Java4K.com

Argh, I'm terrible at these puzzle games :) I'm also a bit unsure what is the correct ascending order, is it from top-left to bottom-right? Maybe that needs to be more clear.
A smooth and clean puzzle game that gets the job done.

Pretty cool little game - nothing new in terms of gameplay, but the level of polish is pretty impressive; blocks actually slide, the randomizing of the puzzle, the background, text, etc. Fun! I probably would've made it a timed game (try to solve the puzzle in x minutes), as an improvement, but this is already pretty nice.

I played this game more than I expected. I don't really like this kind of puzzles, but I thought "okay let me try and sove this.". After 1040 moves I gave up since I couldn't fix the last pieces (14/15).
The game is well implemented, smooth and polished. However there's nothing much to say since there are tons of similar games even in 4k I believe.

Oh my, what on earth is this? I'm sure this started off as a good idea, but wow I'm totally inept at this game. I did manage to beat it, and then lose, despite little effort and much effort. Or maybe I'm still dreaming... +10% for the laugh.

Very unique game idea, however I felt like all I had to do was focus on breaking the outer boxes instead of focusing on the smaller breakout game. This probably could've been solved by making the smaller breakout games bigger, and making those boxes harder to break.

Very original idea! I took a few minutes (or seconds) to realize how the subbreakouts worked, but after that I could smoothly finish it in 277 seconds...
A well executed clone with a twist, and good presentation .

Clever retro style game. A bit of a clickfest, but perfectly good. I like it :) Nice job.

Personally really liked this game, jumping around as a bug with those retro sound bits. Good job with the jumping, it felt like a solid mechanic. Only thing is that there were some places where I got stuck and couldn't jump anywhere.

Nice platformer with original controls. Maybe this kind of control would work on an android game ?
Nice presentation, Maybe you could have used more sounds (since the overhead to include sound was already there) like for collision, or different pitches for the jump.
I scored 3250 on easy, I was wondering what the fruits did until I played on hard. By the way, more enemies would have been nice, since I had no difficulties at all with them.

Strange breakout game. A bit too fast for my taste, graphics are a bit mediocrate, not even antialias used, color selection can be improved, but generally I didn't understand how the game works differently and why things happened the way they happened. There's no HUD information about the status. To me it's just too fast moving balls that do random stuff for unknown reasons.

Solid breakout clone, I liked the trailing effect on the ball and the other effects. You probably could've done better than a white paddle and background (in the beginning), though.

A very colorful and pretty entry. I really could have enjoyed more if the paddle was faster, or if it followed the mouse like the original Arknoid and clones. The ball easily gets faster than the paddle and it makes it really frustrating.
I could also really have used some instructions since I had no idea why and which power ups I was picking. One time I got a debuff that made my paddle smaller than my weewee in winter and it was impossible to play.
Anyway, I think it was a well rounded game but it suffered from lack of feedback to polish those edges.

Very clever puzzle game. It's too difficult though, and not enough instructions to explain, especially the colored sides. I got stuck, but it's promising though.

Unique puzzle game, cool how it combines flattened geometry with a sudoku-like mechanic. Overall, a very solid puzzle game. The polish is there, and 10 levels is definitely enough.

"the opposite faces of a die will always add up to seven" - I should make a sudden clarity Clarence meme with this fact.
In the first three levels I though "meh. too easy. with that golden rule I'll beat every stage without thinking". But then I got stuck on level 4 for a while. And only finished level 5 by try and error :( Level 6 was unbeatable to me.
Nice and fun game, I never heard of the original, but if it`s not an Android game, you could have a nice sudokunian alternative for the number lovers.

Nice graphics, but limited gameplay. Not all that fun I feel. Not sure what can be done to improve it, because there's not much to build on.

Fun game, didn't seem to always get harder level by level but it did get challenging. The initial graphics are average, but I really liked the animation between level changes (Fez-like). One tiny thing, the controls would be better as a/d to move left/right, because the arrow keys and mouse are close together.

