Sherlock Reviews ~ Absolutely Anything Reviewed By A Veteran Scratch Reviewer!

sonicfan12p · #1 March 13, 2018 04:35:04

Hello, and welcome to Sherlock Reviews! I don't have a ton of time to set this up tonight, but here's a brief introduction!

Here, I will review anything you want reviewed, projects, shops, collaborations, user profiles, forum posts, or anything else you can think of. In time, I will link to examples of my past reviews so you know what they tend to be like. I try to be very thorough, so reviews will usually take longer to get here than at some other shops, and will be more strict than most. The goal is to help you know what to improve in your projects, so if you don't get a great score on your first review, just follow my suggestions and ask for a re-review!

I've been on Scratch 6 1/2 years, and worked as a reviewer in several different review shops for a lot of that time. I've always enjoyed reviewing, so I'm opening this shop to begin doing it again!

If you would like something reviewed, just tell me what it is and give me the link!

If you would like to be a reviewer here, then let me know and we'll figure something out from there.

That's all for now, I'll work on adding more information eventually!

Last edited by sonicfan12p (March 26, 2018 06:46:47)

Torsita01 · #2 March 13, 2018 16:40:23

Disney Check Your Connection V. 2.2
Thanks.

Last edited by Torsita01 (March 13, 2018 16:40:37)

sonicfan12p · #3 March 14, 2018 21:39:52

Your review is half done, I unexpectedly had to leave it on my laptop yesterday, but I'll try to post it tonight. Just don't want you thinking I forgot or anything.

Torsita01 · #4 March 15, 2018 15:53:39

Thanks!

sonicfan12p · #5 March 16, 2018 02:42:52

Review of: Disney™ Check Your Connection V. 2.2 ~ by Torsita01

Creativity 7/10
While the Chrome game has existed for quite a while now, I still think it's fair to say this project was creative. With 100+ Disney characters in the game reimagined as an 8 bit t-rexes, and different movie specific obstacles and background music, you'll definitely have a much different experience from Google's version.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics were all true to the theme of the game, and the aforementioned Disney themed t-rexes were all spot on to the characters they represented. They all even had their own unique death poses, such as Fix-It Felix lying on the ground, flower in hand, just like in the movie he came from. The obstacles and background changed to match the movie that the character you were playing as is from. All in all, the graphics were very well done!

Scripting 4/10
The scripting in this project was sadly inefficient. There are 479 scripts for what is a fairly simple game at its core, as well as a stunning 77 sprites. There are more than a few forever blocks scattered around, and the core script of the game is long enough to lag my computer every time I try to look at it. I strongly recommend simplifying wherever possible! Check the recommendation section for more details!

Sound 6/10
There was a good variety of background music from all the different movies represented in this game. There was a lack of effects though, might try adding a few in your next update.

Polish and Replayability 12/20
There were several helpful menus, tooltips, a changelog, a bug report topic, unlockable characters, achievements, and more! You could pause the game, mute the music, and even respawn as a random character every time if you wanted. Sadly, there are currently only two achievements, and they're both pretty vague. There are also only three unlockable characters out of more than a hundred total, which kind of hurts its replayability. In addition, the character select menu was a bit disorganized, as some characters were not with their movies, and some movies didn't even get a banner.

Notable Bugs 16/20
Under certain circumstances (usually when I respawned as a random character), the character would remain in the death state of my previous character until I jumped for the first time.

Overall Experience 15/20
I had fun playing the game. I messed around with it for a bit, and even beat the highscore! I think it's a neat idea and hope you update it some more in the future!

Total 69/100
(If it seems low, when I post examples of my past reviews, you'll see that this is actually a solid score from me.

)
This was a good project, and I enjoyed playing it. Definitely give it a recommend, especially to Disney fans!

My Recommendations

Make sure only the scripts that are necessary are running at any given time, and avoid forever loops when possible. Repeat Until is usually better.

Condense your main character's movement animation script by using variables and equations to choose the costume rather than hard coding it.

Reduce the number of sprites as much as possible. Some of them are just text, these can usually be combined into one sprite.

Fix the aforementioned costume bug.

Add some (non-annoying) sound effects, perhaps on the menus, or when you jump.

Add more achievements, themed around Disney of course!

Lock more characters, or make something else for players to use their coins on.

If you do the above, make coin spawns more frequent so buying things isn't a horrible grind.

Scratch On!

Torsita01 · #6 March 16, 2018 14:12:54

Hey sonicfan! Thanks for the review! A couple of things:

sonicfan12p wrote:
Scripting 4/10
The scripting in this project was sadly inefficient. There are 479 scripts for what is a fairly simple game at its core, as well as a stunning 77 sprites. There are more than a few forever blocks scattered around, and the core script of the game is long enough to lag my computer every time I try to look at it. I strongly recommend simplifying wherever possible! Check the recommendation section for more details!

