Re: What do you do when...
This post is going to be extremely long, and takes forever to get to the theme, but if you can read all of it, thanks for taking the time.
A year ago I wouldn't have any rights to write on this page, but in this one year I have finally turned my failures into success.
I've only worked with bgt. It's simple, frustrating, and outdated. But it's what I've learned so I'm using it for my work. I first looked at it in 2015 with Mason's bop it project. I quickly learned how to work basic menus and what int and string variables were.
Like any 15 and 16 year old after seeing coding, the dreaming began. I had several ideas, most of them being map games. So I started a whole bunch of things in 2016. I was mainly interested in map games, and when I got map code in 2016, everything took off.
Or did it? No. It was all a massive failure. I didn't know shit. And I kept looking at it, and thinking that, I understand this now, I can try again. Despite being able to change the map layout and adding a third dimension, I couldn't do anything successfully. Even adding items or modifying them was too hard.
So after all of these failed projects in 2016 and part of 2017, I said fuck bgt. Fuck coding. I don't remember the last time I stopped working with it was, maybe it was even in 2018 when I finally stopped. but quitting bgt... wasn't permanent...
Stated previously, most of my ideas were map games. But there was one idea, that I had that was not dealing with maps, but I never linked it to me wanting to make it a project. It was an idea untouched by my dumb ass to turn it into reality. Well, that is until last November.
I always thought it would be cool to have a Rhythm Rage level creator, but by some miracle my dumb ass didn't think I could do it like a boss, it was never payed attention to, probably because it was so royal, it didn't even give me the chance to fuck it up. After a long break from bgt, or maybe a few months, I said, the hell with it. If I can't make a map game, let's try something else. I didn't care if it worked or failed, I didn't care if I could do it or not. The idea came. If I can't do it, who cares?
Only one problem... I didn't know how to write a program that literally just plays a sound when you press space. No joke. In 2016 I wanted to make a program that when you open it plays a sound when you press space. The sound would be written in the code. So it didn't require a path directory finder or anything. Here it was in November of 2018 and I still couldn't do that.
This morning a woke up and wrote the script in 14 lines in 2 minutes, maybe even 1. I'm not a dumb ass anymore! Hold on bitch, you still are. A big one!
Anyway, long story short, I learned how to play a sound, learned how to write to a file, that was self explanatory, and learned a shit tun about arrays for the level creator. That project turned me from a dumb ass, to having a successful project, and having some knowledge of bgt.
At the same time as starting the level creator, I started another project, one that was also different from anything else I have done. It would be like rs games. A turn style online game. Did it fail? No. But did I do it correctly? Absolutely fucking not. I didn't know how to use classes. The only reason it didn't fail is because I copied and pasted the network code from the bgt manual and it worked.
So with the level creator, I continuously worked on it. There was a small break between versions 3 and 4, but for the most part it was always active. Even today it is still active. I have done a few things since the version 7 release.
This other project was active for 2 or 3 weeks. Why? Because instead of making classes, I made each class a set of variables leveled with different starting letters. So with 4 players I had 4 game menus, 4 music menus, and 4 wheels. And the worst part, 12 blocks of receive code. I loved the project, but it was ridiculous, so I had no choice but to stop working on it.
But I loved that project so fucking much. I just couldn't use classes. So I focused on the level creator. And finally got around to asking on the forum if someone could help me rewrite this game.
Ivan Soto offered to write it, but we didn't get anything done after a month. But I still want to thank Ivan for offering to rewrite it. I didn't want to write another post about it on the forum, especially since someone already offered to help, so I said, it's either have Ivan's help when he is available, learn to rewrite it myself, or give up on the project. I loved it too much to give up. And if I was able to learn a little more about classes, perhaps I could reduce the amount of work for Ivan. So I read the classes section in the bgt manual a few times, and wrote a forum topic about classes and within 2 days I understood how to use them. I had the whole game rewritten by myself in 3 to 4 days. So that project is now active along with the creator.
Notice how I haven't mentioned anything about maps? I don't plan to work on maps any time soon. Here is the theme, my answer to the question of the topic.
part 1
If you are a beginner like me, this advice will help you go from not knowing shit to knowing a shit tun.
Try new ideas. It sounds like it wouldn't work, but different types of projects teach you different things.
Menus taught me how functions work and how to call functions.
Bop it style games taught me a tun about variables and how to do key presses.
Maps taught me more about variables and a tiny bit about classes.
The level creator taught me about sound playing, conditions, writing to a file, string operations, arrays, and making arrays from files.
The network project has taught me how peer to peer connection works, and a shit tun about classes.
Another thing to do is recognize your limits of knowledge.
For 2 years I tried working with maps, denying that I was incapable of understanding and working with these games. It is simply too advanced for me. There are too many things I don't know. Even to this day I don't touch map code, because I'm not ready for it.
If you have tried something for a year or 2 and it is still failing, try new types of projects. Learn from those and perhaps one day you can come back with the knowledge you need to begin working with that type of project. I'm still miles away from maps.
The third thing to do: make your own scripts.
Yes, I know exactly your mindset. If I don't have the knowledge, how can I make my script? First use examples from all sorts of types of projects and make a script of a type that you find you understand the most, or do what I did and learn how to play a sound first and then go from there. Start adding variables to it, and build your own script for a project.
You can use the foundation references in the bgt manual to learn about new types of objects and operations. I use it constantly.
I won't lie, it's not easy to start your own script, and it's even harder to get it working without getting 20000 errors thrown at you. I didn't understand that there were already made objects in bgt at the time, so I tried using sound pool on my own and that didn't work. Try using already made objects for your own scripts.
Lastly: ask on the forum when you are stuck.
I can't count how many times this forum has saved my ass. I have learned a lot from here. Without the developers room I wouldn't have 7 eighths of the knowledge I know. You guys are awesome!
These 4 things will help your motivation keep going. They are all things you have heard before. I've heard them a billion times and didn't understand how any of them were possible. Just start trying different types of projects, and start from a basic concept like playing a sound, and add more things until it turns into what you want, but be aware of your knowledge limits.
You will know you did something right and you have taken the right step when you suddenly start to understand recognizing knowledge limits.
part 2
Ok, so I have 2 successful projects now. How the hell did the idea and motivation for these successful projects happen?
For the level creator, it was just an idea played out in my head for years. I imagined doing an action, and then pressing b to type in the fields, or maybe being able to calculate the distance between 2 points and using that in the level creator. I didn't think too much about it because I knew I couldn't make it. But one day while coding a level I told myself, I can either keep coding a billion levels over and over, or I can code a program once and have levels finished without doing math and checking spelling and syntax. That question got my motivation going.
For this current project I am working on along side of the level creator, it all started from a dreidel game on rs. Yes, a freaking dreidel game! My friend made a custom currency for the game. The currency was a reference to an amazing game that I am constantly playing. That idea of using that reference was so powerful, I had to write an online game that was a parody of the original. I wasted no time. I didn't care that I didn't know how to use classes, I just made it. And for the time being, it was great, it was fun, it was doable. But as I added the player 3 and player 4 sets of variables, I realized how ridiculous this was. The motivation was always there to finish it, and it killed me that I didn't know how to rewrite it, but then I asked myself the question: what are my options? Wait for Ivan to do everything, start learning what you can, or give up on it? So I started learning how to use classes.
Heart of Theme:
Questions are powerful. They change events in history everyday. Each major decision has a powerful question. If you are stuck with motivation but lack of knowledge, or knowledge but lack of motivation, find the powerful question that will force you to get the work done.
Thanks for reading my insanely long post that was only half relevant.
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