[squeakland] Retro Aesthetic In 'Vanilla Etoys' Tutorial

[Jeremy Landry]

I'll be posting this and other tutorials here:
https://hseiken.itch.io/etoys-retro/

Ultimately it will end up as a digital magazine partly related to the
previously announced Etoys 'retro-hack' I'm working on here and there. The
goal is to drum up a little interest outside of the academic sphere for
Etoys using some fun media and demos that aren't necessarily all about
science and math and dropping things off of rooftops (though that is fun
too!).

https://hseiken.itch.io/etoys-retro/devlog/23401/and-so-it-begins-the-prettifying

Basically, I'm taking up the impossible task of building a community around
Etoys that has nothing to do with education so I can teach even more people
what it's about.  I'm a firm believer that people will eat brocolli the
first time with a little cheese and eventually prefer to just eat the
brocolli because there really wasn't anything wrong with it in the first
place, it just smelled a little funny.

On Tue, Feb 6, 2018 at 5:29 PM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com> wrote:

> Jeremy,
>
> Thanks for sharing this.  It worked fine when I ran in Etoys on my Mac.
>
> You obviously put in a lot of work(211 steps, although the last one needs
> some work ;-)
>
> Couple of thoughts:
> 1) Try creating a set of short video's showing how you created the
> project.  The steps you have are very thorough, but screenshots may not be
> the best medium for so many steps. Here is an example of one of the Etoys
> Minutes I created on animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMDYf3_uovk
>
> Kathleen Harness also created some great tutorials you can see at
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7B1F2928FF2B9AB7
>
> 2) Another way to do this is use "Event Theatre" in the Object Catalog
> under "Multimedia"  this can work and is great for embedding the "screen
> cast" inside the Etoys project, but you could run into some issues, be sure
> to move the mouse slowly when recording if you want to use this
>
> 3) Have you looked at Etoys Castle and Etoys Challenge in "Tutorials and
> Demos" these are great examples of ways to facilitate learning.
>
> 4) Consider using a Book with flaps.  Flaps provide a way to provide
> instructions/guides where you can easily show/hide the information as
> needed.
>
> Cheers,
> Stephen
>
> On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 2:25 AM, Jeremy Landry <hakyoku at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, I hope someone can give this tutorial a test run and see if it works
>> for them.  It is intended to be both a primer on what etoys is about when
>> it comes to making your own tools to make the thing you want to make as
>> well as give insights and instruction on achieving the specific goal of the
>> tutorial which is how to get retro-aesthetic out of Etoys using nothing but
>> Etoys.  It seems like a 'lot of steps' but since it's intended for the
>> absolute Etoys novice it covers more than just what it takes to create the
>> effect/final look.
>>
>> The zip file contains over 200 screenshots with titles that put them in
>> the correct order as well as tells you what the actions and purpose of that
>> step and accompanying shot are for.  After each element is introduced the
>> first time, it is no longer shown in 'long form' (i.e. the first time a
>> playfield menu item is mentioned, it is shown through multiple screenshots,
>> the 2nd time it is assumed the reader remembered how to find that menu
>> etc.)
>>
>> If anyone runs through this tutorial has any ideas, concerns or it didn't
>> work for them or they have suggestions on making it a little more enjoyable
>> or novice-friendly, please chime in.
>>
>> The zip file is on google drive and is around 5MB and includes the actual
>> project I constructed while taking all of the screenshots.  I will turn
>> this into a proper web-based page and maybe even put it into an Etoys Book
>> as well if there is interest so that one can flip through the book inside
>> Etoys while trying it out.
>>
>> Thanks, all!
>>
>> Jeremy
>>
>> Download the tutorial here:  https://drive.google.co
>> m/file/d/1R0PNrKP2qa-lA73KTMnW3tSk3ZFv4An_/view?usp=sharing
>>
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>> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> To some of us, writing computer programs is a fascinating game. A program
> is a building of thought. It is costless to build, weightless, growing
> easily under our typing hands. If we get carried away, its size and
> complexity will grow out of control, confusing even the one who created it.
> This is the main problem of programming. It is why so much of today's
> software tends to crash, fail, screw up.
>
> When a program works, it is beautiful. The art of programming is the skill
> of controlling complexity. The great program is subdued, made simple in its
> complexity.
>
> - Martin Harverbeke (from Eloquent JavaScript
> <http://eloquentjavascript.net/index.html>)
>
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