Arimaa Forum - Print Page


    
      
        Arimaa Forum
        (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi)
      

        Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> Client Help Video
        
(Message started by: megajester on Jan 5^th, 2011, 1:29pm)

Title: Client Help Video
Post by megajester on Jan 5^th, 2011, 1:29pm

This is in response to this thread (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=siteIssues;action=display;num=1294139476). Omar suggested I might like to have a go, so unless anyone else has already made a start I'd like to give it a try.

I think I'll base it on the Javascript client and perhaps mention in passing any material differences to the Flash client.

Seeing as the video would be accessed by the help button inside the client, I don't think I need to go into all that about "interactive/postal" and whatnot.

So here's how I picture it going:

A welcome screen with a list of each heading in the video, with the second it starts from so you can skip if you need to. So for example:

1. Client Selection 0:30
2. Starting the Game 1:24
3. ...

The outline would be as follows: Welcome Screen with a bit of friendly waffle, then I would talk about...

1. Client selection from the gameroom

2. Starting the Game
-Piece Setup (differences between clients)

3. During the Game
-Moving (the importance of taking the step back instead of moving it back, etc)
-Takeback, adjournment

4. Ending the Game
-Resigning ("it's not recommended")

Please let me know if there's anything I've missed. When the thread goes quiet I'll shoot the vid.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by Fritzlein on Jan 5^th, 2011, 3:12pm

It did always bother me that clicking "Help" did nothing. Better to have no button than a button with no help. I think any video that explains anything about how to use the client will be useful and soothing. Thanks for undertaking this task, megajester.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by Nombril on Jan 5^th, 2011, 3:54pm

I know I kept pushing P to pause the game when I first started, and I've seen at least one other person ask the same question. It is probably worth mentioning that it is not possible to pause or restart a game.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by megajester on Jan 6^th, 2011, 1:44am

on 01/05/11 at 15:54:20, Nombril wrote:

Excellent, thanks guys. Keep 'em coming.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by DonEsteban on Jan 6^th, 2011, 7:09am

Thanks for your effort, megajester. I think this will be really helpful. I think you might add

5. Quick explanation what all the other buttons do

6. Expert mode and the "Plan" window.

7. Chatting and commenting

The last two points are not that important, but if you find the time to do it, it would be a plus.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by omar on Jan 6^th, 2011, 12:19pm

Thanks for doing this Joel. I figured you would be the best person for it since you already have experience with making videos and also have a great voice to go along :-)

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by megajester on Jan 11^th, 2011, 5:20am

That's very kind of you Omar.

If nobody has anything else to add I'll get cracking then. As the barman would say, "Last orders everybody, last orders!" :D

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by omar on Jan 11^th, 2011, 10:33am

You might want to do a quick intro at the beginning with the most basic things one needs to know to get started and then cover the advanced stuff later. That way one does not need to watch the whole video to get started.

For the basics I would include:
1. Clicking the 'Start' button to begin the game.
2. How to place pieces during the setup move and send the move.
3. How to move the pieces and send the move.
4. How to undo a step.
5. How to pass some steps.
6. How to see opponents last move again using the Show button.
7. How to resign if needed; but we encourage playing to the end.
8. Remembering to click the 'Send' button after entering the steps. Sometimes new players forget to do this and lose on time :-)
9. If you close the game window you can open it again from the 'My Games' section.

That should be enough for someone to get started.

For the advanced stuff:
1. Undo move
2. Redo step
3. Redo move
4. Animation speed
5. Muting the sounds.
6. Requesting to takeback last move; only in unrated games.
7. Navigating through the move list.
8. Expert mode.
9. Plan window.
10 Move list.
11. Chat area.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by megajester on Jan 11^th, 2011, 3:01pm

on 01/11/11 at 10:33:49, omar wrote:

Just in the nick of time, I was just about to start recording when I saw this. Thanks for the tips, I will be incorporating most of them.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by megajester on Jan 13^th, 2011, 5:31am

It gives me great pleasure to announce the release of the

Arimaa Help Video (Beta) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHnP7dR295I)!

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

I made one or two mistakes in the video and Omar mentioned a couple of omissions. These I have compensated for with judicious use of annotations. Hence "Beta". If there's enough wrong with it I could reshoot it at some point, but if it'll do for now I don't see it's worth the effort.

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by lostcalpolydude on Jan 18^th, 2011, 7:04am

I see that the video is on the front page. The message above it is "Watch this video, if you not familiar with how to use the game client." It should be "Watch this video if you are not familiar with how to use the game client."

Title: Re: Client Help Video
Post by omar on Jan 21^st, 2011, 2:59pm

Thanks for that correction. Just fixed it.