Recovered my old where-do-I-begin article from Imaginary Realities and adopted it into tutorial

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part1/Starting-Part1.md

@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@
 
   **Part 1: What we have**
     A tour of Evennia and how to use the tools, including an introduction to Python.
-  Part 2: `What we want <./Starting-Part2.html>`_
+  Part 2: `What we want <../Part2/Starting-Part2.html>`_
     Planning our tutorial game and what to think about when planning your own in the future.
-  Part 3: `How we get there <./Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
+  Part 3: `How we get there <../Part3/Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
        Getting down to the meat of extending Evennia to make our game
-  Part 4: `Using what we created <./Starting-Part4.html>`_
+  Part 4: `Using what we created <../Part4/Starting-Part4.html>`_
     Building a tech-demo and world content to go with our code
-  Part 5: `Showing the world <./Starting-Part5.html>`_
+  Part 5: `Showing the world <../Part5/Starting-Part5.html>`_
     Taking our new game online and let players try it out
 ```
 

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part2/Game-Planning.md

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-[prev lesson](./Starting-Part2) | [next lesson](./Planning-The-Tutorial-Game)
+[prev lesson](./Planning-Where-Do-I-Begin) | [next lesson](./Planning-The-Tutorial-Game)
 
 # On Planning a Game
 
-This lesson will be less hands-on and more introspective. We'll go through some general things to think
-about when planning your game. In the following lessons we'll apply this to plan out the tutorial-game we will
-be making. 
+Last lesson we asked ourselves some questions about our motivation. In this one we'll present 
+some more technical questions to consider. In the next lesson we'll answer them for the sake of 
+our tutorial game.
 
 Note that the suggestions on this page are just that - suggestions. Also, they are primarily aimed at a lone 
 hobby designer or a small team developing a game in their free time. 
@@ -209,4 +209,4 @@ have made their dream game a reality!
 
 In the next lesson we'll make use of these general points and try to plan out our tutorial game. 
 
-[prev lesson](./Starting-Part2) | [next lesson](./Planning-The-Tutorial-Game)
+[prev lesson](./Planning-Where-Do-I-Begin) | [next lesson](./Planning-The-Tutorial-Game)

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part2/Planning-Where-Do-I-Begin.md

@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+[prev lesson](./Starting-Part2) | [next lesson](./Game-Planning)
+
+# Where do I begin? 
+
+The good news is that following this Starting tutorial is a great way to begin making an Evennia game. 
+
+The bad news is that everyone's different and when it comes to starting your own game there is no 
+one-size-fits-all answer. Instead we will ask a series of questions 
+to help you figure this out for yourself. It will also help you evaluate your own skills and maybe 
+put some more realistic limits on how fast you can achieve your goals. 
+
+> The questions in this lesson do not really apply to our tutorial game since we know we are doing it 
+> to learn Evennia. If you just want to follow along with the technical bits you can skip this lesson and 
+> come back later when you feel ready to take on making your own game.
+
+## What is your motivation for doing this?
+
+So you want to make a game. First you need to make a few things clear to yourself.
+
+Making a multiplayer online game is a _big_ undertaking. You will (if you are like most of us) be
+doing it as a hobby, without getting paid. And you’ll be doing it for a long time.
+
+So the very first thing you should ask yourself (and your team, if you have any) is 
+_why am I doing this_? Do some soul-searching here. Here are some possible answers:
+
+- I want to earn recognition and fame from my online community and/or among my friends.
+- I want to build the game so I can play and enjoy it myself.
+- I want to build the same game I already play but without the bad people.
+- I want to create a game so that I can control it and be the head honcho.
+- A friend or online acquaintance talked me into working on it.
+- I work on this because I’m paid to (wow!)
+- I only build this for my own benefit or to see if I can pull it off.
+- I want to create something to give back to the community I love.
+- I want to use this project as a stepping-stone towards other projects (like a career in game design
+or programming).
+- I am interested in coding or server and network architectures, making a MUD just seems to be a good
+way to teach myself.
+- I want to build a commercial game and earn money.
+- I want to fulfill a life-long dream of game making.
+
+There are many other possibilities. How “solid” your answer is for a long-term development project
+is up to you. The important point is that you ask yourself the question.
+
+**Help someone else instead** - Maybe you should _not_ start a new project - maybe you're better off
+helping someone else or improve on something that already exists. Or maybe you find you are more of a 
+game engine developer than a game designer. 
+
+**Driven by emotion** - Some answers may suggest that you are driven by emotions of revenge or disconcert. Be careful with that and
+check so that's not your _only_ driving force. Those emotions may have abated later when the project 
+most needs your enthusiasm and motivation.
+
+**Going commercial** - If your aim is to earn money, your design goals will likely be very different from 
+those of a person who only creates as a hobby or for their own benefit. You may also have a much stricter
