dashival's 'Tutorial' Guide/Rant

[dashival]

If you make a tutorial about, say, how to make TD, don't base it on something that already exists. What I mean is, don't say 'You should make a few base towers, then stronger towers that can be upgraded to. Also make several waves with different monsters and blah blah blah'. When making a tutorial for an RPG, don't say 'Make an area for players to pick their heroes with a wisp (or some other unit). Have them start in a central area such as a town, with a health fountain so they can regenerate and shops to buy weapons and armor.' In a tutorial for a hero defense, don't say 'Make two (or more) lanes with shops and fountains at one end. Then you will need to make some buildings to spawn monsters and increase your income.'

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't make a tutorial for how to make a map that is exactly like something that exists. If I were to write a tutorial on how to make a TD, it wouldn't be called 'How to make a TD', it would be called something like 'How to make a "defense" map', and it would not tell you a few things you can do to make a tower defense map, it would show you how to do things such as lives, a custom menu (hero selection, etc), or ways to do random, useful things with triggers. It would say how to put together a new map.

I've read too many tutorials that show you how to recreate Enfos or DotA or Legends ORPG. One subject that is especially worth noting is maze tutorials. Every maze tutorial I have read shows you how to make another Maze of Honor, or Polar Escape. While many different mazes are good, I think there should be more tutorials that show you how to make something new. Instead of 'This is the trigger for how to die on grass' or 'This is how you slide on ice', have 'This is how you move a unit with triggers', or 'This is how you detect something that is near the player'. Something like that.

I think I'm babbling. What I mean is, a lot of tutorials show you how to do things that have already been made. I want to see tutorials and guides that are less based on explaining existing things, and more on how to make new things.

Edit/Addition: An example I see on the front page right now, is in the Tutorial: How to Map Better. One line says "..name it SampleMap 1.0 so the public know which is the newest and oldest versions..." Not that I'm bashing on this guy, but that's sort of what I'm talking about, only instead of telling you how to name your versions, it tells you how to set up your maze map, or ORPG, or whatever.

 

[Tom Jones]

I'll bet, that alot of people are going to scream: "Jeez, a tutorial on how to make a turorial, that's simply idiotic". See this as a guideline, when or if your going to make a tutorial. I think dashivals is 100% correct on most of the issues pointed out.

 

[WuHT]

Well omnius was just trying to help or score some reps.

Teaching people how with tutorials is more about learning to RE-create, than create, because the basic principles and mechanics are first seen, then learned (not "self-imagined" and then implemented like how' our geniuses would like to work)

 

[emjlr3]

I think what you are seeing is a few ppl, wou really don't know too much about what they are doing, trying to get involved...or just plain trying to score rep/honor, or whatever

ignor, like the rest of us do

 

[Andrewgosu]

If you make a tutorial about, say, how to make TD, don't base it on something that already exists. What I mean is, don't say 'You should make a few base towers, then stronger towers that can be upgraded to. Also make several waves with different monsters and blah blah blah'. When making a tutorial for an RPG, don't say 'Make an area for players to pick their heroes with a wisp (or some other unit).

But that is what the beginners want to know. Mostly all the tutorials are focused on beginners, ubermapper know how to map, they now what the tutorials contain, they do what thye want to do, because they can and they know how to. But beginners need almost always some help assistance.

Well omnius was just trying to help or score some reps.

Teaching people how with tutorials is more about learning to RE-create, than create, because the basic principles and mechanics are first seen, then learned (not "self-imagined" and then implemented like how' our geniuses would like to work)

Well, yes.

Overall, I understand what you want to say.

There is a boom of tutorials, some of them are good, some are not.

 

[Tonks]

One subject that is especially worth noting is maze tutorials. Every maze tutorial I have read shows you how to make another Maze of Honor, or Polar Escape.

Mazes are the fad these days. And those mazes are the popular ones, so naturally everyone wants to make one to become famous and known about BNet like all the 'cool' kids, when in reality they have no idea how to make a maze, and are just making another copy

 

[Geelottaja]

I totally agree in most points. I have wondered many times about "Do they really want people to make another typical TD or tag without anything original?" But then again, the things explained in those are the things that newbies want to know, and they might learn from them (and the makers could get rep from them). The newcomers basically have to start on something simple, no one expects them to create the most played game on the battlenet as their first map. Now I'm forgetting what I was supposed to say... After the newcomers have learned some basics they can start making their real projects, wich (I hope) will be a lot better than their test maps.
Did I say everything I had in mind ?

 

[Andrewgosu]

Did I say everything I had in mind ?

How are we supposed to know?

Anyway, tutorials teach they basic things. Later, they (they - beginners) know howcreate basic trigger and make something original. (hopefully)

 

[Geelottaja]

How are we supposed to know?

Anyway, tutorials teach they basic things. Later, they (they - beginners) know howcreate basic trigger and make something original. (hopefully)

Yup, if I didn't say that (I can't even figure out what I just wrote!) then thats what I also had in mind

 

[Oninuva]

Well omnius was just trying to help or score some reps.

excuse me are you talking about me?

 

[dashival]

Teaching people how with tutorials is more about learning to RE-create, than create

But that is what the beginners want to know. Mostly all the tutorials are focused on beginners, ubermapper know how to map, they now what the tutorials contain, they do what thye want to do, because they can and they know how to. But beginners need almost always some help assistance.

Well, yes, I do agree that these kinds of tutorials are helpful, but I think a tutorial that teaches you how things work rather than telling you how to do it would be better, don't you think?

Mazes are the fad these days. And those mazes are the popular ones, so naturally everyone wants to make one to become famous and known about BNet like all the 'cool' kids, when in reality they have no idea how to make a maze, and are just making another copy

Mazes are fun, which is why I said those kinds of tutorials I agree with. However, I think tutorials should show the mechanics of how mazes work, instead of telling people what to do to make one.

no one expects them to create the most played game on the battlenet as their first map.

Why can't a first map be a successful one? Not everyone chooses to make crap maps at the start. People do different things, and a first project can easily be successful, if there are the right tutorials. But, let's not get into prodigies.

Later, they (they - beginners) know howcreate basic trigger and make something original.

While I partially agree that early maps would probably be simpler, I think original ideas and spark any time.