Game Jolt Reviews - By Jeroen

And the first game I'll review is:

Well the title of this game reminded me first of all of the "Commander Keen" series by iD software, but this game has despite its name NOTHING TO DO AT ALL with the Commander Keen franchise, the genres are not even alike. ;)

Sometimes you really get past games you really have to try and "Keen" was definitely one of those games.

Keen is a puzzle game with a slight adventure/RPG element in it. Let's take it in a closer look

A quick overview

This is you. Kim, a 12 years old girl wielding a huge blade while running on roller skates, with a very rebellious attitude basically in disagreement with anything her grandmother (who is also her fighting trainer) tells her. We all LOVE cute girls with a rebellious attitude, and since they've become rather cliché lately, it's always a big challenge to make such characters work. Keen does the trick first of all due the the splendid work that was done on the artwork. Kim's look totally fit her attitude, and yet the heart tattoo on her face and the piggy tails give her a cute look. The game has a minimal scenario (which is only fitting for the genre) but the scenario that was given, is totally in character and well-written.

When it comes to the story line the original game's description states the following:

In a remote village where everyone is given a specific role, Kim was chosen as their guardian. Peace reigned for centuries, and the warrior role was a mere tradition tracing back to ancient times of conflict.
Soon after Kim turned twelve, a distress call was sensed by her trainer - her own, adorable grandmother - who ordered her to protect the village against an impending attack.
Kim was sent to fight without even knowing what violence was. Following a trail of brainwashed minions and high-tech robot soldiers, she would soon find herself in the middle of a world-domination plot carried on by an evil corporation.

Maybe not the best of story-lines around, but hey this is a puzzle game, not a jRPG, and due to that the plot is not requiring much, and since the game's aim was to keep the scenario to a minimum, the plot is good enough. The focus lies on the gameplay, and that will be the next section of this review.

Gameplay

Well the graphics are cute and spot on, and so is the audio, but what about the only part of the game that REALLY MATTERS? The gameplay? Well the basic setup is easy to understand. All you can basically do is MOVE Kim around. If she manages to hit something evil she'll attack it, if she comes next to an enemy but she was unable to attack it, the enemy will hit her. Kim however moves very fast and only stops when an obstacle blocks her way. You cannot stop her yourself. The game is turn-based, so the enemies only move when you do. So this game is not about speed, it's about a good visual insight and using your brain. And when you do not use your brain you'll very likely get Kim killed. The controls are very easy, and the game is very fast passed, and yet offers a challenge which makes Keen an outstanding combination for a puzzle game. Actually the fast action shown every turn makes you forget that you sometimes need a lot of time to think about your next move.

When it comes to originality, I can't say I ever played a game with a similar concept before, but hey, I never said I played everything out there :)

Hey Jeroen, you've been praising this game all the time now. Don't you have anything bad to say?

Well, actually I have. It is clear to me when I look at the layout of the menu and the scenario the developers had a very specific brand of joypad in mind. The XBox model, I think. I played this game with keyboard and since both arrow keys as WASD is supported this doesn't really bother me much, however.

• Okay I could user ENTER as A (confirmation) and ESCAPE as B (Cancel), which were the obvious keys anyway.

• "Press SELECT to view the map".... Right... There we go, what is the keyboard equivalent to "SELECT" since a "SELECT" key does not exist on a regular microsoft keyboard (yes I have a windows keyboard despite the fact I'm a mac user).

• Lastly, I once coded an RPG myself and had a joypad with a PlayStation layout, so I set the buttons the way as they were on a "real" PlayStation in 80% of the RPG games for that console. But... When a friend of mine tried my game he had a joypad of a complete different brand, and model and suddenly the button layout made no sense at all anymore. To cut to the case, I learned a very valuable lesson that day and that is that you cannot assume everybody uses the same joypad, and every brand sends its own codes to the computer as well. Since this game is a kickstarter project I assume some commercial intent is behind the game, and when paying for a game I think a proper support for multiple joypads, or at least a way to properly configure your key setup, so every joypad can be supported is essential.

