what crash course tutorial(s) should I study to figure this out?

Total noob here, I have a game I want to make and Stencyl appears to be the easiest way to do it.
I want to make a launch game, like Luis Launch, Hedgehog Launch, or Burrito Bison (or any of the other upgrade games where you launch your character to see how far & high he can go.)

My question is: is a launcher game basically an actor with jump behaviors colliding with spawned actors?

Yes, but for the backgrounds you'll need more actors so you can adjust the speed that it scrolls..

thanks for the reply. This is a great program....I used Flash before this, & I'll probably never go back.

After a couple of days, I've got the basics of my game running. I've tried a few different versions out & they all seem to work....now it's just a matter of figuring out which methods work best for which parts of this game.

Is there a chance of finding a mentor on this site? I don't really need anyone to hold my hand, but I'd like to have a private discussion with someone experienced who could show me the pros & cons of my decisions.