RPG Starterkits

Finally!

I actually think this is a good idea, if not the only good idea in this thread. Based on something Spoonweaver wrote in another thread about the size of the community's influx, I agree that something like this might be more effort than it's worth. But I do think that in a perfect world, this would be a good idea.

Many of us started here in this community many, many years ago (scary thought), and had just a handful of resources to learn from: NPC Tag, PSTutor, Wandering Hamster, and Monterey Penguin (I consulted Penguin many times during my learning period). Each of these were unpassworded and included their plotscript files. The first two had attached documentation on the Hamster Republic website, which I believe are still available. We had a Help Me message board for things not covered in the tutorials or open files. For the things that were covered, we studied, learned from them, applied our newfound knowledge to our works-in-progress. This is how we learned the engine. Most of us who gave it the time were able to discover our strengths, our weaknesses, improve both, and make games that we may not have ever been able to imagine possible before. I now have three games that far exceed any expectation of my own ability that I first had. I still don't consider myself any kind of technical genius, and I'm certainly no math wiz, and yet I made one of the most complicated business sims on the OHR, and though it has plenty of flaws, it's a far cry beyond anything I thought possible when I first downloaded the OHR many, many years ago. Now, in those days the engine wasn't designed or capable of simulating many of the things that it can do today. But my games have evolved with the engine, and with each new evolution, I've had to stretch my brain a little and learn. I'm still not amazing with slices, but I'm a lot better now than I was when it was first introduced. How did I learn them? I read the plotscript dictionary (something I've been doing since Day One), and I asked questions about anything I didn't understand. I learned. Then I put what I learned into practice (a very important step). If it didn't work, I'd change the numbers a bit until it did. Sometimes design requires trial and error. It's time consuming, but because none of us are on a deadline, we can afford the time.

If I had an article devoted to the tricks that Wandering Hamster pulled off (or in modern-day case, Vikings of Midgard), I'd have learned the engine faster. I'd certainly have my understanding reinforced. But even now that's a bit unnecessary since CUSTOM now has help menus attached to every menu. And yes, I still consult the F1 menu on areas of the engine that I still need reminders about, especially with battle formulas and selected bits. Between the F1 menu, plotscript dictionary, unprotected games that come with plotscript files, the message boards, and #slimesalad on IRC (where James and TMC can sometimes be found), I have no excuse not to learn new tricks and improve my skills as I push forward to seeing my vision (my unique vision) come to fruition.

To be clear, I'm not against a starter kit in theory, if it's used to teach. But I am against a starter kit designed to prevent improvement. Anyone who's serious about anything will do the research. Not to sound overly political, but once we seek others to hold our hands and do things for us that we could easily learn and do ourselves, we cease to be creative, intellectual, or functional. Yes, we need instruction if we can't figure something out on our own. That's valid. Articles on how certain games pulled off certain tricks would be helpful. But we don't need someone else doing our work for us if we're under no time constraints. I stand by my career statement: "Laziness is not an option." If you want to do something, learn how to do it. It took me forever to understand how arguments work, but now that I do, I use them all the time and love how efficient they make things for me. I had to ask questions several times and eventually have msw188 spell it out for me in kindergartener terms before I could understand them. But his lesson ended up helping me loads. James and TMC are still showing me how to pull certain tricks off.

Let's be realistic here. Even if a newbie learns the basics from a starter kit, he's still gonna have to learn the advanced stuff if he wants to truly see his vision come to life. What good is a hand-holding starter kit if he's just gonna need more hand-holding in the advanced kit? Let me give you an example of what happens when you don't learn and do for yourself:

In eighth grade I failed Algebra because I missed something essential early on and couldn't get back on track. I had to relearn the entire course in summer school just to pass it. My entire math career throughout high school was subpar because I somehow missed the basic understanding behind complicated math. By the time I got to 12th grade, I voluntarily dropped my AP Calculus class because I knew that if I passed it (by the skin of my teeth, which was unlikely by that point), I would've been stuck with college math credit that I could not reverse, which meant I would've been required to take Calculus II on up if I wanted my mandatory math credits. I never would've been able to pass those required classes if I had continued forward in my lack of understanding, and I would've been screwed out of my degree had I not admitted that I needed to reinforce my practice of the basics. If I had continued forward, I would've been locked into my failing progress (you can't get math credit for backward learning), and how would that have helped me, my future, or my math skills? I dropped Calculus before it could screw me, took basic math and algebra in college, passed each one (Algebra with flying colors), and got my credits and my foundation secure. Then I started an English track and never again took a math class. I learn all my advanced math in the OHR now. Learning works. Hand-holding will just screw you over in the end.

I know what you're thinking: How will this help our community's numbers? Yes, maybe the lack of a starter kit might keep certain people away from the community. With this place remaining dozens small, as it's been for fifteen years, our numbers have been a detriment, and anything that can get more people interested in giving the OHR a chance should be encouraged. But, as Spoonweaver said in either this thread or the one that inspired this one, anyone who is too lazy to learn or put knowledge into practice (including graphic design) is probably not someone we'd enjoy adding to the roster here. I think what we want more than new game designers is new players, and offering the game-playing community a barrage of stock games is unlikely to keep anyone around for long. I'd rather we attract the people who appreciate quality and creativity, even if that means the numbers continue to trickle.

Having said that, I don't think this thread should be locked. I think it should be repurposed. Turn it into the lessons you've learned from other people, or the lessons you've figured out on your own. If that's even necessary. Of course, we've already got countless threads on how to do things, so maybe this dead horse has already jumped the shark.

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