Feedback on 2D Tutorials

Hello! For a bit of an introduction before I go into critique: My name is Josie and I'm an aspiring game developer. I followed the plug from the Extra Credits series on making your first game to the unity website. I've never made a game before and I've only taken a few tutorials on coding but I decided that unity seemed like a good start to both. Since I'm completely new to this kind of thing I thought it's probably best for me to start with something simple, so I started watching the 2D tutorials. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of nice things to say about them; they're pretty awful.

I can see that the structure, topics, and content of the tutorials were well planned out and professional, and could definitely give a viewer all they need to dive into game development. The actual writing and execution of the tutorials completely ignore the needs of an average viewer. It's hard to follow what the narrator is saying because they use a lot of terminology specific to unity, with no explanation for what they're talking about. There's almost no visual compensation for what's going on in the narration.To go along with that, the writing is very dry and extremely hard to focus on - especially for someone like me who has ADHD.

I'd say the first mistake was making the 2D tutorials in reference to the 3D platform. If the unity engine/platform/whatever-you-call-it is trying to attract new designers and developers who have little to no experience, it's likely that they're gonna start with something simple like 2D development. By having the narration to the 2D tutorials explain everything assuming that the viewer is familiar with the 3D platform can cause frustration among those who are completely new to the program, and it can turn away a lot of potential developers. Furthermore the tutorials use a lot of terminology that's specific to the unity program and expect the viewers to know what they're talking about. I'm assuming the tutorials are this way because the viewer should be familiar with those terms from the 3D platform. For a viewer that's completely new to unity, they'll have to work a lot harder than necessary to understand, which they're already doing because the writing is so technical and hard to process. It completely degrades the learning experience.

The second mistake was: not taking advantage of the visual aspect of video tutorials. While I didn't take much in from the tutorials because they were so hard to focus on, I could tell where highlighting words or objects or giving some sort of clear example of what was being said could have done a great service to the tutorials. If you take a look at Khan Academy videos you can see some really great examples of this kind of method.

Of course I'm not asking for a tutorial library like Khan Academy's website. After all, this is a game engine business, not a school. But seeing as you probably paid a good amount of money to sponsor that Extra Credits series, it would probably be a good idea to make some easier-to-watch tutorials to go along with that. This is just a suggestion, take it or leave it, but thanks for taking your time to read it ;~)

 

None of the Unity tutorials are designed to take ones hand and go through the process of becoming a game developer. It's up to you to make that happen. There are alternative resources on youtube and many other related sites that offer step by step introduction videos that break things down more than what Unity has already done for you.

Also note that Unity is originally a 3D engine. The 2D engine is fairly new and isn't aimed at new clients to come check out Unity. The tutorial assumes you've been using Unity for some time now and you're interested in the new 2D engine. You should check out their editor tutorials and previous 3D tutorials to better get a better understanding of the engine.

Also, tons of Unity books out there. Each one covers the engine details and how to manipulate your camera, scene, project settings, etc.

Best of luck!

 

Thank you. I was considering watching the 3D tutorials. It just seemed a bit overwhelming to start out game designing with the 3D engine. Like I said all of this was merely a suggestion. In my opinion, it seems like it might be beneficial for the community to have a better set of 2D tutorials for people to access. I understand why you've sort of taken a defensive stance too. I was probably hyper-critical and for that I apologize.

 

Whether you decide to create a 2D game or a 3D game, both are based in an Editor (Unity) which is 3D capable.

To make a 2D game in Unity, we (collectively - meaning us-Unity and you-the-student) choose to ignore or throw out one "D" (in this case the z-axis from x, y & z). Because of this, the tutorials need to address the fact that Unity is 3D capable, and that there are times that there could be interaction between the 2D and 3D paradigms.

It might help if you are aware of the organization of the tutorial section. When looking at the "modules", each of these is laid out as a reference to one particular topic. They can be a bit dry, as they are describing a topic, not a work flow. If you want to know how to work with a project, you should try the "Projects" section. This has "how to's" on making basic games. That being said, the introduction to Unity project is a 3D project (Roll-a-ball). I have noted that an introduction project in 2D would be good to have available. It is on our roadmap, but it has not yet been produced. I'll revisit our schedule for this after GDC in March.

You should also be aware of "Live Training" (http://unity3d.com/learn/live-training). Usually, every week we do a live training session, and many of these have been 2D related. We walk thru a simple catch game; which could easily be adapted to - say - a "space invaders" style game. We make an "Angry Birds" style demo, which includes simple destructible physics buildings. There are at least 2 different sessions on aspects of 2D platforming! There are also several simple games that we have done in 3D (breakout, jewel mining, etc.) that can be adapted to 2D once you have a basic understanding of Unity.

Lastly - be aware that the differences between 2D and 3D are very very superficial. The basic engine logic for 2D and 3D are nearly identical. They "diverge" or "branch" only in how they handle that last "D", so all of the workflow in Unity is the same for 2D and 3D. This means that learning the editor is basic and important and most importantly the same for both 2D and 3D.

Because of this, you should follow the basic "Introduction to the editor" sessions in the Tutorials, as these will be the same for 2D or 3D, and describe how to navigate in the editor, how to use GameObjects and Components and other basic concepts. You should also be aware that I've done one session as an Introduction to Unity from a 2D perspective. http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/...training-archive/introduction-to-unity-via-2d

 

Thank you Will and Adam! Sorry it took me so long to reply. I guess it took me a few days to process all that information. (Also within that time I've been working on the roll-a-ball tutorial and begun planning a small project based off that). I think having some simpler tutorials in the "Making Your First Game" category could definitely help, but I also think having that category all the way down at the bottom definitely hinders the process. I didn't even know there was such a category on the tutorial page until you mentioned it on here (even though I'd seen the videos in it before even coming to the unity website). I guess that's mainly due to my impatience or something along those lines, but I think it would have helped if that category - hypothetically having simpler tutorials in it - was one of the first things I saw scrolling through the page.

All of that information you posted, Adam, was definitely really helpful. I think having an intro tutorial for 2D was exactly what I was getting at in my original post and I'm glad to hear it's on your road map. As for at first ignoring the 3D intro tutorial project, I guess I was just intimidated by that extra D and what that might mean for the amount of "additional" content I'd have to learn, but the intro tutorial definitely makes it at least a bit less intimidating.

- Also as a side note, I was just re-reading my original post and I again apologize for my hyper-criticalness. I had just come from the 2D tutorial topic and was frustrated on not being able to process what was being said. I probably should have been more careful with my revision.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

Sadly, I think the fact that the category is last is the curse of Alphabeticism! As the category is "Your First Game" it sorts to the end as it's starts with "Y". We'll have a think-about...

Well - wait until we get thru our crunch to prep material for GDC in a few weeks, and then we'll turn our sights back on the training material.

We'll keep you posted.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to tag us in a post!

 

Resorted! Yay web-dev-team!