Feeling lost

Development Programming & Scripting
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Okay, so as the title suggests, I am feeling completely lost and discouraged.

I began learning C++ and Unreal in March of this year - so about 10 months in now. I have done many tutorials, courses, blah blah and I feel like I have a decent handle on the concepts, I think, but still have no idea most of the time about how to actually practically use or implement them.

Example: I am a musician, and learning guitar was sort of similar, in the way that you can learn the notes, the chords and so on, but until you know how to put them together to create a song or progression then you don’t really feel like you’re getting anywhere. Eventually you have “aha” moments that compound over time and it makes more and more sense. As much as I’ve tried to carry that same logic with me in programming, I really haven’t had very many meaningful “aha” moments at all.

As I said, I have done many tutorials, courses to get the concepts and stuff. At a certain point, a friend and I decided the best way for us to learn was to create our own projects which will eventually hopefully be a full game. For now we’re trying to focus on small pieces at a time. Right now I am just trying to create a basic dialogue system, for example.

For this I have also checked out different tutorials, and also have been trying AI a little bit. The problem with AI is that I specifically ask it to challenge me, give me hints and just guide me in trying to learn to “think like a programmer” and it starts out fine, but eventually it forgets and just starts dumping code on me and I get even more overwhelmed and discouraged.

So that’s where I am at. Super overwhelmed, super discouraged and super lost. I feel like I’m stuck between beginner and intermediate for eternity and I don’t know how to or where to turn to get over the hump. All I want is to learn and retain knowledge, but I am really having an extra hard time identifying resources for me to actually achieve that. I am stuck in tutorial hell and desperately looking for other options to help make this stuff click.

Am I just incapable of “thinking like a programmer”? Is my brain just not built for this? Or are there others that have felt this way and you eventually made it over this insurmountable mountain? Or at least halfway. If so, what did you do? What did you use? How did you get there?

I am sorry for the dump, but I just don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t even know if I’m asking for help or just screaming into the void to vent/complain. Should I stay the course and eventually it clicks? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with my approach that I can fix/improve so that I see more progress?

Thanks to anyone who reads this, and an even bigger one to anyone who may have some suggestions or help

Edit: Thanks to everyone who has commented and tried to help. You’re all awesome. I am sure I’ll be back to bother you all, again and again. I hope you all are finding success and happiness in your own journeys. I also hope that others who may be struggling in the same way may find this post and your wonderful responses and it can at least help boost their confidence as you have done with mine

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Yeah it’s hard to come up with something useful to you since there isn’t a specific issue. If you like, you can share your Discord with me via the private messages on this platform :blush:

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Thank you. I sent you a message

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Hey there @Burgturdler2! The jump from beginner and intermediate is a huge one, and can only really be accomplished by doing. Your idea of working on your own projects and building each small piece is one of the most tried and true methods of learning. It doesn’t often feel like it though, sometimes you just need to complete something, then run into an issue your code caused, correct it, then in the future you know a better practice. Using AI to augment your learning is a good idea, but know that you still need to implement everything yourself and it does help to create it yourself. Every time you create a new system, learn a new way to do something, or fix a bug will progress your knowledge. Finding a mentor can help immensely as well, so I commend VA for offering to support you!

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Do you have Dream Game or App that you would like to bring to life with UnrealEngine 5?

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You have the right strategy. Take on a small piece. But make sure it’s something fun. If it isn’t, then take a break and go do a fun side project even if it’s completely different. The more you narrow the focus and if it’s a fun project, you’ll tend to stick it out. Just copying tutorials and asking AI to help is only going to hurt you. This is fine the first time you try something. But after that, you need to be able to do it yourself. Don’t be scared to fail. You’ll learn a lot from multiple attempts.

If you feel like you’re just constantly looking things up, that’s actually normal. UE is huge. It’s why I try to help out on this forum so others can hopefully move forward. Look at how many posts there are every day. You’re not the only one hitting roadblocks. I’m still hitting roadblocks. Every time you move a bit forward, you’re hit with something else. That’s programming. That’s UE.

You said you had a friend that was also learning. That’s a HUGE advantage right there. Having someone to bounce ideas off of is great.

I think you’re feeling the grind and are stuck in tutorial hell. Been there, done that. The way around that is to actually build something. Yeah, you’ll have to look things up and you’ll feel like you’re still in tutorial hell. But so what? Just keep it focused. Make a list of what you need to do for your small project. Lists are good. When you’ve accomplished something on your list, add (DONE) to it, strike it out or just remove it. Whatever is most satisfying. Keep a copy of the original list around though. Basically, you need something as a reward and lists can do that. Eventually, you’ll be working on something you already know how to do and it’ll feel extremely satisfying. Thing is you probably already are, but are only focusing on the roadblocks.

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Thanks for the kind words. I’m probably just overwhelming myself and getting restless, because it’s hard to see incremental progress as you’re making it. VA is incredibly nice to offer and I am sure I would benefit a lot from some sort of human mentorship/guidance. I I have a long way to go, but I suppose I have probably made more progress than I think I have at this exact time. I know the best way to learn is by doing, and I’ve always been a hands on type of learner but it almost feels like a catch-22 sometimes because I don’t know how to “do” haha. I know it will click someday if I keep going, but sometimes it just feels like I’m learning wrong and I get really down about it.

