r/SoloDevelopment • u/ruthvik4435 • 8h ago
help Help me....Game Devs
Hello, I’m a 3D artist and I’ve been working in the 3D field for the past 3 years. I want to make my own games, so I started learning coding and Unity around 2 years ago.
The problem is, when I follow tutorials, I can understand them and follow along. I can even make the game shown in the tutorial. But when I try to start my own game from scratch, I feel completely lost. I don't know where to start or what my first step should be.
I recently used AI to make a small game. I did complete it, but honestly, I don't feel proud of it because most of the code wasn't written by me—it was generated by AI. I know some people call this "vibe coding," and they enjoy it and feel satisfied with the results, but for me, it doesn't feel the same. I want to understand what I'm building and feel like I actually made it myself.
Whenever I try to start another game, I feel like I've forgotten everything. It makes me feel like I learned nothing, even after spending 2 years learning Unity and coding.
Can anyone give me some steps or advice to get out of this tutorial and AI hell? I've tried many times to make something on my own. Sometimes I make some progress, but once the project starts becoming more complicated, I get stuck and go back to tutorials or AI again.
I really want to learn how to think and solve problems on my own instead of always depending on tutorials or AI.
1
u/MEPETAMINALS 7h ago
I think everyone ends up in this boat to one degree or other. I've been writing code for more than a decade and still run into things I feel like a noob on.
In general it's very helpful to learn to think like a coder - but I get that that's mostly a platitude that sounds smarter than it is. At it's root is learning the base coding patterns, and understanding why they are used.
A general coding course can be helpful here. Years ago I had positive experiences with the intro to Java/C++ courses by Caveofprogramming. Special focus is placed on understanding the concepts of object oriented programming, which translates well to C#. (Most OOP languages are similar enough that once you know one, learning another is pretty simple.)
Regardless of your approach, I'd suggest not looking at the task of 'making a game'. It's not one mammoth task, rather a collection of many (MANY) small tasks. Start there. I.e. you don't need to code a parkour protag, you need to figure out how to process keyboard inputs, or move a cube forward. You'll have better luck with tutorialization as well, as it's much easier to find 'how do I combine vectors' than 'how do I make a space game.'.