ShangXian's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pico-Cross Collab 2023]

May I congratulate to everyone who made this amazing game possible? I love the music of each level, the music at the end, the voice acting and overall story. Just recently I discovered these types of games and despite I still have to learn how to master them, thanks to this game I am finally understanding the basics and logic behind them. It was a really nice brain stretching and exercise that combined a nice balance between difficulty and reward for reaching the solution of the homicide.

Graphics are really cool and enjoyable to watch while solving each nonogram, music helps to concentrate and the challenge has the right amount of difficulty to make it actually interesting and cool. There are many types of solving techniques, the most common are simple boxes, simple spaces etc. To solve them I tried to reason on a single row or column at a time only, then trying another row or column, and repeating until the puzzle is complete but for more complex parts of each level I used the "what if?" reasoning. I searched for contradictions, e.g., when a cell cannot be a box because some other cell would produce an error, I thought "it must be a space" and it worked. A mix of forcing, glue, joining and splitting, and a bit of mercury helped me through the final levels, notably the 4th and 5th. Contradictions are very useful especially after tried an empty cell or space. Basically this procedure includes:

1) trying an empty cell to be a box (or then a space)
2) using all available methods to solve as much as possible
3) if an error is found, the tried cell will not be a box for sure. It will be a space (or a box, if space was tried)

I've also discovered that solving nonogram puzzles is an NP-complete problem. This means that there is no polynomial time algorithm that solves all nonogram puzzles unless P = NP. Little excursus: P versus NP problem is a major unsolved problem in theoretical computer science. Informally, it asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified can also be quickly solved. Since this game was made for Pico Day, and reading the wiki page mentioning that Pico likely would have majored in computer science if he had entered college, I now image him playing a lot with the P versus NP problem just for the fun of it XD

Scroll down the comments below Tom's post and his reply to Oatmeaal back in 2021 and you will find what Pico would have become if events of Pico's School never had happened: https://tomfulp.newgrounds.com/news/post/1182469

Besides the mere element of solving the nonograms, I also enjoyed how this game combined art and gameplay. Each artwork played a role in composing the piece of evidence and this made the gameplay experience even more cool. I LOVED each piece, everyone did an amazing job with their talent and creativity. Really I can't decide which I love the most, each piece entered in my heart. Congrats!

From irl side this period is a bit though but games like this are helping me to feel a lot better and even accomplished because of their level of difficulty. I also discovered to love this type of game. I love this collab, one of the best and sadly I couldn't participate because I didn't have an account back when it was announced, made and released T_T
But if in future there will be another collab like that, I would like to participate and contribute to these gems. Thank you all for making this possible and making us use our brains! You all rock and I wish you all the best!

Fun fact: we know that one of the inventor of this type of game is Non Ishida who, in 1987, won a competition in Tokyo by designing grid pictures using skyscraper lights that were turned on or off. This will led her to the idea of a puzzle based around filling in certain squares in a grid. But coincidentally, a professional Japanese puzzler named Tetsuya Nishio invented the same puzzles independently, and published them in another magazine.

JSuika responds:

yayyy!!!!!!!!! :DD

Yea, 2023's Pico Cross was great ngl! I thought of participating that collab before Pico Day because a lot of people were putting their submissions frankly. :') But overall, I do hope you really enjoyed the game itself! ^^

[Mexican Independence Day Collab Gallery]

I had so much fun participating to this collab, I will upload my finished work soon. Meanwhile I want to congratulate to everyone's contribution. You all did a great job with your creativity and skills. I like them all for their variety of subjects and way to see this day but among my favourites there are dahliaxblack, HapiToons, Aalasteir, omithealien, DosieDonut, Chongus02, Solito, LazyAstronaut3D, MOHD5aqer, BeatleYee, Riveet099, PLJerry, rosarjc, AxolofanX, PepperPotater, Gomogora, NitroOrient, KokoroHatsaru, EmilyRose420's works and many many others.

