If you had a personal tutor...

[roaminggamer]

Hi guys and gals of the Corona community.  I have an general question that I hope will generate an interesting discussion.

If you had a personal tutor, that would teach to make specific game types, what type of game(s) would you ask him/her to teach you about?

If you respond, please:

• Use paragraphs, and complete sentences.
• Use bullet lists if you are interested in multiple types.
• Tell me the genre if you know it.
• If you have specific games in mind, be sure to include in your reply:
  • The complete name of the game.
  • A link to the game and/or a YouTube video of the game (like a review).

Again, I hope this will generate an interesting discussion.  

I am hoping to learn more about the folks here and what their motivations are. I have started to feel a little disconnected from the goals of the community recently.  

Also, I’m seeing a lot of new folks reaching too high and too fast, getting very confused and asking questions that quite simply don’t make sense. i.e. They are hard to help because it is difficult to know where to begin helping them.

Results (prior to 19 JUN 2017)

Games

• Base defense (Ex: Metal Slug)
• Strategy (Ex:Hoplite)
• Roguelike (Ex: Pixel Dungeon ; ENYO )
• Simple Board Game(s)
• Simple Card Game(s)
• Simple Dungeon Game(s)
• Shooter(s) (Ex: Space Invader, Galaxian, Phoenix and Moon Cresta)
• Using modules games++
• OOP versus non-OOP designs and approaches in games++.
• Platformers (Ex:  Miner 2049er, Manic Miner, Chuckie Egg )
  • One-way platforms
• Tiled and Map Loaders
• Effective (and efficient) level design.
• Handling data. MVC and other approaches.
• Complex transition sequences.

Non-games

• Fundamentals of scenes and scene management (i.e. How to use composer.* properly to solve a variety of design tasks).
• Proper setup (config.lua, build.settings, main.lua, and project structure(s))
• Text scrolling and other effects.
• Module ‘communication’ and ‘connectivity’.

[anon63346430]

Also, I’m seeing a lot of new folks reaching too high and too fast, getting very confused and asking questions that quite simply don’t make sense. i.e. They are hard to help because it is difficult to know where to begin helping them.

Couldn’t agree more…

Maybe one idea for you Ed, I see a lot of folks struggling to understand the basics of scene management.  Perhaps that would be a good starting point?

[Blex]

Personally, I would ask a tutor to help me build a base defense game. I am struggling with that right now, (the slur of questions I have posted over the past few weeks). I would prefer this kind of game, because of the extensive knowledge and reference it could hold on completion. It would include json tables, scene management, sprite management, memory allocation, multiplayer handling (optional, I would prefer it), and the list goes on.

Here’s the link to a game similar to what I am describing:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snkplaymore.android003&hl=en

[ldurniat]

It would be great If my personal tutor teach me how to build

• strategy based games  

My favourite game this kind is _Hoplite. It is very _addictive.

 

Hoplite is a turn-based strategy game focusing on tactical movement around small maps.

 

 

• roquelike games

My next favourite type game is roquelike games. It is simple RPG kinda games. You gain experience by killing enemies. Also, you can collect staff like weapons, armors, spells etc.

 

Pixel Dungeon  is a traditional roguelike* game with pixel-art graphics and simple interface

 

 

_ENYO _is a tactical roguelike about hook & shield combat.

 

 

I’m planning build one type game mentioned above in future but before that I made challenge for myself proposed by you Ed on this forum. I mean build 7 clones of popular games like Pong, Asteroid, Flappy Bird etc. I started from Pong. The source code of it is available on github 

[graham07]

Initially I would use my tutor to show me as standard of an initial setup as possible. 

• Config.lua
  While I know that there are a million and one ways of setting up a Config.lua, but one that works for many and understanding that is enough to help master that step. Then we can go back and work it further.
   
• Scene Management
  Some of the Corona samples work quite well here, but simple management to help new people.
   
• Game types. 
• Card games.General deck management, and a primer as to how to check for a pair, or a run etc.
  This way It can be used for a multitude of card apps.
   
• Simple board game. Teaches how to move a counter or two around a board and perform an activity when you land.
  Objective: Dev can then adapt it and use different activities.
   
• Simple Dungeon game (with maps). Who doesn’t use a tile engine for a dungeon game. Again, keeping it simpler. 3 enemies, chests and keys. Once the dev figures that out I hope they are smarter and able to extend those items.
   
• General ‘firing’ techniques.
  Whether it be a space ship, a cowboy or a tank. The philosophy is always the same. Again, simple, straight line, maybe a grenade curve. Hit a wall and it stops. adding too much complexity is something the Dev should be able to look into further once they understand it.
   
