shaunjs
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A new style of "Tutorial"?
🕑 Added 2023-11-27 16:56:56 +0000 UTCHello! This is just a musing that I probably haven't thought through enough but I had a moment of inspiration today while playing around with the old ARPG files.
The things I don't like about my series (and tutorials in general) are:
- 1. The step by step nature of showing you how to build a massive thing tends to go out of date very quickly. So many things in the ARPG would be structured differently if I made it today!
- 2. It takes FOREVER which compounds on problem 1. It makes it not that fun for me to make once the coding side of things is done, and by the time it is done, I wish I could remake it from scratch.
BUT, I think these things have massive value for people. So is there a way of getting that value to the people who need it, in a more efficient and maintainable way?
Well, I've been thinking about creating more projects like the ARPG and the TBBS and the Complete Platformer, but purely as example projects that anyone can download and accompanying them with a single "Guide to" video that goes over how each system works. Not in a "Step by step, here's how you code this from scratch" way, but just in a "here's how it all works" way. Probably less than 15 minutes long. Of course a lot of people could just use the projects themselves as a template, pull the code apart and learn things by themselves instead. Truth be told this is how I learned a LOT of GML myself in the first place.
I could follow up with videos that go into the nitty gritty of particular structures or systems if they were desired, but importantly I could maintain the projects and keep the code up to date without worrying about my step-by-step videos being broken. If I change things on a big fundamental level, I would only have one main video to update.
I had a ton of fun making the turn based system code, and I'm happy to maintain and fix bugs as they're reported but it gets harder once it's bound to a fixed big set of sequential videos that I have to also try to maintain. So I think this might allow me to keep doing this kind of content and have it stay fresher and more valuable for longer.
What do you think??
Comments
Garrett Gilchrist
I think it's a good move if you think it will make the final product better -- as far as what's being demonstrated. You don't necessarily need a new video and update for each feature, and you shouldn't feel trapped by previous installment videos, that you can't rework stuff to make the game better. People may learn more from video where you're working "normally," or presenting a relatively finished/polished product.
Hobby Snail
Sounds like a great idea to me!
