Community Game Reviews!

Galactian · November 23, 2022, 4:50pm

Here’s how this works: put a game in here that is particularly good (doesn’t have to be your own), and if you don’t, I’ll probably set it up as a rating poll. (Idea from @Recryptech)

I’ll start with my favourite.

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How to make a number rating poll:
First, build a poll.
Hit the settings cog in the corner, and go to number rating.
Make the max 10, and set the name.

John_Shrekinson · November 23, 2022, 4:55pm

It’s Gamouggin’ time!

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BradenS · November 23, 2022, 8:38pm

lets go guys

Pixel_Name1 · November 23, 2022, 9:03pm

Yooooooooooooo

Recryptech · November 23, 2022, 9:10pm

This is a brutally honest way to get feedback, I like it! Tbh kinda surprised this hasn’t been seen sooner for non-jam situations

Pixel_Name1 · November 23, 2022, 9:11pm

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rcreger · November 23, 2022, 9:45pm

I really liked this one! Very fun, loved the vibe and how in-depth the environments were! Gave me August Silence vibes, but more fantasy instead of sci-fi horror. Well done! Can’t wait to see more:D

Do you have a topic for updates for this one? I’d like to keep an eye on this project.

Recryptech · November 23, 2022, 10:17pm

They post their dev log stuff here if you want to check it out

Pixel_Name1 · November 23, 2022, 10:17pm

Thank you!
Yes I do @Recryptech just posted it so check it out

Ionjiruilo_Pylon · November 24, 2022, 1:39am

Who gives Gamougg low ratings and why

I’m not offended, but I want logical morphenomenal reasoning

ManiacPumpkin · November 24, 2022, 6:43am

I haven’t played all gamougg games, but I have played quite a bit to know how most usually or end up being.

Here is a review I did on Taile Gamougg 4

Summary

The Pumpkin Previews (The Return)

Alright Taile Gamougg 4 by John_Shrekinson

Where do I begin…

The Artstyle:

So I’m not really sure what to exactly think of this. I saw that some objects used a very similar layout as the default blocks and everything is really inconsistent. I do like how each level is almost like it’s own world, but I have no idea what’s going on half the time.

The Title right off the bat was super hard to follow. It was a massive amalgamation of inconsistent text and I couldn’t even tell what the title of the game actually was. The blocks almost seem to be randomly placed everywhere and some of the levels seem very challenging to even get past.

I do give props how there are a lot of different blocks with their own unique sprites, but sadly I couldn’t hardly tell what anything was.

The characters looked interesting enough, that classic Gamougg design, but the game seriously needs attention to animations. I know you refuse to add them because whether you don’t feel like animating or because that’s just a rule. The game almost seems frozen in frame and seems very bland without the use of animations to give anything life.

Another issue was the water stage where I couldn’t even tell what was a background object or the actual floor and I kept dying because of it. If you have background objects, make is similar to the solid ones, but make them slightly darker or way more distinguishable.

I’m gonna rate this a 5/10 on Art. A good start and the game does feature a lot of different characters and a huge variety of enemies and blocks, but it looks like multiple art styles thrown together at some parts and it’s hard to even tell what the level layouts are.

Gameplay/story:

So the gameplay is pretty poor in design. It’s a classic platformer, but there’s not much enjoyment in it. The level layouts almost seem at random and the mechanics are super poor and make the game way more difficult than it should be.

There is a unique story that follows most of the game, but usually when I play story-based games, I want to be able to follow the story easily and get to know characters better, etc. The story was pretty random and nothing really made sense. It almost seemed like it was composed of meme prompts. There were a few good moments, but some of the dialogue didn’t seem quite natural and definitely sounds scripted, when going for dialogue you want it to sound natural and easy to understand as if you were actually engaging in a regular conversation yourself.

