Critiques on Game Prototypes Presented (part1)

This is my critiques (format = MDA) on the presentations of game prototypes on Tuesday Oct 23rd:

#1, Antlion

Aesthetics: being a "paper" prototype makes it quite limited in terms of modeling and art, but since it will be improved drastically for the final game it should be ok.

Dynamics: concept of ant lion is cool but might need something new to distinguish itself from other stretagy games. The education aspect is a neat idea but require polishing.

Mechanic: Nature is a complicated system, which contradics with the goal of the mechanic of keeping things minimal.

#2, Fins of Fury

Aesthetics: It is quite nice to engage people into wanting more from the game because it meant they like it and the models look quite nice! Due to its nature I agree with the conclusion in that having more random collectables/achievements will make the game much more enjoyable.

Dynamics: I kinda like how they have variable odds for the enemy, even if some players are a bit annoyed by it. It keeps the game fresh.

Mechanic: Although its only a dice, I think there is quite a bit of potential here in their way of portraying the A.I.

#3, mizu

Aesthetics: The art seems to be very nice and will help the immersion of player in the game's universe.
Dynamics: Although the dice-chance system is probably in place due to the need to stimulate A.I. in the paper prototype, it'd be nice to see it go in the final game because as the testers responded that they feel it takes away the choice element of the game.
Mechanics: Not exactly testing for final game mechanic but the side scrolling element is somewhat there.

#4, Untitled

Aesthetics: based on the description it reminds me of beat-'em-ups like Golden Axe or Street of Rage; those were fun times indeed. I think in these types of games puzzles should be limited or easy to keep the flow of the game and more enemies + coop should work great.

Dynamics: for the puzzles (it was not actualy told what the puzzles are) I think they should stick with a particular kind of puzzles (e.g. Zelda vs Resident Evil puzzles).

Mechanics: Balance is the key (ya everyone knows) so making the characters more unique would be top priority.