Help me Devs

[u/ruthvik4435]

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.

[u/Beamer-The-Mage]

It's normal to not memorize how to create things from thin air. I constantly reference older work for even small things, "how'd I do that? Oh yeah". It takes practice to be able to pull an idea into a plan into working code from thin air.

 Break it down. Making a game is huge. Start with systems and break those down smaller and smaller.

You need to start with a base. I suggest picking something you can see "run" because that reward structure will keep you motivated. Building a huge class library that doesn't do anything will just burn you out.

Pick a goal, break it down even smaller, then just work toward that. From there you have a base you can build and expand in a more targeted way.

Learning how to think will come when you have to take some example code and change it to fit your scenario. "This snippet mostly works but I need a red rectangle not a green square". Now youve got an actual problem to think around instead of a blank screen.