A few final notes

Keen is a project with extremely much potential and it seems to nail it where it counts. This review is based on an alpha version that only features the first few missions, and what I saw was promising, and if the full game lives up to the expectations this alpha version created we got an absolute top game.

The game is written in Unity and works on Windows and Mac. Of course, since Apple by defaults blocks all developers who do not pay them $100 a year as sign you can trust them, Mac users will have the first time you run the game click the icon with the right mouse button and click "Open" in the menu that pops up. (Client users will normally not suffer from this).

Keen

This is a very nice review. We'll work on the controllers for each platform, if we get funded. =D

I'm glad you appreciated my review. ;)
Good luck on completing the game ;)

"Monster in the House" is a cute short game by my good friend, and parter-in-cri... I mean, fellow forum moderator, Jani Nykänen. The game was originally written for a jam (the Ludum Dare 2015), and had as such to be written in an extremely short period of time. Due to this you should not expect a full "masterpiece" or anything, but yet, the game is worth to give a try.

Overview

Well, you are a wife of the most terrible kind. You husband just received some extra bonus from his job, and in your view he wants to waste it on paying off debts, the rent, and all other kind of crap. You want that money to be spend usefully on much of candy ice cream and more stuff like that. So, you're gonna beat that money out of him. Beware though, you still love your kids and if you accidentally them them they'll die instantly, and that means game over. It's just a little arcade game with a funny approach.

Well you gotta forgive me for putting that meme picture up as it really comes to mind when seeing the concenpt of the game.

And so far the bad jokes :P

Presentation

Jani has a pretty unique hand-drawn art style that really marks a game like one of his. Monster in the House is no exception. The music is not very dominant, but that only works in the game's favor. It still has a dark feeling which fits the kind of wife you play pretty well. The graphics appear a bit "bones-like", I guess that's the standard nowadays (not very fond of it myself), but it suits this game well. The husband being shaped like a ball makes him bounce nicely, but I also feel kinda sorry for him.

The game starts with a screen explaining the controls to you, which is only perfect, this way it's clear how the game works, and since the controls are easy to understand and since you can't miss this page, you always know what to do.

Gameplay

Basically it goes like this, you hit your husband with your club and euro coins will drop from his body. When you touch those coins you scored the money, however if you hit one of your children he/she will die instantly and the game is over.

Game Jolt API

Monster in the House features the Game Jolt API, and as a result you can earn yourself some trophies and try to outscore other Game Jolt users. I guess it shows pretty clearly that I pretty much suck in this kind of game, I shall admit that, but the concept is nicely set up.

A few final words.

The game is written in HTML5 and should therefore be supported by any modern browser, regardless of the OS you use. You need a keybaord and a mouse to play. Of course since this is a jam title you should not expect too much, and this is not a title for "really serious gaming" however, if you have a few minutes to kill and you want to prevent boredom, "Monster in the House" makes a very good pasttime.
The game does what it was set out to do and it makes a very good jam title.

Monster in the House

Can you check out my new ( unfinished ) game? https://gamejolt.com/games/TQorigins/347574

I got a lot on my plate now, but I can certainly take a look when time allows me to. One request though, since your game was created with Unity, please make a Mac export. I'm on Mac, and and although I can use Wine to run Windows applications, it's pretty allergic to Windows builds of Unity projects, and since I do know that Unity as a pretty well functioning Mac exporter, this shouldn't be too hard to do ;)

ok

I am having a problem exporting to Mac. Is it ok to export to WebGL?

Not my preference, but my most important thing is that I can run the game at all and if WebGL can do that, it's fine with me (as I don't have a working Windows machine at my disposal right now).

TreeQuest

TreeQuest is a game in development written by @MCH170 , and placed here on Game Jolt.

It is hard for me to review properly, as this game had hardly any real playable content at the time the review was written, basically all I can do, for now was run around for a bit in a small world. The artwork is currently very simplistic, so that may make this game a no-go for people with low-tolerance for simple graphics. For me they did what they were supposed to do. I do hope those that the raster marking the tile boundaries will be removed in the final version, though.

Walking outside I do see something that looks to me like a sword or a dagger... It's my guess I'll need to pick it up and to use it to fight. Not sure how to, but maybe it was not even possible due to the early state of development. I've already seen some cute creatures walking around, it's my guess those are my enemies, but currently I could only push them.