I noticed at the beginning you play as Gamougg talking to Pro and he immediately asks about his parents. This was a bit random and I felt that you need to maybe show a simple cutscene where they talk to each other and maybe explain a bit more and get warmed up on that topic. With the amount of story you have and the amount of text you need, it can be hard to pull off with a large story based game like this. I would recommend adding more gameplay in between and have cutscenes between scene changes or character interactions that seem more realistic than simple statements on the basic plot.

The story itself wasn’t hard to follow, but the amount of tips was insane. I know someone probably already said this before, but almost every key on the keyboard does something and for a relatively short game (for a story game) it was almost impossible to know what key did what and it was already overwelming. I know you have many other Gamougg games that probably explain events leading up to this, but if you plan to make an entire separate game, you need a story that can be easy to follow for that specific game instead of needing to play all of the games to get it. Like Star Wars. You can watch just about any movie (Except the new ones) and they each have their own plot, new characters, and outline that differ from the others. Which makes each one unique. You don’t want to make multiple games of a series and they are basically just chapters of a larger story.

The gameplay itself was pretty bland and was quite difficult since enemies would attack while was in the middle of a dialogue scene or reading a tip on what key did what.

For Gameplay and Story I give a 5/10 as well. I would rate much lower, but with a decent story and plotline that most games generally lack, it makes up for the gameplay.

The Mechanics…

I kind of dread writing this portion since there is so much that needs work. The game feels very…

broken.

First off the NPC’s. I liked the following example at the beginning of Pro followed Gamougg, but when you change into Pro, the original Pro following you is still there and looks kind of weird.

Also the enemies are horrendous. They fly around at insane speeds (some of them) and throw random projectiles. Plus they jump whenever you jump which doesn’t make much sense so the game is almost like Superhot in a way. The enemies need a better system where they can jump and start chasing the player without the player’s action. I would even recommend having proximity detection so they don’t immediately go agro on you when you just load in.

The movement is pretty simple and the jump can be easily abused, especially in the water stage. I would recommend switching over to a second set of controls that allow swimming in water to be more fluid instead of spam jumping to get through the level. Even the houses had objects that can be used to launch yourself to the roof for the next floor. Same for the ladders. None of it feels right at all.

The bumper car (that’s what it looks like) doesn’t even float across the expansion you have to go through. I have no idea what makes it go up and theres a hundred keys it could be tagged on. Same with the motorcycle. I had to skip every level that required a vehicle to fly over a gap because it would sink when i tried riding it. Which made the game more of a chore to play than enjoyable.

There’s literally too much to explain what doesn’t feel right and I don’t even think I have enough time to suggest how to fix them all.

The game does it’s job, for the most part, and you know the mere basic of enemies approaching you, but it feels sloppy. To start, I would recommend working on the controls of the player since the jumping is way to broken for semisolid platforms and the running is alright for the most part, but it could be smoother a little bit.

The keyboard and attacks is suffer. half the time, none of them work and I have to refresh the level. Plus the attacks are way too simple. Like a simple sword slash emit. I like the idea of weapons attaching to the player when they are equipped, but the emitted projectiles only fire in the direction you were last facing instead of where the curser is pointed. You have to run away from enemies and look back at them to shoot for the projectiles to even fire in their direction.

From what I’ve seen, the enemies all need some work. Basic raycasts to detect blocks and allow enemies to jump on their own instead of by the players jump. You have a strong foundation, but you’re building a stick hut. You need to work on the visual aspects and gameplay for the game to feel more fun than a chore. Some people might enjoy playing variety of games such as this, but for me, I really didn’t enjoy any of the gameplay. There were interesting moments I did like, but for the most part the game does need some work.

For the mechanics I have to give a 3/10, mostly because theres a lot of stuff that seem almost broken such as the vehicles, enemies, and movements. I don’t want to give any less since there were some features that weren’t necessarily the most easiest to make and I know a majority of this took some serious time, but a lot of it was pretty simple and at some points, It looked like it was just put into the game for the sake of cutting time. I know once you update the mechanics of the game, the gameplay will feel solid and very enjoyable to play the game just for the controls, not even the story, which would be a plus to the game.