I love the bright atmosphere each character brings, especially female characters with their vivid-coloured clothes. I like that the bg is simple and doesn't distract from the main protagonists of this collab. The music is lovely but the only thing I feel to point out is that the loop doesn't loop very well. There is a small time gap but other than this it's still enjoyable and relaxing. The long musical piece makes you forget about the loop gap^^

I did enjoy dressing my raven with traditional clothing, I used this photo as reference to be as precise as possible with details: https://turismo.guadalajaravisit.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MARCAAGUAcharroigcaballo-08.jpg

This occasion gave me opportunity to study a bit more about el charro negro and other traditions linked to this amazing country. Speaking of Mexican culture I still remember when last year in the city I go for University a Mexican woman accompanied us students to visit places of the city she loves. It happened for cultural anthropology course, we visited parts of the city I didn't even know, talked about el Día de los Muertos, its tradition, foods and beverages. In that occasion I fell in love with guava, it has become my favourite fruit. It was amazing listening in rea life, for the first time in my life, Nahuatl language since this woman introduced herself in Nahuatl. It's a language I would like to learn in future. This experience showed me the beauty of seeing your local reality (the city where I go to University) through the eyes of foreign people.

If in future there will be another art Mexican-themed collab and I have free time I will gladly participate again. Congratulations to everyone and Viva México! Viva la Independencia! Vivan los héroes!

p.s. thank you @ElRandomGMD for making me see the small typing error in my secret drawing XD I didn't notice it until now.

ShangXian responds:

p.p.s. CONGRATS FOR THE DAILY FEATURE!

[Pico's way to school]

Nice looking game with an enjoyable music that really gives the vibe of a 8bit gameboy cartridge. The story is simple but challenging in the way you have to pass each level because controls are not always easy to understand. They feel a bit rigid but probably because I am not used to WASD controls, I prefer arrows.

If I have to suggest something to make it more fluid as experience I would toggle the option to use arrows control along with WASD keys.

Other than this I liked it overall, and I admit I laughed a lot at the ending. I didn't expect it XD XD

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To those who are struggling with jumping you can use X as alternative to K control. In the third level run as fast as you can to avoid getting hit by the bricks those people throw at you. The running mice were the hardest thing to avoid because the jump wasn't that high since Pico reached the limit of the level map.

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Keep it up because I see the potential of funny and enjoyable games!

[Pico Clicker (Pico Day 2024)]

I have to thank @Magnus727 if I could get all the achievements because I didn't expect a simple clicker game to be that difficult in terms of getting the medals simply because to get them you have to have that amount of clicks exactly in order to obtain them AND the activation of Newgrounds Passport. The first time I tried Magnus727's tips I still didn't get my achievements but once the NG Passport page opened, allowing me to let the game access to my account, I could follow his tips.

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So once the NG Passport opened and you let it access your account follow Magnus727's tips:

1) click to 250, then buy 250 (3 each click)
2) click to exactly 210, then buy two 100 (5 each click)
3) click to 500, then buy 500 (10 each click)
4) click to 1,000 and then buy 500 twice (20 each click)
5) click to 500, then buy 500 (25 each click)
6) click to 2,500 and then buy 500 five times (50 each click)
7) enjoy your last achievements

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Now with these two conditions (NG Passport and Magnus727's advice) you will see achievement unlocking in the game description. I like these types of games because of the math beneath them but not always they are linear and straightforward in terms of how to get the achievement like in this case because I initially missed rounded values with multiples of ten especially because the NG Passport didn't opened so I couldn't experiment with the math.

I originally wanted to give 3 stars because of this (not being able to get reward despite reaching the goal) but after noticing the tricky part of getting achievements I gave it 4 stars because I didn't expect it. Graphic is very simple and I like both the way Pico is drawn and the music choice. The music is pretty cool and enjoyable while you try to reach the goals.

Nice game overall.

[Pico Skate]

A really addicting and fun game that tests your skills and ability to resist as much as possible. The pixel graphic and 8-bit music really add a vibe of nostalgia for old games and a nice aesthetic to the overall game. It may be simple but I like how it makes you want to keep trying to get higher scores and this is what I will do in future: trying to surpass my current score.