At first I was really impressed with the enemies because I thought they were randomly generated. Then I realized there were just the two types (the one that looked like the female reproductive system and the other that looks like Inspector Closeou on coke) and got a little disappointed.
The effects on changing levels are really neat, and the graphics are also fitting. The smooth stickman animation adds up to the beautifulness (although the stickman doesn`t quite fit the rest). However I think the gameplay could have been more original than just the click it like a madman.
The arrow keys+plus mouse is also not a very good combination unless you are using the mouse with the left hand, should have been nice to have a WASD alternative to non french right handed people.

You got to be kidding me. I want to strangle you for making such a game!! Well, my hi-score after 10 minutes is 3. Thanks. Pff.. :)
But really cool game, good looking, that captures the inspiration from flappy bird.

Not a lot of originality points here, judging by the amount of flappy bird clones, but I like the graphics. The game felt too hard, though, and that's not just me rage quitting - the distance between towers vertically is too little, so you can't flap inbetween without hitting the top. It's the same (I think) in the original flappy bird, but there the pipes are a lot less wide. Overall, some balance issues, but cool graphics and solid flapping physics.

I was a little disappointed that it was just a Kanalbalt themed Flappy Bird. I was expecting some crazy crossover like the other Apo Games.
It is a well execution of Flappy Bird, with nice graphics and loyal physics.
Now that I think of it, maybe this game should now be the first one to advise people to remake when starting to write games, since pacman its way more complex than that. Not that this has anything to do with the game review, but I just felt I haven't written enough.

I'm not really digging this game, although it's very ambitious and I appreciate that. I simply thought it was too complex and I didn't see the fun factor in the gameplay. The graphics are amazing though and the sound as well. Good technical achievement, but gameplay wise not so.

I'm impressed at how you managed to fit in pseudo-3d tracks, different sound tracks, and images all into 4k, and it all works!

Sometimes I felt the tolerance for hitting the note was too small, I think making it more lenient would make the game more fun. Very technically impressive.

As far as I know this is a first in a 4k competition, and I congratulate you on that.
The graphics are nice and neon colorful as the 80s can be.
The songs are good for a 4k entry, but I felt the notes could have been less random. I felt they were just that, random notes.
I was having fun until I realized there is no punishment to hit a note out of the timing, so I just kept hitting the spacebar like crazy and holding left or right as needed, and got super mad guitar skills combos.

Wow, I'm impressed. Probably a top contender this year. The graphics are amazing, the 3D effect is really cool and the lighting as well. Nice job.

Once I realized the goal was to not kill ghosts but rather collect the coins as fast as possible then it was much easier, but it got difficult real quick as my light faded too fast.

A cool 4k game that challenges the all time great Left 4k dead.

One of the best 4k games I've ever played, if not the best. Pseudo-3d graphics are executed perfectly. Very polished, with amazing graphics, the coin pickups, varied enemies, enemy death animations, and shadows. Overall, everything about this game is just quality. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

This is the best technical achievment this year. The voxel and lights and shadow are impressive. I would have to think and tinker a lot even without the 4k restriction to make something like this.
Having said that, I don't think it is actually this year's best game. I know you had to spend a lot of bytes in the voxel engine, but unfortunately I feel it left you with not many bytes for gameplay .
I'm not trying to be judgmental here, but I spent longer wowing at the graphics than actually playing. Oh wait, I'm a judge. So yes I'm being judgmental. Anyway, I got to level 3 when I was gang banged by 2 or 3 monsters in a corner, and that's how I died everytime. I didn't get what the jump was for, I tried jumping stuff but with no effect. The fact that the coins and hearts were blocking my shot was a bit annoying since I had to go dangerously close to the enemies to kill them. Maybe the byes spent on destructive walls should have been spent on gameplay stuff.

Oh dear :) I've not felt so stressed out since my college exams.
But it's a clever programming logic game. I think schools might be interested in something similar to teach children how programming logic works, but probably needs a different and easier interface.
I could not understand how to change the flow direction, I manage to change the direction of the arrows after clicking randomly.
But what confused me most is, does delete delete the first or the last, does copy copy the first or last? Etc. I could not understand perfectly what the functions did.

Another puzzle, once again very solid in concept. I thought I would be bored by a logic puzzle (pretty common) but the visual interface was well-thought out, and it was actually fairly fun, how you represent string operations in a grid.

