Should I give up on UE?

I’m a developer. With an age of 13. I’m learning C++ and making good progress. I wanted to make games using the languages and that’s when I heard about UE. Although, I do keep on getting stuck on UE. I think that my intelligence may be too low to be trying to learn UE. Should I quit?

Of course not! But learning UE4 and C++ at the same time is a lot to bite off, even for seasoned programmers coming from other languages. I don’t know how long you’ve been at it, but it can’t have been all that long. Keep at it. Maybe stick to Blueprints while you find your way around Unreal and continue to work on learning C++ separately. You’re only 13 and have plenty of time to just mess around with it to figure out how everything works. You’re not racing anyone.

1 Like

I have been able to make a game with only blueprints (not released yet). It is an FPS shooter game with a single player and multiplayer mode. I don’t know C++ but am familiar with all of the variable types. Don’t give up, unreal engine is one of the best tools for making applications in my opinion.

This is quite the blast from the past. When I was 13 I was very much in your shoes. I remember buying every Game Development book I could get my hands on and getting frustrated when I couldn’t wrap my head around DirectX and all the math involved (engines like UE4 didn’t exist and certainly weren’t free to use).

Like you, I was thinking “Maybe I’m too dumb for this”. But you know what? I kept doing my best, graduated College with a BS in CompSci and have been programming games professionally for about 15 years now. So, trust in what I’m going to tell you.

  • You are NOT too dumb. Learning is a process, not a check box. You will never know everything about anything. I am still learning every day, and I’ve been doing this for a while now. Accept that you don’t know everything and that’s okay. Ask for help, read, research, experiment.

  • Math is your friend. Learn it. Pay attention to it. You may not have the classes yet (Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, Trigonometry) - but when they show up, listen and understand. They are tools. Important tools. People will tell you, “Why do I need to know what Sin/Cos/Tan do? It’s pointless.” For them? Maybe. For you? It’s necessary.

  • Take every Computer Science class you can. Again, learning things is a process. The more you practice a skill, the better you get at it. Data Structures are hugely important. Learn how a computer works, how the CPU does what it does, and how you can take advantage of that when writing your own programs.

  • Have fun. You are 13. You have so much ahead of you. Don’t chase money or fame. Do what brings a smile to your face. Give yourself time to be a kid and enjoy things, especially when you are stuck on a problem. You’ll be surprised how often just taking your mind off the problem will lead to an answer (your brain will work on it in the background, don’t stress over it).

Hope that helps. Hang in there bud.

4 Likes

Dont quit buddy.

If its the end of the day and youve been working hard, just give yourself a break. You’ll have motivation back tomorrow.

If you have been trying hard for a long time and cant get something to work, that probably just means that you are trying too do too much too quickly.
Taking on a smaller, simpler project would probably be the best thing to do.

You ever notice how in video games, they are usually made so that most of the time its kind of easy. You get a little challenge, but it’s never overwhelming.

Thats the same way you can design your own game development journey. Try to do projects that are a little tough, but with some effort you can complete them without becoming absolutely stuck for too long.

Each time you finish you’ll feel super motivated to jump at the next project. You’ll learn faster this way than if you try to do something more complicated that has you scratching your head too often.

One last thing - if you can find a good tutor to help you when you’re stuck, that is a big help.

Persistence always wins! Good luck!

1 Like

It’s very likely not lack of intelligence – but lack of experience. You’re probably plenty smart enough, if you’ve already made it here. But you may be biting off more than you can handle in individual pieces, too much at one time, which can feel discouraging when you’ve got so much you’re trying to do, and don’t know how to get it done. Break down whatever you’re trying to do into smaller and smaller pieces, to figure out what you need to learn to build it up into a big thing!

1 Like

apetrai
Do not quit stay at it. In time you will be the master of unreal. It takes time to learn the stuff in unreal and how it was wrote to work with it. Some of use have been at it over 20 to 30 to 40 years. Stay with it you will get it. I still fight stuff and i’ve been at this a long long time. Not as long as some here but close. As long as you can remember the stuff you have did. You will be fine. there is just a ton to learn in this engine.

Wish you all the best, you can do it, never give up and do not let anyone tell you, you can not do it, show them other wise :wink: