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[Basic and Comprehensive/2.50] ZQuest 2.50 Video Tutorial for Intermed


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#1 Phosphor

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Posted 05 January 2017 - 06:11 PM

I've notice an odd lack of video-based tutorials on YouTube for ZQuest, beyond basic ones and one-off guides, so I figured I'd start a small video series targeted towards users that already know the basics of the program, but desire to learn more niche and advanced tricks. This series won't be covering anything too advanced, such as scripting and such, however it will be covering some of the "new" UI elements and tools of 2.5 that weren't present in the previous versions.

 

(I'll provide a table of contents if I create enough parts of the series to warrant it.)

 

Here, in part 1, I cover the new UI elements of the editor, aliased tiles, small tricks to more rapidly produce overworld screens for non-classic tilesets, and multiple tile warps/warp returns on the same screen.

 

 

I would love some feedback on this, along with ideas of what to cover next in the program that's fairly easy to grasp!

(Also, I have no idea if it's up to a high-enough quality standard to take it off unlisted quite yet. Leave me your thoughts on that as well.)

 

 

 


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#2 Lüt

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Posted 05 January 2017 - 08:00 PM

It's a good start.

 

In fact, right from the start, I never knew the ctrl+click fill command. I mean, I saw the fill configuration on the right-click menu, but unlike all the other ones that you can either click and use (select, scroll, edit, replace) or setup and use (brush sizes), that option eluded me. I'd just do "Replace All" and change back a few of the strays. Never had to use it very often, so it wasn't much of a hassle, but may use it more now that I know how it works.

 

And then you accidentally drew your first screen on layer 1. I initially discovered that you could use those buttons to draw on a layer without changing screens when I was watching one of NJF's ZQ streams, and at first I was very happy. It seemed like such a productivity improvement. But after continually drawing on the wrong layer, I just went back to flipping between the main screen and the layered screen. Lack of redrawing everything saves so much more time.

 

In the alias configuration screen, the "Org" menu can be confusing. "Copy"/"Source" and "Swap"/"Destination" are next to each other, but they're separate functions despite appearing in the same row. In the left column of clickable buttons ("Copy"/"Swap"/"Insert New (Before Source)"/"Delete Source"), you choose what you want to do with your alias(es). On the right ("Source"/"Destination"), you choose where to direct those commands. "Copy" requires a source and a destination, so select "Copy" and enter 24 for "Source" and 28 for "Destination" to copy alias 24 to alias 28 (overwriting whatever may be in alias 28). Selecting "Swap" will switch the position of alias 24 and alias 28 without overwriting anything. For "Insert New (Before Source)", enter a "Source" number (say alias 24), then all following aliases will be bumped forward by 1 - it's just like how "Insert Combo" bumps the combo list back by 1 and leaves a blank in the new spot. However, unlike "Insert Combo," "Insert New (Before Source)" copies the source alias to the new spot, so if you insert a new alias before alias 24, then alias 24 is bumped forward to alias 25, but the new alias 24 will also be a copy of the previous alias 24, so both 24 and 25 will be the same alias, and you'll have to open the new alias 24 and change it to what you want (or manually delete it by reducing it to 1x1 and setting that combo to combo 0). And for "Delete Source," just put in the alias number you want to delete. Neither "Insert New (Before Source)" or "Delete Source" require an alias number in the "Destination" box.

 

Regarding not being able to fit aliases at the top of the screen and having to draw them manually - you can press spacebar to change what corner you "hold" the alias from, then place it from there. (There's my payback for the fill command.)

 

I've never used Cave [Walk Up], so I didn't know about placing the warp return above the entry instead of below. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have figured it out if ever decided to use one anyway, so that's another good point I learned.

 

As for presentation, it was generally good. You seemed fairly organized, with a clear point-by-point structure on the topics you cover and in which order. I might talk a little slower - not slooowww slow, but sometimes your words blend together. Not that I have a problem understanding it, but for some people whose native language isn't English, they might not be able to follow it as clearly. Also, I like how you keep calling detail "clutter" :P

 

And hey, what program did you use to record the video? I've been thinking of doing something like this, but that OBS that everybody seems to love doesn't work on Windows XP. Regarding features - honestly, it would be great if I could edit the spoken audio to be more clear after I record the video. Don't know if that could be done through the recording program, or if it would have to be done using a separate video editor... which is a whole different topic that I'll cry about elsewhere.


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#3 Phosphor

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Posted 05 January 2017 - 08:30 PM


As for presentation, it was generally good. You seemed fairly organized, with a clear point-by-point structure on the topics you cover and in which order. I might talk a little slower - not slooowww slow, but sometimes your words blend together. Not that I have a problem understanding it, but for some people whose native language isn't English, they might not be able to follow it as clearly. Also, I like how you keep calling detail "clutter" :P

 

And hey, what program did you use to record the video? I've been thinking of doing something like this, but that OBS that everybody seems to love doesn't work on Windows XP. Regarding features - honestly, it would be great if I could edit the spoken audio to be more clear after I record the video. Don't know if that could be done through the recording program, or if it would have to be done using a separate video editor... which is a whole different topic that I'll cry about elsewhere.

Thanks for the feedback! Apologies for the word-slurring, though. I was a bit timid at first and really didn't want to do another take on the intro, so I suppose I started getting hard to understand. I suppose as long as I properly got my point across, nothing major was lost.

 

I used OBS for recording. I was actually able to edit the audio by cheekily jump-cutting the tutorial past points where my mind went blank, but I wasn't able to work out the fine details. While I haven't tried this, I think you can turn off recording your mic in OBS and have Audacity record your mic in the background while you work, although that may leave room for audio lag. I'm not sure what recording software even functions on XP at this point, so I can't help you on that.




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