Github Followup: Newbie Resources

averagehat

averagehat

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This is a followup to this github issue:  https://github.com/DCurrent/openbor/issues/207

I think, Damon, you misinterpreted my intent. There are already a ton of resources (tools as well as tutorials & examples) but they are hard to find coming from the outside. This is New or prospective users need a single page with a few links to set them in the right direction. I suggest adding this to the github README/wiki. That will help folks who found the project that way. The problem with directing users to this site is that as a forum, the information has no hierarchical structure, so it's hard for someone new to figure out what's important, 'official', etc. If someone wanted to have a page on this site work, you would want to link to it from somewhere else, or display it prominently in the banner--otherwise it is going to blend in with the other forum controls in the UI (the way that the 'Downloads' button currently does). When I first learned about OpenBOR, I came to this site, tried to figure out what the hell to do, gave up and didn't come back until I had tried all the other options I could find (which were significantly harder to get up and running).

In addition to a resources / FAQ page described above, a 'getting started' page goes a long way as well. I am sure there is an up-to-date one somewhere on this site, but I went ahead and put a few steps into a document along with the links I had trouble finding in the document below:


https://gist.github.com/averagehat/dc679da20a72e5bf50b3712a3ab3e8d6

Feel free to use any part of that however you like. I hope some of this was useful. I know my attempt to be exhaustive may have come across as critical, but my intent is, "you're hiding your light under a bushel." I notice that folks who make high-quality software tend to do less outreach, because they are interested in making high-quality software. You have done a ton of outreach, but these minor, boring, organizational quirks can have a lot of impact on user experience and adoption. I want folks to know about and try OpenBOR. In my limited evaluation this software is a remarkably accessible and flexible way to work with games.


Mike


 
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Mike Panciera,

I really like what you've done, and would love to see it expanded on and added to the Wiki. If it was, I'd make sure there were prominent pointers everywhere I control going to it, although I would much prefer you don't use my module projects as an example. They are very much in progress, and also contain a lot of scripts and other parts that will befuddle a newcomer that much more. I'm considering making them private until they are finished just to avoid that sort of problem. Other than that I think it looks fantastic.

Again, I whole-heartedly agree with you so far as the idea. I fully understand the importance of documentation and organization - while not the same thing, you should see my coding style. There's far more exposition than code. I'm just personally jaded after years of writing guides, making tutorial videos, etc. that for the most get ignored. My "OpenBOR time" goes to running this forum, engine development, answering questions when I can, and putting together concepts that show what you can do with it.

If you want to take up the documentation mantle, I won't stop you! The only time I've ever nixed anyone's documentation work is when they put in information that was misleading or incorrect (that goes back to the know what you're doing vs. having time to do it I refereed to). O Ilusionista is also a good person to talk to, as he's been trying for a while to gather up the disparate materials laying about.

BTW, welcome to the community. I looked through your GitHUB. Some interesting stuff there. I haven't touched Python since my freshman coding classes and was never a huge fan, but I've seen people do some pretty cool things with it.

DC
 
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Thanks for the replies. The greatest aid for me right now would probably be pointing me to some good example projects. (There is good stuff in the neo edit pack which I will use but it's from 2013 and won't build for me).
I'd like to be able to point to at least one platformer and one beat-em-up to demonstrate flexibility. I can take one of these and package it with some documentation/debugging scripts/whatever else and share it as a starter project
 
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You can use this for a blank game
http://www.chronocrash.com/forum/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=186

And this for a 2d blank game
http://www.chronocrash.com/forum/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=187
 
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