Thank You Joseph Sweeney
Thank you Joseph Sweeney!
Just finished the three video tutorials provided in the annual, and they were fantastic. Was getting close to giving up on CC3, but your explanations really helped crack the program open... great stuff, truly. The only frustration is that such instructions come as an 'extra'--surely a beginner's guide (a proper one, not the very limited 'Essentials') should come free with the software?
-Mike
Just finished the three video tutorials provided in the annual, and they were fantastic. Was getting close to giving up on CC3, but your explanations really helped crack the program open... great stuff, truly. The only frustration is that such instructions come as an 'extra'--surely a beginner's guide (a proper one, not the very limited 'Essentials') should come free with the software?
-Mike
Comments
-Mike
I'd like to make a suggestion to Simon: consider giving away that particular annual as a "free sample" of what's in the annuals, and as an aid to helping new users. And if potential customers can watch the software in action, it may help increase sales of the main software as well as the annual.
The free dungeon tutorial available is great, but overland mapping is where it all starts.
I think CC3 has amazing potential, but I'm often stymied by the myriad details in the program that I've yet to master. Joseph Sweeney's Dungeon Designer tutorials were extremely helpful, and I think I'd get much more out of CC3 if I could see similar tutorials on overland mapping (as well as other add-ons). I haven't purchased the Annual, however, because I resent being asked to pay an extra $40 for some tutorials to help me unlock the basic functionality of a program I've already paid for.
My previous interactions with ProFantasy customer service have all been positive, and if customer relations are as important to this company as it would seem, I hope they'll take the initiative to simply pay Joseph Sweeney to create some more excellent video tutorials and publish them for on the web for free. In doing so they might well reach a whole new market of less tech savvy people who've been standing on the sidelines due to the very appropriate concern that they'd not be able to master CC3 enough to make the program and its add-ons behave as they'd like.
Just by way of comparison, Lynda.com offers a vast number of tutorials on over a hundred programs (Adobe products, Microsoft Products, 3D Applications, etc), and $25 buys you a full month of unlimited access. So to pay $40 to get one 70 minute tutorial on one portion of one program (rather than several hours on CC3, City Designer, Dungeon Designer, Cosmographer, and so forth) . . . well, it just doesn't seem like the right way to engender further loyalty from people who've already purchased your products. If I decide to purchase the Annual, it should be as an eager customer who wants the extra symbol sets along with all the cool tips to take my mapping to the next level, not as a disgruntled patron who's had his arm twisted by thin documentation and a dearth of online support.
Hope these comments are taken in the right spirit.
Mosk the Scribe (Rob)
As for your comment about unlocking basic functionality of a program, don't forget that the annuals are basically a way of helping you to get more out of the program, and in most issues, they come with extra tools for the program (drawing tools, symbols, etc). Most of these takes time and money to make, and they will have to charge money for it.
As for the comparison with Lynda.com, don't forget they cover software that millions of users all over the globe is using, and thus have a much larger market. Production costs are more or less fixed, so the more people you can sell to, the less you can charge from each. I don't use Lynda.com myself, but I assume if you buy a month's access, you can't actually download the videos to watch them later? I did notice they sell the training videos for a single program for $99.95 for most popular sofware. For that sum, you get 2.5 annuals, which contains a lot of stuff for CC3.
I do agree that a few more free video tutorials would be excellent. Not for my own use, but for beginners. Perhaps offer a low-res download for public access, and a high-quality one only for registered users if bandwidth is an issue.
I think we're basically in agreement.
As to the Annual, I don't mean to dispute its value. I just don't want to feel 'coerced' into buying it in order to use CC3 on a reasonably proficient level.
And you're right about Lynda.com - you don't get to download the tutorials for later use unless you purchase specific sets at what struck me as an exorbitant price.
So for the time being, I'll probably just rely on the charitable advice of this community's more accomplished users.
Best,
Mosk the Scribe
His tutorials not only showed me how to use CC3 for more effect, but also taught concepts that actually demonstrates why CC3's approach to things like Sheets and Layers is actually quite powerful. It made the daunting learning curve that CC3 presents much more manageable. My maps became much nice virtually overnight.
And to anyone who hasn't subscribed yet, the annual is the best investment you'll make for improving your mapping IMO.