You didn’t apply for difficulty, which I’m not sure if I should apply it or not since the game wasn’t exactly difficult, but I felt like you are kind of cheated on some levels such as enemies chasing you when you are still in dialogue or reading a large paragraph tips on the massive amounts of controls. Since this wasn’t necessarily asked for, I won’t count it on the final grade.

And the theme, which is a sub group of Artstyle and story, I would probably give a solid 3/5 on it. Mostly because you did have a pretty unique story and a very unique story. Although it doesn’t feel serious like it acts and the game feels more like a meme than a game. Which I’m sure it was implied to have some comedy, but it was to the point where the game was far from realism. This mostly reflects on the story and overall idea of the game and I recommend making the game feel more natural, mostly with dialogue and a story that’s easy to follow and makes some sense instead of complete random.

Your final grade is:

4.6/10 (F)

The game has great potential and I can definitely see it becoming its own series one day, but the game itself lacks good mechanics. The art was reduced by the amount of objects and art styles that overwhelms the player to a very high extent.

Another thing I would recommend is the title. Personally I always want my title and menu to be very simplistic, but unique enough so when people hear the name or see the outline they immediately know the game. The title was a huge thing I noticed since it was a collision of many, many different things all at once and it almost felt like I was reading a novel (not one to talk) just for the menu. You could have a recap that shows a credits like page/level that could explain to the player where the story last left off and other information needed before the game.

The Story and gameplay could use some work as well. Like I stated above, as a story based game, I’m gonna mostly pick on the story than most other details. The story is unique and unlike any other I’ve seen, but I do recommend keeping the plot somewhat realistic. You can always make fictional plots, but the story was a bit goofy and adds to the poor comedy of the game.

The mechanics was probably the biggest flaw on the game. There is so much that could use some work and even the level layouts need some work.

And that’s sums it all up. I don’t like comparing games on flowlab to triple A games out there cause that’s an unfair comparison, but I do compare it to games that are on flowlab and from my own experience. I can’t exactly say we all have the same advantages on flowlab, since some users just have way more time than others and have spent years on here and are way better than most, but that was their commitment. There’s nothing you holding you back and even stepping outside the Gamougg series (and maybe add animations) you can grow as a developer. From the few gamougg games I have played, it almost feels like its the same thing every time except its always a continuity of the previous game in the series.

This may be a harsh review, but my honest opinion of the game isn’t to put you down, but to help you learn from your current progress and build off of it. I mentioned that you have a strong foundation but you’re building a stick hut, mostly meaning you have a great thing going, but the game itself still needs work to become that immovable mansion you dreamed about.

Sometimes making a dream into a reality can be difficult, but with enough practice, I believe you can make a serious thing about this series. If you ever have any questions on how to improve a specific feature in your game, feel free to ask. I will help with the best of my abilities and this will go for anyone. Sadly life has had a good hold for a while now and I may not have the time to help, but I will whenever I do get the moment to.

I wish you luck on your journey and I can’t wait to see what your progress leads to.

From playing and reviewing this game from also playing and seeing others. The games definitely lack quite a bit. Most have stupid amount of controls where almost every key on your keyboard does something. The mechanics are pretty poor and some enemies either get stuck, only jump when you jump, or are too difficult to even bother fighting.
The art is the only thing going for the game, but the level layouts are incredibly difficult to even navigate considering it’s hard to tell what a background or level object they even are.
There are some use of default and recolored default sprites which I understand they are used as a building stone for sprites, but considering that John_Shrekinson has been on for quite a while, default sprites almost seem quite lazy.

I know the lack of animations is supposed to be a Gamougg rule or something, but I feel that character animations is another attempt at cutting corners because the game feels frozen at times without any animations at all. Some objects and weapons will have animations, but that’s about it.