Thanks for the tips on the scripting! I brought the script count down from 600+ to 479 in a recent update actually, but you can be sure, as even though I add more things, the script number should be going down in the near future

sonicfan12p wrote:
Sound 6/10
There was a good variety of background music from all the different movies represented in this game. There was a lack of effects though, might try adding a few in your next update.

I've thought about adding sounds, but I didn't know how the audience would react to it. I actually had jumping noises way back in Beta… I'll try to find some not annoying sounds for 2.3! Thanks for that!

sonicfan12p wrote:
Polish and Replayability 12/20
There were several helpful menus, tooltips, a changelog, a bug report topic, unlockable characters, achievements, and more! You could pause the game, mute the music, and even respawn as a random character every time if you wanted. Sadly, there are currently only two achievements, and they're both pretty vague. There are also only three unlockable characters out of more than a hundred total, which kind of hurts its replayability. In addition, the character select menu was a bit disorganized, as some characters were not with their movies, and some movies didn't even get a banner.

Yes, yes, I know the Achievements are bad… The Achievement screen has stayed the same since early Beta… I'll try to add more in 2.3 or 2.4. As for the unlockable characters, I only added three to test out the purchasing system that I set up, and also because I didn't want people to spend all that time collecting coins for 100 characters, only to click the flag, or go off the page. I will add more unlockable characters in 2.3 when I add a saving system (Which will include a Personal High Score instead of just a Global High Score). And the banners… It's honestly because I'm lazy and haven't gotten around to making every single one. As for the ones that aren't organized with their movies, they're there because they are new characters, and I always put the new characters at the end of the characters, then when the next update comes out, I organize them to their respective movies.

sonicfan12p wrote:
Notable Bugs 16/20
Under certain circumstances (usually when I respawned as a random character), the character would remain in the death state of my previous character until I jumped for the first time.

That's only in full screen mode. I can't fix that sadly…

sonicfan12p wrote:
Total 69/100
(If it seems low, when I post examples of my past reviews, you'll see that this is actually a solid score from me.)
This was a good project, and I enjoyed playing it. Definitely give it a recommend, especially to Disney fans!

Thank you SO much for the review, it has helped me in so many ways (Update-wise) I hope by the time 2.3 comes out, you'll rate this project a little higher!

Last edited by Torsita01 (March 16, 2018 14:28:34)

sonicfan12p · #7 March 16, 2018 22:41:45

You're very welcome, good luck with your updates!

sonicfan12p · #8 March 17, 2018 23:16:14

(Reserved)

Riddle_Man · #9 March 18, 2018 20:58:29

Dinner Maker: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/210789046/

sonicfan12p · #10 March 19, 2018 02:26:02

I'll try to get to it soon!

RPP-Exploration · #11 March 19, 2018 16:37:44

Hi! I see that your shop is AMAZING at reviewing…
Would you be interested in publishing your reviews fortnightly or every 2/3 weeks for The Rainbow Weekly scratch newspaper? It would just include writing a few reviews or ratings and having them published in the issue. It won’t start for a while but if you are interested then you would just need to go to https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/294539/?page=1#post-3021541 for more info. If you decided that you would, you don’t have to use the form- just say I was invited and am from Sherlock Reviews. I would like to write …times in …. weeks.
Thanks for your time and sorry for bothering you, RPP

sonicfan12p · #12 March 20, 2018 19:02:47

Ah, thanks! I was unexpectedly called away on a trip to a different state for the week, so I can't promise any reviews till I'm back (Though I will definitely try). But I would definitely like a chance to get projects that deserve it out there, so I will look into your newspaper in a bit!

96N64player · #13 March 20, 2018 19:43:30

Could you review The 96N64player New Year Special ?

aleynesansonnet · #14 March 21, 2018 00:22:49

Guess the Panic! At The Disco Song If you could review and give suggestions on what to fix, that'd be amazing!

sonicfan12p · #15 March 21, 2018 00:48:03

Of course! I think I'll luck out with some time this evening, I should be able to get all three of these done tonight.

aleynesansonnet · #16 March 21, 2018 01:30:12

Guess the Panic! At The Disco Song <– New link (the old project's thumbnail glitched)

sonicfan12p · #17 March 21, 2018 03:26:32

Review of: Dinner Maker ~ by Riddle_Man

Creativity 1/10
Games like this are all over Scratch I'm afraid, and also all over the app store. My sisters each have several.

Graphics 2/10
Well…you can mostly tell what everything is supposed to be, so that's good… Drawing non-geometric shapes with the vector editor can be a bit tricky at first though. Keep at it, and you'll get the hang of it.

Scripting 5/10
There were a few unnecessary blocks lying around, and the sprites are never hidden, so there's no need to show and go to front every time the project starts, unless you plan on making things hide in a future update.

Sound 0/10
There were no sounds.

Polish and Replayability 5/20
I'll give points for adding the ability to change your centerpiece as well, but there's not much else to say.

Notable Bugs 4/20
Sadly, sprites 3, 4, and 1 all have an extra when this sprite clicked block, causing the costume to jump ahead by 2. Since there's an even number of costumes, half of your costumes are never even seen.

