Archive: 13 posts

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Description: I wanted to play with the new tools of LBP2 and publish a level without committing to a full length level and tutorial was a great solution. I thought it would be fun to make a tutorial level on how to make effective tutorial levels and in the process of putting it all together I played around with a menu system, controllable cursor, teleporter system, tutorial animations and a whole host of other small bits and bobs. So with nothing better to do I threw in tutorials on making each of these pieces to give the player a little something extra. This tutorial level uses spoken audio, written text, animated cursors, pictures, circuit board mock-ups, tech examples, supplemental material level links and shareable prizes containing the different concepts for offline play and experimenting. All in the hopes that there is something in here that will help those who are interested. The level covers: Concepts and fundamentals for a good tutorial structure, presentation and approach. Step by step process for making: An easy font Teleporter system Menu system with user controlled cursor Animated cursor for tutorial presentations If you don't like listening to me talk in my 'tutorial' voice, while managing a cold, then feel free to skip the audio bits and use the notes I've written up to accompany each section. I had a fun time putting the level together and I?m happy to hear your feedback and criticisms. Level Update: Level updated with music elements in each area, added short platforming interstitials between the different steps in the primary tutorial section and cleaned up some Font prize bubble wonkiness. Pictures: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/9272/aphoto3.jpg http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/4629/aphoto2v.jpg http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/9538/aphoto1c.jpg http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/576/aphoto5.jpg http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4601/aphotod.jpg http://lbp.me/v/xky490

2011-02-26 00:29:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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A pretty decent tutorial, for people interested in making a tutorial. I liked the artistically done backgrounds and the library though, they were clean and simple, yet functional and practical. * I liked the clear and enunciated dialogue that went with the tutorial, made my next point a little more bearable. * The text was hard on my eyes and separated by paragraphs, making them a bit hard to read (I'm not a fan of post-its though, so maybe it's just me ) * I had trouble going through one of the level links to the sub-levels in the extras (Animated Cursor I think, if it makes a difference). Your post-it said it was loading, but I was still sitting there 5 minutes later. Very nice tutorial though, and I've already seen one too many vague/fail spelling and grammar/unclear/cluttered tutorials. I hope this benefits future tutorials and influences people to put a little more effort into showing people how to make and do stuff without just giving away prize bubbles with no explanation/notes and no real learning taking place. F4F: My F4F Level (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=49476-Defend-the-Castle!-%28Looking-for-Pointers-Suggestions%29)

2011-02-26 09:49:00 Author: Unknown User

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concider yourself qued, I'm always interested in checking out the tutorials and learning new things. its limitless what you can do in lbp2 I just need to aquire the knowhow xD

2011-02-26 12:09:00 Author: Anomandaris Irake Posts: 10

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A pretty decent tutorial, for people interested in making a tutorial. I liked the artistically done backgrounds and the library though, they were clean and simple, yet functional and practical. * I liked the clear and enunciated dialogue that went with the tutorial, made my next point a little more bearable. * The text was hard on my eyes and separated by paragraphs, making them a bit hard to read (I'm not a fan of post-its though, so maybe it's just me ) * I had trouble going through one of the level links to the sub-levels in the extras (Animated Cursor I think, if it makes a difference). Your post-it said it was loading, but I was still sitting there 5 minutes later. Very nice tutorial though, and I've already seen one too many vague/fail spelling and grammar/unclear/cluttered tutorials. I hope this benefits future tutorials and influences people to put a little more effort into showing people how to make and do stuff without just giving away prize bubbles with no explanation/notes and no real learning taking place. F4F: My F4F Level (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=49476-Defend-the-Castle!-%28Looking-for-Pointers-Suggestions%29) Thanks for the thorough feedback, it is very appreciated. I agree that many tutorial levels are a series of blocks with magic mouths on them and I wanted to get something with a little more. But as it was a tutorial level I didn't want to go all out on the set design so I plumbed a few of my published and unpublished levels for some set pieces to set the tutorial steps in. I can see your point on the notes, lots of text, not much visual break between them. I am very happy to happy to have them over the alternative of trying to cram long notes into a magic mouth system or created font lettering. -shudder- I did try to make either the text or the audio redundant so that players or either preference would get served though the audio does contain more detail than the text. I'll mess around with the level link you mention, I'm still optimistic that I get it to fire reliably with just a bit of tweaking. I'll get your level played and feedback posted this evening after the little ones are down for bed. Cheers.

