: I think that you should come back to this when you can express youself a little better.

Encouragement. Nice.

: Still, I thought you did a very nice job with the animation in this little short... however short it actually was :P

A compliment, but with a caveat. Good stuff.

: The graphics - well, could have used a bit of colour in the background or on the trees, because that didn't ruin the idea of having simplistic stick men... just would've made the movie more enjoyable to watch.

You see... even saying something simple like suggesting colour can spark off all sorts of ideas and be a massive boon to me. Thanks.

: Ofcourse it was too short, and is unfinished work,

Of course. And I assume that's the main reason you marked it low? Or was it because I expressed myself badly? I remain uncertain.

: but what you've got so far is something well worth continuing and finishing. So do it!

Real encouragement. Thanks.

You mixed up the positivity and the constructive crit well and for an unfinished piece, the low score and high positivity is great.

I wish I'd got this review when I released this. Then maybe I'd have made some minor changes but finished it.

8/10

: In the beginning, it doesn't look like much, but it was well worth watching I feel.

Both a compliment and - in a way - a warning to me.

: The song - for a start - is lovely, and I'm going to shoot you an email asking for a list of their music that I should get :D. It felt like a really warm song, and is something that you don't often see in a music video, as most of the time a music video involves a monster going on a killing spree to a metal song, haha.

Glad you liked it.

: The graphics in this were pretty nice, and it was nice to see you draw some realistic looking shapes (like the people), some abstract images (like the multicoloured background), but still keeping a 'cartoony' feel to it - which can be whitnessed by looking at the design of the asteroid.

An interesting way to put it. You pay compliments in new and original ways.

Thank you.

: This music video was nice and short,

Wait a minute... are you saying any longer would have made it worse? I'm honestly slightly confused by that part.

: and it seems - to me - like you tried to keep the viewer wondering about what would later happen, as there wasn't a solid, concrete ending to this.

Maybe. I don't know. I do know that I like your thought-provoking probes into the motivations though.

: I think that a more recognizable ending to this would have been more appropriate, something that the viewer could easily identify as a stopping point.

...and finally we come to a real suggestion. Thanks.

: All in all, you kept it nice and short,

... I'm honestly confused why you're complimenting the shorter length. Please explain (over e-mail) if you can be bothered.

: and I really enjoyed watching this. The visuals were well done, and you've selected a great song. Nice work.

A glowing summary to a very positive review.

I do feel your review would have been much better with more constructive crit. Also, the 'nice and short' comments do confuse me.

However, what you have here is a really thoughtful review with some thought-provoking sections.

6-7/10

: Great improvement.

+: comparative praise
++: summarises opinion

: Well, good to see you took the skears games out with a bang, this sure was enjoyable to play.

++++: very encouraging

: Finally, FINALLY you changed the designs and presentation around - it looks so much better! A lot more professional if you ask me.

+++: somewhat specific comparative praise, elaborated upon

: The increased game size (and screen size) was very nice to play with, and I must ask - how many people have attained the 'grand master' rank of Skears DX?

++++: specific praise
-: run-on sentence.

Hundreds of people have apparantly gotten the title. They're nearly all in the credits (there's so many that the textboxes mess up). Or check my site to see them.

http://aciddimensions.com/play/skearsdx.html

-: Does this mean that you didn't see the credits?
--: I don't know.

: I thought that after a while I'd get the hang of it and it'd become pretty easy... but after just completing the game for the first time, I'm not even going to attempt to do it all without making a mistake, haha.

++: humour
+++: opinion given on difficulty

: Overall, a definate improvement in presentation, gameplay and length.

+++: Comparative summary, covering many areas
+: implicitly says audio isn't better
---: but is it needed? I don't know your opinion.

: I really enjoyed playing this one. Good work.

+++: encouraging
+++++: clear summary of overall opinion

constructive criticism: 0
telling your experience: 4
praise/encouragement: 9

clarity of expression: 8
elaboration & being specific: 7
coverage (how much): 7

overall: 6
You really needed to put in some constructive criticism. As this is the last Skears game (and it answered a lot of your previous criticism), I really need to know what you think prevented this from getting a 10. Tell me what wasn't so good so I can sort it out.

However, it is a really nice and encouraging review.

Btw, I decided I give your review for rol-ovir 2 a 7 because of that 'so'. Sorry for retroactively changing my score. I'm still wondering if you just liked it so much because you didn't finish it...

If you e-mail me and let me know, I'd appreciate it.

---------------------------------------
I rate sentences vaguely from +++++ to -----. As long as something is '+', I actively appreciate it.
---------------------------------------

: Good.

+: It may be a boring word, but it serves as a summary.

: This was better than the other skears games that I've played so far, this was the best I'd say.

A good comparative illustration of your thoughts.

: Not only did you have a lot of levels, but they were pretty hard towards the end,

++++: specific compliments. Means I know what to include for the long-delayed Skears 2.

