Training - NWN2 Lyceum

[White Warlock]

Copied from Standards & Training, as it pertains to the ALFA2 developers and the prospect of additional hands:

• After considerable thought, I come to the conclusion we need to educate the masses. Sans anyone else stepping up, i volunteer to head-up our Lyceum (ooo, look, i'm volunteering for something).
  
  Let me explain what this is about.
  
  We have members coming in and out of ALFA, many of which end up going to other communities for one reason or another. One thing i found out, about what attracts them to other communities, is the opportunity to learn. ALFA has a handicap in this arena, because we have inhouse material (scripts, etc) already in place, inhouse nomenclature that must be learned, inhouse rules/standards that must be adhered to, and inhouse experts that do all the work. We have a huge rift between those who know, and those who don't. Partly because of this, we also have an insufficient amount of talent available to assist in developing content. This, in turn, hurts our server teams.
  
  Assuming no disagreements, I will be heading up a series of forums in ALFA, dedicated to teaching/learning. I propose, to start, three main topics of study: NWToolsetting, NWScripting, and NWContent (3d modeling and 2d skinning/textures). If you can think of other forum topics, specifically geared to training members, by all means propose them. However, my plans are to get it up and running within a week and to keep it simple.
  
  The goal of the Lyceum forums (accessible to all members, and possibly read access to non-members as well) is to not merely provide links to tutorials, but to also encourage group learning. An enhancement to this would be the ALFA Njub Challenge (click here).
  
  My request, from the community, is participation. I would like for those with knowledge to share, to share said knowledge. I will be providing links to tutorials, free development software, and a link to free video capturing software (for creation of tutorials).
  
  By all means toss out your thoughts and recommends. I would like to thank Halrin and Cipher for their input earlier this week. If there are no disagreements, i will request these forum sections to be created.
  
  Respectfully

[Castano]

NW toolsetting is desperately needed.....laying out terrain is very fun adn artistic IMO and people would like it if they knew how to do things like pace water/buildings/trees/hills/mountains effectively.

[White Warlock]

aye castano.

as u all know, i had surgery today and will have to wait before rolling out the lyceum, but i am dedicated to making it a success, and gearing it to become a great asset to the ALFA2 teams. in preparation, i request toolsetters, scripters, and/or modelers to start making vid captures (with or without voice) of various actions, to label them and indicate lvl of complexity (scale 1 -nooblet- to 10 -expert-). Do not worry if they are draft, as i have a background in video production and can edit/splice if needed.

Here is a great opensource (aka: free) vidscreen/audio capture prog -- http://www.camstudio.org/

If u need assist in settings, i'll drop a screenshot.

And NWN2 HDMs, u can use this prog to capture some vids of ur mods. with some screen caps, quicky PS intro cuts, and some alfa logos, "we" can pop out with a good amount of movie teasers.

alright, that's it from me for a month. need to put all my effort into recovery (don't need to tear it yet again).

[White Warlock]

btw, the training vids don't have to be long, and i would prefer they are not. Short vids showing one or two techniques would be great. I'm basically looking for vids useful for class 'sessions.' Thanks, later.

[White Warlock]

Anyone make any vids yet? I would really prefer to use 'inhouse' tutorials. The video capture program posted above works in the background, and audio can be dubbed in later if you don't want to talk. You can provide a video to me and write in what's going. I could clean it up, add voice narration, and post it for the classes.

Thanks for any and all who opt to do this. We really need more people in alfa who have a 'modicum' of skills, and this is the best way i see of making it happen.

[White Warlock]

The Lyceum will be going into effect soon. On this, i would like to know if any NWN2 builders would like to participate, as instructors or assists, in running any courses. The intent of the courses are to teach specific things, so no longarse courses. If you have any ideas as to what course to present, that you would like to provide, or that you would like to attend, by all means mention it here.

[Blackwill]

If I can make the times you'll be setting out, I'll be there to assist or whatever.