• Simple shooter - Space invaders. Can be adapted

I’m a bigger fan of ‘less is more’. I love your old builds from the Geek hangouts, however I then work on extrapolating the techniques used, but you have built a more in depth game so it takes more time to pull out that little piece. As a learning tool I prefer to get the basics, and then I bolt on the more complex parts. If as a developer I don’t know how to do that, then I’m not ready to add it. Taking your full example and reskinning it doesn’t teach a great deal.

I do appreciate the help many of you provide. and I’ll be interested what a tutor might provide

As a side note, I’ve been using Corona for some time now. and I understand a huge amount more than when I started (of course), but I still sometimes struggle with the most basic tasks. (config.lua recently). I run into less scoping issues now, but usually thats because I know how to find them now. I’d love to be able to pick up a simple dungeon game, and create a ‘Gauntlet’ game. Seeing how to do it helps immensely. 

[roaminggamer]

Poke!

I’m poking this to get a little more love from folks.  Please see my original post at the top, plus my summary of the responses so far.

I’ll give this another week or two and then I’ll start to do ‘something’ with the results.  

[Appletreeman]

Hi Ed,  I meant to reply to this sooner but (if I’m honest) I completely forgot.

Hmmm… Where to start.  I would kill to have a personal tutor.  I find it really difficult to learn from reading books, API guides etc. so a really well written and explained tutorial always goes down well.

 

As for what I would like to see… 

Non-games

• How to use modules in games.  For example in a space shooter game you would have modules for the player, basic enemies, boss enemies etc.  And learning how to get the modules to communicate and work with each other.
• Working with text.  String manipulations etc.  I’d love to be able to do some scrolly messages of the kind you used to get on the demo scene.  ex1,  ex2, 

Games

• Platform games.  Simple ‘old skool’ style like Miner 2049er, Manic Miner, Chuckie Egg with non-intelligent enemies that tend to move back and forth along a platform.
  One thing I can’t get my head around is the whole ‘pre-collision’ concept to allow you to jump through platforms one way.  
• Arcade Shooters.  I can get the basics ok like Space Invaders, but struggle when it comes to something more complex where the enemies don’t just move back and forth.  Some examples:  Galaxians, Phoenix and Moon Cresta.
• Working with tiled and map loaders.

I’m sure there’s probably more but I’m at work at the moment and shouldn’t really be on here

[Abdo23]

Not a specific game type, but rather how to structure the game. For example:

• What is the most effective way of designing different levels?
•  Should I use inheritance(OOP) methods for designing the player and different enemy types? or just write a function that returns a new displayObject with some properties.
• Should I separate the data from the scene? (MVC) approach.
• How to make complex transitions with normal code in between them ( move something up, change some value, move something down, call function, scale something, change color of something)

Corona sdk doesn’t have many online tutorials, and the ones that exist are very basic. I would actually like someone to make a tutorial for a complex game from the ground up. let’s say a platformer where the player have weapons that he can upgrade and the game has different levels. That’s not something I’m working on or plan to, but I think the approaches used in a game like this would be pretty much applicable to most games of different genres. 

[anon63346430]

Also, I’m seeing a lot of new folks reaching too high and too fast, getting very confused and asking questions that quite simply don’t make sense. i.e. They are hard to help because it is difficult to know where to begin helping them.

Couldn’t agree more…

Maybe one idea for you Ed, I see a lot of folks struggling to understand the basics of scene management.  Perhaps that would be a good starting point?

[Blex]

Personally, I would ask a tutor to help me build a base defense game. I am struggling with that right now, (the slur of questions I have posted over the past few weeks). I would prefer this kind of game, because of the extensive knowledge and reference it could hold on completion. It would include json tables, scene management, sprite management, memory allocation, multiplayer handling (optional, I would prefer it), and the list goes on.

Here’s the link to a game similar to what I am describing:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snkplaymore.android003&hl=en

[ldurniat]

It would be great If my personal tutor teach me how to build

• strategy based games  

My favourite game this kind is _Hoplite. It is very _addictive.

 

Hoplite is a turn-based strategy game focusing on tactical movement around small maps.

 

 

• roquelike games

My next favourite type game is roquelike games. It is simple RPG kinda games. You gain experience by killing enemies. Also, you can collect staff like weapons, armors, spells etc.

 

Pixel Dungeon  is a traditional roguelike* game with pixel-art graphics and simple interface

 

 

_ENYO _is a tactical roguelike about hook & shield combat.

