Trying to get started... not trying hard enough?

[Marty-v]

Good afternoon all, my name is Marty. 32 Years of age, father, husband, fulltime security worker, living in the Netherlands and I have no experience at all when it comes to actually making a game.
I have tried to pick it up as a hobby over probably more than 10 years but every time I hit a certain roadblock and I end up dropping it all together. I know that one of my problems is that I want too much too fast and that I want it done perfectly and unique. But now I have reached a point where I want to try and reach out and see if any feedback from the Unity community can guide me in any way shape or form.

A few of my other (creative) hobbys consist of music producing trough FL studio’s (very much amateur level).
Writing ‘‘story’s’’ again on a very basic scale. And well, playing games isn’t really creative I guess but there’s that. And cooking.

As I mentioned above, over the past years I have tried to pick up game design to no avail. I have tried RPG maker (various versions) Unity, game maker studio and Buildbox. For what I can recall but I can’t seem to actually finish anything I start.

For example: On RPG maker I tend to start out great, can get a grasp of what I want to make and it will take shape very fast… but then I decide it isn’t ‘‘special’’ enough. Every sprite, every way or shape that it looks is anything everyone would make using that engine. And I discard it.

On Unity I always feel like it has the most potential of anything and I tend to actually sit down for it and start following the tutorials and everything. But I remember any tutorial I have followed ended kind of the same (for me) When I reach the point where you get to code anything, like anything at all. I sit down, look at the premade coding part. Try to copy it manually as best as I can… and it fails… then I try to actually copy/paste… and it fails as well. At these points I just give up again as well.

It ends up being either too hard for me, or it feels too generic basically… Also, a few things that I really have a hard time getting to terms with is that I feel like I can’t actually do any of it. I mean I can’t code, I am not creative when it comes to making my own art for like characters, world design, honestly anything. Sound effects I might be able to pull off myself as for BGM’s but I feel like that’s where my own skill set ends. I have also tried making my own sprite’s (Aseprite and GIMP) at several points and I know it takes time and investment to actually get good at anything but looking at all the aspects of designing your own games it just get’s so intimidating.

I know there is a huge lack of commitment on my part. But I keep on coming back to wanting to do this. So basically my question is: how can I start overcoming these hurdles and how can I commit myself to actually start without giving up? What did you guys do? Is there anyone with some solid advice, feedback or anything.

I really hope there is someone out there who is willing to help me get my mind out of this gutter. And I hope I didn’t waste anyone’s time reading this. (and also that I didn’t post this in the wrong thread)

[Schneider21]

Hey, Marty. Welcome to the forums! I’m glad you decided to drop in and see what you could do about moving forward with your interest in game development.

Let me start off by assuring you that you’re absolutely not alone. So don’t feel like you’re the one failure out of anyone who’s ever tried to make a game or anything. But failing at stuff is fine. We shouldn’t be discouraged from it, but rather use it as an opportunity to evaluate and revisit our plans. Which is what it seems like you’re doing right now, so you’re on the right track!

So you want to make a game. Maybe even more than one. That’s great! With the times we live in, it actually is easier than it’s ever been before. Or, rather… it’s more accessible. It’s still hard work, as you’ve discovered, and no amount of marketing by Unity or anyone else will change that. But you have access to the tools, and there’s a wealth of knowledge out there for you to access. The tough thing for father/husband/full-time-employed-persons like us is time and energy. I know I’m running short on those all the damn time. And the best advice I can give for that is passing along some advice that I was given from a good friend (who saw it on a YouTube video):

Whenever you decide you’re going to start doing something, or doing more of something, you should simultaneously decide what you’re going to stop doing (or do less of).

If you want to make a game, there’s a good chance you need to trim something else out of your life to make room for it. Maybe it’s another hobby you enjoy. Or maybe it’s sitting around watching Netflix and eating Cheetos for a few hours some nights. Or maybe it’s sleeping in on Saturdays. The trick is to find something you can cut without a negative affect to your health and wellbeing, and ensure you’re filling that time pushing yourself to pick up game development. I haven’t fully mastered this yet, so I’m unable to give you much more advice than that, but if you figure out any tricks, be sure to share!

I’m gonna assume you go with Unity, because you’re here after all, and it’s what I know and love. So… to learn how to use Unity, there’s one super basic thing you can do that will help you immensely. It’s gonna sound stupid, or like I’m just being an asshole, but it’s the most honest answer I can give. Ready? Here it is.

Just use Unity.

That’s it. Open it up. Mess with things. Try to make something stupid and small, like recreating a piece of the most basic arcade game you can think of, or even making a digital version of a board game you enjoy. It’s not going to be revolutionary, or exciting/interesting to anybody but yourself. That’s fine! We’re just looking to build proficiency for now, and we do that through experience. As I always say: there’s no shortcut to experience.