Overall Experience 10/20
I didn't dislike it, it's a nice little project. It needs work, but as most projects do, it has potential.

Total 27/100
Not bad, but has a ways to go.

My Recommendations

Definitely fix the clicking bugs.

Improve your art. You can ask a shop to make some for you, but really it just takes patience to get better at something like that.

Add more of everything! Games like this thrive when they have lots and lots of options to choose from!

Some sounds and background music might be nice too.

Scratch On!

sonicfan12p · #18 March 21, 2018 04:52:31

Review of: The 96N64player New Year Special Platformer ~ by 96N64player

Creativity 8/10
Platformers are common. Adding a story to them is less common. Rock paper scissors in a platformer? Definitely unexpected, though I guess there is Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Graphics 8/10
Definitely getting a N64 vibe from this whole project. Its theme is consistent, and the animations are pretty smooth. Very solid overall!

Scripting 4/10
There are way too many scripts for me to properly evaluate them all. But the fact that there is lag in the actual platforming part of the game suggests that there are too many loops going at once, it's always best practice to make sure that only essential loops are running at any given second. Long if statements can also cause this, as can running custom blocks without a screen refresh if they use blocks that update the screen, such as looks blocks, and sometimes motion blocks as well.

Sound 9/10
Every sound I heard throughout the project seemed consistent, fit whatever it was representing well, and never seemed out of place. Great job!

Polish and Replayability 17/20
A well made logo, effects on menu items that don't make me want to look away (most games that have them are way too flashy), 3D animations in the options menu, the fact that there even is an options menu, good GUI in game, the list of polish goes on. Randomized gameplay in the bonus houses, plus the knowledge that beating them all unlocks an extra ending, gives players a reason to keep playing till they're sure they got everything. Well done!

Notable Bugs 16/20
When starting the project, before ever playing the game, my personal score/high score read at 500. After having played the game, my personal score was accurate, but the high score remained unchanged at 500. Also, when going down a slope, the falling animation would rapidly go in and out.

Overall Experience 15/20
I definitely enjoyed playing this game, but sadly, the lag did detract from that a bit. I was unable to complete the bonus level on my first try because of the game lagging when I needed control the most. Other than that, it's very well made!

Total 77/100
A great project, to be sure. One of the best I've seen in a while! The lag is the biggest thing bringing its score down, so if that were to be fixed, it could definitely score higher on a re-review!

My Recommendations

Eliminate lag as much as possible. Cut unnecessary scripts, remove forever loops wherever possible and replace with repeat untils, make sure your custom blocks only run without a screen refresh if they don't update the screen, etc.

The title screen is hard to read, maybe make the text offwhite instead of bright white.

Make the high score functional.

You might consider making the rock paper scissors aspect ai based instead of completely random, by giving lower level characters slight preferences (more likely to choose rock first and paper second for example), and higher level characters try to predict your next move based on your patterns.

Scratch On!

Last edited by sonicfan12p (March 21, 2018 05:07:27)

sonicfan12p · #19 March 21, 2018 05:38:56

Review of: Guess the Panic! At The Disco Song ~ by aleynesansonnet

Creativity 5/10
Well, it's a music quiz. Not super common on here or anything, but there are several.

Graphics 9/10
Simple, but clean. Nothing to complain about here.

Scripting 7/10
Mostly efficient, and no lag. There were forever loops in a few places that didn't need to be there, but other than that it was clean.

Sound 10/10
If you had messed this up even slightly, considering the type of project, I would have been very disappointed.

Polish and Replayability 6/20
The buttons were nicely done, but there wasn't really a whole lot of detail work here. As for replaying it, well…it gives you all the answers after playing the first time, and they aren't random. It's definitely a one time use project.

Notable Bugs 18/20
It seems to be bug free, as far as I'm aware. The only thing that might need looking at is the cloud aspect of it, I'm not 100% sure about it.

Overall Experience 10/20
I had a neutral experience with it. I imagine a superfan of PATD would have given you a higher score in this section though.

Total 65/100
The project worked as expected, and is a fun little quiz for fans of Panic! At The Disco.

My Recommendations

It is super easy for players to cheat by looking at the answers list. Ways to prevent this include randomization, and encryption . If that's something you'd like to improve, I can help you out with that, just ask!

Not gonna lie, missed the instructions and sat there for a minute waiting for the songs to play automatically after selecting my difficulty. Unless you have a particular reason for using click to advance, I'd suggest making it advance automatically.

There's no noticeable lag, so it's not essential. But it's generally best practice to use repeat until loops instead of forever, just to make sure loops are only running when necessary.

More everything! You might even expand it to include other bands!

Scratch On!

Last edited by sonicfan12p (March 21, 2018 05:39:11)

PintOfMilk · #20 March 21, 2018 07:48:52

Could you review this https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/207011982/? It would take long time to do because the size of the project.

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