Aurora 4x

New Players => VB Tutorials => Topic started by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 07:36:21 AM

Title: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 7 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 07:36:21 AM: Aurora 4x Tutorial videos
A series dedicated to a great game with a steep learning curve...

Introduction: So I have been playing this game, and I find it really great, but my god is it confusing ???
So in an attempt to broaden the audience, I will be creating a bunch of (mediocre/abysmal) videos that attempt to teach new players how to install, create and get started on a new game. The tutorial is currently planned to teach the first year or so of gameplay, but I will make more once I learn more of the game myself and have a better understanding of how everything works, as well as when I have the time.

The current plan is to have 1 video a day, although deviations from that schedule are possible (and quite likely) so don't expect me to keep to it, but I will try to make up for lost days with an extra video or 2.
This is no longer the case. With school on, and other commitments I have made, keeping to this schedule is impossible. The current plan as of 26th Feb is unknown, but this series has not been officially "cancelled" yet

I hope that the tutorials are clear, concise, and most importantly enjoyable to watch. I also hope that you guys enjoy playing the game and watching the vids as much as I am currently having fun making them. No doubt we will all learn something from this.

Videos

Part 1 Installing and setting up a new world:
feature=youtu.be
Part 2 System map and starting economics:
feature=youtu.be
Part 3 Economics continued:
feature=youtu.be
Part 4 Ship design:
context=C336c78aADOEgsToPDskKIZCJ7JjjU0VHz3ScNik77
Part 5 Task groups and using ships:
feature=youtu.be
Part 6 Terraforming, homework check and subscriber special:
feature=youtu.be
Part 7 It's not a tutorial!:
context=C4b9e5bfADvjVQa1PpcFPXDAC17u7QKdIYXi7LeheiCYfDijk5_50=

Tell me what you think! Also comment if you have questions, and like if you think this was helpful!

Current goals:
So I decided to show a list of goals for this series. These are milestones that I wish to reach, and I hope that eventually these goals will be reached no problem, but I know eventually I will come across an unobtainable goal. You can help me reach these goals, and would appreciate any assistance in doing just that!

1. Get this thread stickied (Hopefully. Not a request, rather a goal that once an admin/moderator deems this series worthy, it will be stickied) Goal has been completed as of 24th Feb!
2. Finish the tutorial of the game for the first year (current progress is 5 days worth)
3. ~~Have at least 1 video get 1000 views~~ (I'm not to sure how long this goal has been completed, but it has now been doubled! Whoo!!)
4. ~~Have 1 video reach 20 likes~~ (first video is currently on 24 likes! Yeah!)
5. Effectively end the series when gameplay has been explained adequately enough that players can go out and experiment with the game themselves, learning new things now that they have basic knowledge of the interface. (This will be obtained once the player base believes there is nothing left to teach. It may never be reached, it could be reached sooner than you think. But this is the grand goal at the moment, once achieved I might continue making videos on something else)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more
Post by: ponche on January 09, 2012, 02:28:21 PM: A very nice iniciative, hoping it doesn't become vapor! :P
I'm a complete newbie and i would like to learn how to play because this game seems amazing.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more
Post by: Pyromanuel on January 09, 2012, 03:01:48 PM: Looks like a good piece of work so far.
Keep it up, also I bet the forum can help you a lot if you make a mistake or need help with something!

If you some day think about giving up your project, think about this:
You learn alot yourself while trying to explain everything noobproof and like I mentioned before we're all helping out! So you better get the next part up and running ASAP ;)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more
Post by: Din182 on January 09, 2012, 06:36:23 PM: Don't be like me, and stop doing it after 3 episodes.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more
Post by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 08:05:37 PM: Quote from: ponche on January 09, 2012, 02:28:21 PM
A very nice iniciative, hoping it doesn't become vapor! :P
I'm a complete newbie and i would like to learn how to play because this game seems amazing.

That's great! Good to see people who want to learn more

Quote from: Pyromanuel on January 09, 2012, 03:01:48 PM
Looks like a good piece of work so far.
Keep it up, also I bet the forum can help you a lot if you make a mistake or need help with something!

