I'm thinking in Scratch 3.0 they can add a restart block. Something that basically acts like pressing a green flag. I know you could just press it but a block that does it could add more functionality like showing a game over screen for a couple seconds and then restarting a game automatically after you die. I know it can be done, but you need to put all the sprites back in position, switch backgrounds, costumes, and so on. With bigger projects, it really is a hassle to restart without asking the player to actually click the green flag, and in my opinion, that's kinda awkward.

Other things they could add are more sound and rhythm blocks. Here is a list of what they are and would be good for:

The same as the (loudness) variable block but instead of the microphone, it uses the actual audio playing in the project.
Someone got confused, so just to clarify, I want a project loudness block because whenever people use loudness in their projects, it's always the microphone. But what if you want to get the loudness of just the audio playing in the project, without all the background noise in the mic. It's probably more complicated stuff that talented scratchers would probably use, but this could make some more accurate visualizers.

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Have a block output the loudness of a specific pitch or pitch range. It would be cool to actually use that and make a real visualizer instead of some phony one with lists of volumes and stuff. This one will also have mic and project counterparts.

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Same as the wait block but it uses beats instead of seconds. You can use the set tempo block to change the tempo. This one is really good for events timed with the music or even rhythm games.

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Another cool idea is to be able to put cues in audio files that fire broadcasts so you can have something cool happen on the bass drop of a song or something.

P.S. I know I could have just used the ellipsis block but I was bored and I wanted to mess with the scratchblocks plugin…

I feel any of these could be implemented and used wonderfully in other projects. Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Restart Block: Semi-support. This is a great way to restart your game, really. It's quick and easy. If a “stop all” block is present for the stop sign, why not have a “restart” button for the green flag? Well, the only major problem I can think of is this block:

I'm not sure exactly what it would do, but it would probably be annoying, whatever it is.

Project Volume: I don't think I quite understand this one. The “volume” variable (under Looks) controls the volume for sounds, not the microphone (for that, you want the “loudness” variable under Sensing). Wouldn't “project volume” get confusing if people have their devices at different volumes?

Wait (4) Beats: No support. There is a simple workaround that does the exact same thing with the exact same amount of effort:

Sorry. I meant the loudness block. I always get loudness and volume mixed up. I want a project loudness block because whenever people use loudness in their projects, it's always the microphone. But what if you want to get the loudness of just the audio playing in the project, without all the background noise in the mic. It's probably more complicated stuff that talented scratchers would probably use, but this could make some more accurate visualizers.

For the rest 4 beats, I used that, but it didn't seem to work for me. It's timed perfectly with note blocks, but making sprites appear and disappear to the beat of a song when I have the tempo block set to the tempo of the song makes it go off the timing a lot. It just didn't really work for me. I guess I should just tell them to fix that block, but oh well…

Also, that forever restart block would probably crash a project and no one would ever even think to really do that. I'm surprised you brought that up, considering it didn't seem like a problem to me. It would either crash a project or just not let any other commands run, and I frankly don't know why you would use it like that or even think to use it like that. Why? Why would you put a restart block in a forever block? Just why??? *slowly turns into the narrator from The Stanley Parable* I don't get it? What gave you the idea to do that? Do you just like to break projects? What is your goal? What do you get from that?

Caseyraz186 wrote:

Also, that forever restart block would probably crash a project and no one would ever even think to really do that. I'm surprised you brought that up, considering it didn't seem like a problem to me. It would either crash a project or just not let any other commands run, and I frankly don't know why you would use it like that or even think to use it like that. Why? Why would you put a restart block in a forever block? Just why??? *slowly turns into the narrator from The Stanley Parable* I don't get it? What gave you the idea to do that? Do you just like to break projects? What is your goal? What do you get from that?

My point with this one is that it's so easy to do — that is, it's so easy to accidentally do — and as a result, it crashes the project. This could be very frustrating to encounter. Maybe I'm just wrong, but I'm just trying to think of ways that the block could be problematic. Like I said, it's a pretty good block idea, but if you want to suggest something for Scratch, you'll have to think of the good things and the bad things about your suggestions.

That being said, this is the only bad thing I can think of for this block — of course, I'd consider it a major problem. None of us like it when our project crashes while we're working on it — this could lead to our work being deleted, in some cases. But with Scratch 3.0 on the horizon, I learned recently that the crashing is fixed in that interface, so perhaps the “restart” block could work seamlessly, after all.

Yeah, I was thinking maybe it could alert you and say that you have this block somewhere in your code that's causing the problem. Simple fix.

Actually, the forever restart would probably act like this:

So that's not really a problem. (I doubt it'd crash, too, and you could just click the stop sign to stop it)


Anyway, yeah, I support: it's really weird that we have a block that hits the stop sign but not one that hits the green flag.

I do support. We have that block in the Jr version and it is extremely useful!

But one thing even Za-Chary missed is:
Open separate topics for each suggestion

I will try putting it in a forever loop in Jr.

EDIT: I did it, everything works, but due to Scratch’s VM processing code slowly (intented), it looks jittery when the cat moves, for example. In turbo mode nothing would happen.

HighFlyer222 wrote:

I do support. We have that block in the Jr version and it is extremely useful!

But one thing even Za-Chary missed is:
Open separate topics for each suggestion

I will try putting it in a forever loop in Jr.

EDIT: I did it, everything works, but due to Scratch’s VM processing code slowly (intented), it looks jittery when the cat moves, for example. In turbo mode nothing would happen.

These are pretty interesting ideas, but you're right that they should be broken into separate threads. Why bump this to say that, though? I doubt the OP is still watching it. Regardless, feel free to post these in separate threads - there's already some thought behind them, which is great.