Tutorial how to's with WHY?
vegasmike1
Member Posts: 192
@ TSB, Quantum Sheep, Photics, Orbz and all you smart sous guys.
There is no doubt you folks have a real command of GS and the rest of us (where have I heard that before) need to get better. I know that TSB is going to do 10001 videos that will touch all kinds of cool stuff. But I would ask you folks why you never put in the WHY something does something when you do this or that.
I like it when I learned who to add lives to a game on the HUD, but I was not really sure why things worked, they just did and that might be part of the charm of GS. I bought Photics books, and it is good at say, here is how you do this. But most of the time I have to take an explanation and then dig a bit deeper to find out WHY it does what it does.
Newbies and some less than newbies need to know why something does what it does so that they can expand on the code set. I did a pinball game as my first game, and it worked, but there are simple things that it took me a while to really embrace. Change attribute, ok that makes sense, but why do I constrain that attribute to make it lock down. I know now but I had not clue at first. I am a slow learner sorry.
So, as you smarties and millionaires go about helping, tell us WHY you use this or that and not just "this is what you do, but more this is what and why you do what you are doing.
In the end it will make everyone make better games which will raise the rep of GS and make us all a bit happier to be associated with GS. I think that some of the poorer game attempts come from not know why
Mke
There is no doubt you folks have a real command of GS and the rest of us (where have I heard that before) need to get better. I know that TSB is going to do 10001 videos that will touch all kinds of cool stuff. But I would ask you folks why you never put in the WHY something does something when you do this or that.
I like it when I learned who to add lives to a game on the HUD, but I was not really sure why things worked, they just did and that might be part of the charm of GS. I bought Photics books, and it is good at say, here is how you do this. But most of the time I have to take an explanation and then dig a bit deeper to find out WHY it does what it does.
Newbies and some less than newbies need to know why something does what it does so that they can expand on the code set. I did a pinball game as my first game, and it worked, but there are simple things that it took me a while to really embrace. Change attribute, ok that makes sense, but why do I constrain that attribute to make it lock down. I know now but I had not clue at first. I am a slow learner sorry.
So, as you smarties and millionaires go about helping, tell us WHY you use this or that and not just "this is what you do, but more this is what and why you do what you are doing.
In the end it will make everyone make better games which will raise the rep of GS and make us all a bit happier to be associated with GS. I think that some of the poorer game attempts come from not know why
Mke
Comments
That's WHY tshirtbooth got a website to help you... for a little payment of his awknolegment lol
For example... the Replicate behavior... the book explains what it does and then it states why it's useful.
As for working on other projects, that's not accurate either. When I wrote the textbook, it was my top project and my other projects were lowered in priority. The math section is especially thorough... with charts that illustrate what's going on. I don't just simply give the formula for making an actor move in a circle. Why it happens is very much explained — by showing how the expressions, behaviors and attributes work together. The book breaks down the game making process into individual blocks, and then it shows how they're assembled to make a complete game.
The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook is explanatory by design. Did you miss the hockey example? It even showed when to use an expression to find compromise between the constrain vs change issue.