Community Event / Creation First Encounter - a video tutorial series by CMDR Blocks

Blocks

B
Hello everyone!

I've just got into Elite: Dangerous and am super excited for where the game is going. I have been so enthralled by the gameplay that I've been inspired to start a video tutorial / playthrough series for the game.

I want to create informative, entertaining and personal videos that interest new and existing players of every age - particularly helping us to engage with an audience beyond those who are already part of the fantastic legacy of the Elite series!

My plan is to try and break Elite: Dangerous down into manageable chunks - and focus on one key piece of information, feature or area of gameplay each episode.

If this sounds like the kind of thing you could get behind as an idea, then there are a few things you can do to help me out and to spread the word;

View

At the time of posting, I've recorded, rendered and uploaded two episodes. Please watch them and let me know what you think! I'll add an Index down below as I release more videos.


Feedback

I want to hear different opinions and viewpoints - it will help me to make better content for you and to share with other players!

  • Please leave me a comment on one of the videos and tell me what you enjoyed.
  • Tell me in this thread what gameplay feature you would like me to cover!

Support

Sharing my content will hopefully help in some small part to bring a few more players to Elite: Dangerous in the long term and contribute just a little to the future of the game!



I'll be regularly checking this thread for your feedback and ideas - and to let people know when I've uploaded new videos.


Thanks for your time!

CMDR Blocks
 
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KEY

KEY
Hey Commander Blocks!

Watched them all, liked them all (and I even really like them all ;) )

Laughed and screamed loudly when you had that very intimate contact with one of those holo projectors after exiting the station. Rollercoaster action deluxe, nice stunt commander :D

I appreciate that your vids are out there to help newbies cause you take them with you on your very first steps. I wished you had released them earlier, would have saved me some confusing moments :)

I also like that you start cutting out travel times from EP. III on. Most Elite vids I have watched include those really boring travel passages where nothing happens. Maybe "blurring/fading" from cutscene to cutscene (you know, exiting a station -> SC mode -> leaving SC mode and arriving at another station) would be a bit sweeter for the viewers rather than cutting sharply from scene to scene, but that's just me.

Overall really good stuff and I can't wait to see more (not a fan of Minecraft, so I was a little disappointed when one MC video made it in between EP II and EP III :D, jk).

Guess I'll be exploring more in your private group... so maybe I can sneak into one of your vids and become a famous youtube star *giggles*

Keep those vids coming, Commander!


PS: me also likes your voice! Almost as much as Jingles' :p
 

Shadowgames

Shadowgames
Blocks said:
Hello everyone!
My plan is to try and break Elite: Dangerous down into manageable chunks - and focus on one key piece of information, feature or area of gameplay each episode.
Click to expand...

Greetings Blocks!

Your tutorials are nice, and should prove useful for many rookies out there. Few things, came to my mind:

1. Links:
Where appropriate, it would be cool to have the links in the youtube video description at hand like in the first tutorial where you mention players can request to get their names changed. :)

2. Access port corridor:
Before flying through the access port corridor, we should make a proper decision to either wait while another ship comes through from the opposite side, or we are clearly certain that both ships have fairly enough space to fly through this narrow port. A rule in nautics: When flying through the corridor stay on that side where the port shows a green light. Small ships following this rule should then never collide - like presented in this thread about docking lights..
In respect to the real large ships like the Anaconda, it is best adviced to wait until the Anaconda made it through the entrance corridor, and not urge or block the way which could cause confusion on the other side!

I could witness a few players that were not patiently waiting and then accidently pile-drove another ship and got pushed around in the corridor, which in turn made the station think they were loitering (which by station law "is a crime and punishable by death"). Things got really nasty then, and this is definitely NOT what you want.

3. Keyboard/Mouse setup (for the oldschool gamers):
One thing, that drove me crazy when I started the game, was the confusing and imho not intuitive keyboard setup. Finding the right setup took me a long time, and it is a very important topic for those player who really want to control their ships intuitively without searching for any keys in specific situations.
For those guys like me who dont own a super duper Joystick with 42 buttons all around, this may be worth to discuss in a single tutorial where you could present 1-2 keyboard setups.

Meta keys Shift and CTRL:
One nice feature in the configuration is that we can reserve the same keys twice or even three times, by using the combos made of Shift+<key> or CTRL+<key>. This definitely helps to keep the buttons at one place for your hand. In my opinion using this feature is crucial to make use of, since you often won't have the time to search for buttons that are spread all over the keyboard (e.g. during fights or when you really need to fast react upon flying to an access port of a station:) ).

Thruster:
In my case I make use of the <WSAD> keys exclusively for the thruster (W for up and S for the down thruster, A and D for left and right respectively).

