Z-tutorials presents: Trick development- How to create a trick or combo by Zammy
For a very long time, people have constantly asked me “How do you come up with awesome tricks?”. Well, I have always had a base way of doing it, a certain process which is not much different than other yoyoers. Well, today I explain to you in a step by step manner how I do this, how I develop my material.
This tutorial will help new yoyoers that have gotten past all the basic, intermediate and master tricks out there. This will help them so they can branch out and do their own thing and develop their style.
I really hope this helps out in the long haul. Please share this so new yoyoers will be able to see this.
I really tried the best I could in terms of trying to say it as plain as possible.
Either way, I’ve never seen anyone really say “HOW” to make a trick or combo. So this is a first. A text tutorial will be typed out in accordance with this video.
The steps included are:
1. Influence
Influence usually starts when you watch your favorite yoyoers doing things that appeal to you or impress you that it makes you wish you could do it. Well, if you can you can “steal/borrow” that idea they are doing, and go about creating your own variation/original trick. Influence is not tied down to just yoyoing, sometimes you can be influenced or inspired to do trick development from things completely unrelated to yoyos, like music or other skill toys. Usually yoyoers will just watch clip videos and freestyles and take out certain elements they like and mutate them into their own ideas.
2. Experimentation
This is the second stage, where the goal is to, as crazy as it sounds, fail. Once to begin to figure out a concept you wish to do…you start to experiment. You start to create your beginning idea. One main idea that people do is to throw and do something completely different, ergo meaning to fail. This allows you to better grasp what you are doing and the concept you are trying to create.
So, every time you throw- try and do something different each time and decide if it fits what you are trying to make.
3. Step by step
Step 2 and step 3 are very similar in trick developement because as you experiment you are also starting to build a step system. As you try to create a trick or combo, you have to have connected points, a point a to point b to point c…thats an example. These are steps. Each step you make follows through from what you did prior…meaning you are experimenting and deciding to do what is next.
Having a basic understanding of what you are trying to create in a step by step manner will allow yourself to further create your design/concept. You can look at each individual step and decide “Where do I go from here”.
There is a difference between a trick and a combo.
Tricks are usually done in as small amount of steps as possible with usually just one idea/concept shown. They are not as complex and usually really flashy and simple.
Combos on the other hand have many numerous steps involved with many different elements/concepts combined in different parts of it. The combined product ends up as a combo due to all the combined elements involved.
In this day and age its kinda hard to tell the difference between a trick or combo.
4. Writing your tricks down
This step is pretty much optional, as not every single yoyoer will write down their ideas. But, if you have a great concept/idea in mind quickly writing down in your notepad as best as you can in a step by step manner. This will allow you to have it physically written down so that way you can backtrack and look at it if you forget. Tons of people forget their ideas, so if they are written you can look at it and memorize it.
This also helps out with step 3 in that you get even more of a understanding of the trick or combo. Understanding exactly what you are doing while experimenting helps develop the overall creativity of a yoyoer. It can unlock different techniques and different styles and different overall development for each individual yoyoer.
5. Analyzing
Almost to the end! This step is basically making you have a glance over at your almost completed trick. Its essentially a review, critically thinking/brainstorming if you think everything is complete, if everything “fits”.
The best tricks and combos often fit in a series of factors like smoothness, appeal, risk, innovation, creativity and others. The best yoyoers out there understand these factors when making their own material.
Also a good trick/combo needs to cover the three “bases”
- beginning
- middle
- end
These bases all have a different approach in some sense. The beginning you need to start out with a strong mount and have good transitions as you approach towards the middle of it. In the middle is where you shine your concept or multiple concepts at like slacks or grinds. The ending you need to finish off with a sort of “send off” where you have a unique dismount, a break or bind. This makes the viewer (another yoyoer) be very impressed and even inspired or making them go “WAHT!?”
6. Finalization
The very last step I believe when it comes to trick development is step 6, finalization. What does this imply? This is a step that makes you personally asks yourself two questions:
“Do I feel satisfied with this trick/combo?”
“Do I feel that this is complete?”
If you do not answer yes to those two questions, then it ultimately means you need to backtrack and do more experimenting, more step by step manners and analyzing it. Some people honestly do the same tricks and merely change them up for their freestyles. Some people actually create individual tricks and combos and move on to something completely new.
Ultimately, it is up to you the yoyoer to decide what to do. Everyone has their own ways of doing things. This is merely a helper/tool for people out there that wonder “Whats next” for yoyoing.
I hope this will help everyone out.
Laterdayz!
~Z
it was really helpful