 

 

I’m planning build one type game mentioned above in future but before that I made challenge for myself proposed by you Ed on this forum. I mean build 7 clones of popular games like Pong, Asteroid, Flappy Bird etc. I started from Pong. The source code of it is available on github 

[graham07]

Initially I would use my tutor to show me as standard of an initial setup as possible. 

• Config.lua
  While I know that there are a million and one ways of setting up a Config.lua, but one that works for many and understanding that is enough to help master that step. Then we can go back and work it further.
   
• Scene Management
  Some of the Corona samples work quite well here, but simple management to help new people.
   
• Game types. 
• Card games.General deck management, and a primer as to how to check for a pair, or a run etc.
  This way It can be used for a multitude of card apps.
   
• Simple board game. Teaches how to move a counter or two around a board and perform an activity when you land.
  Objective: Dev can then adapt it and use different activities.
   
• Simple Dungeon game (with maps). Who doesn’t use a tile engine for a dungeon game. Again, keeping it simpler. 3 enemies, chests and keys. Once the dev figures that out I hope they are smarter and able to extend those items.
   
• General ‘firing’ techniques.
  Whether it be a space ship, a cowboy or a tank. The philosophy is always the same. Again, simple, straight line, maybe a grenade curve. Hit a wall and it stops. adding too much complexity is something the Dev should be able to look into further once they understand it.
   
• Simple shooter - Space invaders. Can be adapted

I’m a bigger fan of ‘less is more’. I love your old builds from the Geek hangouts, however I then work on extrapolating the techniques used, but you have built a more in depth game so it takes more time to pull out that little piece. As a learning tool I prefer to get the basics, and then I bolt on the more complex parts. If as a developer I don’t know how to do that, then I’m not ready to add it. Taking your full example and reskinning it doesn’t teach a great deal.

I do appreciate the help many of you provide. and I’ll be interested what a tutor might provide

As a side note, I’ve been using Corona for some time now. and I understand a huge amount more than when I started (of course), but I still sometimes struggle with the most basic tasks. (config.lua recently). I run into less scoping issues now, but usually thats because I know how to find them now. I’d love to be able to pick up a simple dungeon game, and create a ‘Gauntlet’ game. Seeing how to do it helps immensely. 

[roaminggamer]

Poke!

I’m poking this to get a little more love from folks.  Please see my original post at the top, plus my summary of the responses so far.

I’ll give this another week or two and then I’ll start to do ‘something’ with the results.  

[Appletreeman]

Hi Ed,  I meant to reply to this sooner but (if I’m honest) I completely forgot.

Hmmm… Where to start.  I would kill to have a personal tutor.  I find it really difficult to learn from reading books, API guides etc. so a really well written and explained tutorial always goes down well.

 

As for what I would like to see… 

Non-games

• How to use modules in games.  For example in a space shooter game you would have modules for the player, basic enemies, boss enemies etc.  And learning how to get the modules to communicate and work with each other.
• Working with text.  String manipulations etc.  I’d love to be able to do some scrolly messages of the kind you used to get on the demo scene.  ex1,  ex2, 

Games

• Platform games.  Simple ‘old skool’ style like Miner 2049er, Manic Miner, Chuckie Egg with non-intelligent enemies that tend to move back and forth along a platform.
  One thing I can’t get my head around is the whole ‘pre-collision’ concept to allow you to jump through platforms one way.  
• Arcade Shooters.  I can get the basics ok like Space Invaders, but struggle when it comes to something more complex where the enemies don’t just move back and forth.  Some examples:  Galaxians, Phoenix and Moon Cresta.
• Working with tiled and map loaders.

I’m sure there’s probably more but I’m at work at the moment and shouldn’t really be on here

[Abdo23]

Not a specific game type, but rather how to structure the game. For example:

• What is the most effective way of designing different levels?
•  Should I use inheritance(OOP) methods for designing the player and different enemy types? or just write a function that returns a new displayObject with some properties.
• Should I separate the data from the scene? (MVC) approach.
• How to make complex transitions with normal code in between them ( move something up, change some value, move something down, call function, scale something, change color of something)

Corona sdk doesn’t have many online tutorials, and the ones that exist are very basic. I would actually like someone to make a tutorial for a complex game from the ground up. let’s say a platformer where the player have weapons that he can upgrade and the game has different levels. That’s not something I’m working on or plan to, but I think the approaches used in a game like this would be pretty much applicable to most games of different genres.