(idea) more tutorial ideas

Members and Ashley,

On the subject of tutorials (tut)

Idea 1

Scoring a Tut:   Have a 5 star rating (or something similar).

Currently we can 'favorite' the tut but there is no way to weed out the bad ones.

Unfortunately, there are just so many bad tuts on the site, I think if the members could score the tut, and maybe when searching tuts we could 'check' a box to search only 4 and 5 star tuts for example. ( And if a tut gets too many 1 star rating it could be deleted )

Idea 2

As a new learner I am going thru many of the old tuts only to find that the sample link to view the game or to demonstrate the 'play' doesn't work. They usually go to a personal dropbox which only has a limited amount of bandwidth, or the person deletes it from their dropbox. I think a better way is have the person use a Scirra provided link.

What do you, Ashley and the members, think?

Providing online storage costs money, and Scirra are not a big player. I would rather they didn't bankrupt themselves in order to make things slightly easier for people to find old files.

Many of the old files probably wouldn't work very well anyway, due to the several 'breaking changes' that have happened over the years.

zenox98 I see your point but I think you may be over estimating the bandwidth needed to support these files. The bandwidth needed would be very tiny compared to, say, The Arcade.

I just think having working links ( even if it's an old tut ) are important to maintain, as there are always new learners signing up and its the new learners who will be purchasing the software, if they can figure it out ( via tuts)

Just a thought.

i love both these ideas. i dont want to waste time looking at bad tutorials and i too have noticed many links that are broken.

I say search 3-5 stars

Strangely enough, I use this sticky for most of the links for learning how to do new things. scirra.com/forum/topic45416.html

They are not necessarily tutorials, but good links to working projects.

But yeah, a good rating for all new tutorials and old ones should have a ratings system of some kind. I know their team is small, but I do think this will help newcomers learn better and will have fewer questions.

If the author updates the tutorial to make it better, the bad ratings would still be there, correct?

Maybe, tags of "needs improvements", "broken links" or "great tutorial".

orangemicro, hey thanks for this link www.scirra.com/forum/topic45416.html

much appreciated

+1 for the rating system. As for the files, can't users already upload to their tutorial? Or are you saying make it a requirement?

DatapawWolf

yes users can upload their own files,

but I am talking about the links to sample games for example,

or the link to show what the tut does..

these samples now go to a personal dropbox and that is the problem: so many links are broken.

and

I'm not saying making it a 'requirement' per say, I mean, the tut maker can add a link anywhere on the tut he or she likes,

I am saying it would be nice if the tut maker had it available to upload their sample to a Scirra provided link so wouldn't get deleted .....

in fact, maybe it could be a subsection of The Arcade where these type of samples could be downloaded and stored.

Anyway, just a thought.

— okay, I see what you are saying. In that case, I'd like to see that kind of a feature as well. It would be handy to simplify the process for users to be upload their tutorial entry example files in action (and I mean either easier than the arcade, or separate). :)

— okay, I see what you are saying. In that case, I'd like to see that kind of a feature as well. It would be handy to simplify the process for users to be upload their tutorial entry example files in action (and I mean either easier than the arcade, or separate). :)

I know that the team is very busy doing other things, lets cross our fingers that this these will be improved soon.

+1 for the system. :)