I have looked at every damn custom unit tutorial and they are all very vague and not very comprehensive.
i know A LOT of people agree with me. it is the most frustrating thing in the world to re-read the same sentence over and over again in an attempt to interpret what the hell this modder is trying to convey. i used to reskin and mod units all the time with ETW but now NTW seems completely alien to me. i really appreciate the tutorials that are out there but they are confusing and dont explain anything about anything. I dont know if it is a language thing or a communication problem. so let me propose the perfect formula for making tutorials.
1. Make bullet points or number each step in the process. This consolidates the information into easy to read and easy to understand instructions. it also makes it easier for the modder to reference previously visited information.
2. use punctuation. its easy. see? (capitalization doesnt matter unless its necessary)
3. dont be smart. dont use obscure words that aren't relevant to the idea that your trying to communicate to people reading your tutorial. Just try to deliver the most basic form of your idea as possible. this will assure that even the most idiotic people will understand. and if you do use a big word make sure you know the meaning of that word. the most frequently asked questions in tutorials are usually "what did you mean by this?" which doesnt make it easy on the modder because he has to keep responding to questions about what parts of his tutorial didnt make sense.
3. keep typos to a minimum. accidentally typing "mesh" instead of "mask" is a tutorial killer.
4. pictures always help. i know they are a hassle but if you want your tutorial to be awesome then your going to have to do it. they supplement your idea with visual reinforcment. if you have a terrible vocabulary or if english isnt your first language then pictures are your best friend.
5. dont leave anything out. another tutorial killer is answering a bunch of questions about why everybody's mods are crashing after following your tutorial and then realizing that you skipped an important step and posting it 2 or 3 pages later. this is tutorial suicide.
6. be thorough. if you reach a complicated step in your process make sure you really emphasize this step by providing why, when, where, how, because too much information is never a bad thing.
7. use examples! people need scenarios to follow. it makes more sense when you use an example and it also satisfies the conceptual side of the brain.
8. include links. tutorialists are usually pretty good at doing this. it just sucks when you read a tutorial that references something that you have to search for because they didnt inlcude the damn link!
9. be prepared to answer questions regarless of how beautiful your tutorial is. some people will never get it.
10. be patient.
11. follow these steps if you want a comprehensive tutorial that everybody will rep.
i have a lot of great ideas for mods that i would love to bring into fruition and share with the modding community but i cant because i dont know how. And i dont know how because nobody has provided a tutorial that has made sense to me ill be the first to admit that im an idiot but even idiots want to learn how to mod. thanks guys. long live TWC!!!!!!!!
love,
lemonaids