Variable throttle:
The mouse wheel (I've got a G700) allows me to throttle up/down the speed either really fast when the wheel is "on the loose" or when the wheel is clinched in the "mechanical grid" I can increase the speed by +1 or -1 respectively. However, not everyone might have a mouse with these features, so you need to find a suitable setup that places the keys for thruster and throttle controls in the same area on your keyboard (like in the WSAD or numblock area).

Fix throttle speeds:
I for example use CTRL+X: throttle -100%, Shift+X: throttle +100%, X: throttle 0%/stop. The last one is especially important since you often (e.g. when approaching a station) may need to instantly stop your craft!
Additionally I use one of the thumb/side buttons on my mouse for the sweet +50% throttle where the ship reaches the maximum maneuverability.

Head rotation:
- Looking around in your ship (especially in a sidewinder) is awesome and you can quickly see what's above or next to you. I for example use the "<" button (on my keyboard layout it's right next to Shift)

Ship rotation:
I found it annoying to wipe my mouse around like crazy for every turn during all the flights, so I decided to only use the mouse aim for fine adjusting the aim (like shooting on enemies). Also, I increased the dead zone for the mouse massively, so the ship doesn't rotate on minimal movements of my mouse. So, mostly I'm using the keyboard to rotate the ship, in my case via Shift+<WSAD> (remember I use WSAD for the thruster ;) ).

Drop Cargo (wth!):
- One of the most nastily preconfigured keys! Although it didn't happen to me, I already had the feeling that the preconfigured key "page up" (to drop all your cargo) next to "home" (to open the cargo scoop) would certainly scream for accidently dropping the cargo while I instead just wanted to collect some canisters. :eek:
So, I highly recommend to everyone to simply delete this key or put it somewhere where you don't easily reach it with your hands (best not in the same area where your left hand presses keys wildly during combat).

4. Searching & Picking up canisters:
In a tutorial you could show how rookies can find and pick up valuable goods flying around in canisters. Most valuable goods are gold or even platinum. But this comes with a risk, while flying to places with unidentified signals the player might get interrupted by pirates, or when jumping out of super cruise encounter them. In another nasty case the bonanza full of gold canisters might even be a trap! ...
However, this knowledge definitely helps the rookie to earn credits in a quick way.

5. Combat:
Another topic for the more advanced player could deal with combat maneuvers, which was very well dicsussed in another very nice thread: http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33091

Alright, that's so far what I think could be discussed in further tutorials.

Best regards
Shadow
 
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Blocks

B
KEY

- Thank you so much for the positive message, I'm really glad you're enjoying them! I'm away this weekend so I'm going to record another few episodes on Monday and upload them early next week :)

- Thanks also for the input on editing - I hope to try and make each 'flight' between locations or stations a little different with the cuts. I don't know how to do blurring or fading, I'm pretty much a video novice; just using basic VirtualDub software to make these. I will look around though and and see if I can learn that in the future, it could be useful and more viewer-friendly.


Shadow

- Thank you so much for all those suggestions, I'm blown away by the amount of thought you've put in there, thanks! I will definitely put a few of these ideas into future videos; I came a cropper on the Drop Cargo one myself - accidentally jettisoning the lot in a station and then having to fly around picking it up, I wish I had that on video! :)

- When I'm back next week I'll go through this list in a lot more detail and think about how I could use your ideas in different episodes or group a few similar topic ones together. Thanks again, all really useful and helpful suggestions!



CMDR Blocks
 

SirFreddie

SirFreddie
As a commander still trying to remember what keys I've bound to what, and is still excited about making a profit on my 2nd trade run (really flew to the wrong place to trade my fabrics on the 1st :D) these are just the sort of vids that help me.
P.S. Subbed
 
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Shadowgames

Shadowgames
SirFreddie said:
As a commander still trying to remember what keys I've bound to what, and is still excited about making a profit on my 2nd trade run (really flew to the wrong place to trade my fabrics on the 1st :D) these are just the sort of vids that help me.
P.S. Subbed
Click to expand...

In this regard I can highly recommend this great website to you: http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/

Although it depends on the people updating the trade values, it is however nearly always up to date and if not, in 80% of all trade routes the prices are precise, especially for the system that can be reached with a Sidewinder.

Also a good topic for a tutorial, Blocks, is to explain the rookies about the weight which influences the maximum distance you can fly. An unnoticed factor, additionally to the carried cargo, is the fuel and the weapon load of the ship, which has a not negligible impact on the distance you can fly. Hence, traders need to take these factors into account when they plan their trade routes.

But, one by one.. I guess the next updates will take some time anyway.