Make a bunch of stuff. Throw them away (just kidding, do not throw them away, save all of your stuff and back it up using GitHub) and start new projects. I absolutely understand losing interest in stuff that is bland and not new in any way, but you must fight that urge and do it anyway, and here’s why. Making stuff is hard. Designing stuff while making it is even harder. So if you can build up your experience making things that have already been designed, that’ll save you from running into situations where you need to rethink a system and realize it needs refactored before proceeding, or spending a ton of time on a feature only to discover the idea itself isn’t really fun. Make no mistake, you will run into those situations eventually on your own ideas, but we’re avoiding them for now just so you can keep moving forward.

Do tutorials. Notice I didn’t say “watch” tutorials or “read” tutorials. Do them. Don’t look at big blocks of code and copy and paste them. Type them out. Consider each line as you write it, and think critically about what it is that line does. If you can’t figure out what something is doing or why, look it up. There’s a good chance every question you could come up with has already been asked before, and Google will present those questions (and likely their answers) to you if you simply look it up.

When you start feeling like you’re getting the hang of recreating old games or creating simple little systems, start mixing it up. Think of how you could change a mechanic from one of those projects to turn it into something new. Like let’s say you already cloned Pac-Man in some form. Take that project, and change it so that – for example – maybe you play as one of the ghosts instead (Blinky, obviously, the best one). This kind of task really forces you to think about code and architecture of projects, ensuring you understand it thoroughly and giving you some experience thinking creatively and designing new ideas. Heck, it may even lead you to a fun new game idea all of its own.

After you’ve done that a bit, then you can think about working on one of your own game ideas. But to do that, you’ll have to boil your idea down until it’s basically more of a syrup residue you scrape off the pan. You need the simplest possible version of this idea that you can build first, but built (mostly) in such a way that you can start adding those bigger ideas onto it. Creating a minimum viable product first will keep that motivation up, and should you ever lose that motivation, you can at least abandon your project in a finished form, since it should be playable from the point of MVP on.

---

These are, of course, just my suggestions. Feel free to follow them or ignore them. I was 25 when I got back from Iraq and realized I didn’t want to be a career military guy or a cop or anything, so I went back to school for web development. Got a low-paying internship, got experience, moved up and moved on to other jobs, picked up Unity as a hobby and never really finished anything, changed jobs again, got better using C# and Unity, and eventually felt confident enough to apply for a position using Unity for a real job. I’m now 38 and lead a team of Unity developers and make a nice salary, but still keep working to find that time and energy to see one of my personal projects through to completion and make that my main thing. I believe I still have time to do it, and if it’s something you want to do, don’t give up. But also don’t keep sitting back waiting for the time to start. Figure out what you’re gonna do less of, cut it out, and start putting that time in with your game dev journey. You’ll be happy you did, trust me.

Good luck, man. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

[Marty-v]

@Schneider21

Hey, Marty. Welcome to the forums! I’m glad you decided to drop in and see what you could do about moving forward with your interest in game development.

Let me start off by assuring you that you’re absolutely not alone. So don’t feel like you’re the one failure out of anyone who’s ever tried to make a game or anything. But failing at stuff is fine. We shouldn’t be discouraged from it, but rather use it as an opportunity to evaluate and revisit our plans. Which is what it seems like you’re doing right now, so you’re on the right track!

So you want to make a game. Maybe even more than one. That’s great! With the times we live in, it actually is easier than it’s ever been before. Or, rather… it’s more accessible. It’s still hard work, as you’ve discovered, and no amount of marketing by Unity or anyone else will change that. But you have access to the tools, and there’s a wealth of knowledge out there for you to access. The tough thing for father/husband/full-time-employed-persons like us is time and energy. I know I’m running short on those all the damn time. And the best advice I can give for that is passing along some advice that I was given from a good friend (who saw it on a YouTube video):

If you want to make a game, there’s a good chance you need to trim something else out of your life to make room for it. Maybe it’s another hobby you enjoy. Or maybe it’s sitting around watching Netflix and eating Cheetos for a few hours some nights. Or maybe it’s sleeping in on Saturdays. The trick is to find something you can cut without a negative affect to your health and wellbeing, and ensure you’re filling that time pushing yourself to pick up game development. I haven’t fully mastered this yet, so I’m unable to give you much more advice than that, but if you figure out any tricks, be sure to share!

I’m gonna assume you go with Unity, because you’re here after all, and it’s what I know and love. So… to learn how to use Unity, there’s one super basic thing you can do that will help you immensely. It’s gonna sound stupid, or like I’m just being an asshole, but it’s the most honest answer I can give. Ready? Here it is.

