nice
Reviews for "Ultimate Waterfalls"
Would be fun, but it takes... for.....ever.................to......
..............fill..............the..
.............containers. It took me 5 minutes to realize I WASN'T experiencing lag the game is just THAT slow.
I do like the music and the feel of the game
"how do i freakin play"
-originalpheonix
"Try to press Play button, then New game button, then read the instructions"
Response by Moonmana
Okay. This is probably the most important issue of the game to review. Your "instructions" fade over a period of time. If I were starting this game and distracted by something else I wouldn't know what to do if I turned back and found no instructions. If you were smart you'd let them remain until the player shows acknowledgement that he understands. Like moving the mirror first for instance.
To be honest this game's mood is suppose to be relaxing, but it just feels tedious. It's this repetitive "move stuff around" mechanic where the time to complete the game is prolonged by the inaccuracy of the particles and the imprecision of objects moved by the player.
The need to have items so delicately and precisely placed makes this game a hassle, especially when the object placement still seems ineffective to a point where it takes a whole minute for a ball to fill. The pace is too time consuming and with the tedious nature of the game all relaxation becomes null and void. It is disputable how relaxing a game is especially when you get these pointless medals asking players to beat a tedious level within a certain amount of time or "clicks".
All this aside another matter is how elegant the background is, but how inappropriate the objects interact with it. Some objects either blend into the background (like a mirror) while others seem absurdly contrasting with the game's theme (particle changer's design). You can't even tell the difference between the particle absorbents you can move and the ones you can't; which furthers the exercise of moving your mouse around in a tedious manner looking for stuff you may or may not be able to move.
All that said, I don't think the theme flows well with the actual game mechanics. Some stuff is spot on, such as repetitive music and particle colors fading, but playing field just kills the mood.
To make matters worse every time you beat a level there seems to always be another one. And when you think you've got the game down you get another ridiculous fading tutorial message that teaches you YET ANOTHER game mechanic. There's no sign you are making good progress unless you actually look at the level selection screen and realize "Oh there's less than sixty, only twenty levels remain till I bash my head on a wall."
Probably the best metaphor yet is this game is watching paint dry. This is what I said after my mouse begged me for the sweet release of death.
So my recommendations would be to make small errors more forgiving and less tedious. That could be worked out with smaller obstacles or faster particle speed and longer particle duration so the scatter can be easier to work with. I'd rework the theme, though I must admit I'm stumped on how to do this. Maybe something like a solid black background and making the items more bright and intensive in their contrast. I would use a looped track with more variety and such. Get like a track that has very unique and differing sections that stay in a similar theme, but attempts to keep players focused and awake. And I'd implement more mechanics earlier so that the game doesn't feel like one giant tutorial. Also remove tedious mechanics like the gravity changer or the "click to flow" nonsense, it breaks game flow.
Aside from this I have to ask why you decided to extend the original game with this Unlimited edition, and I'm interested in how you developed the game's physics. Was it difficult? Were there any ideas you weren't able to implement this time around? How long did development take?
I hope you can measure my review's worth by words, not stars, and I'll be doing the same if you are kind enough to respond.
MoonMana responds:
From you response I understand, that everything, that can suck in the game - suck: graphics suxx, music suxx, mechanics suxx, tutorial suxx, level design suxx, and that you'd made everything better. So I have a question: why you still haven't submitted one of your super-perfect games to the portal?
I understand, that we did mistakes, making the game. The first waterfalls contained only 15 levels and the bigger the game, the more bugs and issues it has and the more difficult to handle everything.
I made first waterfalls alone for 4 days from zero code. 1 day I experimented with blur and fading, 2 days to make the game engine with all objects, that are present in the first game and 1 day to make 15 levels. Now we are a company and we are making mobile games, so we decided to release our last flash game - the last sequel to our most successfull title, including the best levels from all previous parts plus new levels with new features. It's always hard to make something new, it's easier to copy something suxxesfull. So if you don't like some features as controllable emitters or locks, we'll probably will not use them in our frther game. Anyway, thanks for your review, a little agreesive and negative, but thank for you time and opinion. Because every opinion is important, especially, negative.
My only problem with this is that it actually took me a few seconds to figure out how to play (pressed the new game button, just catapulted me straight into the level, didn't explain to click and drag.) Besides that, it was a good game.
MoonMana responds:
OH, really...? sorry for that. That's my fault
Love it and I do see that te Waterfalls' movement still goes with the music and I see some levels from past games.
MoonMana responds:
Yes, we included the best levels from past games too.