Scratch

Alright! I'll go play it right now! Would you classify this as a simulation, a game, or "other"? I can't seem to decide  myself!

Last edited by henley (2012-08-18 09:56:36)

henley wrote:

Alright! I'll go play it right now! Would you classify this as a simulation, a game, or "other"? I can't seem to decide  myself!

Hmm... Good question. Let me think... *thinks for a while* I still don't know. I'm pretty sure its not a simulation (that would have cars bumping into each other, physics...)

After looking at the categories one more time, I think it should be other. Maybe if more projects like this come, you shoulw make a sandbox category?

Last edited by Molybdenum (2012-08-18 10:04:17)

henley wrote:

@Borrego6165: Oh, okay. But... I'm sure there were reviewers before this summer. I remember some all the way back in 2008. 

@Molybdenum: I wouldn't say that there are enough sandbox projects for them to have their own category, but if I do get another sandbox, I'll probably grade it similar to the way I will yours. And now that we've come to that decision, I'll get started on the review.

Maybe instead of a new category, make a subcategory/modification of games? Ex.

0-10/10: Art : Is the art creative? Can I tell what everything is?
0-10/10: Gameplay : Can I play the game? Do the controls let me have fun?
0-10/10: Storyline : Is there a storyline at all? Does it make me cry tears of joy?
0-10/10: Creativity : Did you copy someone's game? Is the idea-work original?
0-10/10: Sound: Is there music? Is it good? Do the sound effects and music fit?*

Blue is games, to do sandbox, ignore blue.
*Of course, in music creators, this will change.

Good idea?
PS. How far did you get on the tutorial?

Last edited by Molybdenum (2012-08-18 10:16:56)

Molybdenum wrote:

henley wrote:

@Borrego6165: Oh, okay. But... I'm sure there were reviewers before this summer. I remember some all the way back in 2008. 

@Molybdenum: I wouldn't say that there are enough sandbox projects for them to have their own category, but if I do get another sandbox, I'll probably grade it similar to the way I will yours. And now that we've come to that decision, I'll get started on the review.

Maybe instead of a new category, make a subcategory/modification of games? Ex.

0-10/10: Art : Is the art creative? Can I tell what everything is?
0-10/10: Gameplay : Can I play the game? Do the controls let me have fun?
0-10/10: Storyline : Is there a storyline at all? Does it make me cry tears of joy?
0-10/10: Creativity : Did you copy someone's game? Is the idea-work original?
0-10/10: Sound: Is there music? Is it good? Do the sound effects and music fit?*

Blue is games, to do sandbox, ignore blue.
*Of course, in music creators, this will change.

Good idea?
PS. How far did you get on the tutorial?

sandbox games need music!

I've reviewed Molybdenum's project! It can be found as the latest blog update on my website. Enjoy!

The Scratch project, PPTracks, by the user Molybdenum, is a project where you get to make tracks for cars to move on! There are a whole bunch of options, and ways you can create wacky programmable racetracks. Molybdenum's full description of the project, tutorial, how-to, and other info can be found here. I am now going to post to this blog reviews that Scratch users ask me to make. So here goes:

7/10: Freedom : There was a lot of freedom in this one! But it didn't feel like you could just do anything. I felt limited in that all I could do was move the car around and have fun building the tracks. Maybe options for other kinds of cars should be available. Some that go faster, but turn slower, and another that's vice-versa, I don't know.
5/10: Graphics : Graphics were simple, which is good, but very minimalistic. Maybe a grass-green background, with the tracks actually looking like a road would be better.
6.5/10: # of things to do : There was enough to entertain me for a while, but like I said earlier, I felt pretty limited, and one suggestion is different cars. I would also suggest using velocity, and instead of the car going on it's own, you pressed space to power it, but it still automatically did turns. This is something I thought of whilst playing it.
9/10: Originality : Very original. I've barely seen any other project that even closely resembles this, but there are car simulations, and build-the-track type games.
6.5/10: Fun-Factor : This felt very fun, and I had a great time playing it. The only things I didn't like, is that there wasn't a whole lot to do, and please shorten the instruction manual. I read it out of obligation, but honestly, I doubt very many people who aren't reviewing it will read that entire thing.

Sum up of suggestions: The only suggestions I have are to add more cars, and let them be controlled with space. Albiet quite vague, these are still suggestions: Improve the graphics, and just make more to do! 

Over-all rating is....... 34/50! That's a B! Good job, Molybdenum!
P.S. You're name reminds me of Molgera.

My meta-review 
You can actually make more cars simply by downloading and duplicating the car sprite, then putting it on a track. The only reason that I had only 1 car was that 2 or more cars on programmed tracks may make a car execute something twice, confusing people. With the clone feature in 2.0, I could make it just clone cars when needed.
Cars going faster/slower would just destroy the entire system. Faster cars would only be prioritized, not faster.
The reason for the long instruction manual is I made the project over several days, adding things almost every other day. You could just read the bold, and skim over the others though.

Also, I made this at first to model traffic, but after I liked it so much, I changed it to this. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.

Last edited by Molybdenum (2012-08-18 11:05:19)

Molybdenum wrote:

You can actually make more cars simply by downloading and duplicating the car sprite, then putting it on a track.

While you can make more cars that way, a lot of people who regularly go on my site who would see your project don't have Scratch and therefore could not edit your project.

Molybdenum wrote:

henley wrote:

Molybdenum wrote:

You can actually make more cars simply by downloading and duplicating the car sprite, then putting it on a track.

While you can make more cars that way, a lot of people who regularly go on my site who would see your project don't have Scratch and therefore could not edit your project.

Hmm... Good point. Lets wait for 2.0?

Even then, they wouldn't know how to program it. But I'd hope that you use the cloning thing you were talking about.

If I were you I would remove the BF link. Remember little kids go on this site. And for all you know, I could be 7.    And I know what cloning is. 

yes but you could argue loads of games don't need sound, but just like any game sounds should be awarded extra points. is there seriously a game you'd want to play without sound? (which is also sandbox)

Anyway, before this thread gets spammed by this discussion (as I don't wanna upset Henley) let's try to come to an agreement soon. So, I believe sandbox games should be rated on sound.

henley wrote:

Borrego6165 wrote:

yes but you could argue loads of games don't need sound, but just like any game sounds should be awarded extra points. is there seriously a game you'd want to play without sound? (which is also sandbox)

Anyway, before this thread gets spammed by this discussion (as I don't wanna upset Henley) let's try to come to an agreement soon. So, I believe sandbox games should be rated on sound.

I agree almost every game, animation, etc. should have sound, and is better with it, although I wouldn't say it's a necessity for sandboxes.

and what I'm trying to say is it's not a necessity for arcade games, it's not a necessity for puzzles, it's not a necessity for racing games or sports games or even platform games. But the point is about fairness to all games created, that sound should be rated equally unless it's simply not possible to rate it. An art collection would not need it for example.

By the way, would you mind rating this? Thank-you.

henley wrote:

What would you say Generation: 4000 is? A simulation or a game?

if it can be played it's a game, a simulation more or less just runs something, like a automated city, whereas this is built and managed by the player so it's reviewed under game.