If you some day think about giving up your project, think about this:
You learn alot yourself while trying to explain everything noobproof and like I mentioned before we're all helping out! So you better get the next part up and running ASAP ;)

Quote from: Din182 on January 09, 2012, 06:36:23 PM
Don't be like me, and stop doing it after 3 episodes.

I have already got episode 2 and 3 recorded ready to upload, and later tonight I will start working on the next episodes. And yes, I am still learning this game, in episode 2 and 3 I try to explain some areas of the interface but fail, mostly cause I don't know what it does myself :P. Fortunately, its only small things like mod rates and things like that, which don't need to be explained. Like I said, it is a basic tutorial to get you off your feet and start figuring things out once you have basic interface knowledge. Of course, with proper support for these, I will keep doing them past the first year!

Also Din, nice to see support from the other person who wanted to do this project, but why did you stop after 3 episodes?
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more
Post by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 09:38:19 PM: Next video is up, part 3 is being edited and saved now
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 2 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 10:31:36 PM: Part 3 uploaded successfully
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 3 up]
Post by: Erik L on January 09, 2012, 10:51:05 PM: I linked to them in the wiki.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 3 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 09, 2012, 10:58:48 PM: Quote from: Erik Luken on January 09, 2012, 10:51:05 PM
I linked to them in the wiki.
Wow!
Thanks man
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 3 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 13, 2012, 08:32:19 AM: Well after a bit of a break I am back into it and could potentially have the next 4-5 episodes done, but instead of putting those into separate episodes, I'm going to try upload it all into one big episode, which goes through basic ship design and researching ship components and how to get those ships. I stuff up many times throughout because the ship design is complex, and stuff up quite bad towards the end, but I will explain things better when I get to warship design. Moving forward, I am going to try and get this thing uploaded, I don't know how well it will turn out though. I am expecting audio sync issues because the ship design took so long, and I apologize in advance. I think I am going to cut things on and off constantly to prevent this from happening.

So expect the next episode on my channel soon!

EDIT: It is around 37 minutes long. This will take a little while to edit, so I am not going to get around to uploading this until tomorrow
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 3 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 14, 2012, 08:22:32 PM: Ship design episode is now up!
context=C336c78aADOEgsToPDskKIZCJ7JjjU0VHz3ScNik77
It's a big one
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 4 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 17, 2012, 08:41:09 PM: Okay, so many of you may be wondering where part 5 is, but something really weird and bad has happened. As none of you guys know, I use a laptop to record aurora, except I do it using a second monitor, for 1280x1024 resolution so I can play it at the minimum resolution requirement. But for some reason it stopped working. The screen comes on for half a second and then turn itself off again, so I can't play anything on it. This means there are 2 potential things I can do:

One is to use a mod that allows you to resize screens (resize enable) so I can continue to show you everything, but sometimes that doesn't work the way you wanted it to. It will force me to cut the screen off frequently while I set up the next screen for play, so you guys can see what I am doing. On the brighter side, it will remove the black bars, so you guys will not have to worry about the black bars at least.

The second and final solution that I don't want to turn to, but seems somewhat likely, is to cancel the series entirely and not make any more videos on this wonderful game. This is something I don't want to do, but I am running out of options so either the mod, or I cancel the show. Getting the monitor fixed is unlikely as it is no longer supported (I have had it for a very long time now so it did a good job while it lasted) and I don't have the time to go and get it fixed. Tomorrowish I will try getting the monitor to work and using the mod if that fails, and if it all doesn't work out the way I want it to, then I am postponing the tutorial videos, probably for a very long time, and they may not come back. I have taught you quite a fair bit now, and there is so much more I wish to tell you, but at this current state its very hard to consider an episode working.

Of course, one final solution would be for a better mod or Steve to allow lower resolutions to play the game ;)

EDIT: This is no longer the case. This series will continue.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 4 up]
Post by: DGardener on January 18, 2012, 11:40:08 AM: Quote from: lavenders2 link=topic=4516. msg45551#msg45551 date=1326854469
Okay, so many of you may be wondering where part 5 is, but something really weird and bad has happened. As none of you guys know, I use a laptop to record aurora, except I do it using a second monitor, for 1280x1024 resolution so I can play it at the minimum resolution requirement. But for some reason it stopped working. The screen comes on for half a second and then turn itself off again, so I can't play anything on it. This means there are 2 potential things I can do:

One is to use a mod that allows you to resize screens (resize enable) so I can continue to show you everything, but sometimes that doesn't work the way you wanted it to. It will force me to cut the screen off frequently while I set up the next screen for play, so you guys can see what I am doing. On the brighter side, it will remove the black bars, so you guys will not have to worry about the black bars at least.

