Basic concepts of the Tutorial Creation Tool

The Tutorial Tool allows creation of interactive and dynamic learn-while-you-play tutorials for tabletop games.

The TCT (Tutorial Creation Tool) consists primarily of five different Editors:

● Flow Editor (FE)
● Object Editor (OE)
● Content Editor (CBE)
● Logic Editor (LE)
● Variable Editor (VE)

Together these components allow you to map out, structure, animate, subtitle, and animate your content. We'll go through them one by one in this Guide, but below you can find the quick round-up.

Flow Editor

Flow Editor is where to story flow is created. This flow chart visualizes of how the story will flow throughout the tutorial.

This also is the “base view” of the tutorial tool and from which the other parts of the tool are accessed.

A basic building block for a tutorial is a Step (sometimes referred to as a Block). There are two kinds of Steps:

● Content Steps (white rectangles) are seen by the players and they typically either provide information or request it. Each Step in the tutorial is kind of like a slide in a slide show. Content Steps are edited with the Content Editor.

● Logic Steps (green diamonds) are not seen by players. They are meant for executing logical actions, for example guiding the flow based on certain conditions. Logic Steps are edited with the Logic Editor.

The grey arrows indicate how the story can flow between the steps.

● A light grey arrow means default next step if the players tap the "next" button,

● The dark grey arrows are possible locations where the flow might go, that can depend on variables or player actions.

Content Editor

Content editor is where the preset objects are put into scenes to create the visual content and animations. Practically everything that the user sees during the tutorial is done in the Content Editor.

Object Editor

All visual elements used in the Content Steps are first created in the Object Editor. Typically this includes setting up the game components as 3D elements and other necessary UI elements, such as buttons needed in the content.

Logic Editor

Logic Editor allows executing of logical actions based on certain conditions. For example: if we have 3 players, then set rounds of play to five.

Variable Editor

Variable Editor (or GLOBALS) is where all the global Variables used in the tutorial are managed. Variables are “containers” which allow the storing and manipulation of values, and the usage of these values in the tutorial Logic. One thing to store into a Variable could be for example the amount of players, or information about which player starts the round.

There's several premade Variables already in the Editor when you open up a new project, such as "$turn" or "$playersCount", but typically you might need to create your own as well. Following on the previous example, the "$roundsOfPlay" Variable is created here.

Previewer

Previewer allows the quick testing of the content within the tool. This simulates the same experience that users will get when they use the content in Dized. Preview can be started in the "Flow Editor" view by clicking the button. If no step is selected, the tutorial will launch from the "$nextBlock" variable. But if a block is selected, the preview will start from that place.

Content Settings

Content Settings is where general information about the specific content is handled, such: as the name, type, price, default locale, voice over setup and description of the content.