Getting good fast?

mrchris317

Hey all, I have off this week and I would really like to put as many hours into learning gamesalad as possible. I was wondering if anyone can advise how to get better fast. Is there a series of tutorials that will help me get significantly better? Please note that I am using the Windows version of GS. Thanks so much.

Chris

SlickZero

With a little comparative investigating on your part, the CookBook youtube series is a great place to start. Mostly Mac tutorials, and different locations for functionality on Windows right now, but the logic is the same.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GameSaladCookbook/videos

GSHelper.com is also a good place for tutorials and free templates to learn from.

http://gshelper.com/

And of course, we cannot forget our own resident suckling piggy. @FryingBaconStudios

http://gleesongroupmedia.com/gsguide/gsguide.html

mrchris317

Great thanks for the guidance:) Appreciate your input.

CreativeJuicesEntertainment

For me, I taught myself. I used a sketching program on my tablet to make art and put it in the engine. The art was bad, but that was not what was important. It was a simple game where there were 2 players, you could move them, shoot a fireball out of the stick figure's mouth, fireballs would collide and destroy, and when one of the characters collided with one of the other character's fireball he spawned, then it would change scene and tell which player won.
So I would suggest (if you dont have a tablet) to use a program like paint or whatever you have, make some art (even if its not good), and make a game about whatever interests you. Make games that YOU want to make and interest you.
When I started, I thought about what would go into my small demo. I decided I would need to figure out how to move the character, destroy fireball when it collides with the other, change scene and figure out who won, and everything else. So I looked at the behaviors, and I was able to figure out some like destroy, move, and other things. When I got stuck, i simply googled it, and i got a result every time.
Regarding attributes, I was confused with those at first. That was probably the toughest thing for me at first. Simply said, attributes give permissions on when something is done, and adds extra features. For example, when an attribute called "move" (do this in a rule) is true (so its active), then move a certain direction at a certain speed. You can then use a behavior called "change attribute", and you can say change "move" attribute to false, so that he cant move any more. A way to apply this is where say your actor is controlled by arrow keys. He collides with lets say a fireball, and you change the attribute to false so he cant move.
Attributes can also be used in scorekeeping. For instance, you make an actor (pressing the plus sign in the actors tab in game salad), make an attribute called score and highscore, put it on the scene, and add the behavior display text. Display game.score (select the attribute). Make it so that (for example) your fireball hits another actor, then you say "game.score +1". Now for highscore: Now that's attributes.
In conclusion, I suggest you make your own art, learn the engine, figure out the general things that goes into a game, lookup tutorials if you need any, and expand from the knowledge you learn from your demo. After I made my simple demo, I was able to expand on what I already knew, and go into more advanced stuff.
If you have any questions, want tips, or need any help just leave a comment here and PM me. Thanks, and happy game developing

mrchris317

Thanks for the suggestions. I am grateful for the support you guys have given me. I am working on just that. Thanks:)

J_PAN

go to http://www.gshelper.com to find many tutorials and videos, you can also find templates

GuaveMedia

Hello @mrchris317

I learned working with GS on my own and the community here. I watched a lot of tutorials and I worked on games, games and games. Tutorials are a great way to see how things work in GS but in my opinion it's important to connect these things in a project.
You also have this amazing community here if you have questions
I just looked at my first game I did, the code was horrible. But at that time it was what I knew and I could do. So keep working working working

If you need something contact me
Alex@guave-games.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Check out my YouTube site for videos. http://m.youtube.com/user/dsouza41?feature=guide

As to learning GS faster, it takes time but if you understand logic and how to put things in logical order is the main key to using GS. Watch my GS Logic series to begin thinking that way.

Chakku

@mrchris317 Not to be redundant, but the best way is to make a game, and find a tutorial on the things you can't figure out how to do.

Hope this helps
Chakku

zzap64

Sometimes I use Prototypr
http://www.justinmind.com/?gclid=CLuKwYyutrQCFQ-e4AodMjEAyA

Free version is enough to allow quick menu creation and high level flow of menu systems and screens.
cheers

Geniusbear

I've learned the basics 1 week ago from @FryingBaconStudios website it has a good overview with direct links to different tutorials.

Gr. GeniusBear

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Yes the site is due for an update, maybe I will start on that today.

mrchris317

Wow, thank you all for your awesome support and suggestions. I have been watching some tutorials and hope that I can get better soon. Thank you again:)