+timeline for release. 
+
+Whichever your motivation, you should at least have it clear in your own mind. It’s worth to make
+sure your eventual team is on the same page too.
+
+## What are your skills?
+
+Once you have your motivations straight you need to take a stock of your own skills and the skills
+available in your team, if you have any.
+
+Your game will have two principal components and you will need skills to cater for both:
+
+- The game engine / code base - Evennia in this case. 
+- The assets created for using the game engine (“the game world”)
+
+###  The game engine
+
+The game engine is maintained and modified by programmers (coders). It represents the infrastructure
+that runs the game - the network code, the protocol support, the handling of commands, scripting and
+data storage.
+
+If you are just evaluating Evennia, it's worth to do the following:
+
+- Hang out in the community/forums/chat. Expect to need to ask a lot of “stupid” questions as you start 
+developing (hint: no question is stupid). Is this a community in which you would feel comfortable doing so?
+- Keep tabs on the manual (you're already here).
+- How's your Python skills? What are the skills in your team? Do you or your team already know it or are 
+you willing to learn? Learning the language as you go is not too unusual with Evennia devs, but expect it 
+to add development time. You will also be worse at predicting how 'hard' something is to do. 
+- If you don’t know Python, you should have gotten a few tastes from the first part of this tutorial. But 
+expect to have to refer to external online tutorials - there are many details of Python that will not be 
+covered.
+
+### Asset creation
+
+Compared to the level of work needed to produce professional graphics for an MMORPG, detailed text
+assets for a mud are cheap to create. This is one of the many reasons muds are so well suited for a
+small team.
+
+This is not to say that making “professional” text content is easy though. Knowing how to write
+imaginative and grammatically correct prose is only the minimal starting requirement. A good asset-
+creator (traditionally called a “builder”) must also be able to utilize the tools of the game engine
+to its fullest in order to script events, make quests, triggers and interactive, interesting
+environments.
+
+Assuming you are not coding all alone, your team’s in-house builders will be the first ones to actually 
+“use” your game framework and build tools. They will stumble on all the bugs. This means that you 
+need people who are just not “artsy” or “good with words”. Assuming coders and builders are not the 
+same people (common for early testing), builders need to be able to collaborate well and give clear 
+and concise feedback. 
+
+If you know your builders are not tech-savvy, you may need to spend more time making easier 
+build-tools and commands for them. 
+
+## So, where do I begin, then?
+
+Right, after all this soul-searching and skill-inventory-checking, let’s go back to the original
+question. And maybe you’ll find that you have a better feeling for the answer yourself already:
+
+- Keep following this tutorial and spend the time 
+  to really understand what is happening in the examples. Not only will this give you a better idea
+  of how parts hang together, it may also give you ideas for what is possible. Maybe something 
+  is easier than you expected! 
+- Introduce yourself in the IRC/Discord chat and don't be shy to ask questions as you go through
+  the tutorial. Don't get hung up on trying to resolve something that a seasoned Evennia dev may 
+  clear up for you in five minutes. Also, not all errors are your faults - it's possible the 
+  tutorial is unclear or has bugs, asking will quickly bring those problems to light, if so.
+- If Python is new to you, you should complement the tutorial with third-party Python references 
+  so you can read, understand and replicate example code without being completely in the dark.
+  
+Once you are out of the starting tutorial, you'll be off to do your own thing.
+  
+- The starting tutorial cannot cover everything. Skim through the [Evennia docs](../../../index).
+  Even if you don't read everything, it gives you a feeling for what's available should you need
+  to look for something later. Make sure to use the search function.
+- You can now start by expanding on the tutorial-game we will have created. In the last part there 
+  there will be a list of possible future projects you could take on. Working on your own, without help
+  from a tutorial is the next step.
+
+As for your builders, they can start getting familiar with Evennia's default build commands ... but
+keep in mind that your game is not yet built! Don't set your builders off on creating large zone projects.
+If they build anything at all, it should be small test areas to agree on a homogenous form, mood
+and literary style. 
+
+## Conclusions
+
+Remember that what kills a hobby game project will usually be your own lack of
+motivation. So do whatever you can to keep that motivation burning strong! Even if it means
+deviating from what you read in a tutorial like this one. Just get that game out there, whichever way
+works best for you.
+
+In the next lesson we'll go through some of the technical questions you need to consider. This should 
+hopefully help you figure out more about the game you want to make. In the lesson following that we'll 
+then try to answer those questions for the sake of creating our little tutorial game.
+
+[prev lesson](./Starting-Part2) | [next lesson](./Game-Planning)

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part2/Starting-Part2.md

@@ -2,25 +2,28 @@
 