What it now comes down to is to add the real gameplay and make everything look like a proper game. Especially the inside of the hosue just look like collection of objects dumped together, and trying to make it all blend in as a proper world will be the trick.

A few tips and tricks on that:

1. It now looks like the clock, the fireplace and the painting are lying on the floor. If you can combine those with the wall textures it may already give the effect they are part of the house and put on the proper positions.

2. There is a little bit of an art layer bug causing this effect:

   

   . I know this can be hard to fix, but needed, it is, my young padawan.

3. Some art styles allow you to get away with it, but this art style does require the fires to be animated, if you can do it, you are well on the way.

4. Try to get some texture into the floows and walls inside the house. You already did that outside, but in the house you will need to do that too, especially o the walls. It will give the house more of the effect of a house.

Like I said I cannot really review this game as a whole yet, due to the early state it's in now, but it does look like it has potential, so I hope you've set you a bit on the way ;)

Thanks for the ideas and for taking time to review my game. The bush "bug" is for "hiding" but it really easy to fix. Also I am trying to remove the block boundaries. The sword and health systems are far from finished. I will tell you when the game is finished. Thanks a lot.

Hiding is a good idea, but I guess it's clear I was now standing in front of the bush and not behind it... If I was behind it it would have made sense to me. Being in front of or behind the same thing can be tricky... Catches me too, every time, even with my highly sophisticated Kthura system (which I used for my Star Story, TFT REVAMPED and 63 Fires of Lung). Hiding behind bushes would be a great feature though, so if you can take front and behind well in order, it will be a good step onto the road ;)

I was wondering if I could make my own game review thread. I wanted to ask because this thread exist :P

Sure, that is what this board is for. This thread is strictly for the reviews I write myself, but you can start your own.

Hi. I was wondering if you could review my game The Arcane Town of Tidon. I am about to do a game reset, and I was wondering if you could review it before the reset occurred. I have updated the game to include a Mac Package, but I have no Idea if it will work, because I do not have a mac. I will include a link to a page that hopefully will guide you into getting it working. But in case the included link does not work, here is a link to the guide. Thanks - TheCrafters001

No promises yet, as things are not going well with me, but I will take a look to see what I can do ;)

I had to revert the Mac changes because it was failing to load the RPG Maker XP encrypted archive. Sorry @Tricky .
I need this game to run properly. It looks like you cannot review it.

hey @Tricky I would appreciate if you can review Soul Piece :)

Soul Piece is a one man indie puzzle/platformer game , 2.5D with an interesting story and beautiful atmospheric environment .
Telling a story about an infinite war between the ancient Souls, Peace and Chaos where this time Chaos won the battle and Peace was shattered to many pieces collected by Darkness,
Chaos's executioner, yet the war wasn't over as the last piece escaped.
You are the last piece and your duty now is to free all other pieces to revive Peace once again !
check it out on : https://gamejolt.com/games/soulpiece/353089 , and let me know your feedback ! :)

That animation looks interesting and I see you have a mac version...
Oh about this picture:

Game Jolt is able to detect if you are using Mac, WIndows or Linux and will show by default the appropriate version. Since I'm on Mac, I see the Mac version by default :)

I won't promise anything yet, but I am itching to play your game. ;)

Thanks @Tricky :) , I'll be more than happy if you do :) , oh and thanks for telling me about that pic :D

Can you plz check out my game too ? https://gamejolt.com/games/forgiveness/364558

I'm not really into horror, but I can give your game a try. I am on Mac though, and although I have Wine installed, Unity games never quite worked well on Wine. But Unity has a very well working Mac exporter, so if you can make me a mac version, I can (if my personal schedule allows me to) try things out.

the story is more horror but its actually a puzzle escape room game :)
no jumpscares

Haha, that's what I already figured. Hey I did play the 7th guest before, which is also a horror themed puzzle game... ;) It's not that I hate it.
Anyway, if you can make me a mac export I shall see if my schedule allows me to take a serious look ;)

Knightin'+

This is a game released on Steam, but with a demo here on Game Jolt. Please note that I only reviewed the demo.