The story is “unique”. I have quite a hard time following it considering its supposed to be humorous? The dialogue seems way to formal to sound like natural communications and some of the characters seem to already know what’s going on as if everything was purposely scripted.
Other than that, the story is what makes the Gamougg games pretty unique from everything else.

I could continue on, but the review I posted should explain a bit more.

This relies mostly on Taile Gamougg 4 and the half a dozen other games I stumbled upon. It might not relate to any of the other games or the ones listed could have been updated after this review was posted.

DeadlyGumChewer · November 24, 2022, 1:55pm

Look at this little room I found

Galactian · November 24, 2022, 4:48pm

Review Game of the Day . 11/24/22

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Galactian · November 24, 2022, 4:57pm

@eee_team please stop trolling. rating everything a 1 is literally not funny. you’re ruining the point of this.

Galactian · November 26, 2022, 6:19pm

Review Game of the Day . 11/26/22

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Ionjiruilo_Pylon · November 29, 2022, 11:55pm

Isn’t that cool though? So many awesome features!

Look at the Call of Duty Flowlab memes before you start being defaultphobic again.

Big issues, I will tell John

Ionjiruilo_Pylon · November 29, 2022, 11:55pm

new game to review:

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ManiacPumpkin · November 30, 2022, 2:32am

Some games it would be alright if it was at least organized. Although this game has the key setup so unorganized and the keys are linked to the most random of abilities. I’m sure you can say it’s cool, but for people who casually play games, it’s horrendous having to remember what all does what. Sometimes I don’t even know what’s a shield, attack, or just a random skin change.

For one, Phobia means fear of something. Never once did I ever express fear about default sprites. It’s a great stepping stone for when you first start, but after a while, it seems like a lazy excuse to make quick and simple art for a game. You won’t ever grow as a developer using someone else’s art. Unless you’re apart of a team of users where everyone grows in experience together.

Ionjiruilo_Pylon · November 30, 2022, 7:12pm

After playing a lot of Gamougg I realized that a lot of the buttons are just extras and contribute nothing to the game but bonus entertainment value. All the controls that matter are fairly simple, at least in Gamougg 4 and Ligma.

I’m not sure if I disagree with you or you’re just a . Honestly John says you are very based, but default hate is never okay.

ManiacPumpkin · December 1, 2022, 3:27am

You’re missing the point. I don’t want to argue any longer since we’re just filling up this discussion without any good reason.
I don’t hate default sprites, they are a good place holder for sprites you need immediately for testing or just on a game mainly for testing code. I would rather work on code for a testing game than have to spend the same amount of time, if not, more just working on the art.

Now the only reason I do dislike most users trying to publish games with default sprites is that I know that they have great potential and skill that they are just wasting by throwing default or recolored default sprites into their game. If you want to grow as a game developer you want to at least make your own art. Many of us struggle starting out and I understand, many of my first games mostly used the default sprites because I was still learning pixel art, and I’m still learning. I wouldn’t have been what I’ve been today if I relied on other peoples work.
Art is a major aspect of a game. You want to make your game so it’s unique and other people know that style belongs to you. I was a bit rough saying that is lazy to use default sprites, which I know they can be time saving and quick shortcuts to finish a game with a ton of background objects, but even just a single block can make an entire level look poor. It mostly depends on what you are going for, but art can be a majority of the game. If every game had the same default sprites, there wouldn’t be any originality and everything would just be bland.

The default sprites are there for new users to try out and test out code and learn on it. Although there isn’t anything against veterans using default sprites, but a lot of developers on here have created their own styles over the years of practice and some refuse to use default sprites knowing they can make it theirselves and make it fit the game better.

I don’t “hate” the default sprites or have a “phobia” of it either. I just don’t like when users add default sprites in their games knowing full well they can use their skills to make better art. A lot of people have talent in pixel art and they are a lot better than most people. Even if they don’t agree.

Anyway sorry for filling this thread up with unrelated content. I won’t speak any more of this topic.