Crest’s Brutally Honest Reviews (CLOSED)

So um… some of you may despise me for a recent incident… which was that I did not finish any reviews in my previous review thread. Yeah, that didn’t end well.

It was a bad idea to make a review thread at that time of the year because I did not expect to be bombarded with so much work for school. But hey, I made it now.

I have extra time on my hands now since it is summer and I wanna redeem myself since I did not finish any reviews before.

The criteria is basically the same but I slightly changed it. There is no longer symbols nor a final judgement. You can also give ink entries. You can also no longer choose what kind of review you want, because I just realized how much I suck at lying so… you’re stuck with brutally honest.

So, yeah. Do not expect a review right away. It takes time and it may even take a week since I have lots of activities in the summer so I am not completely free. I just have lots of free time.

Anyways, without further ado, now presenting the form and criteria!

Form

Title:

Genre:

Style:

Chapters (ongoing/complete):

Summary:

Link (optional):

Cover:

QUESTIONS:

What do you think makes your story unique?

Are you proud of your story? Be honest!

If there was one component (directing, plot, design, etc.) you think your story is great at, which one of the components stands out the most?

NOTE: No need for explanation to your answers, just give your answer. If you want to explain though, that’d be great!

Criteria

First Impression:

/5

Creativity:

/5

Length:

/5

Grammar:

/5

Directing:

/10

Characters:

/10

Plot:

/10

Overall Score:

/50

Final Notes:

I won’t be accepting your entries if it is in classic, and if it does not follow the form. (If you don’t answer the questions I also won’t accept it, lol.)

Thank you!

Waiting List

1. Never say Never by @Mina33
2. Break Away by @Geegtfo
3. CHAOS by @RJGSB
4. Clue: Scottsville High’s Most Wanted by @AndreaH

Completed Reviews

1. Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane by @Marshmallow_O
2. Tribe of Malapinchi by @JannahJackson
3. Faultless by @writeslondon
4. Sorry, Wrong Number by @lizzy.writes
5. Providence by @a.d.episode
6. Unrequited by @fluffyrice
7. Inner Circle by @zapcV
8. The Star Necklace by @Maya6
9. Black hearts Golden Desires by @Madhu
10. Layla’s Life by @KittyKoala
11. Exes beach house by @JadeBeckson

Please do not forget to heart or reply to my review once you receive it, so I’ll know you have read it! :slight_smile:

Estimated wait time: 1 week

11 Likes

Story Title: Faultless

Author: London

Genre: Drama

Style: Limelight

Description: City Wright is a privilege girl attending Diamond Heights University, one of the most prestigious schools in Chicago. What happens when she gets an offer she cant refuse?

Link: https://www.episodeinteractive.com/s/i/5359337338109952

Question

  1. I think my story is unique because it has a badass plot :heart:
  2. I’m pretty proud of it
  3. The art scenes
2 Likes

hey there! just wanted to let you know that i would still love my review if you don’t mind! thanks so much! :heart::star_struck:

1 Like

Sure I would like to receive the review please. Thanks!

1 Like

Alright! I hope you forgive me for not doing this in my previous thread. Also sorry if my review may be a bit sloppy, I’ve been a bit tired recently. Thanks for being patient!

Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane

by @Marshmallow_O

Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane Review

First Impression:

5/5

•Love the cover! Simple yet mysterious, it really captures the plot of the story. And I assume the clock represents how time is ticking and they have certain amount of time left to solve the mystery? Darn, that just makes me wanna see what happens in the story.

•The way you wrote the summary is… wow. It really pulls me in. It may be short, but it perfectly describes what to expect in the story.

•Great intro. Short but intriguing, and it cuts to the chase!

•I expected the narration to be dragging and boring but it was actually really interesting. And it is actually not the kind of narration like “I’m aurora, im 17. my dad is austin and hes 39, my mom is gamora and shes 38. i have a dog at home and hes pretty cool. my best friend is also gay. and theres this hot guy at sch—“ yeah you get it. Your narration really captures the mood and setting of the story.

•Chicken butt? That’s something I haven’t seen yet!

