I'm teaching myself game development, but I often find myself stuck in a loop of just watching endless tutorials without actually applying what I learn. I'm looking for advice on how to figure things out independently, study effectively without losing out on important details, and avoid wasting too much time. What strategies can I adopt to create a system or mindset that really helps me make progress?
5 Answers
Honestly, the best way to break free from that tutorial loop is to stop just watching them. Try to remember key points and then implement some basic concepts on your own. Mistakes are okay; they're part of the learning process. Writing notes while watching can really help too, so you have something to refer back to later.
You’re experiencing what they call "tutorial hell." The best approach is to dive into a project you’re passionate about. Stop following tutorials blindly; instead, challenge yourself to figure out how to create aspects of your project independently. If you hit a wall, it’s fine to look up specific issues, use resources like ChatGPT, but make sure you truly understand what you're implementing instead of just copying it.
Forget relying on AI for everything. Work on projects that match your skill level, and once you finish, review what you've learned—then try adding new components gradually. Resources like w3schools can help you learn different concepts, but make sure to apply them in your own projects.
You might be stuck because you're too focused on not wasting time. Just get started with what you’ve learned. Do some mini-projects, and if you get stuck, look for solutions to those specific problems. Keep in mind that your early projects might not be perfect—they often aren’t! And that’s absolutely fine; it’s all part of the learning journey.
Think about how people learned before the internet was filled with tutorials. They experimented and built things from scratch, even if they failed a lot. Embrace the process! You might feel like you're wasting time, but every failure has its value. You’ll come across what you might have missed eventually, just keep experimenting.
Exactly! Start with small, simple projects that will never see the light of day. It's totally fine to be bad in the beginning; that’s how you know you're truly learning instead of just memorizing tutorial content.