blarg1's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Starfighter Duel v2.0]

Horrible physics

Playability should be your first concern. The physics in this game were terrible. Another thing to think of is the practical difficulty of having two players using the same keyboard...

RohanDX responds:

Too bad nobody else thinks that. And you're a known blammer. *shrug*

[_ULTIMATE TUTORIAL_]

I like tutorials

However, the ActionsScript in this one was horrible -really messy spaghetti code which shows that the author doesn't really have a handle on ActionScript.

I also find music and animation during a tutorial distracting. I would recommend losing the music, and instead concentrating on making the screenshots more readable. they should be shown at full scale.

GAMECUBICLE responds:

I said in the tutorial that if oyu want a more acurare explanation about making games that you should go and watch my Flashforbeginners: SCRIPT tutorial.

[Raiden IIS - Part A]

something just doesn't ring true here

Sorry, you're not correct. The Listener object will let you track as many keys as you like.

This doesn't seem right - like this is part of something else or adapted from something else.

I was disappointed in the fact that the shot tyles didn't change with the power-ups, and with the poor auto fire. The Raiden weapon, (lightning ray) would be a bitch to ActionScript, but it was the whole point of the game.

Go0gley responds:

The key.listener (or whatever) code applies to any key pressed and ignores the input. So if I do that... pressing the left, right, up, down keys will cause it to shoot.
Oh, and yes, the lightning ray. I have absolutely no clue of how to make it! Same as the homing missiles... :(

[asDB v1]

Good content, but not very readable

I found that the oversize text and the narrow text box made it very difficult to read the code.

I am not sure if you are using dragging to move your custom pointer, or simply bound it to the wrong handler, but it was sluggish enough that in some cases the text caret became visible.

Try this instead:

Mouse.hide();
customCursor.onMouseMove = funtion() {
this._x = _root._xmouse;
this._y = _root._ymousel
//tell the handler to update after each event
//so Flash won't wait until the next frame
updateAfterEvent();
};

whenever binding a function to an event handler, make sure to close your function with a semicolon.

AlternateAccount responds:

well... it sure looks like you know some actionscript... thanks!

[mastermind v3]

Nice idea, but full of errors

I found that the object snapping was clumsy, and sometimes a peg would end up floating in the middle of the animated field when I released it, instead of remaining in place on the pegboard.

There are also some errors in the coding, as I got identical, (and impossible) scores by using all blue or all green pegs.

The result showed one peg of the right colour in the right place, and 3 of the right colour in the wrong place. How could this be if all the pegs are the same colour?

moiSTUDIOS responds:

yes, this version is fill of errors.

[Bump Copter!]

Nice little game

the collisions and physics were very good. However, this game was more frustrating than challenging, (since it is difficult to injure your little helicopter). The frustration came fromt eh fact that there's a little too much inertia at work, and the helicopter is so sluggish in its responsiveness that the game devolves to simply guessing how long the helicopter will take to accelerate past an obstacle.

I think the game would be more fun if the obstaclers were more dangerous and the controls were more responsive.

Norwegian-Blue responds:

Heh...I like the controls.. =)

next time ill beta test a little more...

[Pig Tossing]

Why did you resubmit this?

this sucked the first time it was submitted, and it still sucks today.

DWARFINATORclock responds:

what the fuck, this is the first time i submitted this

[-Movie Security Tutorial-]

graphics are difficult to view

If you wish to make a tutorial, you should embed your screenshots as .png's and make certain that you do not resize or transform them in any way. Set the cpmroessoin to "Lossless" in the properties flyout of the library entry for each image.

Screenshots generall use a lot less than 256 colours, so there's no need to use .jpeg compression, and by using lossless compression, you can avoid those irritating artifacts that can make menus and screen text difficult to read.

I suggest that you also create a pointer movie clip and add some animation to your tutorials.

AlternateAccount responds:

thanks for takin the time to write that mouthful... wow!

[All-In-One Tutorial]

too much interface, not enough content

Tutorials are very useful, even to the pros.

Most of the content in this tutorial wan't very necessary, but you were wise to point out a few key things that people might have trouble with, adn that aren't really convered in the online help - like the proper trace bitmap threshold settings for making a 1 for 1 vector reporduction of a bitmap sprite.

On a personal note - I dislike sprite movies. Make your own art. [harrumphs]

However, I would spend less time on the pretty interface, and more on creating more content, and a nice clean menu to navigate with. A lot of your users would probably like to see some actionscript tips as well.

Embed your screen shots at 1:1 as .png's and use lossless compression to make the screens easy to read, (you'll be surprised at how little bandwidth this burns).

Your users might also like to be able to print out sections from your tutorial.

Part of me wants to grumble that so many kids are using [obviously] stolen copies of Flash, since the software is a little out of your typical teen pocket-money range. However, it's probably a good thing that talented young people are getting their hands on software tools as soon as possible.

Back when I was young, (People still had 8-track players in their houses, and Michael Jackson was still a black man), it was really hard to get your hands on decent technology. On the up side, there was a lot less emphasis on network security, and you could have a lot of fun with a modem and a tone generator...

DJRunaway responds:

Wow, thanks! I think I can most certainly do something with it!

[DJ Mad Master v1]

Might be interesting if it worked

Make the button hit areas large enough to find - they were only a couple of pixels high. The mixer was completely non-functional, and the presence of numerous controls that did nothing was simply confusing.

I'm afraid that you're in no position to call someone a scumbag for critiquing your work: you submitted it. It's like pop idol - if you don't measure up, it's pointless to call the judges names.

Generally, mixer applications will allow the user to combine samples and will include code to keep them in synch. There's a lot of documentation out there that will tell you how to access the Sound Object in Flash and access its properties. It is impossible to make a workable application like this without using a fair amount of ActionScript.

BLAM.

MD-CHIS responds:

it does fucking work, i said in its profile THE BUTTONS THAT DONT WORK AND ONES THAT DO YOU FUCKING TWAT