•The start of chapter 1 is simple but sweet and funny. It doesn’t bore me at all. Good job!

Creativity:

5/5

•Explanation for title in previous standard.

•Great use of music and sound effects! They sync perfectly with the events. They also add to the mystery of the story.

•The text and splashes are simple, informative, and beautiful.

•Arm overlays? :o

•Great use of overlays!

Length:

5/5

•Your chapters are long, but not too long. It is just the right amount where we get enough content in a chapter. Perfect length!

Grammar:

4/5

•Right at the start I noticed spring break was capitalized. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think spring break is a proper noun, so I think it should be lower case.

•The dash at one of the narration bubbles in the start (i forgot the text cos i tapped by accident) had a capitalized word next when it should be lower case since it is still in the same sentence.

•I also noticed some dialogues with wrong punctuation and had errors:

When Lia said, “I’m sorry who are you?”, you forgot a comma. It should be: “I’m sorry, who are you?”

And again, when Lia said “Don’t always think the negative Aurora!”, there should be a comma. It should be: “Don’t always think the negative, Aurora!”

And again, when Ash said “Yeah we did.” it should be “Yeah, we did.”

•There’s many more comma errors but I feel like it would be too much to point all of them out. It is not that much of a problem but when I visualise them saying these in my head, it sounds weird since it has no pause.

When Aurora says, “Oh… Well is she interested?” it should be “Oh… well is she interested?” because well is still part of the same sentence.

When GiGi said “We are probably over thinking this.” it should be “We are probably overthinking this.” as it is one word.

•There are more but again it would be too much to point all of them out. They are minor though, so I won’t take too much points away from your final score.

•Most of your errors were just the missing commas and capitalisation in the same sentence. Other than that, you have no grammatical errors, so good job!

Directing:

7/10

•Ash and Kai were bigger than the lockers. They were oversized, xD.

•I saw Beatrice’s arm in the side when Aurora was getting the door. Maybe spot direct her a bit further?

•When the characters walk further back into the background, it looks kind of weird to me. In my opinion, the characters get way too small when they walk further into the back. I think they should maintain head level with the characters above them whilst getting smaller so that it looks nicer.

•I didn’t notice any directing errors in the second and third chapter unless I was just too engrossed in the story to notice them, so good job! Your directing is great!

Characters:

10/10

•Diversity, check.

•Bad boy, check—wait. Tbh, I’m glad that he wasn’t the bad boy we see in other Episode stories. Storm has got to be my favorite character honestly! He is bae and the smartest guy in the group. I’m glad he doesn’t just flirt with the girls and flaunt with their hearts, nor does he smoke lol. Sorry Ash, but Storm is just better.

•Kai is such a caring brother honestly.

•Typical popular guy who is in the football team and the mean group. I thought they were just going to be the same recycled ones from many other stories but I was wrong. I actually kind of like the mean group here, not gonna lie…

•No stock characters, yay!

•I just realized how the mom and dad look exactly alike as the main character (I didn’t customize any characters so idk if it changes). The mom and dad look exactly alike each other as well, they look like brothers and sisters. I won’t take a point off of you for this, but unless they somehow have the same features, they most probably wouldn’t look alike since they aren’t from the same families. They probably would have contrasting features and the MC and siblings would have genes from both sides to make them look unique from them or just take from one of their parents. (why did i even add this lol)

•I felt attached with the main character. I am glad she can stand up for herself and is not just some shy girl watching the hot football player from the distance nor some shy girl falling for the bad boy. She is beautifully written, and having a character you can relate to is a big point for you. :slight_smile:

Plot:

10/10

•Shit! I did not expect (SPOILER ALERT) Kaia to be kidnapped. Honestly, she’s just a cinammon roll. If she dies I will feel ashamed of myself. Feel really bad for Kai too.

•This just keeps getting better and better. The clues just keep leading up, and they keep me hanging at the edge of my seat. I am definitely intrigued on what would happen next after each clue.

•this plot is so good omg mzmmzmzzxkzk

•I’m getting more anxious after each scene to find out what would happen next.

•Simple concept turned into a beautiful plot. It is original and well-written. Good job!