: and you also incorporated a few new features which I really liked. Such things as the morphing/yellow skears, and the mouse button feature really made the game a lot more interesting.

++++: I like how you get so specific.

: Still, I can't give this a positive score since the graphics and presentation were again very poor,

+++: Pointing out areas to improve 'again'. Hehe.

: and although this skears game was pretty hard, it still only gave the player 5-10 minutes of play all together.

+++: opinions and constructive crit.

: Graphics: 3 Sound: 0 Interactivity: 5 Style: 7 Violence: 0 Humor: 0

Seems to go with your review.

I like this review. It was all clear. You pointed out areas that needed improvement and got specific with your compliments.

I also like the way you have a positive first paragraph followed by a negative 2nd. They balance each other well.

-: By way of criticism.... I'd maybe like to see a summary. (Though your existing ending is a nice summary of thoughts.)

-: Erm... I'm not sure exactly how much you approve of the game being hard. Is that a bigger contributing factor to your liking this than the new features?

--: And why exactly do you prefer the levels so much more than those of Mini skears? Is it the difficulty? Is it that you enjoyed the variation brought upon by the new features? Maybe you found you had to think and enjoyed it? Other reasons?

I don't know. Ideally, I'd ask you to answer the question of why the gameplay is better in further detail.

-: Also, more criticisms would be nice. More anything's often nice, if it's good...

But as it is, it's still really a great review.

You pack an awful lot into not an awfully long review.

8/10

: A lot harder!!!

+++: good summary

: Overall rating: 5

fair enough.

: I'm still not understanding why you used broken english in the instructions and what not, though... crappeh-spaek wasn't cool in '02, nor is it now, XD haha.

++++: Good point raised. I like the humour you use to describe the shittiness.

: The graphics, presentation, and audio pretty much stayed the same in this game,

+++: True and fairly concise. You implicitly condemn them, given your previous review.

: and I thought you were really taking the easy route out in this one when I found the first 2 levels to be the same as they were in the first 'rol-ovir' game...

++: A nice insight into your experience and thought process.

: but this had far more stages, and the last proved to be extremely difficult! It had many twists that hit you as soon as you thought you'd gotten over the last test of skill...

++++: You describe well your observations and feelings.

: I personally couldn't finish in time before 'the end' shrank and sweeped into the center of screen...

++++: nice to hear of play-experience.

: so

---: Here, I'm not sure if you're using 'so' as a breaking point (i.e. preclude your summary) or if you're using it to point out a direct correlation between your inability to complete 'the end' and the fact that you consider my work done on the gameplay 'good'. I blame my confusion partially on you and your sentence/paragraph structure.

: good work with the gameplay in this version, a definate improvement.

++++: Nice summary.

: Graphics: 2 Sound: 0 Interactivity: 5 Style: 7 Violence: 0 Humor: 0

All seem fair enough and are mirror your review.

Overall, it was a quality review, with a few criticisms, some referred to from another review, and a few compliments and overall positive feeling. You gave insights into your play-experience too.

Great stuff.

8 or 9

The review on its own is very insubstantial. But of course a) it's a very insubstantial game and b) you'd just reviewed all the Mini Skears games.

: ...I'm hoping it will be better than this.
I realise you made this before you started making the skears game, so I guess I can't expect it to be any better than them... because it is worse.

Sensible line of thought and logical conclusion.

: Shit graphics and presentation - just text on a white screen - no audio, 1 minute of gameplay,

More like 30s

: and a score of 3.77..... mindboggling! haha. This definately needed some re-thinking.

Considering the nature of the submission, it's a fair review. You do put some effort into listing all the shit things about this submission.

I'd like to know if it was genuinely just the presentation and short length that put you off or if there were other issues you had with the gameplay.

It's kind of unclear in that regard.

4/10

: Better!

++: a good summary
+++: comparative praise

: Good to see you finally made some improvements this time around in this version, my man.

++++: encouragement
++: comparative praise

: This was indeed far more playable than the others, and

+: vaguely specific praise

: even though the layout of the menu and everything was still shoddy and unchanged,

++++: specific constructive criticism.

: I liked the actual gameplay in this one a lot more than the others.

++: comparative praise

: It became quite hard by the last stage, and I didn't unlock the bonus rounds after going through the stages for the first time, which is a good sign!

+++: telling me about your experience
--: but did you play again? I don't know...
++: clarifying the fact that you liked the difficulty

: The music was still average,

+: comparative criticism

: but there was audio there, and I liked the sound effects.

+++: specific praise

: A definate improvement.

++: encouraging
++: great summary
-: it's spelt 'definite'.

constructive criticism: 7
telling your experience: 6
praise/encouragement: 9

clarity of expression: 8 But maybe use more than just one paragraph and break up sentences more.
elaboration & being specific: 6
coverage (how much): 9

overall: 7

It seemed like you had trouble finding new things to say. To be fair, that's not your fault.

Thanks for another enjoyable review,
- Bez