2011-02-26 17:08:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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You clearly showed how a tutorial should look like. I really liked the idea of a tutorial tutorial. Just like Hotwlngz said, there are various unclear or "not to the point" tutorials out there. Liked the audio, clear and understandable. I think it's good to have the audio together with the text because not all people would bother reading longer sections. Nice cursor menu, really good i think. I found a tiny little mistake, first section, part 4: You wrote "as.sume" in one of the notes just wanted to tell you about it Nothing to complain about the other sections, i think they are good as they are. In my opinion it's a great tutorial level, keep it up

2011-02-27 19:27:00 Author: DragonHunterEx Posts: 84

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Nice cursor menu, really good i think. I found a tiny little mistake, first section, part 4: You wrote "as.sume" in one of the notes just wanted to tell you about it Nothing to complain about the other sections, i think they are good as they are. Thanks for the timely feedback on this. I did put the '.' in the word on purpose as I thought, I assumed, that the word would be censored by the game so I broke it up with the period to bypass the filter. It is possible that the word 'assume' is not on the blacklist but likely it is. In my opinion it's a great tutorial level, keep it up I had a problem as I was making this level in that I was spouting off all this nonsense about what a good tutorial level should do but I wasn't doing any of it myself. I had to work at it to try and follow of lot of my same advice or else the level would be pretty meaningless. Cheers.

2011-02-28 17:04:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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Thanks for the timely feedback on this. I did put the '.' in the word on purpose as I thought, I assumed, that the word would be censored by the game so I broke it up with the period to bypass the filter. It is possible that the word 'assume' is not on the blacklist but likely it is. oh i see, i didnt know that. Pretty funny

2011-03-03 18:48:00 Author: DragonHunterEx Posts: 84

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Loved your logic tutorials in the extras section. Definatley gonna implement some of these concepts in my projects. As for the tutorials well written and easy to understand. Can't wait to see more from you in the future. The only problem seems to be level links failing occasionally but mine seem to do that as well not sure why. Great job and thanks for the info

2011-03-04 01:24:00 Author: Unknown User

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Loved your logic tutorials in the extras section. Definatley gonna implement some of these concepts in my projects. As for the tutorials well written and easy to understand. Can't wait to see more from you in the future. The only problem seems to be level links failing occasionally but mine seem to do that as well not sure why. Great job and thanks for the info I appreciate the feedback on the level. I think it will be a good bit of time before I get a serious LBP2 level out. [Shameless Plug] If you do want to see another good level of mine you can check out my last LBP1 level Lightbringer (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=257779). It was an LBPC spotlight, it was in an MM community pick, it won the last LittleBigReviewers level competition and is the one level that I'm really happy with the result matching my original intention. [/Shameless Plug] I'm really hoping that MM can iron out the level linking issues as it sounds like it is happening to quite a bit of people's levels. I'll be submitting this level to a tutorial competition later on so I'm especially keen to hear feedback about what can be improved or fix things that are not working. Cheers