•This truly is the Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane. It really is mysterious.

Overall Score:

46/50

Final Notes:

•Is this not in trending? Whyy :((

•im actually getting kind of scared lol

•Your story is honestly everything I look for in a story: diversity, humor, realistic characters, originality, good plot, good directing, and good everything. :slight_smile:

•I actually read this before you requested in my previous thread, i could see lots of improvements from then actually so good job!

•Keep on writing!

Thank you for requesting! Keep on writing!

1 Like

Alright! I hope you forgive me for not doing this in my previous thread. Also sorry if my review may be a bit sloppy, I’ve been a bit tired recently. Thanks for being patient!

Tribe of Malapinchi

by @JannahJackson

Tribe of Malapinchi Review

First Impression:

3/5 + 1 (because of start of story XD) = 4/5

•Your cover is really pretty but maybe you could have made the cover more interesting by adding more action and mystery to your cover to pique the interest of the audience more.

•Then there’s your title, I honestly find your title kind of intriguing since I wanted to know more about the Tribe of Malapinchi which you did a great job at. I have nothing else to say about your title :P.

•Next, we have your summary. I’d say it’s a mediocre summary, I didn’t really get much of what is happening in the plot from the summary though. The summary is pretty vague and I felt like you could show a bit more of what we should specifically expect in your story.

•Lastly, there is the start of your first chapter. Oh my God, are you using the text format as warnings? That’s so creative! I’ve never seen anyone do that yet. And I never thought of that as well.

•HoLY sHiT! If I had a grading rubric solely for the start of the story, you would have gotten 5/5. Damn, that was amazing!

•When I saw the fire and heard all of the sound effects, I got interested and wanted to see what would happen next. And then bOoM! I got hella scared by what happened next but for some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen! It was so beautifully done and I actually remember that dream not being there before when I read your story like three months ago. You really improved. :slight_smile:

Creativity:

5/5

•Again, cover is beautifully done but I felt like there could be more to the cover. aH wAiT! There’s an explanation in the end of the chapter! Wow, I never thought of it that way. That’s actually really creative. :0

•Your use of music is consistent, and your sound FX sync with the events perfectly. No complaints here!

•BUT: I noticed there was a lack of overlays and your own backgrounds though, but I won’t take a point away from you for that as I don’t think much were necessary for your story. But more overlays and backgrounds would make it a lot more creative and fun to read.

Length:

4/5

•Yep, just like you said, your chapters are a tad bit too long. But I don’t really mind if the storyline is good.

•But I also think some conversations are dragging and take up lots of time, i dont really mind that but it kinda bores me.

Grammar:

3/5

•There’s actually a lot of grammatical errors I spotted while I was reading. But they didn’t give me a hard time reading, it just slightly bothered me. Most of these errors were more of incorrect grammatical structure. Other than that, you’re good!

•A few examples of the grammatical errors in your story:

“Lately, I’m making many bad choices.” should be “Lately, I have been making many bad choices.”

“Only to suffer in my exams and ending up here?” should be “Only to suffer in my exams and end up here?”

“Er…um, I may have sneaked a peak into her diary when she was at the washroom.” should be “Er… um, I may have sneaked a peek into her diary when she was at the washroom.”

“Is it just me or why does the temperature felt like it just drop minus 20 degrees Celsius?” should be “Is it just me or why does the temperature feel like it just dropped minus 20 degrees Celsius?”

Directing:

10/10

•I didn’t spot much directing errors unless I was just too engrossed in the story to even notice them lol.

•I think you should just make a few transitions smoother. Maybe you could use more fades and easing functions? That’s just a tip btw, not taking points outta your score. XD

•Btw, loved that shake animation when Rudo fell haha!

(lawl sorry if thats useless criticism for ur directing XD)

Characters:

10/10

•Okay so diversity is obvious so im not even gonna explain that XD.

•And i love their personalities! My favorite character is deffo Jindara. She may have a bossy attitude, and she may be a bit intimidating and stubborn, but deep down, she really cares for everyone. I feel like we need more people like her in stories, and i actually know someone like this. MC is well-driven by ambition and Rudo is your humorous friend. Your characters are all beautifully written. :slight_smile:

•I’m also glad that you payed attention to each character’s looks instead of using stock characters and such. Their looks also matched with their identity and race so gj!