Best regards
Shadow
 
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MikeGreg

MikeGreg
Hi Blocks

have added you on my friends list
nice thread watched the utube vids ( nice )
only been with this for a few days at moment still finding my way around

had a few problems as i have a french keyboard ( still getting round it)
have been playing with the Voice Attack set up ( its going well at the moment)
also use a joystick pitch/roll/yaw at moment

have got lost at moment and not much fuel left, and no station in sight
might have to commit suicide and restart

took my hours just to get out the station the first time
mainly due to using the default keyboard / mouse setup and with the french keyboard it was hairy at the least

I also started with the original elite on a bbc micro
and later with X-Beyond the Frontier and Reunion on PC

anyway cheers for now

MikeGreg
 

Blocks

B
Episode 4 - which takes a look at the space station contacts menu is now live, here's a direct link; http://youtu.be/RmL__JCDfMU


Mike

- Thanks for the add, you should now see me in game on your friends list. Thank you very much for the support on the videos too, getting feedback like that makes all the hard work worthwhile :)

- I'm still battling with a modified-classic keyboard setup, but I think I'm going to hunt around the attic for an old game controller to try next - and hopefully purchase a joystick setup in the longer term. Fly safe!
 
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Elric

E
Hey Blocks

Watched your first two vids, one thing I would say make a playlist off all the videos ( if you have please leave a links in the comments so its easy to find for us lazy youtubers lol )

There clear and easy to understand and should help a lot of new players very nice work
 

Torque Spike

T
Thanks Blocks. Really easy to understand and well paced videos.

I have just started my journey into Elite and I really like this game. I needed some good and detailed instruction and that just what you did.

Well done!
 

Kozmyk

K
Shadowgames said:
Greetings Blocks!

Your tutorials are nice, and should prove useful for many rookies out there. Few things, came to my mind:

3. Keyboard/Mouse setup (for the oldschool gamers):
One thing, that drove me crazy when I started the game, was the confusing and imho not intuitive keyboard setup. Finding the right setup took me a long time, and it is a very important topic for those player who really want to control their ships intuitively without searching for any keys in specific situations.
For those guys like me who dont own a super duper Joystick with 42 buttons all around, this may be worth to discuss in a single tutorial where you could present 1-2 keyboard setups.
Click to expand...

I was old skool - BBC B Micro, but I also had an old skool BBC joystick ;)

Just sayin.
 

Jigsaw

Jigsaw
Good videos, but I could only follow them easily, because I already knew where everything is and what buttons I have to press. Perhaps you could go into a little more detail about HUD element positions and what default keys perform what actions in future videos. That might makes these videos even more helpful for beginners than they already are.

I love that you left in the little accidents like forgetting to request the docking clearance or bumping into traffic. A very realistic representation of the first couple of hours in Elite that probably everybody can relate to. :D
 

Blocks

B
Episode 5 on Controls and Flight Assist is live right now; http://youtu.be/ToH3OHOLMMc


Shadow, Jigsaw

- Thanks for your suggestions, I've covered a couple of the things you asked for in the latest episode. I'll continue to pick up some of your great ideas in future episodes, thanks again!
 

12GaugeSavior

12GaugeSavior
1st, your videos are great. I don't think I'd be having as much fun in elite as I am without them.

2nd, I had an idea for more topics for videos. I'd like to see a set of videos that are basically "a day in the life of an elite ______". You could do Trader (mostly covered already though), Pirate, Bounty Hunter, Gun for Hire, etc...

Just a thought.
 

Blocks

B
12GaugeSavior said:
1st, your videos are great. I don't think I'd be having as much fun in elite as I am without them.
Click to expand...

That's amazing to hear, thank you so much! :)

12GaugeSavior said:
I'd like to see a set of videos that are basically "a day in the life of an elite ______". You could do Trader (mostly covered already though), Pirate, Bounty Hunter, Gun for Hire, etc...
Click to expand...

That's a really great idea, thanks! I'll try to put myself in situations that ask for a particular playing style or approach, should be a lot of fun :) I will definitely start planning those once I've covered as much of the 'fundamentals' as I can.

Thanks again!
 

Blocks

B
Posted a new episode today where I totally don't faceplant into the station at any point.

Really though - I still don't know what happened, answers on forum post if you have any ideas!

I also look at Outfitting and the Shipyard - http://youtu.be/mt8twe4T2ls
 

OptimaNova

O
INaeem linked to your playlist in my "Introduction" thread, and I wanted to drop by and say thanks for the pointers. I know the UI and some mechanics have changed since beta, but I did learn a thing or two. Tutorial or play time, I would watch more.
 

Blocks

B
OptimaNova said:
INaeem linked to your playlist in my "Introduction" thread, and I wanted to drop by and say thanks for the pointers. I know the UI and some mechanics have changed since beta, but I did learn a thing or two. Tutorial or play time, I would watch more.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know it was useful :)

I've been trying to make more videos and a playthrough series for months now - but real life is incredibly busy and keeps getting in the way, in a good way!

I am hopeful that I'll get it going again in the next 4~6 weeks, so you might like to consider subscribing to my channel over on YouTube to get a notification of when that happens.

Thanks again, hope you have a great day!
 
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