Hello all!!
Welcome to Thorough Micro Reviews! Or TMR for short. I’m microgamer1. I recently started using flowlab.io and I thought I’d start doing my own reviews thread. I enjoy reviewing games very thoroughly, giving the developer as much information about their game as possible each time without withholding any possibly necessary information. This is probably the most detailed review thread you will find. I think it’s important to know all the issues of your own game, how serious they are, how they may be fixed, as well as the occasional check in to see how well any issues have been patched from previous versions. Developers need this to polish their games, and overall help them in the long run.
That being said, I’ll be giving an overall look on a multitude of game aspects, as well as a look at the whole game in general. I’ll also give all of these a rating from 1 to 10, and a TOTAL score based on the other scores, and the general look of the game. The categories for now are:
Music: I’ll be judging the music by a couple things. First, whether or not your game HAS music (unless your game somehow benefits from not having music). Second, whether or not the music is FITTING for whatever the scene is. Also judged with that is how good the music SOUNDS in general (again, unless your game somehow benefits from what would be considered a bad sounding piece of music). And finally, but honestly not most importantly, is it ORIGINAL? The music honestly doesn’t have to be original, but it 100% helps. PLEASE TELL ME whether or not YOU YOURSELF made the music. It won’t hurt your score if it isn’t, but if it is, it makes a game feel that much cooler to play, since the music is for THAT GAME.
Art: Art will be judged by three factors. First, whether or not you made the art. If you make your own sprites, you’ll get a significantly higher score in this department than if you use the premade spritesets or another game’s sprites, unless you are trying to make a clone of another game, such as a Mario remake or whatnot, where it’s appropriate to do so. Second, whether or not the sprites are fitting for the game and for each other. All your sprites should compliment the game and each other. If you want a simplistic looking game, don’t make one or two sprites SUPER DETAILED if it isn’t somehow appropriate. Lastly, whether or not your sprites look good in general. Make sure your sprites don’t look awful. They don’t have to be professionally made sprites to get a good score, but they shouldn’t look honestly bad (if not somehow appropriate).
Gameplay/Controls: This category will have many factors. First off, whether or not the controls feel nice to use. The control scheme should be as simple to use as possible and feel responsive to the player. Secondly, make your controls obvious. Tell the player the controls in game, or in the description, or something. They’re kinda important. Third, whether or not the gameplay is fun and manageable. Just don’t make the game extensively boring or unnecessarily frustrating, and you’ll be good. Fourth, whether or not there is creative level design. Make sure your game is designed nicely, and has some change as the game continues. Nobody likes the same level over and over again, just retextured. Also, have a difficulty curve in your level design. Don’t put the hardest obstacle first for no reason. Ease the player into the game, and have them learn. Lastly, BUGS AND GLITCHES. I’ll be reporting any and all bugs and glitched I find in your game, as well as info I have about them and what I can think of to help deal with them if I can. Their detriment to this score honestly depends on how annoying, gamebreaking, and/or common the glitch is.
Concept: This one is simple. Tell me the concept of your game and I’ll be able to critique as follows. First, I’ll tell you how well you executed your game’s concept. If your shooter game looks like a shooter game, good deal. Then, I’ll critique on how creative and fun your concept is. It doesn’t have to be 100% original, but it for sure helps your score.
Difficulty: PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME how difficult your game is supposed to be overall, or how difficult whatever part are supposed to be. I’ll rate how closely it matches your description, but I’ll also mention my own difficulty rating in general, which WILL BE UNDERLINED.
TOTAL: Summation of all of the above.
This may be the start of something really cool, so let’s start this thing! Please be respectful of everyone in this thread, and feel free to send in your games for review, or even for a re-review of your game overall or compared to last time. If you want me to critique a certain part, let me know. If your game is a unique situation, let me know, and I’ll figure out how I’ll review it somehow. If your game is unfinished, gimme a heads up. All this helps me give such a thorough review. Expect me to try and mention everything I come across I find worthwhile mentioning. Good luck in all of your game creation, and I’d love to be a part of it!!
(PS, my reviews won’t be ^THIS LONG^ (PPS, it actually might be if your game is that big), but they’ll be very thorough.)
