Well i was reading the blue book and l found it was made for Byond 2.0. Well i know its no easy task on updating but i think it is in need of revision. Of course when updating it this time we as a programming community update the core from with we learned from so that we can save all the discovery made. of course i know this is a useless post but its worth a try
ID:132297
 Jul 6 2011, 6:51 pm
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I'm inclined to say the "easy" questions we get in code problems are ones we'd always get, just by the nature of the developer who asks them typically.
This is not to say we could do with updating the guide, I think that much is well acknowledged. The trick is, no-one's done it. What I could do with understanding is what should the guide be teaching? | |
maybe with the help of the community we can build a updated tutorial to help increases the quality of the newer games being made by new people
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I would think the guild would teach the basics of making a game on BYOND.
1. Organization and creation of a design document. 2. Mention of the forums to obtain help with questions and to gain other help through classified ads and the reference, as well as proper usage of these forums such as "If you have a question, try searching for similar questions as it may have been asked already." or "Be sure to check the Reference for specific questions before asking on the forums in case the answer is in there." 3. Basic understanding of what DM is. It doesn't need to be a whole chapter but just a brief explanations. probably also explaining the components of DM as well. .dm is for code, .dmi is for icons, .dmm is for mapping, etc. 4. basic information about creating and editing an icon. probably the easiest thing to do then I would move into icon states and basic animation, maybe show somethings about changing colors or what have you. This could all be done using stick figure examples and chould be fairly simple to explain. 5. basic information about programming. creating some sort of login in, maybe some basic character creation (enter a name or something) setting up chat verbs. programming in mobs and other turfs and/or objects. 6. Creating a basic map. This can be done with stick figures, green grass squares blue water squares(good way to teach about density) maybe some trees (good way to teach about layer). At this point you have a small, but functioning game. Sure you can't do much with it but it is a good start. And then everything from there on would be working on improve on that game. Maybe showing how to change the skin (for that I would link to Lummox's tutorial because it is really well done. Or something similar.) or perhaps how to move between Z levels in maps, maybe create some multi-icon houses, or basic AI and work up from there. Gradually teaching more about more about the different var's and proc's used to make a game and certain elements of proper game making etiquette That should be a good start. | |
I agree with the sentiment but not the means. Adding an addendum that covers 4.0 to the blue book is a lot less time consuming (this was done with BYOND 3.0 at the time, as well), especially because, for the most part, it could just link to existing Dream Maker articles written post-4.0. If someone wants to remake the guide, more teaching material is always great, but it should be written with a new perspective on DM altogether, not just a modernised "Blue Book", which is already decent for what it is.
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I understand some things would be hard to teach a newb though (a bit of a newb myself), like a Story tutorial. I've read there's multiple ways to handle a storyline, so that could be difficult.
I also like the fact that we have the Code problems forum, but I think a lot of the simple questions could be avoided if new users had proper tutorials showing how to do some neat things and teaching them about how to handle something like making a running system, multiple dialogue option NPC conversations, etc. Unfortunately some tutorials can talk about what a person could use, but doesn't appeal to that person until they include something to catch their eye or spark their interest enough to stay and really study the tutorial. (Like "How to handle RPG Turn based fighting system -beginner-", "-intermediate-", then "-advanced-" which would show gradually how to make a more complex turn based system which could be tweaked by the programmer from the skills he's obtained from the lower level tutorials. Kind of like Zilal's New Book, loved it.) So unfortunately a lot of tutorials would probably be made explaining the same coding logic, just under different names focusing on different points, but that would've hooked me at first glance and I'd be a better coder by now rather than savaging around Byond for pieces of code knowledge for months After being here already for a few years.
So take up the Challenge and help Byond grow! :)