I tried first without reading the instructions and was amazingly successful. Until I had to send the string to a different color. Then I failed successfully. I got myself very entertained up to a point where it was all resembling my own java code where I have a bunch of ifs to deal with slightly different scenarios. Then I realized I am a bad programmer and hated this game. Nonetheless, it is a nice and fun game although many people will not be able to understand the rules (like many of my university classmates). The drag and drop and all the polishness makes it a notably pleasant experience to a 4k game. Damn I should write to a magazine.

Intriguing space game, but the gameplay is too difficult. If you would make it much more casual paced, it might be more interesting. Even removing the weapons and the certain collision death, and just make it a space trading game it might be more fun. But maybe requires too much AI to implement.
Missing rocket exhaust!! :)

Reminds me of asteroids, but more open-world. I like the addition of the minimap, but I felt like it obstructed my view at times. It was kind of annoying to navigate the ship using only the minimap at times, so I would suggest either making the movement more forgiving or the view distance larger. Graphics aren't anything too flashy, but they work. Nice parallax on the stars.

Unfortunately I didn't get it.
I didn't know what I was supposed to, I tried shooting the red guys but they were traveling so fast that I could never hit any of them.
Maybe you wanted to make the physics too real, but it was a mess to control the ship. The acceleration is to low and the maximum speed is too high . So if I want to chenge directions I would wait forever for my ship to effectively change the travel direction. The other ships were also flying too fast for me try to interact with them. Aw.

Really nice game, casual, good graphics, and a fun exercise. The only thing missing is some sort of challenge, like limiting the number of moves per level to something casually reasonable so it's not difficult, but provides a challenge still.
One of my favorite submission this year.

Graphics are good, they fit together really well to make a jungle/temple theme (like temple run). I like how you change the step number different colors to indicate if you used too many, and level design is pretty good.

The early 90s looks of this game are great. All the pixels fit perfectly fine together. The gameplay is also interesting, although I feel a little bit sad that this is now a known game since a few years ago I made a game with pretty similar mechanics but never got to release it. So I will give you a bad score because you brought back that feeling. JK ;) Or maybe not.
I would give this game a slightly better score if it was an original game, but still it deserves one of the highest spots since it kept me entertained for longer than most entries.

I'm sorry, but even though I'm a programmer I could not understand this game to save my life.

This is a 4k version of a (originally) board game, I think? The graphics were kind of lackluster, which isn't that bad for a puzzle game, but the enemy true/false seems to be just guessing, and I would've liked for the board to be bigger.

I just got a black screen with two squares, and couldn't do anything, despite reading the instructions twice. I tried pressing all keys and mouse buttons and nothing seems to work.

Pretty cool and simple puzzle game. The graphics are very primitive, but they can be improved easily which would make this a very interesting and fun game to play. Good job.

Pretty standard puzzle, nothing unique in gameplay. Graphics are just java2d shapes, but it's good that you included 16 levels. I would've liked to see more variety in levels though, maybe some special/different blocks or something.

I had a good time with this one, although it could have been themed like something more appealing than squares. It could be a baby trying not to step on his own poo, or something like that. Just look at Apo's MyPrecious entry and imagine half of the fun being lost if it were made out of squares.
I got stuck first on level 7, then 8, then finally gave up at 9. The challenge is fair, but I would really try harder if I was a baby with shit on my feet.
There is a bug that when you press Q or W with the "failed" message open, it will never go away and you have to restart the applet.
I would have given a better score if it was more polished.

Quite simple and straightforward. Good implementation like I've come to see from you. Not sure about the gameplay, didn't feel it was more beyond the "inception" factor, game inside a game.

I liked this inception game a lot more than the last one, reminds me of bittrip. The game in a game mechanics is done very nicely in this one, always forcing me to watch both the smaller pong game and the larger pong game. I like how the pong balls vary in color and path, and overall the color scheme is very eye-appealing. Nice graphics, great gameplay.

I didn't quite get all the green blinking square balls, and all the explosions and stuff. Nevertheless I had a good time with this one, and I feel that's the best %ception you made this year, since I feel I have more control and my multithreading reflexed do matter.
By the way, I think this is the way the breakception paddle should move.

