave you a 5 because I think you did a good job with vector art. The old noir style seems perfect for it. But in this review you're only getting a 7. Speed up the story progression and I'll give you a 10 next time.

Score: 7

"You have some major balancing issues here"

submission: Fury Officer

date: April 9, 2009

You have a solid concept, the characters look good, and I was entertained. But the difficulty curve was non-existent. I was drilling dozens of office drones will little regard to taking damage because it barely did anything to my health bar and food dropped like rain from the corpses of the fallen. There needs to be a gradual progression here. Plus, when I got the "Flaming Storm" or whatever the big fireball was called I didn't need to use another move. It barely took up MP, it was easy enough to pull off, and it did way more damage than my fists ever could.

Your motions were well thought out, I saw the use for dashing and jumping, and I was thrilled to see button combos for special moves. Your programming was off though. I was flying through the air with little provocation and it often caught me by surprise. Then, when I hit the ground, I'd still be sprinting around like a mad man.

Control the knockback more. It's a powerful tool and a great way to show force but from what I was gathering you were trying to incorporate combos into the game, which is awesome. But I can't combo anything if the enemies go flying back on the first jab.

The specials looked pretty and they definitely had a "holy crap" factor to them, but they were executed too early. I understand you were trying to go for "I'm super powerful, check out my awesome blasts of awesome" but things like that should be used as a finisher, a reward for pulling off a perfect combo, or catching you opponent with his pants down. It makes the flashy and exaggerated moves all that more satisfying.

Enemy size is not a replacement for variation. I could understand it a little if they were a lot more difficult than their smaller cousins but they dropped just as easily. Plus, that kind of scale is far too exaggerated. Making room for the monster baddies made it a lot harder to see the hero. The amount of enemies you had was fine, it wasn't necessary to try to add variety by merely increasing size.

As a conclusion, let me say that your visuals looked very good. It's obvious you have a lot of skill with flash, vector art, and drawing in general. Your style was consistent throughout which is more then a lot of people can say. And your backgrounds were suitable for the game (kind of confused about the desert level though). It's your programming that could use some work. Next time, before you post your next game in the portal, slap in on the flash forums and see what other people think. More often than not they'll offer constructive criticism about how you can improve your game. That way when you finally post it, your score will be that much higher.

Overall, 4/5 7/10

Score: 10

"A shining example"

submission: AMIG0

date: March 19, 2009

There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't get a 5/10. Everything about this piece was well thought out and artfully rendered. As soon as the "Amigo" title unfolded on the screen I knew exactly what my vote would be.

The backgrounds were subtle yet interesting, your use of color complimented to mood and situation perfectly, and your character wasn't detailed but was inventive and quirky. I would've loved to seen a little more squash and stretch but I can completely understand your reasoning for not using it. I don't like to compare, but Wall-E had the same philosophy about maintaining a rigid character and environment. I loved your ample use of cushioning, especially when the robot moved it's head around. It helped communicate how frail the robot was, especially in the neck. The story was well paced and your transitions were flawless. I felt no lull in the action and was constantly entertained.

A lot can be taken from this short. Those who take the time to think about it can easily pull some kind of message from it, which I respect a lot. I also applaud you for not using any voice overs, words, or bumps. It really speaks volumes about your skill as an animator.

So thank you sir, for providing this diamond in the rough. For those of you who read this review, I have a request. Learn from this man. Watch this flash a few times and try to glean a few things from it. Because this is everything a flash cartoon should be.