"Abigayl" Stencyl 3.X Tutorial (now on Kongregate)

Tuo

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For all of you who do not know, I am actually the one behind the "Abigayl" tutorials, both here (http://www.stencyl.com/help/tv/) and on Kongregate (http://www.kongregate.com/games/Abigayl). I changed my name first (actually back) to just4yoshi and then more recently to my identity of "StencylTUO" (the "TUO" standing for "The Unknown One" as I was originally going to hide my identity) since I'm actually a guy IRL.

Anyways, with 3.0 (and now 3.1 and soon 3.2) out of beta, I've been working on a 3.X tutorial series, just like I made for 1.X and 2.X (don't ask me why Stencyl didn't upload the 2.X series to Stencyl TV; I don't know why either). It's been a 3-month process, filled with setbacks (which you can read about in my game journal: http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,29931.0.html). However, I'm very pleased with the end result. My tutorials in the past have been called "interactive", and I felt that they never fully lived up to that name. Not with this tutorial though. After many years of coding, I finally have enough experience to create my own "Stencyl" within a flash game. Now, the tutorial is indeed fully interactive.

Now, I'm not willing to release it fully quite yet (will be sending it to Kongregate, possibly NewGrounds, and Stencyl itself for the Stencyl TV area). That's because I've only had limited feedback on it. While I've tested it a lot, I need some other people to look at it and let me know what works (and especially what doesn't :P). Thus, I am asking for YOUR help, to look it over and tell me your thoughts. Thank you.

TLDR version: I've made a new tutorial for 3.X, which I hope will help a lot of people learning Stencyl. However, I need feedback on what is explained well and what needs work (especially for how to use the tutorial). Thank you.

Link: http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/26503

« Last Edit: July 08, 2014, 07:11:27 pm by Tuo »
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

aeklad

  • Posts: 43
Another great tutorial.  The User interface is really nice.  I love the progress bar.

I'm a bit confused by the second line in the title page.  I'm understanding that "Use the arrows to see where to click to advance." is referring to the red arrows that you've drawn pointing to different parts of the Stencyl interface.  At first I thought maybe you were talking about arrow keys or the forward and back arrows.  Maybe if you refer to the arrows more specifically ie: "red arrows"

I don't understand what you mean by "The color changes with what you have to do."  I'm sure I'm missing something ridiculously obvious.

I was able to complete the tutorial and navigate easily with the new interface despite my slight confusion with that line on the title page.

Great work.  Thanks.

Tuo

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Thanks for the feedback Aeklad :). Please let me know if the new opening line is less confusing (or if you have any ideas to make it more clear). I've reworked how those two lines read, and it seems better to me now (also by using the example of the red arrow, it hints that other colors mean other things, such as the yellow arrows meant "drag").

Also, a bit of pie on my face; I've updated the original post so that the link actually goes to the tutorial itself instead of the forum post (copy/paste got screwed up the first time :P).
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

aeklad

  • Posts: 43
Yes, that clears it up nicely.
This tutorial great.  It's going to help out a lot of new Stencylers.

Tuo

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  • Posts: 2469
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

Tuo

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  • Posts: 2469
Please let me know of any improvements I can make before Tuesday morning (when I'm hoping to finish the publication process). Thank you!
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

Tuo

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  • Posts: 2469
It's now up on Kongregate! I added a few more details to it, and I can't think of any way to make it even better. If you like it, please don't forget to rate it. Thanks! :D

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Abigayl/stencyl-3-1-tutorial-1
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

Tuo

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  • Posts: 2469
Looks like there won't be a part 2. Part 1 received a 3.2 on Kong, a whopping 0.5 lower than the lowest of my other tutorials. I guess people don't like the new style, which is a shame considering the long hours I put into it. It's pretty disappointing.

I do hope it helped out some people, but this tutorial is officially a flop.
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

Unept

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  • Posts: 351
It's definitely not a flop. I just gave it 5 stars, and the average went up to 3.36. So I'm pretty sure you're looking at an average from only a couple ratings. Also, there are only 100 gameplays. Most people on Kong aren't interested in Stencyl tuts, but the few who are will be very appreciative. I believe this is more of a long term project, and you should definitely give it some time, as it won't act the same as an actual game submission.

"Abigayl's" tutorials helped me more than anything else when I was getting started with Stencyl, so I'm glad you're still doing them, and I know that many others are just as appreciative. :)

Also, could you put a link to Stencyl somewhere in the comments/description? That may be helpful.

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Tuo

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Unept, the lowest any other tutorial has been when coming out of judgment is 3.9/5. That's 12 for 12 tutorials up until this one. Statistically, it's a very significant outlier. The links are in the tutorial itself. Look for the blue fonts ;).
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)

Elder

  • Posts: 8
Regardless of what ratings you have received, you are forever in my gratitude for helping me understand the program more.

Blobzone

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Are there so many changes in Stencyl 3.0 ?

Tuo

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  • Posts: 2469
Thanks Elder. It's comments like yours that help me to keep going to help people out :).

Blob, there aren't many changes to 3.0, but there have been differences between the Stencyl versions between the tutorial series. The previous one was 2.0, and 2.1/2.2 changed the interface in several ways (most notable being the "Settings"  button), and with 3.1/3.2, there have been new features added. It's also one reason why I use a different game as my basis for each series.
Don't look to me but rather to the One who is the reason for what I do. :)

If you need help, send me a PM. Even if I haven't been on in the forums in ages, I still receive those messages via email notifications. You can also reply to any of my forum posts, regardless of the age (especially if I created it), and I will likely reply.

If you want to see the programming behind certain types of games, feel free to check out my "Demo-" games on StencylForge (http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,16160.0.html)