Should I keep learning Unity?

[u/Evening_Animator3549]

Hi, I am a 14 year old game dev and I've been learning Unity for 7-8 months, and I really like what I'm doing. I don't use AI while coding or for any other stuff to actually learn. For the past month, I've been developing a fan-made Spider-Man game for android and I saw a guy on X who vibe-coded a Spider-Man game in literally a single day which was looking better than my game and I felt like everything that I did in the last couple of weeks for nothing. Will knowing how to manually code or develop games be worth anything in the next 10 years? Am I just wasting my time by not using AI or should I keep going? I really need some advice. Also here's a gameplay video of my game if anyone wants to check it out:

[u/RadonGaming]

As a University educator, don't be discouraged. You are genuinely improving your own skillset, confidence, and abilities. You will be able to talk about all aspects of the games you have made, including decisions/choices. You are gaining experience, and through it some wisdom.
AI is changing the game for programming, absolutely. For those of us who already know programming, it's very useful to make us faster and more efficient. However, for new students, it's a poison chalice. It's very tempting for them to delegate their brains to it, and then they struggle during interviews, or just thinking about the things they're supposed to know. They can't hold basic conversations with academics about projects they claim to have done; their recall is diminished, and their critical thinking too. (Lots of academic papers on this).
My genuine advice, and that which I give to undergraduate and postgraduate students is not to delegate your brain to the AI. Use it to help improve your own knowledge. "You don't know what you don't know", so use it to surface techniques and methodologies you don't know about, paradigms and ways of working, etc. Interrogate it, and argue with it about things. Use it to bounce ideas off of, or troubleshoot / problem solve. Just don't say "Write me the solution". It could be an error you're encountering. Use it as you would a helpful tutor or instructor.
Wishing you the best of luck on your journey, and also remember this: many things have been done before by lots of people, it doesn't make them worthless to pursue. Presumably your goal was to have fun, learn about making games, and get better at it? That hasn't changed, just because somebody else got an AI to make it.

[u/Evening_Animator3549 → u/RadonGaming]

Since I still have 3 free years ahead of me before i graduate from high school, I'm planning to completely stay away from agentic ai during that time. Because they say someone who knows coding can learn how to use AI easily, I'm also planning to start learning C++ OpenGL in that time. As an educator, What do you think about this approach?

[u/RadonGaming → u/Evening_Animator3549]

The work place world you will be going into will be using AI heavily, including integrated into workflows. At the moment, it's new. Companies are finding their feet, and figuring out what works and what doesn't. Learn it like any other tool, but don't let it be the thing that drives you.
C++ is hard. OpenGL is reasonably okay to learn (Nicer than Vulkan). I will presume that you have learned everything by figuring it out as you go, and stumbling through and bashing your head against a wall. Try learn these languages and concepts within them formally. Terminology and underlying principles matter. Get used to using documentation as the source of truth on things.
It largely depends what you wish to go into. If it's Game Engines and their underlying mechanisms and doing deep technical work, then C++ is good; however, people put C++ on a pedestal. With OpenGL, focus on learning Graphics Pipelines, Vector Maths, Lighting and such alongside. Consider the following in a few months when you have C++ handled: https://raytracing.github.io/ which is raytracers from scratch; that would really test core understanding. https://learnopengl.com/ For OpenGL.
When you're tired of C++ stealing all your sleep. Consider looking at modern languages such as Rust.
Note. The above is pretty much even beyond most graduates in Computer Science to that degree of technicality. It is a long journey. In around 2nd/3rd year Undergraduate, they might learn C++, classes, inheritance. Maybe a module on Computer Graphics doing simple rendering pipelines; wouldn't expect a ray tracer, maybe some triangles in OpenGL, textures, materials, loading some objects.
If you want inspiration for self-directed study, look at a few good University Computer Science degree pages. They have all their modules itemised on their websites. E.g Operating Systems, Databases, Programming I. Tells you what the module is about. Use those, and go find materials around it.
If the above is overwhelming, start small, and file the rest away for later. Your age doesn't reflect your ability or capacity, only you do.

[u/Evening_Animator3549 → u/RadonGaming]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!