By the way, is your name a NMS reference?

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Honestly a few lol. But I am lightyears away from accomplishing any of the, obviously. A space exploration game, an open world rpg or a 4x/rts type strategy game would probably be the ones at the top of the list, but those are extra tall orders

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Thank you very much. This is excellent advice and I appreciate it. I think I need to jump in and fall on my face more, on my own rather than tutorials and AI. I actually avoided AI for so long because I wanted to learn “the right way” but at a certain point I started to feel desperate so I tried. I specifically tried to use it to augment my learning, as you said, rather than just having it write my code for me, but even then it has left me more discouraged than before I started using it. I am sure it can be a useful tool for some more experienced than me, but for now I think it’s actually stunting my growth and confidence, and leaving me feeling alone in this. My friend is helpful morally, but he is working more with Blender, asset creation, 3d, etc. so not much help with coding, but still a huge advantage to have an encouraging friend around because I know a lot of people learning this don’t even have that.

Your comment means a lot and I hope you realize how helpful you are. Hopefully someday I know what I am doing and I can help others as you are helping me

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Everything i have learned i have put into an Obsidian document, I went threw a similar feeling of what you’re going through now,

That being you don’t feel like your learning much and or most of it doesn’t connect into being practical

Unreal Engine is a very large program to learn, any progress you make is good progress that will close the gap between these pieces of information your learning

There is something about the process of doing and then writing down what you learned that helps you remember more of it

Using AI in programming, not to throw too much hate at it, if your using it in the right ways it can be helpful but it’s kinda like writing a song with AI, It’ll help you to create stuff or perhaps quiz yourself but ultimately your skipping often a lot of the process of understanding Why it works and just getting the How or “What”

This is by far the best way to learn, i would comment on this and say,

Try first to figure out how to do it on your own
-Ex: Making a door, maybe the first time you do it with just a trigger box and a series of set relative position and delays, Then perhaps you watch a video and they use a timeline and a BP_Interface

It’s the little things you learn that will take you far, but after you’ve tried your way and got really close to how you wanted it to be or even failed for a couple hours, You’ve still learned something

Then what I’d do is find a video on how to do what your trying to do and at this stage write some notes for yourself, again highly recommend Obsidian

C++ will definitly come in handy in your journey and i woudn’t stop but i would perhaps prioritize learning the blueprint side of Unreal first, If i used Lego here as an example i would say it’s like learning what blocks are available to you, and C++ is like making your own blocks

I often thought this too, it does take awhile but if you’ve persisted this far know that the mountain always gets bigger as you uncover more summits, if there’s one area you can really nail down i would start there, a lot of programming in general feels like slamming your head into a wall and asking why until you finally have the “Oh that’s why” moment,

But with time certain concepts will become stupid easy and you’ll look back at some of your past projects and be like “what the heck was i thinking, why did i do it that way” and on occasion you’ll find a post here that suddenly it’s very obvious to you and you can teach someone else if you so wish, which may also help to deepen your understanding of what’s going on

Unfortunately at least for me most of these moments came from looking back on my past “Failed/Abandoned” projects and from fixing bugs that I’d made, There are some along the way that will definitely feel gratifying, i struggled for many months to figure out Multiplayer sessions here recently and finally stumbled across the one tutorial that made the information I’d collected snap into place

Here’s some good resources for you to look through
Matt Aspland - Good Tutorials, Decent explanations
LeafBranchGames - The Why to use what where
Ryan Layley - Certified Unreal teacher, Decent tutorials, sometimes not the best approaches to some of what he does they may work but in my experience often have small bugs
Gorka - Honestly avoid these, but if you want a quick and dirty way to do something that you can look back at later for more of those “ah ha” moments
Ask a dev - Really solid tutorials and all of the why and where, mostly animation related
William Faucher - Best Lighting tutorials and explinations i have ever seen

Feel free to @ me on your future questions, i’m not gonna claim to be an expert but i am a regular to these fourms and love to answer what i can

Decent source of inspiration when you feel like quiting or the task at hand is too tough etc

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Dude, thank you so much. I will explore these resources you shared, and as much as I have been so averse to Blueprints, your Lego analogy makes so much sense that it feels stupid now to ignore them, and I should probably change my attitude and approach to them. The source of inspiration is also a kind and thoughtful touch. As I said to someone else here, I hope someday that I will be able to help others as you all have helped me. You all truly don’t know how much I appreciate the help and kindness you’ve given. Seriously.

Time to go head bashing! And I’ll try not to ping you much and be a nuisance, but would definitely love to chat more at some point.

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Don’t go at it alone. Form or join others pursuing the same. This is what the HeadlessStudios Game Dev Community Discord is all about :slight_smile:

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That sounds amazing! I will definitely join. Thank you so much for sharing this. Meeting and working with others on my journey will not only help me get better, but it will make the process a million times more enjoyable. I think that’s part of why I am stressing myself out so much. I want so badly to at least be good enough to feel like I can at least bring something to a project, or be able to do at least enough for others to be interested in working together.

Thanks a lot for your kindness