Talk about anything: Page 100 - Godot Community Forums

Talk about anything

duane

I like this one. It looks a lot like modern submersibles and construction equipment. And they've turned other asteroids into mobile stations.

Still have people standing on them though, even though the gravity would be negligible.

Nerdzmasterz

Finally I'm not envisioning a Death Star with limbs.

Nerdzmasterz

Hey, I've got a quick question, and figured this would be the best place to ask as this section seems crazy popular. And, please don't take this the wrong way, I actually like beginner coders and would love to see them excel is all. =)

Is it just me, or do beginners struggle with the Your First 2D Game tutorial?

I'm not asking because I thinks it needs changing, I just remember when I started, I really had trouble with it, and was wondering if anyone else felt the same way. Also, I was wondering if starting a shorter beginner tut might help them ease into it a bit more? Once they get their feet a little wet, they might feel more comfortable taking on the original tut.

And no, I am not asking someone else to make a smaller tut. I would add it to my Best Practices section. :)

Nerdzmasterz

What I was sort of thinking was dividing it into smaller games that go through the main features, so they can learn each part of the code separately, as I had to teach myself to do.

It could start with very tiny things like variables- say an app that asks something like math questions.

After that, I could add very basic player movement in a maze game, and have them learn to change scenes after reaching the end.

Once that's done, it could be a platformer with enemies and physics, and maybe ladders.

once they master these things and start to understand these concepts, they would know enough to advance to the original tut.

Any thoughts?

DaveTheCoder

The people who have problems with that tutorial make mistakes in following the steps precisely. New programmers often fail to understand that every tiny detail is important.

Also, the official documentation is not targeted toward people with zero programming experience. Someone who correctly copies a tutorial verbatim into his own project will have a working project, but as soon as he starts tweaking it and breaks it, he'll be stuck.

There are external tutorials that are better suited to people without programming experience. Maybe something like that should be included in the official documentation. Are you volunteering to write one? :)

Nerdzmasterz

@DaveTheCoder said: The people who have problems with that tutorial make mistakes in following the steps precisely. New programmers often fail to understand that every tiny detail is important.

There are external tutorials that are better suited to people without programming experience. Maybe something like that should be included in the official documentation. Are you volunteering to write one? :)

Darn right!

Like I said, I had to teach myself to code, up until I met that teacher. To say the initial part of learning to code was awful is an understatement. I don't want people to experience the rut that I did.

It got so bad, that I actually uninstalled, switched, and reinstalled engines countless times before I finally started to figure it out. :#

Nerdzmasterz

I'm paging @Megalomaniak and @cybereality to get their opinions on this as well.

Nerdzmasterz

And @TwistedTwigleg , as he's in charge of the forums and such. :)

Tomcat

@Nerdzmasterz said:
Is it just me, or do beginners struggle with the Your First 2D Game tutorial?
I had no problem with Your First 2D Game tutorial.

The only problem I had was figuring out that the spaces had to be replaced with tabs, or the code wouldn't work when copied. 😃

What I was sort of thinking was dividing it into smaller games that go through the main features, so they can learn each part of the code separately, as I had to teach myself to do.

In my opinion the tutorial is balanced and almost perfect.

@DaveTheCoder said:
Also, the official documentation is not targeted toward people with zero programming experience.

I had the opposite opinion. And I think the tutorial is great for basic programming training.

Nerdzmasterz

@Tomcat said:

In my opinion the tutorial is balanced and almost perfect.

I understand completely, this would be more for those who don't even know what a bool or int is yet. It would be incredibly difficult for them to suddenly jump from player movement to using signals with the mob.

Tomcat

@Nerdzmasterz said:
I understand completely, this would be more for those who don't even know what a bool or int is yet.
It is almost about me. 🙂

It would be incredibly difficult for them to suddenly jump from player movement to using signals with the mob.
But I wasn't lazy to follow all the links in the tutorial and that's why I didn't have such difficulties. B)

Nerdzmasterz

I wasn't either, and it took me days to figure it out.

Tomcat

I had a lot of free time, and I didn't have to take care of any immediate problems… maybe that played a role. It's a little different now.

Nerdzmasterz

Aside from that... I have seen beginners ask questions that, to someone who has been doing it, is so simple- yet, they don't seem to get it from the original tut. I suspect it is simply too much to take in at once.

Instead of feeding them a whole bunch of information, let them swallow code in little bites at a time, IMO.

TwistedTwigleg

I think the biggest issue with the your first game tutorial is that it isn’t quite sure who it’s audience is for. It seems to be for beginners to Godot, but makes some minor assumptions, while for programming it is pretty basic but it (in my opinion) does not seem to be targeting those with little to no programming experience. My guess is it’s for new/beginner game developers new to Godot, but I mostly see it targeted to those new to game development/programming in general. I think a more “complete beginner” example that doesn’t use some more confusing nodes (like Path2d and the point placement order requirement) would potentially be easier for beginners.

That’s just my two cents though. From my personal experience, tutorial writing is really hard, and I certainly think the tutorial (and documentation in general) is leagues better than it was before ?

Nerdzmasterz

Agreed there. And what I could try to do is send a moderator a copy of the tutorial instead of just posting it before it is shown on the full internet. If changes need to be made, or be trashed, so be it. :)

Tomcat

I wanted to try to introduce schoolchildren to programming in Godot, based on the official tutorial. Then I could have made a more meaningful statement on the subject. But so far it hasn't worked out.

Nerdzmasterz

And I like beginner coders. I mean, isn't it cool when you see a post that says, "I made my first game!"

Sorry, I'm a little hyper. I'll shut up now. :p

Nerdzmasterz

Here was the idea I had for the math "game." I'm not sure if it would be worth making a tut about for beginners?

Nerdzmasterz

This one would take a bit to actually finish, so here's a rough sketch for the maze tut game. It isn't a full-on maze yet, but it covers the mechanics for it.

If you guys/gals think this is a good idea, I will also add music and other sound FX.

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