Just use Unity.

That’s it. Open it up. Mess with things. Try to make something stupid and small, like recreating a piece of the most basic arcade game you can think of, or even making a digital version of a board game you enjoy. It’s not going to be revolutionary, or exciting/interesting to anybody but yourself. That’s fine! We’re just looking to build proficiency for now, and we do that through experience. As I always say: there’s no shortcut to experience.

Make a bunch of stuff. Throw them away (just kidding, do not throw them away, save all of your stuff and back it up using GitHub) and start new projects. I absolutely understand losing interest in stuff that is bland and not new in any way, but you must fight that urge and do it anyway, and here’s why. Making stuff is hard. Designing stuff while making it is even harder. So if you can build up your experience making things that have already been designed, that’ll save you from running into situations where you need to rethink a system and realize it needs refactored before proceeding, or spending a ton of time on a feature only to discover the idea itself isn’t really fun. Make no mistake, you will run into those situations eventually on your own ideas, but we’re avoiding them for now just so you can keep moving forward.

Do tutorials. Notice I didn’t say “watch” tutorials or “read” tutorials. Do them. Don’t look at big blocks of code and copy and paste them. Type them out. Consider each line as you write it, and think critically about what it is that line does. If you can’t figure out what something is doing or why, look it up. There’s a good chance every question you could come up with has already been asked before, and Google will present those questions (and likely their answers) to you if you simply look it up.

When you start feeling like you’re getting the hang of recreating old games or creating simple little systems, start mixing it up. Think of how you could change a mechanic from one of those projects to turn it into something new. Like let’s say you already cloned Pac-Man in some form. Take that project, and change it so that – for example – maybe you play as one of the ghosts instead (Blinky, obviously, the best one). This kind of task really forces you to think about code and architecture of projects, ensuring you understand it thoroughly and giving you some experience thinking creatively and designing new ideas. Heck, it may even lead you to a fun new game idea all of its own.

After you’ve done that a bit, then you can think about working on one of your own game ideas. But to do that, you’ll have to boil your idea down until it’s basically more of a syrup residue you scrape off the pan. You need the simplest possible version of this idea that you can build first, but built (mostly) in such a way that you can start adding those bigger ideas onto it. Creating a minimum viable product first will keep that motivation up, and should you ever lose that motivation, you can at least abandon your project in a finished form, since it should be playable from the point of MVP on.

---

These are, of course, just my suggestions. Feel free to follow them or ignore them. I was 25 when I got back from Iraq and realized I didn’t want to be a career military guy or a cop or anything, so I went back to school for web development. Got a low-paying internship, got experience, moved up and moved on to other jobs, picked up Unity as a hobby and never really finished anything, changed jobs again, got better using C# and Unity, and eventually felt confident enough to apply for a position using Unity for a real job. I’m now 38 and lead a team of Unity developers and make a nice salary, but still keep working to find that time and energy to see one of my personal projects through to completion and make that my main thing. I believe I still have time to do it, and if it’s something you want to do, don’t give up. But also don’t keep sitting back waiting for the time to start. Figure out what you’re gonna do less of, cut it out, and start putting that time in with your game dev journey. You’ll be happy you did, trust me.

Good luck, man. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

Amazing reply thank you very much!
I returned from Afghanistan myself at 23 so that part I fully understand. Amazing to hear how you made the decision then and there to go back to school, I myself went from security to security jobs before realizing I want something else.

Anyways… Yes I want to go for Unity as my main engine, the biggest problem I ran into with it was the doing the tutorials as I mentioned in my post. But I shall try them again (anew since it has been years at this point) and instead of running flat and giving up I will try to reach out more to find the errors of my ways and try to work them out. After that recreating ‘‘simple’’ board games also sounds really appealing to me as a next step.

As you might have noticed from my use of RPG maker on the side I would eventually really like to try to create my own fantasy world and maybe even build on that. So I might have also started out thinking in a too grand of a scope. I should probably indeed have to start out using assets and such, and eventually see if and how I can switch things up.

For now I think at least reading your personalized story is a huge motivation and I will take it to heart. Thank you so much for taking the time and I shall start working on those tutorials!

[Schneider21]

One thing I meant to mention but forgot was a strategy I read about but haven’t tried yet. It says to set a time period each day to work on the craft (this article was for writing, but it applies here as well), and ensure you always stick to it. Importantly, ensure you don’t go past the time limit, as keeping yourself restricted will ensure you’re making the most of the time you have and not make you feel pressured to maintain that high-capacity day by feeling like you should be going over the time window.

Something worth considering. And please, by all means, if you do find yourself stuck again, just reach out. You can get in touch with me here via private message or on Discord (Schneider21#9161) even if you just want another little pep talk.

You can do this!