Plot:

10/10

•Your story is really original and diverse and it makes sure the audience is caught in the moment.

•Your plot entails mystery along with a hint of action and history to keep everyone sitting on the edge of their seats! I didn’t really see anything cliche, disturbing, or basically bad about your plot.

•I don’t have much to criticise about in your plot so my only advice for you is to make sure you keep yourself in the right track when writing. This story has potential plot holes so you should make sure to plot all of your ideas properly. :slight_smile:

(lawl i cant say much abt the plot since i couldnt find much errors xx, the only words i can use to describe it is that its great n amazing haha!)

Overall Score:

46/50

Final Notes:

•your intro boi that was hella good

•hug me im kinda scared

•ok this story needs to be on trending

•Mzmzmszmzzm ur amazing! Havent seen much stories with such great diversity, plot, directing, characters, meaning, and u know what i mean girl! Keep on doing you, ik you’ll get there on top someday!

•My criticism was p bad cos i didnt have much to criticise so uh ye, sowwy :stuck_out_tongue:

•Keep writing!

Thank you for requesting. Keep on writing!

1 Like

Alright! I’ll start your review as soon as I can. You did not fill the form correctly (forgot the summary and such) but I assume that’s because it is unpublished. I’ll make an exception, thanks for requesting!

1 Like

Wait nvm, it is published lol. Next time, please fill out the form completely! :slight_smile: I will still review your story.

1 Like

Title: Inner Circle

Genre: Drama

Chapters (ongoing/complete): 5, ongoing (the first 3 are utter CRAP by the way, so please only truly judge 4 and 5)

Summary: The lives & lies of rich and famous college students aren’t as glamorous as they appear. Scandal, secrets, love and lust. Can you handle a world where rules don’t exist? CC LGBT

Link (optional): http://episodeinteractive.com/s/5840098589016064

Cover: I don’t have the covers on this computer, sorry!

QUESTIONS:

What do you think makes your story unique?

I have customization in my story but I do descriptions based on the customization (yeah you heard that right). It’s only in chapter five though, because I didn’t come up with the idea before that lol

Are you proud of your story? Be honest!

Yes, very!! I like my directing style and I love writing drama, and since I have the entire story planned out I can plant clues and stuff.

If there was one component (directing, plot, design, etc.) you think your story is great at, which one of the components stands out the most?

Characters. I think they’re well crafted and three dimensional, and my story heavily relies on the MC’s relationship with the other characters.

1 Like

Omg, I already read your story a month ago, xD. It’s amazing!

Would you like a quick review from what I remember?

Or a thorough one which may take some hours to days?

1 Like

Lol either one is fine, if a quick review is easier for you that’s better!

1 Like

awhhhhh :pleading_face::pleading_face: thank you so much for this review! it was very very helpful! i’ll be sure to look back at those grammar mistakes and fix them :joy: that’s something i’ve been trying to fix in my most recent chapters :joy:
but yea, thank you so so so much for this review! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

1 Like

Sorry for the wait! I forgot to post the review last night! :sweat_smile:

Faultless

by @writeslondon

Faultless Review

First Impression:

4/5

•Love the cover! It is so beautifully drawn!

•Your summary is great! It makes me wonder what kind of offer she got which interested me more into reading the story. But it was a bit off-putting that there were grammatical errors in the summary. Let me show you what needs to be corrected.

ORIGINAL: City Wright is a privilege girl attending Diamond Heights University, one of the most prestigious schools in Chicago. What happens when she gets an offer she cant refuse?

WHAT IT SHOULD BE: City Wright is a privileged girl attending Diamond Heights University, one of the most prestigious schools in Chicago. What happens when she gets an offer she can’t refuse?

•That intro is short and mysterious! It intrigues me a lot. And wow, nice text effects! It drew me more into the story.

•Omg I’ll be honest. But the start of the chapter sounded like a commercial for Diamond Heights University. Lol.