It's interesting discovering just today a game featuring Pico going on skateboard since I made a fanart of him going on skateboard^^ and congrats for the frontpage, well deserved. Sometimes what we need in terms of games is just a simple-looking game with a balance between fun, relaxation and challenge and this game achieved this. It would be nice if some achievements (in terms of score) are added but even without them I still love this game! Great job.

EDIT: I keep playing it over and over, it's very addicting in a relaxing way^^

[Coming Out Simulator]

This is honestly one of the best games that I've played here not only because it touched a delicate theme that still affect many people across the world, even in LGBTQ+ friendly countries, but also because it showed some aspects of family dynamics, turn taking systems and way of interacting of Asian families, more precisely East Asia (the subtle tatemae/honne-like system way of communicating suggested me so).

I loved the simple and minimalist atmosphere of the game, grey colours and absence of music. To me grey here is a symbol of the subtle hues that communication and people' lives are characterized but it could also symbolize the dull life protagonist had to endure due to their parents. The clock sound was the only unnerving element that I appreciated during the dinner scene. I tried to play not as I would play, but as if I were the son/daughter of an Asian highly conservative family. This game was an intense experience where I could put myself in another person's shoes, I love when games do that because it widens your mind, if you have an open mind and heart. I wish more games are like this, and I hope to find others like this one.

This game was a small cross section of what interacting in a high-context culture feels like. A definition of high-context culture: in anthropology, high-context culture and low-context culture are ends of a continuum of how explicit the messages exchanged in a culture are and how important the context is in communication. Some countries with high context cultures include China, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Brasil, Spain, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia. But of course a country is never high-context or low-context in absolute terms. Instead, every culture uses a mix of explicit & implicit communication to different degrees, and there are also exceptions within cultures. For example India is a low-context culture with some high-context elements.

Edward T. Hall, the anthropologist who introduced these concepts, defined high-context culture as one in which:

“much of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message” (1976)

These cultures often do not explicitly state their message in words; instead much of their information is embedded in the context. This context includes the shared history, the relationships, and the cultural norms/values shared by the individuals communicating. High-context cultures prioritize the group over the individual, and they value collectivism (Hofstede, 1984). Since individual communication is ultimately founded upon the shared values of the group, it is understandable why the sense of community is emphasized.

High-context cultures can seem relatively less formal than low-context cultures because of the implicit nature of their communication. Moreover, communication is not always guided by rational or task-oriented decision-making but is often shaped by emotions, traditions, etc. In the game all of this is shown clearly in the dinner scene where nuances (opposite reaction from the mother if you wait to eat or start eating immediately), nonverbal cues (silences and turn-taking systems especially in the middle of the conversation between the mother and the protagonist), collectivism (when the mother mentioned what people might think of him and conversely of the family as whole), valued-based decision-making (when the father mentioned the numerous grand kids he wishes to have by the arranged wedding between Nicky and Claire where emotions, traditions, and cultural norms are taken into account) etc. play a major role.

When interacting with them I tried to think and act like a second-generation Asian person who both has connection with their East Asian roots and influences from the Canadian society (a Western, individualistic and low-context colture) so I tried not to be too direct because that's not the best way to interact with people coming from high-context cultures but at the same time I tried to test the waters in order to not ignore my own feelings and the parents' reactions acted according to what I expected from them. I admit I laughed at the vomit scene because I found it both tragic and comical at the same time, even more at the option to choose if letting your father eat the "sauce" or not and this brings to the fore another cultural aspect of East Asia: family.

One particularly distinctive feature of East Asian families is a clearly-defined and deeply-entrenched gender division of labor within the family. The patriarchal, patrimonial, patrilineal, and patrilocal organization of this family can be noticed in the relationship between the father and mother (he labels himself as the head-figure of the house). Keep in mind that traditional Confucian China and its cultural offshoots, Japan and Korea, evolved some of the most patriarchal family systems that ever existed. Another distinctive feature of the traditional East Asian family is the paramount importance of family lineage (notice when the father happily and proudly mentioned the grand kids).