The second and final solution that I don't want to turn to, but seems somewhat likely, is to cancel the series entirely and not make any more videos on this wonderful game. This is something I don't want to do, but I am running out of options so either the mod, or I cancel the show. Getting the monitor fixed is unlikely as it is no longer supported (I have had it for a very long time now so it did a good job while it lasted) and I don't have the time to go and get it fixed. Tomorrowish I will try getting the monitor to work and using the mod if that fails, and if it all doesn't work out the way I want it to, then I am postponing the tutorial videos, probably for a very long time, and they may not come back. I have taught you quite a fair bit now, and there is so much more I wish to tell you, but at this current state its very hard to consider an episode working.

Of course, one final solution would be for a better mod or Steve to allow lower resolutions to play the game ;)

So did you managed to fix the monitor?
Damn it, Din seems to have canceled his tutorial series, and now you. . . This game is cursed, it wants us to have headaches trying to surf on the learning curve!

And what's wrong with your laptop screen, can't you just record there? I play on a laptop, and the reduced height windows + taskbar hiding automatically is just perfect. (1280x800)
I hope you can fix that somehow, you were doing a great work on the tutorials!
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 4 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 20, 2012, 07:22:34 AM: Quote from: DGardener on January 18, 2012, 11:40:08 AM
So did you managed to fix the monitor?
Damn it, Din seems to have canceled his tutorial series, and now you. . . This game is cursed, it wants us to have headaches trying to surf on the learning curve!

And what's wrong with your laptop screen, can't you just record there? I play on a laptop, and the reduced height windows + taskbar hiding automatically is just perfect. (1280x800)
I hope you can fix that somehow, you were doing a great work on the tutorials!

Thanks for your positive feedback! I was really starting to enjoy making these videos since they were fun and people were actually liking them. It is very motivating.
I have some bad news though. My laptop does not have a 800 pixel height, only 768. Unfortunately, this means reduced system height will not work, and it still cuts out some small things. Also, my monitor is gone. No hope for it. It is dead, I think something in it died (bad caps?) and that is a true shame/

BUT

There is some great news with this bad news. As an experiment, I have a TV (very small) in my room that I can use as a monitor. It looks badass, and does what it is meant to do, allow me to have the correct resolution. Now, I can play Aurora again and give you tutorial videos again! YAY!
Bonus points. I made a test video using a higher resolution. What this did is make the text quite small, but gets rid of all the black bars on the video! Now, you should be able to see everything I do on the youtube video, and not lose quality (I think). It is a test for my next video, so whether the text is readable or not: who knows.

Speaking of next episode, the next episode is done and being edited again. It should be up in an hour or so. I also encounter minor audio sync issues again, which I may have a solution for in the following vid (episode 6)!

So in short, yes this series will continue, and yes, I will be going back to the 1 video a day schedule as best I can. School is starting for me soon, so that promise may not be fulfilled, rather I will upload bigger videos on weekends.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 5 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 20, 2012, 07:54:40 AM: It's here. It's big. It's grand. And it still doesn't taste like butter!
Episode 5 hits youtube with no hits, but every time you watch the video you generate a hit! Silent, unintentional trolling! Woo!
And now to satisfy your already satisfied brain I give you Aurora tutorial part 5!!!
feature=youtu.be
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every day or more [Part 5 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on January 22, 2012, 07:04:45 AM: You did your homework right? Because Tutorial video episode 6 is coming in an hour or two and you don't want to miss it. I will edit both this post and the first one when that video is up. The episode contains terraforming. As an added bonus, subscribing or commenting on my videos from this video forward will give you a special bonus! Something small for all those out there who like what I am doing so far, and to encourage others to get involved in this fantastic game!

