Level and LunaDLL/LunaLua tuition

[HeroLinik]

If I recall correctly, someone (I think it was Karl Marx) made a topic about the idea of level tuition, but I can't find the original topic and I don't know what happened with this suggestion, so I'm going to recreate it, and extend it to LunaDLL and LunaLua, which weren't around or as popular when the topic was originally posted.

As new members join the community and they create and post their very first SMBX levels, they are usually not as good as those that seasoned SMBX veterans create and post. However, there is still scope for improvement for them, and this is where the level tutors come in: one member, or a group of members, can be given lessons from a very experienced level designer, who will act as their tutor. For example, they could be set tasks on making moving layers and custom graphics, and thus the tutees are expected to create a small level, or even a screen, that uses those features and send it back to the tutors so they can have a look at it. If they make a good level that uses those features well, then they can move on to the next lesson, otherwise they will have to repeat the lesson. As they advance forwards the tasks set will get more difficult to suit their expertise level; it can even get to the point where the level tutees will have to use content from different lessons to produce a very dynamic SMBX level, or are even given an ugly-looking SMBX level and they have to expand it into a really good one.

I will also expand this to LunaDLL and LunaLua. Right now, not everyone knows it very well; only some of them do. It can be possible trying to learn LunaDLL/LunaLua by yourself but it is actually quite difficult for some people to get their head around the programming jargon. To make it more simpler, we could use tuition for LunaDLL/LunaLua - one person, or a group of people who wish to learn it, is assigned a tutor, who knows a lot about and is very experienced with LunaDLL/Lua. They will be set tasks, such as learning how to add a timer, and are given a piece of LunaDLL/Lua code that explains how to do it. Then they're off and they make a level that uses this code, and sends it back to the tutor. As a person gets more and more experienced with Lua there will be less hand-holding and it will get to the point where they are given only a skeleton code and they just have to adapt it to make it work, are given a piece of broken Lua code and they have to fix it themselves, or even attempt to use content from different lessons to make a very dynamic Lua level.

What do you think of this idea, originally suggested by Karl Marx (I think)?

[Enjl]

1. Pyro has LunaLua tutorial videos. They're even stickied. Lots of people found them really helpful and used them as their first steps.
2. Wohlstand's wiki has a cathegory about LunaLua with tutorials and everything you need to know on it. It's a place worth checking out.
3. There's a skype group for people who want to learn lua. It's called codehaus and includes coding veterans as well as newcomers.

[CynicHost]

This sounds like a really interesting idea, I'd love for this to become a thing!

[HenryRichard]

If someone doesn't understand LunaDLL, it doesn't matter since no one should use it anymore. LunaLua does everything LunaDLL does and more, and it's an actual programming language that people use commercially, unlike LunaDLL.

Overall it's not a bad idea at all, you'd just have to find people who are willing to help.