A core value in the Chinese family, filial piety requires that children or grandchildren respect and care for their parents or grandparents (Thornton and Lin 1994; Whyte 2004). The same is true of Korean families and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Japanese families (Hashimoto and Ikels 2005). Another important element I've noticed in the game is the parenting style. In 1967, the developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind formed her Pillar theory, now referred to as “parenting styles,” through her research piece “Childcare practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior.” She found relationships between a parent’s child-rearing methods and the child’s behavior, condensing them into the authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles. These are differentiated by their amounts of support and control, or a parent’s warmth and monitoring of their children.

Asian parents, typically adults of East Asian descent, are characterized by the authoritarian parenting style. These parents are perceived as cold, harsh and strict with high expectations that can never be fulfilled. They are disciplinarians who endlessly pressure, criticize, and demand much from their child, the term “tiger mom” is the first thing that comes to my mind. They are more achievement-oriented, you can notice this when the mother talks about Nicky's grades. I liked how the game showed the toxic relationship between the husband and wife with him constantly belittling her by calling her chubby, less beautiful and questioning her cooking skills (if you decide to let him eat the "sauce"). He is imposing and talks over the woman.

In the final part of the dinner scene, when the father approached Nicky, I got anxious and I carefully chose the right answer in order to avoid the worst (which I experienced the second time I played and I tried to be more direct). Despite the intense emotional roller-coaster this game was, I was more than happy to see how it ended and I wish you all the best from life, you deserve it.

This game is simply amazing and I will recommend to my friends. I wish I could give more than 5 stars. Thank you for this opportunity.

[Cats n Wires]

This is a really lovely game with quite challenging puzzles that are not too difficult to make you feel frustrated and not too easy to not make you think out the box. I liked a lot this balance of difficulty and the way it made me think in a different way and perspective.

The music is very calming and relaxing, it's perfect for this kind of games and puzzles where concentration and a state of relaxed mind is required to focus better in order to find the best solution that might not be the same for all. The minimalist style of the pixel art combined with few colours help to create this little mesmerizing and relaxing environment. The background and design of levels don't distract the player from focusing on the main goal: saving all 20 cats.

I also noticed that the titles revealed a small hint in the approach and/or solution of the game, nice detail. I liked it. Both a title of a level and a hint. The tutorial was a bit strange with the change of keys to move wires but the "problem" was easily overcome by simply playing.

In the first level, where I had to jump freeze in order to move wires and then advance in the level, was a bit challenging at first but once I discovered I just had to jump and stop at the right moment in the right place other levels became more manageable but errors and trials played a role to help me advance each level.

Congratulations for making this game in 48 hours and getting frontpaged, well deserved. And yes, kittens are adorable!

[Upgrade Complete 2]

This is, by far, one of the best upgrade game I ever experienced due to the high level of meta elements. You basically build a game while playing a game, a game within a game. A metavideoludic experience I highly recommend to everyone.

I found funny the voice screaming "UPDATE" every time you bought an update XD, the male voice at least. Yesterday I was a bit stressed so playing this little adventure helped me to calm down and relax.

and remember kids: upgrades will make you a better person

[Marble Trap]

This is a really cool game with nice graphic, catchy music that doesn't distract the player and challenging obstacles. I enjoyed the look of each level and how varied obstacles are. The fact that player has to coordinate fingers with the right amount of pressure creates a nice mental stimulus and engagement that makes the overall experience fun.

This is my very first marble game and I must say I enjoyed it especially the physics behind it. Cannons were the only type of obstacles that gave me problems because sometimes I had to mentally calculate when the next shot appeared.

Maybe introducing the ability to jump and some upgrades to balance the increase in obstacles would add a nice touch to the game but asides this I really enjoyed it. Fun and entertaining.

[Cult Classic]

Awesome game, I really had fun at finding all references and get all the medals as consequence. I love games like that in which you have to sharpen your sight and mind. I love the graphic, colours are very bright and vibrant but they don't prevent a player from finding the references. Many of them brought me childhood memories especially because they were made in the old 90s style i.e. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved how each character interacted with others.

The environment is full of fun stuff to search for and hints that may help to find references better. I can see here talent both artistically and on a videogame point of view. Truly enjoyed it, 1000/1000!