Forums » Help » Anyone have time to give me a quick run-through with coding basics?

If anybody has time, I really need a tutoring session with this whole thing. Ive kinda got the basics down. Im a fast learner, so if we work through AIM I should get it down fast. My AIM is mitchjohnson52

When I try to load my game, it just comes up with a small black box instead of my level. I went into the main file and changed it so it loads my new level but it still doesnt load it

Get yourself a Firefox and a Firebug add on - when you start your firebug refresh the page and open the console tab it will list all the errors your game have thrown. You cant expect people to teach you OO JavaScript but most definitely we can help you.

As someone who's slowly begun teaching himself to program over the past year - it can be overwhelming. It's more than just learning a new language, it's learning an entirely different way to think. Maybe the gap isn't so far for people who've spent time studying math and logic. But for my more humanities-based self, it's been very difficult.

So asking for a "quick runthrough of coding basics" is actually asking a lot. That's ok. This place seems unusually helpful and I'm sure you'll get a lot of good information. Just be aware that you're asking for a lot.

To actually help, my one piece of advice would be to learn how to figure things out on your own. Google is your best friend, and it's gotten so good that typing your question out in prose can get you an answer often enough. This is an invaluable skill to learn, because as I'm finding out you'll never stop needing to do this. If you rely on other people to tell you what to do you'll never be effective. You have to learn how to find the information yourself.

What forums like this are good for are specific problems that you can't figure out with google. The problem with the black screen question is that it's way to broad - you haven't given us enough information to help you. You'll learn how to be more specific with time and no one's blaming you yet. I'm just trying to give you feedback. As to how to narrow your question down to something answerable - follow Jerczu's advice. Chrome also has a great diagnostic tool.

I would also actually suggest that you not start with impact. I would start with some basic javascript tutorials and work on drawing basic shapes on the screen. Maybe learning how to move them around. And then when you have trouble figuring out how to update your shapes correctly every frame - that's when impact becomes the solution you need.

@cweed, amazing post, great advice.