How to play Openttd (Must see)

[Zhall]

Its funny that someone who once named themselves Warparty (me), and was out to decimate transport networks of all kinds would come back later and make a tutorial on how to play the game...

This tutorial is mostly for begginers, but theres some other useful tips packed in there for everyone.

Some of you may remember me making this http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=44008 post a few months back...

Well... Ive lived up to it.

After 4 months of work... (not solid, hey i had to go on vacation )
Re-recording the audio...
Exporting the video dozens of times...

I give you...
OPEN TTD 101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAriYewK ... playnext=1

This four part mini series takes you on an epic journey from installing the game, to navigating the map, to integrating your lines into networks and so on...

-It features a Breakdown of many topics that progressively get more complex
-Full voice over + Transcript
-Custom key stroke read-out (Took a while to do)

Tell me what you think.. I spent a long time on it.

If you (Mods) think its good enough, I would be honored to be officially mentioned on the manual

I give a huge thanks to everyone who has worked tirelessly to make openttd was it is today, and may learning and picking up the game be forever less of a hardship with my tutorial.

[CommanderZ]

Wow, impressive! Now you just must get the newbies to watch this

[Zhall]

Wow, impressive! Now you just must get the newbies to watch this

Yes, do your best to direct them here Ill do my part, nothing wrong with self promotion right? lol

[Timmaexx]

ControlB!
Never knew about this hotkey! Thx

[Roujin]

Nice effort, though it has some points you could still improve, if you feel like it :

Especially at the beginning, don't overload the watcher with too much content in too little time. A guy who's totally new to the game will probably be overwhelmed when watching your vid. It takes time to learn new stuff, but you're not giving the watcher any
I'd not cram all types of transportation into one vid, but maybe split it up and have a vid for each (doing each mode at half the speed or so, so the watcher has time to understand what you're doing).
Also, leave out stuff like Ctrl+B (no use unless you start getting into developing stuff for openttd), Z (rather useless, adds to overload).

Overall, you've made an interesting vid, explaining lots of stuff in OpenTTD. But I wouldn't call it a tutorial honestly, because it's way too fast. It's maybe not as obvious to people like you and me who know OpenTTD already, but for newbies I imagine it's too fast to grasp it.

[petert]

I laughed so hard when you said,

"You should probably watch this tutorial a couple of times."

Great Tutorial. A little fast, but good so far. It's also good that you offered to run a server or to offer private tutoring.

[Zhall]

"You should probably watch this tutorial a couple of times."

Yep exactly.

If its too fast, rewatch the section the stumbled you, or watch it, let it sink in overnight, then watch it again. Yes it is A LOT of information, But did you learn to play openttd overnight?

Also, in the fourth video I gave links to some useful resources, so you can read up more at your own pace.

The video is more of an immersion to openttd, the fast track to picking up a complex game. The last thing you want to do is bore the hell out of someone by dragging things out. (ive done it before)

Now get out there and make me some god damn money! ha ha

[planetmaker]

If its too fast, rewatch the section the stumbled you

All in all: good job, I guess.

The speed you talk in the first third of the first part increases steadily there. IMO to a speed which is not appropriate to a tutorial anymore. Later on you talk normally fast again which is fine.

I'm also with Roujin about Ctrl+B and z - it's information not needed; you hardly need it, if you develop OpenTTD, rather give the listener that time to let it sink in and slow down your talking

[Rubidium]

Can you also upload a HD (or what youtube calls HD) version? That would keep more graphical quality making in-game stuff easier to see/read.

[petert]

Lol, nice job though. I wouldn't mind this being a sticky .

[Zhall]

Can you also upload a HD (or what youtube calls HD) version? That would keep more graphical quality making in-game stuff easier to see/read.

Ya im sorry i tried to render it out in HD and widescreen but i screwed up my premeire project early on.

[Swansea Stu]

Nice vid. A few points though. In the airplane section you show a large airport, small airports should probably have a mention first. Especially as they will probably be the first airport a new user will see.

In the ship section you build buoys but you don't mention why.

Also it might be worth mentioning that you get more cash for transporting cargo over a greater distance.

[Zhall]

Also it might be worth mentioning that you get more cash for transporting cargo over a greater distance.

At the beginning of the 3rd (i beleive) video this is mentioned as a key fundamental.

[Dustin]

Also it might be worth mentioning that you get more cash for transporting cargo over a greater distance.

At the beginning of the 3rd (i beleive) video this is mentioned as a key fundamental.

Anything this key probably bears repeating. Repition is a key to learning. The average adult needs seven repetions to learn a new concept. (And therefore this lesson falls 4 short!)

[Zhall]

Also it might be worth mentioning that you get more cash for transporting cargo over a greater distance.

At the beginning of the 3rd (i beleive) video this is mentioned as a key fundamental.

Anything this key probably bears repeating. Repition is a key to learning. The average adult needs seven repetions to learn a new concept. (And therefore this lesson falls 4 short!)

Which is why i tell people to watch the video a couple of times in the 4th part.

[Gremnon]

Damn, that really shows how terrible I actually am at this sometimes... and that I really need to get around to remembering hotkeys.
Good stuff though, probably just about anyone can learn something from that.

[alicesophie]

The concept of the video is great, and I like the presentation.

I agree though with my predecessors in slowing things down and skipping unnecessary information like CTRL + B.

Especially when explaining the concept of signalling and creating basic junctions - which will be the first one a new player will stumble upon - you should stick to the basics and slow don your pace. When I explained signalling to a friend who was completely new to the concept of signalling overall, I told her to only use PBS in the beginning. I wexplained basic signals and block signals after I had the feeling that she was comfortable with signalling a junction without causing too many grid locks.

Learning not only needs constant repetition but also a step-by-step presentation of what to learn. If you know the basics about block signalling, you will learn signalling a jungtion with PBS pretty fast. If you can signal a station entrance using PBS in your sleep, using entry and exit signals will be all easy.

But overall I like this video series! Great work!

[Zhall]

Thanks for your feedback Gremnon and alicesophie.

alicesophie, i agree that signals are hard, when i first played openttd i couldnt figure it out, and a year later i came back to pick it up over like 2 months... (huge lack of tutorials back then), and as for repition at the end of the 4th video i tell people it is a good idea to watch the videos a couple of times, its kinda like watching the matrix, the first time you see it you wont get whats going on, on the second run through, it will make more sense.

[alicesophie]

I forgot to mention one thing I highly appreciated with your tutorial: The voice over.

It's much more personal, if someone actually talks to you instead of having to read (usually misspelled) texts. There are loads of tutorials at YouTube, but only few have voice over. Those usually are by far better than those with simple text explanations. Search for Sim City 4 motorway junction tutorials by Asteconn, and you'll see what I mean. They are especially a good example, because in my opinion they show a decent speed to explain stuff.

[prissi]

I think a very newby is missing the information on how to start the train after giving it orders too. I searched very long and also pressed the ignore signals buttons before finding out by reading a written tutorial (ages ago though). But I still remebered that, because it made me feel real stupid.