Generally, I’ve been pretty bad at learning. I’ve followed tutorials on youtube and such. I love the blueprint aspect, makes things a lot easier than C++ and what not, and i’ve made a couple of games through tutorials that ive found and ive actually solved some bugs and added some things to my own game that werent in the tutorials that i’ve followed. Just i cant retain what i’ve learned from the tutorials to something that I want in my game. For instance, in one tutorial i followed was how to make an inventory system. I made it. Even solved some bugs it had. Now i want to make an equipment system (similar to Dark souls or WoW) but i cant apply the new things i’ve just learned to create my own vision. I now have to go and find yet ANOTHER tutorial and add to my game that way. I want to be so smooth to the point where i can just listen to music and code all day and make whatever I pretty much can. Ive been on and off with creating games ever since i was about 14. I made 2d games through game maker and then switched to unity, found it meh and then i gave ue4 a shot and ive been on and off with it ever since. Now i really want to pursue it because i just bought maya lt, have tons of models and have a clear vision of what i want to make. Anyone think they can help me kinda “study” ue4? When im at my real job all I think about is working on my game but when i start to work on it, i turn on music and dont know how to start unless I follow a tutorial.
You should not just follow tutorials but instead just use them to give you an idea of what needs to be done. Learn how to use the documentation and API reference. Learn some code design principles and learn how to use a new node every time you work on your game. After a while you will have a good understanding of the engine and then you can build whatever you can think of without the need for a tutorial.
There is a lot to learn about UE4 and it will take years to get a solid understanding and you still probably won’t know everything so don’t be discouraged if you keep having questions on how to do things. Your most important skill to practice is the problem solving skill making you quicker and quicker at finding the right answer or a workaround.
Thank you for the reply! I will definitely try this. As of now im trying to work on creating a faction for my game. I’m hoping i can get this myself haha
While watching a tutorial I don’t always remember the things i learn because i just ‘do as told’
So often first i follow the tutorial, then try to make the same project again but without the tutorial and when im stuck then ill take a look at the tutorial project but first and only after atleast tried a while and searched on google. Some times i have even made the tutorial project serveral times before being able to do it without looking at the video/text.
It might be boring but often being repetetive makes it easier to remember it. also at some projects at second time i might do something diffrently while still working. so often i compare them afterwards and sometimes ive improved the mechanic and sometimes it works but poorly but then i can atleast see what Ive been doing wrong
I hope this make sense
The tutorials that explain why they are doing things a specific way may be longer but better in the long run. Just being told what to do is not very helpful unless if you need to make the exact same thing which is rarely the case.
Those who make tutorials also make mistakes and sometimes do things that are unnecessary or wrong so just because the tutorial is made nicely doesn’t mean it is correct all the time.
Then there is out-of-date tutorials that gets you stuck because you are not using the same version as the tutor. You could use the same version as the tutor and avoid this problem but be careful that you don’t spend time learning a feature that has been replaced by something better. Learning something even if it is old is not a bad thing though if you got the time as long as you are aware of the updates. Larger projects tend to avoid updating the engine or plugins unless if it is necessary so you may need to know how things used to work.
Code that works is rarely updated so if you write code you will have to be able to read old code too.