•I expected golf to be in this tbh, lol. Btw when it said horseback riding I got kinda OA. I kinda wish you put equestrian or equestrianism instead. But eh.

Creativity:

4/5

•Again, cover is really beautifully drawn.

•Great use of overlays like the texts at the start! You even had your own backgrounds!

•The sound warning splash is so elegant. :0

•I feel like some music didn’t fit the setting of the event. Like when City was in a basement with the two girls which of one had a gun, happy music played. To capture the mood more, you can play suspenseful music or just less happy music during that part. Make sure the music matches the event’s setting and mood!

•Nice use of filters!

•Art scenes?! So beautiful!

Length:

4/5

•The chapters are kind of short but not too short. It’s so-so length.

Grammar:

2/5

•You tend to forgot a period at the end of a sentence. So just proofread your story and check if there is a period at the end of each sentences that should be finished in one bubble.

•Commas have a different use from colons. I feel like you sometimes replaced colons with commas. Here is an example:

“Being that this is a school for the rich, we have some extra activities.”(yeah put the period at the end) “This of course include, sailing, tennis, and don’t forget Horse Back riding.” The last sentence should be: “This of course include: sailing, tennis, and don’t forget horseback riding.”

•In other cases, you also forget commas in sentences. Such as:

“My mom Michelle was a smart and brilliant small town girl from Oregon.” which should be “My mom, Michelle, was a smart and brilliant small town girl from Oregon.”

“And there is my cute sister Adrian.” should be “And there is my cute sister, Adrian.”

•You also have some capitalisation errors such as:

“This is where i’ll be attending.” which should be “This is where I’ll be attending.”

“I miss when she wasn’t such a Bi-“ should be “I miss when she wasn’t such a bi-“

“Whatever, You can’t make me go.” should be “Whatever, you can’t make me go.”

•Don’t forget when to use apostrophes. I noticed when some were missing, such as:

“Years went by. My fathers company skyrocketed and is one of the biggest businesses in the world.” which should be “Years went by. My father’s company skyrocketed and is one of the biggest businesses in the world.”

“Whats his name??” should be “What’s his name?”

•You also forget some articles in sentences such as:

“You’re probably wondering why my beautiful face is scrunched up like mad old lady.” which should be “You’re probably wondering why my beautiful face is scrunched up like a mad old lady.”

•There was also many grammatical errors in your sentences, such as:

“Well, lemme starts all the way in the beginning.” which should be “Well, lemme start all the way from the beginning.”

“But, there is other universities in Chicago.” should be “But, there are other universities in Chicago.” since it is pertaining to multiple universities and not just one.

“And my stuck-up sister got famous and left me in here shadow.” should be “And my stuck-up sister got famous and left me in her shadow.”

•When addressing names with formalities like, Mr. Steven or Mrs. Wright, the names shouldn’t be connected to the period. There should be a space after. I noticed that in some sentences they were connected.

•Some of your sentences are a question but you end up using a period at the end. Remember to use a question mark!

•There are many more errors but I decided to list a few. I suggest you proofread or get a beta reader for your story.

•I can still understand the message of the sentences so it is not too major.

Directing:

6/10

•Right at the start, I noticed something off. When it showed the green background I already saw the text and it quickly disappeared then faded in after a few seconds. To avoid this, I suggest using the & command so that it looks cleaner.

•The transition from the warning screen to the city was a bit too fast. To make it smoother, I suggest you use the different transitions instead of cutting to the next background immediately to give it a cleaner look.

•Sometimes the tails of the dialogue bubbles are not pointed towards the head of the character. Like when City was in the garden the tail was pointing at the tree instead of her head.

•Sometimes the tails of a character are pointed to the wrong character. Like when City was asking questions, her thought bubble tail was pointed at Hex.

•Some animations are not in sync. Like when City kicks Zain in the crotch it only showed Zain getting hit when City was running past him. You can avoid delayed animations by using the and or & command.

•After a character is done with their dialogue, their animation is stuck on the end of those animations because it is not on loop. Then the other character talks. It looks kind of weird so I suggest while the other character talks, the other has an animation as a reaction to their dialogue so that it doesn’t look stagnant.

