suchgreatceilings's Reviews

[Our Story: The Finale]

Overall, the flash was okay. I went back and watched the others. The plot was decent, and this tied things up well. Good job on that.
As for animation, there was little motion. Action is the best quality of animation, wherein the characters literally come to virtual life on the computer screen. It may take you a bit, but I would invest in learning how to create dynamic animations, beyond that of sprites or pictures of characters to serve as placeholders. That was my biggest complaint, truly.
The music was excellent. Kings of Convenience, perhaps? Be sure to credit them, I didn't see that.

All in all, keep at it. This wasn't perfect, but, from my perspective as a writer, you are an excellent storyteller. By the way, nice job leaning on the fourth wall -- breaking it, really.

Lare responds:

That's nice to hear and all, but the thing is, I'm lazy as hell. I have no choice but to stick with the lame animations.

[Drake and Josh I Guess]

Twas funny, but very chaotic. There was no plot, and adding one in the form of Author Comments doesn't count, but high five for effort.

The animation was great, I really like the style of exaggerated features. Particularly Josh's hair.

The sound was high quality, but there was a noisy element in the dialogue somewhere that kept driving me nuts. Kind of detracted from the quality.

All and all, good job. Funny.

[Mechanical Pulse]

I don't like giving a five star review. But, when the quality is this superb, I can't help but feel compelled to give such high marks. I loved the animation. From start to finish, the artistic quality was excellent and I really appreciated the use of black, white, and shading to create such an artful flash movie. I am a bit puzzled by the plot, but that's alright with me. I think you did well with matching the mood of the music -- when the music picked up, so did the action in the movie.
Taking a look at the music, that song was excellent. Perfect length and tempo for such an animation.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed. If anything, would you mind explaining the plot (motivation, etc.)? I am a bit lost there.

Thanks!
SGC [Connor]

FakeMistake responds:

technological singularity.

[Dressup Maggie]

I voted two stars both ways because this game doesn't really bring much or anything at all to the table. You created a simple dress up game -- with unique artwork, to boot, good job on that. I liked the outfits, you definitely spent a few hours on drawing Maggie and her clothing -- the effort made me hopeful that the game would match the quality of the artwork.

Sadly, it didn't. But here's some improvement points that I guarantee will boost your score in the future.

First off, most noticeably, there's no music or sound effects to draw my attention! At least a nice loop, or soft accompaniment in the background to set a mood. And then there's no sound at all! At least a confirmation or drag sound, just put something. A tick would even be nice. Otherwise, you just have the artwork to rely on.

Which is my second point of improvement. The artwork was good, it was nice on the eyes. But where oh where is the customization? You could really only drag set outfits onto the character, and then some random accessories. That's all and good, but where's the wow factor there? What if I want to mix and match, and just have some kooky fun with this? The game mechanics essentially eliminate that, and it hurts my take away from the game. Also, where's the backdrop? Blank space can be done correctly -- here, you need a solid color or light pattern to catch the eye.

My final point is to ensure that the outfits cover the character completely. Several outfits did not do that -- try to work from the same stencil when you make a dress up game. Otherwise, you'll have a sloppy execution.

Good luck on future games, you have potential and I hope you continue to explore the wonderful world of Flash!
SGC [Connor]

Want more in-depth reviews? Hit up the Review Request Club in the forums, we'd be more than happy to review specific pieces. Make sure you read the updated rules.

www.newgrounds.c om/bbs/topic/ 1072042

MaggieTheFox14 responds:

About The Music And Sound Effects,I Seriously Had No Idea How To Include Any.The Tutorials I Watched Didn't Call For Any.
And I Basically Didn't Know How To Add More Colors Or Options Either.
I Haven't Created Any Dressup Games Before,So This Review Of Yours Felt Like A Slap In The Face.
And Mostly,I Made Sure Of The Fact They Covered Her.And I Also Didn't Know What Backdrop Was Or How To Add It.Last,I Don't Know How Anybody Found Your Review Helpful.It Felt More Insulting To Me.
However,I'm Glad You Believe You Could've Helped Me.

[EVA7- Rebirth]

An interesting spin on blackjack. Admittedly, I'm not quite familiar with the EVA series, but the game's premise was easy enough to comprehend. The blackjack was truly random, as it took me several tries to beat her. The artwork was done well, and you can tell a decent amount of effort was put into making this flash.

Where you lost me was the music and the dialogue. The jazzy BGM just clashed with the entire creation, and it took me out of the mood -- playing blackjack to save my hide from being blown off. Ominous audio, such as some dark ambient or the like, would be very beneficial here. Something slower, and more subdued. Then there came the dialogue. Reading the dialogue being fired back and forth was tedious, monotonous, and laborious. Some voice acting could really help here, that way you wouldn't have to rely on a bunch of ALL CAPS PHRASING to show changes in inflection. It would all be there, within the voice acting.

Also, a glitch that popped up. When Rei's head spoke, there was no button to move the action forward. Has this happened with anybody else?

Good work, I'd like to see more blackjack/casino games with a plot element as this.
SGC [Connor]
Review Request Club

[Sinny Doll]

Nothing really special here, but I can appreciate the time that was put into the Flash and artwork. It definitely shows through.
I would recommend background music of some sort, I think it would add to the atmosphere. I know you mentioned you were worried about the file size though, so I could see the logic in not having any.

HandofRel responds:

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback! I know there isn't much too it, but it seems to load faster than I thought it would, which was one of the things I was worried about.

So I can probably add more without compromising the filesize too much. I'll look into adding music (I already have a piece in mind) and adding a BG to make it not look so plain.

[-| Loss for Words |-]

Great job. I was really drawn into the track, and the synth work in the beginning. I have a lot of respect for people that choose to use acoustic elements, such as acoustic guitars and pianos. There's an organic quality to this song.

I would work a little on the bass, and the overall mixing. It sounded a little dense in busier parts, and that kinda subtracted from the awesomeness :( but not by much. Really great work here, 15thDimension.

SGC [Connor]

15thDimension responds:

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the review!

[Loon]

A very haunting track. I enjoyed the dark ambient elements, as well as the wobble. The creepy synth throughout was particularly a nice touch, I hope you return to this synth in the future. It was well worth the listen, and I have downloaded it :)

If I could recommend any changes, I would say work on the tone of the wobble bass. The wobble pattern was kind of odd, which is never a bad thing, but it felt a little forced. But that may be what you were aiming for, and, in that case, good job.

SGC [Connor]
I would recommend posting a review request to the Review Request Club. We've got a lot of talented musicians that will gladly review, rate, and listen your track. Just some food for thought, give it a shot.
Review Request Club

DjTrailblazer responds:

Thanks. In terms of the wobble I wanted it to be a bit aggressive. just as a sort of contrast with the rest of the song to help it stand out. I might have gone a bit overboard.

[Movie Stars and Action Films-Q]

I appreciate the mellowness of the track. There's an undeniable smoothness, like butter on the tongue. I wish this smoothness was uniform, though, as in the latter part of the song, the kick was a bit too heavy and the lead was a bit dry. But that did little to affect the quality of the song: it remained a very alluring track that bordered on cerebral.

I would cut the treble frequencies down a smidgeon, if I were you. You have one heck of a track, and I'd like to hear more like this!

SGC [Connor]

quadx responds:

Thanks for the good review. They help me improve the songs for full release on albums.