 ```sidebar:: Tutorial Parts
 
-  Part 1: `What we have <./Starting-Part1.html>`_
+  Part 1: `What we have <../Part1/Starting-Part1.html>`_
     A tour of Evennia and how to use the tools, including an introduction to Python.
   **Part 2: What we want**
     Planning our tutorial game and what to think about when planning your own in the future.
-  Part 3: `How we get there <./Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
+  Part 3: `How we get there <../Part3/Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
        Getting down to the meat of extending Evennia to make our game
-  Part 4: `Using what we created <./Starting-Part4.html>`_
+  Part 4: `Using what we created <../Part4/Starting-Part4.html>`_
     Building a tech-demo and world content to go with our code
-  Part 5: `Showing the world <./Starting-Part5.html>`_
+  Part 5: `Showing the world <../Part5/Starting-Part5.html>`_
     Taking our new game online and let players try it out
 ```
 
 ## Lessons for Part 2
 
+In Part two of the Starting tutorial we'll step back and plan out the kind of tutorial 
+game we want to make. This is a more 'theoretical' part where we won't do any hands-on
+programming. 
+
 1. Introduction & Overview (you are here)
+1. [Where do I begin](./Planning-Where-Do-I-Begin)
 1. [On planning a game](./Game-Planning)
 1. [Planning to use some useful Contribs](./Planning-Some-Useful-Contribs)
 
-In Part two of the Starting tutorial we'll step back and plan out the kind of tutorial 
-game we want to make. In the process we'll go through the common questions of "where to start"
-and "what to think about" when creating a multiplayer online text game. We'll also look at 
-some useful Evennia settings to tweak and designs to consider.
+In the process we'll go through the common questions of "where to start"
+and "what to think about" when creating a multiplayer online text game.

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part3/Starting-Part3.md

@@ -2,15 +2,15 @@
 
 ```sidebar:: Tutorial Parts
 
-  Part 1: `What we have <./Starting-Part1.html>`_
+  Part 1: `What we have <../Part1/Starting-Part1.html>`_
     A tour of Evennia and how to use the tools, including an introduction to Python.
-  Part 2: `What we want <./Starting-Part2.html>`_
+  Part 2: `What we want <../Part2/Starting-Part2.html>`_
     Planning our tutorial game and what to think about when planning your own in the future.
   **Part 3: How we get there**
        Getting down to the meat of extending Evennia to make our game
-  Part 4: `Using what we created <./Starting-Part4.html>`_
+  Part 4: `Using what we created <../Part4/Starting-Part4.html>`_
     Building a tech-demo and world content to go with our code
-  Part 5: `Showing the world <./Starting-Part5.html>`_
+  Part 5: `Showing the world <../Part5/Starting-Part5.html>`_
     Taking our new game online and let players try it out
 ```
 In part three of the Evennia Starting tutorial we will go through the creation of several key parts 

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part4/Starting-Part4.md

@@ -2,15 +2,15 @@
 
 ```sidebar:: Tutorial Parts
 
-  Part 1: `What we have <./Starting-Part1.html>`_
+  Part 1: `What we have <../Part1/Starting-Part1.html>`_
     A tour of Evennia and how to use the tools, including an introduction to Python.
-  Part 2: `What we want <./Starting-Part2.html>`_
+  Part 2: `What we want <../Part2/Starting-Part2.html>`_
     Planning our tutorial game and what to think about when planning your own in the future.
-  Part 3: `How we get there <./Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
+  Part 3: `How we get there <../Part3/Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
        Getting down to the meat of extending Evennia to make our game to make a tech-demo
   **Part 4: Using what we created**
     Using the tech-demo and world content to go with our code
-  Part 5: `Showing the world <./Starting-Part5.html>`_
+  Part 5: `Showing the world <../Part5/Starting-Part5.html>`_
     Taking our new game online and let players try it out
 ``` 
 

docs/source/Howto/Starting/Part5/Starting-Part5.md

@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@
 
 ```sidebar:: Tutorial Parts
 
-  Part 1: `What we have <./Starting-Part1.html>`_
+  Part 1: `What we have <../Part1/Starting-Part1.html>`_
     A tour of Evennia and how to use the tools, including an introduction to Python.
-  Part 2: `What we want <./Starting-Part2.html>`_
+  Part 2: `What we want <../Part2/Starting-Part2.html>`_
     Planning our tutorial game and what to think about when planning your own in the future.
-  Part 3: `How we get there <./Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
+  Part 3: `How we get there <../Part3/Starting-Part3.html>`_ 
        Getting down to the meat of extending Evennia to make our game
-  Part 4: `Using what we created <./Starting-Part4.html>`_
+  Part 4: `Using what we created <../Part4/Starting-Part4.html>`_
     Building a tech-demo and world content to go with our code
   **Part 5: Showing the world**
     Taking our new game online and let players try it out