•When emphasizing walking I suggest you use the walk animations instead of other animations. Like when she was going to the garden, it would’ve looked cleaner if she walked then looked around instead of looking around as the walking animation.

•After talking animations, sometimes the characters are still stuck on those talking animations when they are not talking like in the second chapter when City meets up with Zain.

•It was a bit off-putting when Zain said he liked City with her hair down. But if you choose to style your hair you only give the tied up options? You could code it so that when they choose to style it those ways he’ll have a different dialogue.

•When she was walking in rear in the dumpsters she was facing the wrong way. Correct me if I’m wrong but if you want a rear character to face right you have to put face left? I haven’t scripted rear animations in a long time.

•I still saw City’s hand holding the gun during the art scene at the left lol.

•Spot directing is clean. Good job!

Characters:

9/10

•Nice! Diverse set of characters!

•I love City so much tbh. I really love MCs who are badass and can stand up for themselves. She’s a well-written character. Good job!

•Is it bad that I kind of like City’s sister? Not her dad tho, lol.

•You didn’t use stock characters but I saw that some background characters wore their stock clothing… it’s minor but it was kind of off-putting.

•Realistic characters! None were a Mary Sue or Gary Stu nor were none overly weird or mean. Also, Tony is so possessive tbh. I hate him, lol. He reminds me of someone, I’m glad I got them out of my life.

Plot:

7/10

•The plot is good. But if I’m being honest, there’s nothing that really kept me hanging at the edge of my seat, you know what I mean? Since it’s kind of a spy story, you want to make sure your readers are both anxious and excited to see what would happen next.

•I love the humor! Zain is hilarious!

•I was kind of looking for a buildup. But in the first few minutes of the chapter she already got beaten up, lol. The plot kind of escalated quickly and there needed to be more context.

•I see this plot a lot, actually, where you are invited to a group and have to solve things. You’re executing it well currently, BUT, you need to make sure it stands out from the rest of the stories with similar plots out there. What makes this plot different from the other ones? What makes it stand out? Give me something I wasn’t expecting!

Overall Score:

36/50

Final Notes:

•I think what you really need improvement in is grammar.

•Tony is such a jerk i hate him zzmmz

•The art scenes are so beautiful, did you do them yourself? ;o if you did, you’re mega talented!

•i may have criticised a lot of things but pls dont let that bring you down! Your story has lots of room for improvement and ik you can improve it to be better than you expect!

•Keep on writing!

Thanks for requesting! Keep on writing!

2 Likes

UPDATE:

I am now accepting ink stories as of May 10! I kind of got over my peeve. :sweat_smile:

Seeing as how you’re now accepting INK stories, I wanted to try my luck and see if you’d be willing to read the first episode of mine? It’s a bit long though (around 25 min), just as a fair warning :eyes:

1 Like

Sure! I’m up for it. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Thanks! :smile:

Title: Providence
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Style: INK
Chapters: 1 (for now : P)

Summary: “Why does God even deal with us?” I never thought I’d know his answer, until I returned to that mysterious town. After all, Providence is a greater mystery than Revelation.

Link:

Cover:

Questions:

  1. Well, for the most part, the main issue won’t be about the MC chasing after some LI and putting up with their bs, so yeah. Seriously though, I like to think that some of the liberties I took in explaining and changing up how certain (not yet introduced) creatures function and how they came into existence are pretty original and interesting, so I definitely feel like it’ll be unique in that aspect at least. :grin:

  2. So far, yeah! I’ve put in a lot of time, effort, and love into writing everything and making sure I had as good quality of backgrounds/overlays/etc. that I could find and fit what I envisioned, so I hope that shows! :sparkling_heart:

  3. Hmm, I’d probably have to say plot (Even though there’s not much of that actually published, but I’ll get there eventually, haha).

1 Like

I forgot to ask and sorry if it’s late, but how much chapters do you want me to review?

if you can, 5 chapters (you don’t have to review 1-3 if you don’t want to because those are all shitty)

1 Like

What?? No, girll chapters 1-3 are bomb :joy:

1 Like