Pretty amazing job. It takes a bit to get used to the controls, maybe mouse controls might be better suited. But I really like this game. Graphics are a bit crude but pretty at the same time, the effects are nice as well. The gameplay is pretty good. I think a top contender here.

Graphics are what immediately stand out, and the fire trails on the projectiles are well done, as are the bombing effects. The transparency on the minimap is a nice touch.

The controls were a bit awkward for me, not so much for the flying, but for the shooting, because you can mainly only shoot at 45 and 90 degree angles, so shooting at something that's, say, 60 degrees is difficult.

This is my favorite entry this year. I spent a lot of time playing this, and still can't beat it :(
The graphics are good, the explosions and fire look really nice for a 4k game, and it has a sense of achievment and progression with the levels.
My only complaint maybe is that is too easy in the beginning and too hard at the end. Maybe the pacing could have been different, but nothing that affects the final result.
I also think the instructions are a little too verbose. At first I tried playing without reading the instructions, and I only dropped a lot of F-bombs, and gave up. Then I went back to read the instructions and almost understood it completetly. Then I could drop the B bombs and advance in the game.

Pretty clever chemistry teaching game. Maybe you should indicate what the molecule is called to provide a clue.
Maybe not the best gameplay, but useful and clever presentation of a teaching game.

One of my favorite puzzle games of this year, I could see this developing as an educational tool or just as a puzzle game. The graphics are clean and simple, which fits the game, and I like the variance between levels between strategies you have to use and the different elements.

I took a little while to understand how it worked (mainly because last time I studied chemistry I still had hair), but after I got it, I had a great time with this game. This is an example of a game where polish makes a good game a great game. The smooth movement, the electrons floating and the anti aliased circles make a terrific eye candy.
The informational phrases when you finish a stage are a nice way of showing off that you made this possible well below the 4k limit, and of course a nice way of educating your players.

Interesting game. Seems quite advanced and possibly fun. However, I found it very difficult to understand and a bit tedious to play.

Maybe the graphical presentation doesn't help, basic colors, rectangles and letters make it not so intuitive. Try to use symbols and shapes (like arrows) instead of letters or digits.

Took me a while to figure out this game, I would've liked some instructions on the screen. Anyways, I like how the puzzle combines reflexes, planning ahead, and standard logic puzzles. The graphics aren't anything too special and I would've liked a more consistent color scheme (not rainbow on black).

I swear I tried to understand what was happening. But unfortunately I couldn't manage to understand the rules beyond the ULRD blocks. Sometimes a yellow block (a gem ?) would appear in a block I placed, but I didn't know why and why there are 3 different "zones" and what are their purposes.
Maybe with a little introductory level or something I would have learned, but unfortunately in the 4k world you have to make something understandable enough without too much hassle. Nice pun in the name though.

Pretty cool and advanced game that is straightforward to play. I really like it. Great job.

Haven't played a mining game in ages, reminds me of a flash game called motherlode I used to play. The concept is executed well, but I would've liked it if fuel only drained when you fly or mine, rather than always draining even when you're not doing anything. The graphics aren't anything special, but the mining effect was done decently.

I am not a big fan of "collect stuff to make collecting stuff quicker and easier" games, so my review is a little biased.
The game is well implemented and everything works the way it should. maybe a little more polish would have benefited the overall experience, like painting in different colors the minerals you need for a specific mission.
After a while the task becomes a little dull since you have to go really far to collect the minerals and then go back to dispose/refuel.
I think some enemies (even if stupid ones) would have improved greatly the experience, and could also make another source of income for the expensive upgrades.
Sometimes after I die the stuff I collected on the last gameplay were still on my inventory, and some blocks on the map were not reset at all.

Very very strange. The flicker is so bad the game should have a epilepsy warning. Difficult to realize where your character is positioned and when to jump. There's much lacking from this simple game.

I like the pseudo 3d, but the rest of the art and color doesn't really match. The bright red blocks seem out of place, and so does the player character. Additionally, the game seems too easy - I could just hold down the down arrow and easily navigate through the tracks. The moving of the blocks is also really laggy.