2011-03-04 18:35:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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this is a good idea and it is well done. sadly the part with all the notes is a little bit boring. sure you said only conentrate on the thing you want to explain but... at least you should make the player a little bit fun. like examples to play with. i would say. i don't read all of the notes sorry cause i saw that i know the most stuff allready hopefully i dont hit you wrong now, heh. but a nice look of the level - loved the books section that was a nice idea! and no music? sure it can stop you concentrate but others don't like it if there is no music. maybe you can add an optional button for music? other than that the text was excellent described (even for me i usually don't speak english) keep it up! just add a lil bit more fun in it and play with the player. even if it is a tutorial! but thats just me i guess x) for a small F4F plz go here: https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=51868-Skunk-Bunny-Adventures-Swifown-Chronicles-%28long-single-player-english-german%29 thank you! *Hugs*

2011-03-04 20:02:00 Author: ForcesWerwolf Posts: 475

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this is a good idea and it is well done. sadly the part with all the notes is a little bit boring. sure you said only conentrate on the thing you want to explain but... at least you should make the player a little bit fun. like examples to play with. i would say. i don't read all of the notes sorry cause i saw that i know the most stuff allready hopefully i dont hit you wrong now, heh. but a nice look of the level - loved the books section that was a nice idea! and no music? sure it can stop you concentrate but others don't like it if there is no music. maybe you can add an optional button for music? other than that the text was excellent described (even for me i usually don't speak english) keep it up! just add a lil bit more fun in it and play with the player. even if it is a tutorial! but thats just me i guess x) I agree with your points especially that the base tutorial is fairly boring with all the notes and text. (I definitely understand that many players will not read the text.) It looks like you didn't check out any of the tutorials on the transporter, menu+cursor or animated cursor that are in the Extras section though. There is a good bit of a lively presentation with objects, playable samples, animations and so on and lot less text to deal with so I'd be curious what you take is on that aspect of the level. I tried to incorporate the principles of the base tutorial into each mini tutorial to teach players something but to also show how you could put together a better tutorial presentation. Hardsync also mentioned the lack of music as a weak point and this is an area I'll need to put into the level. Music that reflects the section but isn't loud enough to drown out the recorded audio bits. I'll also see what I can do to liven up the first tutorial area, I'm thinking to separate each of the Steps with a small platforming/bouncing sequence to the player some active to participate in. I'll get through your level tonight and get some feedback to you on it in your post shortly after that. I appreciate the time you took to play the level. Cheers.

2011-03-04 21:34:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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Very well done. I would like to note that your font uses DLC. I wasn't able to look at in my moon. You may want to mention in your tutorial that DLC should be avoided in examples unless necessary. I am also concerned that you packaged it as a group. This tends not to work well in LBP 2. The game won't let you select individual objects from the group. It is better to give the player a negative version of the fonts. Then they can use the group as a mold or stencil.

2011-03-08 07:15:00 Author: OrangeTroz Posts: 90

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Very well done. I would like to note that your font uses DLC. I wasn't able to look at in my moon. You may want to mention in your tutorial that DLC should be avoided in examples unless necessary. I am also concerned that you packaged it as a group. This tends not to work well in LBP 2. The game won't let you select individual objects from the group. It is better to give the player a negative version of the fonts. Then they can use the group as a mold or stencil. You have some very good points on the DLC issue an it is definitely worthy of being added as a precautionary note to others. I looked through the font and number stickers I used and they all seem to be non-DLC but I believe the culprit behind the DLC lockout is the forward slash and/or the stickers I used to make the Play, Pause and FF icons. I'm hoping that in the future MM may lighten up the prize bubble restrictions so that people can use fonts without needing to muck around with cutting the fonts out with molds. In either case I've created a negative mold of each font in its own block and removed the extra items. I was hoping that since the prize bubble components are sharable that other people would be able to have more freedom to use the fonts but I haven't been able to test that personally. Tonight I'll DL the bubble from a mule account and make sure that there is no DLC restriction on it. I'll get to your levels tonight and get you some feedback on them presently. Level Update: I've also just added different music selections to each area as well as broken up the primary tutorial section with platforming sequences in between each step to lighten up the tedium a bit.

2011-03-08 17:25:00 Author: Trindall Posts: 297

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