Has anyone been able to collect the basic information to use this tool?

IntelligentDesigner

I have been trying to work through the blogs, tutorials, and wikis, but I find them very disjointed, and full of information that isn't related to the topic. I really do not want to reinvent the wheel, and need to get some things built sooner, rather than later.

I know there is not a book yet, but has someone gathered the basics into something like a pdf?

Thanks for any help or advice.

JamesZeppelin

When i started i just went to the wiki and read everything in order.

I didnt even attempt to make a game the first night.

Next i downloaded the basic shoot em up and recreated it within a couple days.

Go right to this section of the wiki and try to make a basic test game with this info and you will be golden. It may seem like a waste but in the long run youw ill save yourself time and get a lot better idea of how and what you can do.

HOW TO'S

Basic Tasks
Movement
Physics
Controls
Scoring and Heads-Up Display
Game Elements
Graphics and Animation
Audio
Game Logic
Game Publishing

The basics seemed really straight forward to me.

Its all the extra stuff that is a little messy but honestly I wouldn't even be worrying about that yet until you get through the basics.

I could be wrong but it sounds like maybe you're trying to rush to something a little too fast, maybe?

If you are still diving into the basic demos a week or so into it you're still way ahead of any other game making method

design219

It may seem a bit disjointed, but remember this is still beta software. It's a really amazing product and gets better with each update.

Getting up to speed is still pretty much self service, but there is a lot of info here. You just have to search a bit.

adado

A good three or four days (a handful of hours each day) spent in the forums is what helped me the most. What TinyMonster says is true too.

Also, FireMapleGames just started releasing his how-to on implementing platform game mechanics. I would image those would get you up on behavior/rule/timer use really fast.

ckurt25

I had/have zero programming / development experience and have done okay so far. Read the Wiki, tutorials, look at the shared projects. The video tutorials I found were the most helpful. Tweak some of the shared projects a bit. When I was a kid I used to take apart radios, cassette players (yes, I'm inching close to 40) and try to put them back together to see how they work. Take a similar approach.

When you get started, try something on your own very simple and build on it from there before trying anything too complicated. My first game is very simple. You have a character that runs back and forth avoiding objects. Really nothing to it but it was fun to build and even though it hasn't made a ton of money it feels really good to have it on the App Store. Now I'm working on something that has greater potential.

I love GS and what it's allowed me to do. I'm sure most everyone wishes there was a complete point of reference but in reality, GS is still in its infancy and even the vets have to ask questions sometimes. In addition to all the feature requests, yes, it'd be freaking amazing if there were something of a knowledge base / wiki that was always being updated. Just use the search tool and sometimes I'll go to google and search something like "gamesalad info.plist" if I get stuck and will occasionally get different results. I've also found for the most part when you do get stuck that the community is very helpful when you ask questions.

Good Luck!