I think it looks pretty good, the entries are a bit short though. Looks like a promising blog though

That was the idea of the magazine originally. To provide short news articles so you can keep up-to-date rather than reading through huge long entries.
As a suggestion you should remove the nav bar at the top of the site. It looks ugly:
http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/20...blogger-navbar/

CompanionCube, you’re absolutely correct.

Also, thanks for the tip! I had no idea you could get rid of the NavBar.

- Darren

Just took another look at the site. It's looking much better with the content on the side. I'll be checking back on this for sure.

I agree.

Thanks for following.

I like the blog. Entries are short, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Everything is simple and positioned well. Nice work.

~LC~

Thanks. The entries are supposed to be short, for the reason that CompanionCube mentioned earlier.

I've only taken a quick look at the site, but I liked what I saw. It's nice to read a game review that's properly organized. Far too often, reviewers assume you've already played the game, or are familiar with it. So they launch into a discussion about graphics, scores, etc..

A good game review should ALWAYS begin with a description of the game that includes a concise explanation of the game play, style and player objective. Just the facts. Any opinions about the game quality, its graphics, music, or whatever, should come AFTER that.

Your reviews follow this rule, so I'll probably go back and read more later.

Yeah, I remember you saying this about the reviews in GMWeekly . It's just a logical way of writing a review.

Thought I should give this blog a little bump.

After being 'round for nearly three months, there have been more than fifty blog posts and over 1500 (non-unique) hits. Not bad, in my opinion.

Despite that not a lot of people comment on the entries, don't let this discourage you. I like every time to see this blog updated with more interesting games and it's fun to read the entries. Keep it up, you are the only blog that updates in a regular basis(it's like IndieGamesBlog of GM games).

Thanks for the positive feedback, Giorgio.

Yeah, I understand that not everyone can be bothered to comment; the trusty hit counter keeps me going, though.

That's part of it, I guess. Of course, you could use the approach some take -- that is, post controversial and semi-inflammatory comments about the games. Then you'll get people posting to argue or complain. But I'm VERY glad you don't do that.

Frankly, I often just forget to check your blog. It's updated regularly, so I should check it more often. Your reviews are always informative and well-written.

Maybe you should spruce up your signature a bit. Maybe even include the names of recent games you've reviewed? Something to remind us to check more often.

Well yeah, I select games that I think deserve the spotlight, so I don’t pick any games that I can say much negative about. As you say, perhaps that’s why people choose not to comment.

Thanks for your praise regarding my review style. I always put a lot of effort into making sure they sound right and go into enough detail and I do extensive proofreading. It’s nice that you notice this.

Do you really think sprucing up my signature would make a difference? I didn’t think many people look at them, but maybe I should make it a little more attention-grabbing. How about if I created a mailing list? Though that would be slightly unnecessary for just a little blog…

I like it. Well written and a great choice of content. I see you have a bit of a penchant for Poppenkast games (you usually can't go wrong there). Deserves more attention.

Kwiklook is an appropriate name as the reviews are fairly short and don't go that in-depth however they are also very concise and cover everything I feel they needed to (as a personal plus it also avoids lists of "X out of Y in the Z department"). I think I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of shorter more retro games.

Thanks . Yes, I regularly check up on The Poppenkast, as there are normally some good games that haven't got much attention.


Hey, thanks man.

I think you should have stuck with the magazine. I liked it better

I'm a regular reader of this blog. Very informative and good to read. I've enjoyed reading your opinions of my games, too.

I'll definitely keep checking up on it.

I decided I didn't like the limitations of a magazine and I'm now much happier how it is. Besides, most people have said they prefer it as a blog. Of course, there are always going to be exceptions.


Thanks Andrew. I'm really glad the reviews are of use.

Okay. I was kind of curious about that.

Okay, I quite radically redesigned the blog. Any opinions?

The redesign isn't better, but it isn't worse. I think it's great for how the blog is set up.

Design looks a lot better, nice job.

The only thing I didn't like was that the comments didn't have that darker, thick, border around them like the content and blog titles. I think it would look better if you made the comments look more like the content of the blog.

Aside from the design, I really like the content on the site. It's updated often, and is usually quite good.

Cheers!

What's bad about the design?

I really think it looks a lot more structured than the last one.


So is that the only problem you have with the design?

No! I'm not saying anything is bad about it! I'm just saying that it has things the previous one didn't but it is also missing some of the better things of the previous (mainly the logo (was it eaten?))

Oh, the logo. Meh, I'll probably add that back in, actually.

Is there anything else missing that you liked?

That was the only thing that bothered me after looking over a few blog posts and comments.

As a general suggestion, it may be nice if you had a "contact us" page, so that people can give suggestions for games or reviews. It's better to have a separate page for contact rather then sticking it at the bottom of the about page

oh and, why did the blog banner change color on the about page? That seems a bit odd.

Actually, I've decided not to edit the comment block style. I think it looks good and separates the comments from the post. On most blogs, comments are styled slightly differently to the posts.

Yes, that's a good idea. I will create a 'Contact Us' page and also extend the 'About' page.

I have no idea why the banner changes colour, very odd indeed... May have to investigate that.

Thanks for the feedback, Noel. You've been a great help.

Wow. I just added a review of RunMan.

I got about 20 visits in about 5 minutes (the same amount I'd previously had for the whole day).

That's Google, that is (or a crazy glitch).

I googled kwiklook and found nothing from the actual site. there's a couple posts about it, but only a couple.
you really need to get this optimized for the search engines. having the words game maker in there a few times per page will blast it's ratings up.

I like the new design, a lot actually. I do miss the sidebar, but I suppose there wasn't much use for it, other than an archive or something.

anyway, congrats on all your success and I can only hope for the best. good luck!

Maybe I should add invisible key words to boost the hit count.

I think the sidebar added uneeded complexity to the look, so I decided to just bin it. You can still look through a small drop-down monthly archive at the bottom of the site.

Thanks.

no, because that's illegal...your site can be blacklisted and NEVER be on any search engine, no matter what.

Really? I never knew that. Now I feel stupid.


If you google 'kwiklook blog', it's a different story.

Yeah, you'll get sent to the Google naughty corner for doing that.

Hidden text and links policy: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/b...mp;answer=66353.
Webmaster guidelines: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/b...py?answer=35769

@the developer - There is no reason to try and boost your search ratings on the word kwiklook, since no one is going to google that word unless they already know your site. If they already know your site they can visit it directly or google it's whole URL

And like has been stated, google and other search methods are
1 - very sophisticated, their algorithms weigh and balance everything so you can't force them
2 - attempts to get you removed form their listings.

Thanks for that information.

well, kwiklook blog works nicely, but still...both should give the same results.
good luck with it.

No problem Glad I could help out a bit.

Looks very nice. I also really enjoyed reading the reviews. A really good job!

I'm glad you think positively of it. Make sure to check up on the blog from time to time (since it's updated frequently).

I like your steady flow of new content. Keep up the good work

A great place to go if you are looking to kill some time with a new Game Maker game.

I just read your latest reviews of Milo Applequest and RunMan. Very concise and informative. They're useful for someone who hasn't played the games yet. Unfortunately, I can never figure out what I'm supposed to do in these games... so I don't get very far.

Nice interview with Liam too. The questions were thoughtful and relevant.

Yeah, 'steady flow' is definitely a good way of putting it.


Exactly.


Thanks KC. I'm really glad you think highly of the blog. I'm flattered that you have no complaints.