Comments on: How My Grandfather Won The War

By: mund

mund — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:40:13 +0000

Did anyone else experience an odd perception effect after playing it? The columns were swirling when I came back here.
Yeah, it seemed I could get through quite a bit of it without paint, I think painting should the casual part of it, and people wanting a tougher experience could refuse to use it. It’s by no means casual the way it is now though.

By: Cooper

Cooper — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:26:54 +0000

Well, there you go, thinnking I’d found it all by myself – I should pay more attention to mini RPS posts. Odd comment thread on that piece though.

By: bill

bill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:22:45 +0000

really nice art style… but it relies a bit too much on knowing what’s coming next. If you get to some points without paint, there is no way to progress.

The best way to play seems to be to not use the paint, and just dodge everything… which is fun… but kind of defeats the point ;-)

PS/ It doesn’t seem to restart or force you to go back anymore….

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:55:18 +0000

Clovis: Thanks, sir.

By: Clovis

Clovis — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:53:04 +0000

You can’t expect RPS to cover every awesome little flash game on the internet…

By: PAK

PAK — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:10:57 +0000

Just wanting to thank Cooper for pointing me in the direction of “Small Worlds.” A…ma…zing. RPS should definitely cover it. While the art direction for “How My Grandfather Won the War” is cute, the demonstration “Small Worlds” makes of the atmosphere and storytelling potentials for this medium of ours are very important.

By: Mad Doc MacRae

Mad Doc MacRae — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:59:08 +0000

Agreeing with these guys. Really cool concept/design/aesthetic but I can’t get anywhere into it to enjoy it.

By: Cooper

Cooper — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:53:28 +0000

‘Small Worlds’ is by far the best from this round of the compo. How much you can call it a ‘game’ is debateable, but for whiling away a lovely 10 minutes of lunch break, it was fantastic.

http://jayisgames.com/cgdc6/?gameID=9

I found How Grandfather Won the War a tad too difficult. For some reason, though, when I died twice it propelled me forward to a boss battle, without any notice, which was odd. When that foiled me, I could continue from the start – so at least it’s not punishing in terms of continues. But, yes, strangely frustrating for a ‘casual’ game.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:50:19 +0000

Completely ruined by the lack of save points in the bomber segment.

It’s also annoying how your plane shoots forward when you fire. I died many times because I only covered the back of an enemy in paint and crashed into the front of them.

By: Dominic White

Dominic White — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:03 +0000

The problem is that while this has a lovely art style and an interesting weapon mechanic, it somehow manages to forget 30 years of evolution in shmup design.

I like my scrolling shooters hard. I like bullet hell. I like Touhou and I like Ikaruga. I want to weave in between ten thousand shots and come out without a scratch… and yet this game is hard, and unfairly so. Why? Well, the clever weapon mechanic is part of that. The fact that if you charge up a shot and miss, you’re effectively defenceless for a while. The fact that some things can be painted (spikes), but others cannot (walls), and the problem that your planes hitbox covers the entire thing, yet you can be killed by a single pixel of something damaging, even something you’ve 99% covered with safe-paint.

It’s frustratingly poorly designed, and to pass something like this off as casual? Well, that’s just crazy. I did like the ‘Bombs are not candy’ death message though.

By: Baboonanza

Baboonanza — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:37:27 +0000

Ughn. It’s a cute idea that’s completely ruined by the poor execution.

- Recharge is much too long. The game would be much more enjoyable if you could fire a bit more willie-nilly.
- It’s too hard. Mainly because of the recharge time but also there is no need for limiting lives, it’s supposed to be a casual flash game!
- The text that appears when you die, while clearly meant to add character and ‘cuteness’ to the game I found to actually uniformly annoying and unclever.
- It’s too hard for the amount of fun it is to actually play. I’d never want to repeat large sections of it.