My tutorial subject extends a typical user to be able to work creatively at the next level of understanding. My first introduction to Crysis was at the beginning of this university year. Prior to this I had no experience of computer games to the extent of not even knowing what the awsd keys did. The learning curve has been enormous.
It was overwhelming to be given the new topic of flowgraphs and trying to find new ways of doing things when I did not even know how to do things a regular user might do. Beginning with research, I quickly found that there was not a lot of information on flowgraphs. What was available was either very complex or tutorials which told you how to do something but gave no explanation behind the mere monkeying of actions. This was fine if you could find information on precisely what you wanted to do, but even that was a challenge as the tutorials are very haphazard.
My tutor was the first one to get me on the road with a one on one demonstration on how to set up a simple light and trigger system. As simple as it perhaps now seems, it was the key to being able to move forward. The reason for this was as he went along with his demonstration he explained why he did something. I quickly realised that this was what was missing in the vast majority of tutorials, and not just with Sandbox 2.
From here, every week I would go to tutorials and the tutors would give me titbits of information which constantly helped me to progress. Along the way I have gathered all these hints and tips which I have found useful. These were particularly critical when I came across a problem which I was unable to resolve by myself or through research.
In my tutorial I have chosen to go beyond a quick cold demonstration of which buttons to click to gain a result. When people learn it is important they understand what is happening otherwise their actions remain superfluous. As a result, during my demonstration of my chosen topic of lighting and proximity triggers, I explain what I am doing as I go along in a way that I believe gives a deeper level of comprehension. I have also been careful to cover all the problem areas I had. such as finding where to apply the ‘glow’ parameter due to the glitch in the programming, not to use the scaling tool on trigger areas and the different setups depending on whether you want to use lots of lights or lots of triggers and the importance of choosing which entity to place the flowgraph.
The result is my tutorial was much longer than the request 3-5 minutes so I have broken it up into a Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 explains things aimed at a relatively new user, especially to the flowgraph programming. Part 2 touches more lightly on the very basic skills and moves faster, the assumption being that the viewer will have a reasonable understanding of the topic as demonstrated in Part 1. I have taken care to provide information in both in order that they may be viewed independently of each other so that a viewer is not wholly dependent on seeing both.
I do not think that this style of tutorial will suit everyone, particularly people who have some experience of programming or gaming as it may seem too simplistic and thus slow for them. I have been conscious to speak relatively slowly, to give time for the new user to take in what is being said. I do however believe that watching these tutorials will give a level of understanding which will provide a good foundation for using triggers, material parameters and flowgraphs in general . A solid foundation is critical to being able to operate at a level beyond that of a typical user .
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