You're on a mission to get the coolest muffin ever in the short point and click adventure Candy Cave Quest by Oleg Grachev.
Hi! I'm Bart Bonte, a Belgian independent game designer and bontegames.com is where I blog about new interesting browser and mobile games. My own games are all in the left column (or at the bottom of this page on mobile). More info about me and my games on bartbonte.com.
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Sweet little game with a cute ending!
ReplyDeleteI like the graphics, good job!
ReplyDeleteNice one! I cleared the ground puzzle by accident though, didn't see the logic.
ReplyDeleteAnyone?
@ jj: Just listen to what the skeleton is saying. Death, Treasure and so on...
ReplyDeleteOh I missed that, thanks Anonymous
ReplyDelete@Anonymous whose comments I deleted: if you want to criticize a game, we are only looking for constructive criticism here, thank you. I don't think you fully grasp the amount of work and courage it takes to create a game for others to play, moreover a free game in this case.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHere's my comment again for reference: "Wow. Terrible game. Terrible graphics. Terrible puzzles (what little there were). Terrible English (both written and spoken)."
ReplyDeleteConstructive criticism is pointless if the author isn't reading these comments. This is honest, but harsh, criticism. Do you want me to get specific about all the grammatical errors? It wasn't like I just left a post that said "wah this game sux!!!one!!" What more do I have to do to make the criticism be up to your standards? This is absolutely ridiculous. I understand this is your page, and that you can delete inappropriate comments. It's one thing if my comment had been laced with vulgarities or something, but all I did was give a brutally honest assessment of this game. And let's face it -- this was a terrible game.
What makes you think I don't appreciate the amount of work or courage it takes to publish a game? Does every movie critic who writes a scathing movie review automatically unaware of what goes into the movie-making process? And ultimately, that's all pretty much irrelevant if the quality of the finished product is poor.
Please stop deleting my point of view when I've been completely civil about the whole mess. (I even listed some basic reasons for why I thought it was a bad game). You don't delete posts that say things along the lines of "Great game!", even though they're completely nonconstructive as well (they just happen to be in line with your own point of view).
" I understand this is your page, and that you can delete inappropriate comments."
ReplyDeleteAfter reposting the offending comments, then complaining that they were deleted, I can safely say, "No....apparently you don't understand that."
"After reposting the offending comments, then complaining that they were deleted, I can safely say, "No....apparently you don't understand that.""
ReplyDeleteMy defense of my original comment wouldn't have made any sense without the comment there for reference. And most of the point I was trying to make is that my comment wasn't even remotely inappropriate, even by the deleter's own criteria.
It's one thing to remove excessive inappropriate profanity, or commercial spam, or obvious troll bait, etc. But my comment was pretty clearly none of those, and one should always err on the side of not silencing dissenting opinion.
ReplyDeleteAttn: Anonymous
As the creator of this blog, Bart is the ultimate authority as to whether a comment should remain. As a long-term visitor to this blog, I must say that it is quite rare for a comment to be removed. In this case, I see the reasoning behind Bart's decision and agree with it. I appreciate the levels of thought that go into most comments and/or opinions expressed here regarding any game's lack of appeal. When there are critical comments about a game, they tend to be more expressive or, at the very least, constructive than the repeated use of a single word as the only descriptor for all elements chosen to be highlighted. Whether you opt to be more constructive and/or less jarringly critical in this blog is up to you, but whether future comments (from you or anyone) remain is up to Bart.
Call me "Anonymous C."
ReplyDeleteI liked the game. It was just long enough to enjoy over a short break. It was fun because of the unexpected nature of it's puzzles.
The graphics were cute, and I enjoyed the sound effects as well. There were at least three different sounds when things were rotated, and the wobble effect of the jars was fun.
There were only a few puzzles, but that's to be expected in a brief game, and while some may have guessed them all on the first try, I had to work on some of them awhile to try to get them.
As for the English, well I suppose some people might say, "Never make a game until your language is perfect," but I disagree. Living in a country where many people strive to learn another language, I feel this game succeeds on many levels: we all know what is meant, and since English is a worldwide language, it was a smart idea to make the game in that language.
I also agree that Bart has the right to choose what to keep and what to cut. Wouldn't you, if you had your own website? You have the right to make it according to your own sense of what's best for your site.
Thanks to Oleg Grachev and his team for this charming game, and thanks to Bart for sharing it with us!
this one was easy and tricky at the same time yet entertaining :)
ReplyDeletePoint and click games aren't necessarily "free" if they are advertiser-supported. But this particular game doesn't seem to be monetized, so I take Bart's point that we don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
ReplyDeleteStill, my time (even my recreational time) is valuable, and if I spend it trying to play a truly awful game, then I do feel as though I have lost something.
I did not feel this was a truly "terrible game". Conceptually, the game was just fine, if short. It had a plot, it had a cute reveal at the end as a reward for the escape, it had several different kinds of puzzles to solve that were basically logical. The background music was appropriate for the kind of game it was. There were no apparent programming bugs with it.
I agree with anonymous, however, that the game's artistic quality and production values were so incredibly low that it detracted considerably from gameplay. The quality of the artwork was so amateurish that made it difficult to figure out what I was clicking on. The quality of the English grammar obscured the important clue from the words of the skeleton (mostly because I quickly assumed that all the language used was at best a rough approximation for the intended meaning and so I ignored what the skeleton was precisely saying).
I myself am not proficient in any language other than my native language, so if I were making a game like this in another language, I think I would do my best to try to track down a native speaker of the language to review the script to make sure it used proper grammar and idioms.
I think if I knew this game was written by a 15 year old boy and his friends, I would say: "Outstanding job! What a great start as a new game designer. I think you understand conceptually what makes for a great game. Work on your production values and one day you may be really good at this." However, if I thought this game was the 18th or 27th game published by an adult designer, I might say: "although you have great concepts, you should consider taking a break for a bit and training yourself better in art and language before proceeding."
I also want to take a moment to say thanks to Bart for providing this blog. I've found it very valuable. I appreciate his work not only as a game designer, but also as someone who tries to promote other people's work in game development.
fun little game...
ReplyDeleteand i agree with bart, if you're going to be critical, be constructive...
and to the unhappy commenter, i've occasionally seen the author of a game stop by and interact on the blog so constructive criticism is not lost here...
and, bart, as i've said before, thanks for all you do :) <3
I do think that the artwork could be improved. It did distract me from the game play.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that anyone has mentioned that this was a Ludum Dare game (according to the author's site). These games are made from scratch in a competitive environment over the course of just one weekend.
ReplyDeleteThat considered, it's a neat little game. If this were a full production game, then I will agree that there were confusing and unsatisfying elements. For instance, I simply had to complete the floor puzzle by brute force.
Ludum Dare game? You probably won't win awards with this one, but Bravo for completing the dare and providing a cute, quick little point-and-click story. Adorable payoff at the end.
Made in 3 days for Ludum Dare 38, and some of you are criticizing the game as if it's a professional, monetized, commodity?
ReplyDeleteI suggest looking at Oleg's other work in comparison & reserving your hypercritical responses until you have. (http://oleggrachev.org/portfolio/)
I have played other ludum dare games that had better quality. The game itself isn't bad, I think the art style could have had a less roughly drawn appearance.
ReplyDeleteOnce I finished the game, I got why the drawing was kind of bad.
ReplyDeleteI liked that the arrow changed color, so I wasn't clicking all over.
What has 10 legs and a tail? A decapod.
Nos working so well for me... (mouse cursor often disappears, and game sometimes freezes)
ReplyDelete