playMaker

Author Topic: Visual Scripting Talk  (Read 4590 times)

sandEboy

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Visual Scripting Talk
« on: January 13, 2017, 08:20:54 AM »
I can't write a java script, c# script, boo, python, html, c++ and whatever else scripting language there is. I've tried learning some form of scripting language on several occasions, it seems time consuming, boring and reminds me of math. The only scripting language I have ever been professional and productive in is GML. In other words, I program exclusively with visual scripting. Is this an embarrassment? Is anybody else like this?

marv

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2017, 04:40:24 AM »
I learned java back in school and lua to - don't laugh- program little robots in minecraft to do my bidding... but I've forgotten pretty much everything of it at this point.

I've been creating a game as a hobby project for the last ~2 years now and since I lacked all the basics in the beginning, I have redone the whole thing a couple of times, like when I learned about new things like ArrayMaker or DataMaker. Actually, at times it felt like redoing things was all I was doing, which can be quite frustrating.

I have no problem "admitting" that my game was created entirely without me writing a single line of code (unless you count xml, which I don't)... and why should I?

If what you create is fun for people to play and if you enjoy what you're doing... where's the problem? There's nothing embarrassing about it. At. All.

jeanfabre

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2017, 06:20:55 AM »
Hi,

 Don't worry :) since when visual scripting should be a shame? PlayMaker is #1 top grossing on the asset store ( consistently in the top 5 for more than 6 years now!), and that's because you are far from being the only one who don't know programming, yet want to create interactive content.

Embrace any tools that gives you freedom of exploration and fulfilment. It's the ones who are criticising you for doing so that should be ashamed... but I suspect you put this pressure on you by yourself here :)

Now, from a hard core professional point of view, some will argue with various points that it's not viable. I always mention in this case that you should remember early age of graphic computing, legends say that when they knew by hart the full sequence of vertices positions to input it in their computer program,

http://nautil.us/blog/the-most-important-object-in-computer-graphics-history-is-this-teapot

And so, one could claim that if an artist is now using blender or 3d studio they should be ashamed of not manually inputing vertices in a CG program? what about intellisense that gives programmer a preselection of choice to speed up workflow and prevent typos and compiling errors, that's pretty visual to me! I guess it's the same with interactivity programming, visual programming is used in so many environment that it make sense to use it and explore its potential in every area possible.

BUT, for sure, visual programming doesn't mean that you don't need to know about design patterns, lists, loops, and various critical algorithms necessary to build complex interactivity. For that you'll still need to learn programming, and that doesn't necessarily mean written programming, but at least, you need to be curious about it, open mind and not develop an alergy to reading scripts even if you don't understand everything, let it sink slowly and you'll see that after having used PlayMaker for a while, you'll likely find reading scripts easier and easier, to the point where you'll be able to create your first custom actions, etc etc. Because yes, your best and most powerful skill set will be when you'll master both PlayMaker and scripting.

Bye,

 Jean

sandEboy

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2017, 10:32:26 AM »
I learned java back in school and lua to - don't laugh- program little robots in minecraft to do my bidding... but I've forgotten pretty much everything of it at this point.

I've been creating a game as a hobby project for the last ~2 years now and since I lacked all the basics in the beginning, I have redone the whole thing a couple of times, like when I learned about new things like ArrayMaker or DataMaker. Actually, at times it felt like redoing things was all I was doing, which can be quite frustrating.

I have no problem "admitting" that my game was created entirely without me writing a single line of code (unless you count xml, which I don't)... and why should I?

If what you create is fun for people to play and if you enjoy what you're doing... where's the problem? There's nothing embarrassing about it. At. All.

Thank you marv, appreciated.

sandEboy

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2017, 10:33:19 AM »
Hi,

 Don't worry :) since when visual scripting should be a shame? PlayMaker is #1 top grossing on the asset store ( consistently in the top 5 for more than 6 years now!), and that's because you are far from being the only one who don't know programming, yet want to create interactive content.

Embrace any tools that gives you freedom of exploration and fulfilment. It's the ones who are criticising you for doing so that should be ashamed... but I suspect you put this pressure on you by yourself here :)

Now, from a hard core professional point of view, some will argue with various points that it's not viable. I always mention in this case that you should remember early age of graphic computing, legends say that when they knew by hart the full sequence of vertices positions to input it in their computer program,

http://nautil.us/blog/the-most-important-object-in-computer-graphics-history-is-this-teapot

And so, one could claim that if an artist is now using blender or 3d studio they should be ashamed of not manually inputing vertices in a CG program? what about intellisense that gives programmer a preselection of choice to speed up workflow and prevent typos and compiling errors, that's pretty visual to me! I guess it's the same with interactivity programming, visual programming is used in so many environment that it make sense to use it and explore its potential in every area possible.

BUT, for sure, visual programming doesn't mean that you don't need to know about design patterns, lists, loops, and various critical algorithms necessary to build complex interactivity. For that you'll still need to learn programming, and that doesn't necessarily mean written programming, but at least, you need to be curious about it, open mind and not develop an alergy to reading scripts even if you don't understand everything, let it sink slowly and you'll see that after having used PlayMaker for a while, you'll likely find reading scripts easier and easier, to the point where you'll be able to create your first custom actions, etc etc. Because yes, your best and most powerful skill set will be when you'll master both PlayMaker and scripting.

Bye,

 Jean

Thanks jean, good to know I'm not alone and very interesting point of view and insight.

play_edu

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2017, 11:49:49 PM »
Hi,

before play-maker i try to learn c# but im not understand at all b.coz im not from coding environment. im 3d artist but Now i can wright my code easily all b.coz of play-maker. In all coding language logic is same just Writing method is different. First i try with play-maker How to do it and try with c# that way i learn. Now i Understand c#. I wright my custom action. :)

Thanks play-maker Team.

Fat Pug Studio

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Re: Visual Scripting Talk
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2017, 05:00:56 PM »
I must say that my comprehension of programming actially started when i began using Playmaker. I took a Java course for few month 4 years ago, then i switched to something more serious - a year long course. It was exhausting, boring, usually meaningless and i thought that i will never learn how to code. What is a class, an object, an instance, getter, setter, constructor, method, interface, singleton?

After few more months of reading various books on Java i decided it would be easier for me to grasp some concepts if i had something to see what i actually did, not just make calculators and uninteresting interfaces in Java. I downloaded Unity and started reading forums, dissecting small games and their scripts and trying to make something of my own. Besides not completely understanding what i learned before, i tried to understand all the new stuff - transforms, colliders, properties. I was more confused than ever.

I saw that there was an asset store to buy stuff and on the first place was Playmaker, learn how to make a game without coding. Wow, would i know how to do that. I bought it, and after a few month of learning and asking stupid questions on the forum came a moment for which it took 4 years since i started learning code - THE CLICK. A moment of enlightement when everything i learned came together like a 1000 pieces puzzle. From that moment on, my learning rate is growing exponentially, and i can only thank Playmaker for that.

Now that i know a lot more, i can say that more than a few things can be done better in code, but in time i will learn to translate even those to Playmaker actions. The speed of making anything in Playmaker compared to typing walls of text and the possibility to make a mistake while doing so is unmatchable.

Thank you guys!
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