And it is now here:
feature=youtu.be
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every week or more [Part 6 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on February 01, 2012, 01:28:52 AM: Just a quick update for those wondering where the next episode is. I am in grade 11, and fun time comes in miniscule quantities, so getting episodes out is hard. I will try and get one out every weekend, but the series will be going slow until the next holidays
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every week or more [Part 6 up]
Post by: theGreatPoupon on February 09, 2012, 01:09:27 AM: your videos have been super helpfull ,the next ones cant come soon enuf :D
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan to make at least 1 every week or more [Part 6 up]
Post by: Arwyn on February 09, 2012, 11:18:31 AM: Great job and nicely done!
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on February 17, 2012, 07:55:46 PM: An update since it has been a little while

For those amazing people still sticking around, thanks. This week (today) is impossible because I will be away, and the same with next week (7 days from now). After that, an update to the series is looking plausible.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: Atlantia on February 18, 2012, 06:36:39 AM: I think it's a long shot, but you are on Reading Week? ("Whoo, Canada!"?)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: ollobrains on February 18, 2012, 07:49:22 AM: Keep em coming loving them
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: Erik L on February 25, 2012, 12:54:33 AM: I've stickied this, and updated the wiki with the videos (and Din182's).
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: Erik L on February 25, 2012, 01:02:22 AM: Was watching episode 6, and the bit where you start talking about gravity is not quite accurate.

With genetic research you can exceed the base racial gravity tolerance parameter.

But, that is an advanced topic most likely not in the scope of the tutorial. ;)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on February 26, 2012, 01:41:30 AM: Quote from: Erik Luken on February 25, 2012, 01:02:22 AM
Was watching episode 6, and the bit where you start talking about gravity is not quite accurate.

With genetic research you can exceed the base racial gravity tolerance parameter.

But, that is an advanced topic most likely not in the scope of the tutorial. ;)

Thanks for the feedback!
And yeah, I didn't know about that, but the tutorial was only meant for the first year or so of gameplay to get someone into the interface. Thanks for the sticky as well!
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: JohnnyR on March 06, 2012, 04:54:28 PM: Please please PLEASE do not stop doing these. These are immensely helpful to a newbie (like me) and I NEED them to survive. PLEASE MAKE MORE!!! ;)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: Thiosk on March 06, 2012, 04:59:05 PM: I thought I was busy in grade 11 too. Now I'm a post doctoral researcher, and free time is even more minuscule. It was nanoscale when I was a grad student. Now its attoscale. I shudder to think what happens after becoming a parent.
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 6 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on March 08, 2012, 01:58:10 AM: Quote from: Thiosk on March 06, 2012, 04:59:05 PM
I thought I was busy in grade 11 too. Now I'm a post doctoral researcher, and free time is even more minuscule. It was nanoscale when I was a grad student. Now its attoscale. I shudder to think what happens after becoming a parent.

nucleuscale?
School does take much time out of my day, and the music program takes away even more (my average school day is 2 hours longer because of music) so getting home, getting lots of homework done and then trying to upload a video is hard.

Anyway, the subscribers promise I made is now fulfilled, and my subs will be seeing their ships just for them in a ~~few minutes~~. This video coming is not a tutorial video! It is a subscriber special and also an update for the channel (and I still drag on, something I am going to work on in future videos)

Ok, the video is actually here now:
context=C4b9e5bfADvjVQa1PpcFPXDAC17u7QKdIYXi7LeheiCYfDijk5_50=
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 7 up]
Post by: JohnnyR on March 08, 2012, 10:59:41 AM: I'm not in there =(
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 7 up]
Post by: lavenders2 on March 15, 2012, 02:36:31 AM: Quote from: JohnnyR on March 08, 2012, 10:59:41 AM
I'm not in there =(

I think you subscribed after I made the video. I made it quite early, but it didn't get uploaded on that day, so that is why it may look like you actually subscribed before I made the video. Nonetheless, you are as elite as the rest of the subs :)
Title: Re: Video tutorials: Plan unknown [Part 7 up]
Post by: Bran34 on March 19, 2012, 08:48:39 PM: Do you plan on doing this more?

The only real problem I have with the series is that it feels like you sort of skip around a bit.

Other than that, it's very educational and I would be basically nowhere without your help.