Knighin'+ is a very nice classic adventure game. The entire style really breathes the 'retro' style from the DOS/NES era. The "story line" really makes a joke out of the cliché stories that always come with games like these, and that shows that they didn't take this all too seriously, as you play these games for the game after all, and not really for the story line... At least not THESE kinds of games.

You are Sir Lootalot (a clear pun on Sir Lancelot, from the legend of Camelot and the knights of the round table). You just want riches and fame, and dungeons are always filled with it, so here you are. The gameplay is styled upon the early Zelda games, and is pretty easy to understand. The graphics contribute to the style and the chiptune background music just make that I really feel homesick to those old times.

The game explains itself with pictures on the floor, with the keys on the keyboard you must press. This is very very cool, but I also have a point of critic here. I think the developers blindly assumed I'd have an XBox controller, which I haven't. Mine is a Logitech, and as a result the keys displayed on the floor do not match those on my controller, however I figured it all out pretty quickly, so no true harm done, but still. The controls through my Logitech controller were pretty easy for me to understand, and also pretty logic, as I've seen those before.

Now it's my guess that in the full game, each dungeon will have several floors, with rooms in a 4x3 grid. The map on top of the screen helps you to find your way per floor, which did help me on several occasions, not to get lost. Many floors feature monsters and lock you in until all monsters have been defeated. Monsters do not respawn if you leave the room and come back unless you go from one floor to another. As far as I found out, locking in only happens once, and THAT IS A GOOD THING.

There are also many traps, however you can shield yourself or dash around, which will really be helpful on a quest like this, and it comes down to cleverly use them. I also found some puzzles in which you have to light certain icons and leave some out. Those puzzles are a very clear downside of this game, as there's no logic whatsoever in them, as no clues or anything are given, making it pure guessing work what kind of pattern is expected here. The first puzzle I encountered didn't give that much of possibilities, but a second one 4096 different possibilities (calculated it through.... I love my Lua CLI tool) figures... I don't wanna make that many guesses, sorry.

Now (at least in the demo dungeon) every floored featured a clocked wizard kind of guy selling stuff. You can pay by giving him the gold enemies drop upon dying. This really makes your life easier, and gives you a reason to collect gold.

The boss trashed me all the time... So perhaps I need somebody who can give me a good strategy to properly deal with this.

So overall this game does have a few flaws, but it also hits it were it counts. Providing a challenging retro-style game, and I really recommend to try the demo so you can see if this is the kind of game you wanna buy.

Game Jolt Page

Steam Page

=== General notice!
I am thinking to bring this thread along with my "Know your classics" to a FireSide based project page for you to follow. You must remember that this was not nearly close to the set up it has now when I began this thread.

Hey! Thanks for the very detailed review. I had great time reading it! There are 2 little things that I want to point out.

Pattern puzzles are not a guessing game. Hints needed to solve them are displayed on the floor as well. They look like a blinking smiley faces. I also wrote a very thorough guide about all the in-game puzzles. It may come in handy.

There is a funny fact regarding controllers. I created all control hints using my Logitech F310 gamepad. Yep, I use Logitech as well. Guess, that you have an another model that is quite different from mine. And there is an option to remap controls as well in case if when default controls are inconvenient for you.

Hey, that's funny... I got the same controller... I wonder why "A" and "B" where reversed on my controller then. I do know from experience that many controller brands can differ a lot... I must have missed the hints then, and normally I got an eye for detail like that. Odd... I'll check out the guide... But hey, I liked that game as a concept, and I'm glad you liked my review ;)

Okay, a few notes...
I will from now on review random indie games in a special FireSide Blog, I've created for this. The first game I reviewed there is "Arietta of Spirits". The games I've posted in this forum topic will over time be copied there, as well. I created this thread when the devlog system was not as sophisticated as it's now, but now that it is, I figured that system is a bit more convenient. Also when it comes to replies to reviews ;)

Can you check out my game if your into roguelikes.

https://gamejolt.com/games/Fractalis/451915

I'm not really into rogue-likes, but I can take a look. If I don't feel that I'm the right person to review it, I'll let you know... If I feel like I am, I may review it...