Tutorials To Create Next - Feedback Needed
 

We've already put together a fair number of tutorials that cover a lot of the core functionality of Realm Works. And we have more tutorials planned. But the big problem we face is that work on new tutorials is in direct competition with work on new product features, since it's members of the dev team that are creating the tutorials. So it would be extremely helpful for us to get your feedback on what tutorials to work on next.

To that end, please let us know what aspects of the product you feel would be most valuable for us to create first. If you agree with suggestions already made in earlier posts in the thread, please chime in with your agreement. This is an informal poll that will help us determine which tutorials to do in what order. The number of votes for a particular tutorial subject will be important.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

I'm a huge fan of trial and error, and usually not a manual/tutorial person. Of course, I'm not (yet) an expert on the software, but I think that beyond the basic functionality, it would be great to go one step further and explain some "best practices" and your thoughts behind certain mechanics to help people get the most out of them.

For example:
* How to get the most out of Tags (what they can be used for, i.e. sorting and searching by tags, example situations such as "I need an NPC who would be willing to betray the PCs, let's look at who we have with the Selfish tag...")

* What to consider when localizing database items to another language (i.e. hiding the English original database entries etc.)

* Category design, do's and dont's (Sure, this is a matter of personal style, but this could be an opportunity to get some user feedback and incorporate that into a listing of possible approaches similar to the world building video)

You see where I'm going with this - there are probably billions of other possibilities as well.

I would almost rather have a FAQ (on use, not "what is the program") as opposed to a tutorial. There are some basic things that I ran into that would have been very quickly resolved via FAQ.

1. How do you create a tree directory (i.e. changing the "show containing hierarchy setting")

2. What data type should I use / does data type matter? (I understand that different data types result in different storage allotments in the database, but that's opaque to the user. How can I get the most out of data types?)

3. How do I re-scan for new linkages (i.e. I create Thing 1, which references Thing 2, not yet created. I then create Thing 2. How do I get Thing 1 to link again... and is there a way to do it on a large scale, and not by the onesie?)

For a more in-depth tutorial, I'd like to see something around how containers, relationships, content links, governed content, and tags all work together (assuming they do) and how to get the most out of them during both realm creation and game play.

Quests, Scenes, Incidents, Storyboards, Plots, Maps, World Reveal and how they all work together to form a setting or episode. Include a wide variety of examples like sci-fi exploration, dungeon crawl, buccaneer adventure and murder mystery that use the mechanics in different ways.

Provide step-by-step flow diagrams of different ways to approach data entry. The sheer amount of data that most people will want to input will be overwhelming to most. Having some guidance would alleviate a lot of anxiety.

This.

Entering and linking all the data is great, but then what? If I create a realm for a one-off, the answer seems pretty easy. Everything in the realm exists to serve one adventure. But if I build a world with a structure that can yield many adventures in an ongoing campaign, how do I manage the mechanics of a single adventure in a larger world?

I have some ideas that combine the uses of plots, quests and containers, but it would be nice to see an official tutorial.

considering the amount of time needed to create that many tutorials, and the amount of features that we've requested, i would say opt for more CassusAevum's option.

In this case, I think breadth is more important than depth.

Videos aren't necessary. And "official" tutorials aren't expected for everything.

I'm hoping we the community are also reading this particular thread so we can proactively put some guides together. I've been using RW long enough to know that the items I listed above are what I'm still grappling to nail down.

What else are we struggling to understand or do more efficiently?

Perhaps the best possibility in the long term is something that can be shared via the marketplace in the Mechanics section... a cross between a FAQ and a small wiki...

(Emphasis mine.)

My vote is to stick to working on the application(s) and don't bother with making more tutorials for now.

I am the type that prefers to explore a program, then read or search for specific answers, then be taught, so I don't usually bother watching tutorial videos. They go so slow in comparison to what they're trying to show. I watched a couple of the Realm Works ones just to see what you'd put together, and didn't find them any different.

I'd go more for a blog if you want to have a way to show how to do something, with perhaps videos later for the most popular questions/missed techniques/etc.

Why not let your users make your tutorials and focus on program features? That is, have your staff monitor the tutorials users post and link those that meet your editorial guidelines. While there's work involved with that, it's easier than doing the whole tutorial. Leverage your user base. Maybe even incentivize (you get a free month of cloud if you make a tutorial from the list of desired tutorials that meet your editorial standards)?