I believe this like Under Hell's gate is a work of a starter. What bothers me most is the low fps, it's like 3 FPS. And I could see that it also affects the input, since if I press left or right really quickly (faster than the FPS) I'll move to the other lanes skipping the middle one. Okay that was kind of confusing, but I think you get the point. I didn't get also what the up arrow was for.
Nice try, but you definetely should aim for 60FPS to get a real "gamey" feeling.

A two player game? Darn... I'm all alone here :( Well, we'll see how good I am against myself :)

But it's tic tac toe, only 9 times better and with a twist. Maybe an optional AI could have been added.

I like how this isn't just 9 games of 3x3 tic tac toe, and the red/blue highlighting is very visually appealing. The turn order is pretty well planned out, but I would've liked being able to be play against an AI, especially to learn the game in the beginning.

It would be the best *ception idea if there were an AI . There was really no space left for it ?
Since I am a person who has no friends or family, and my girl left me because I spent all my free time playing java games, I can only praise this entry by judging its originality and well roundedness. The rules you made up are pretty interesting, the "next quadrant" idea adds a new and interesting dimension in a game that is normally dull and predictable.

Wow, pretty cool game. I spent probably most of my time playing this game, quite addictive treasure hunting game. It's a bit difficult to find the exact spot even if you're in the right spot. Graphics are a bit crude, but work. I could play a non-4k implementation of this.

I like the layered map graphics and the multiple views, but the player character could've been bigger/more detailed. Relative to the map, I think the player is too small/moves too slowly, because it was a lot of hassle to walk around the entire world. However, it is a unique concept that I haven't seen in a 4k game before.

I had a good surprise with this game. The searching for treasure and avoiding the terrible sea creatures is actually fun.
The colors are well chosen and all the zoom in/out makes it dynamic enough for a 4k game. Sometimes I had the unpleasant surprise to be surrounded by blood thirsty sea creatures when I get back to my boat. And when I say unpleasant I mean the good unpleasantness.
For as much as I dug, I didn't find any of the special items besides the treasure itself. Do they really exist or was it a marketing strategy ?
I have only a couple of complains. When I get into map mode, it is really helpful in the begining of the game, when you had not yet revealed much of the map. However as you progress, it is not so easy to look at the map since you don't know exactly where you are. A single spot identifying your current position would make things far better, and would combine greatly with the ability to navigate while in map mode.
Another minor drawback I had was when I was in mapmode and my girfriend asked me why I was playing a game with penis shaped islands. I tried to explain it was procedurally generated but I was not very convincing.
Anyway, great game!

I can only see a white screen and some stats at the bottom. For a moment I thought a smudge on my screen was part of the game, but when it didn't move I realized it was a smudge. Maybe it would be fun if it worked :/ Difficult to score this game as it's non-functioning, maybe I shouldn't have approved it.

I like roguelikes, but the movement of the character was just too jumpy and not smooth. I don't have a problem with ASCII graphics, but there's a certain feel to true ascii games and I feel like this doesn't really emulate that.

Assuming this is a first (or second, tops third) game, it is a good job. It's better than things I did when I first started writing games.
I didn't spend too much time playing it, as soon as I learned how to easily defeat the terrible letter-monsters, it was too easy even with my asian sized sword.
I tried to find a chest to make it bigger, but since I didn't know what a chest looked like, I gave up.
You should look up your render code, sometimes the render stutters badly on my machine. I was also not able to restart a game after I died.

Pretty fun and addictive. Probably my favorite game from you Mr. Apo this year :) Nice one.

Graphics are good as usual, good polish. I wish that you could undo some sections of the wrapping paper, because sometimes I would accidentally mouse over a tile when trying to go diagonally. Impressive how you have 40 levels, though.

This was my least favorite game from Apo this year. Not that it is bad, but I find it far less polished than the other ones . Maybe that is related to the fact that I didn't find this puzzle so compelling. Sometimes it seems that the mouse loses the grab of the toilet paper and I have to grab it again. The way the toilet paper unfolds could have been a little smoother, I feel it does not meet Apo 2014 standards of quality.