SheepHerder Dissected
New academy is born out of popular game

by Neil Roger

We're building on the huge success of the Business Academy. We've found that the format of bite sized videos accompanied by text documentation and downloadable files is a winner. Because of this we are now starting to make a brand new Game Academy, focussed on making a variety of easy games. We'll be starting by showing you how to make SheepHerder, the famous 3 minute video app. Neil has been tasked with driving this initiative, and I've asked him to tell you about the challenges he faces in creating this type of academy.

SheepHerder, or how to make an app in 3 minutes 16 seconds.

This will be my first attempt at actually creating and producing academy videos from beginning to end. Previously I have edited content that was created by other LiveCode gurus, but now it's my turn and with it being my first proper LiveCode app and having to teach others how it is made…the pressure is on.

I've started by refreshing the look of the game:

Once I have fully completed the game, I will be breaking it down to a handful of small, easy to follow along videos. The topics of these videos will include interface creation, sheep generation, timer implementation and a lot more. All of these things are still subject to change. Especially I'm not sure that the look of the sheep is quite right yet!

I'm aiming to get the videos done in one take, however I feel that a few 'practice takes' will be in order. I'm just beginning my journey with LiveCode so I can foresee a few words of frustration when trying to teach it to others and I don't want that being caught on tape! I know that shooting the Business Academy videos typically took 3-4 hours for each 4 minute video, I'm aiming to improve on that...

At present, I am going through the game creation from scratch. This has helped me understand the logic behind the game and further my knowledge of LiveCode. With any problems that have arisen, I have been able to approach the Master Sheep Herder himself, Ben Beaumont, and he has been a fantastic help.

I've tried to keep the code as simple as possible and currently have the game running with only 150 lines of code. Using handlers with relevant names and ensuring handlers are only taking care of one task will help users watching the videos understand the code and whats going on.

The screenshot below shows the template settings for when a graphic is generated. You can see all the handlers lined up on the left. Click to zoom the image and view the code in more detail.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, and while I'm still in the early stages, I'm hugely looking forward to bringing you the SheepHerder Academy. I wouldn't like to give you a release date yet, as I have yet to finish the coding, write the video scripts, actually shoot them, then have everything checked and documented by other team members. I'll hopefully be able to bring you updates on progress over the coming months in this newsletter.

About the Author Neil Roger is Tech Support and Content Lead for RunRev Ltd.