How I learned Unity without following tutorials (Developing 1)

Developing is an on-going YouTube series, where I share the step-by-step process of making my first video game: Mind Over Magnet!

I’m starting from the very first step: choosing a game engine and learning how to use it!

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Choosing a Game Engine
03:08 - Learning Unity
05:08 - How I Learned Adobe Premiere
06:42 - Three Steps to Learning
08:12 - Applying this to Game Development
08:37 - Step 1: The Basics of Unity
10:57 - Step 2: Repeating The Lessons
15:40 - Step 3: Experimenting
16:25 - Conclusion
17:32 - Patreon Credits

=== Credits ===

Music By:

License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.

YouTube Audio Library

=== Subtitles ===

[BRICK]

3:28 - "I went onto YouTube, I typed in ' Unity Tutorials' and found a bunch of, like, Swedish men who could teach me how to use the software." <- This is an incredibly relatable experience.

[widji]

15:38 - "I know what to type into google"
This is, without a doubt, the most valuable knowledge when making anything

[Tomoka]

I know this is a year old, but I'm only 6 minutes in and this video may have just saved me from giving up on my own game. Hearing you recount your experience following along a tutorial and then becoming demoralized and frustrated when you felt as if you had learned absolutely nothing at all despite spending weeks on tutorials helped me realize that that that experience isn't unique to me, and knowing that you clearly found a way to push forward despite that setback gives me a lot of new resolve to keep trying. Thank you so much.

[Eternal-pjzh]

You can learn literally anything with enough time and dedication. Everyone learns at their own pace.

[zarthera]

There’s so many others like me that got stuck in “tutorial hell” and you feel very unworthy trying to develop games. It really just comes down to how you practice and how you attempt to make your coding/development process more independent. Thank you for giving some advice and putting it into words!

[Jabrils]

I like where this is headed. & Yeah you're exactly right, the most important part is just getting started. I was going to suggest making a couple of small games before starting but you're ahead of the curve!

[DavidStrife]

4:31 - 4:52 Is probably the most important part of this video. Everyone is going to feel overwhelmed, and everyone is going to feel as if they're not capable of doing it. Anything worth doing always feels this way. The mere fact that you shared your headspace, thoughts, and feelings at this time, has probably had a huge impact and told people exactly what they need to hear. You don't need to be a genius to do any of this stuff. It's like you said; persistent exercise and application of small-scale ideas that build up in familiarity and skill over time. Loved your interactive game essay too! That helped me cement a lot of platforming tricks visually where I only had read about them before.

[nacs]

Great advice on learning,
I just realized that I was taking the wrong approach myself.
Thanks for the help 😁

[robertkreps]

Although "plagiarism" was a funny thing to say, the art of copying others is an *incredible* learning tool. In the creative world, there is a bit of a stigma around the idea of copying other people's work, but it's only a bad thing if you pass it off as your own idea. Copying the work of the people that inspire you so you can get better is one of the oldest keys to success.

[crazyhorse]

Man, this video gave me the warm fuzzies, especially when you talk about the pride in remaking a really simple game. It really made me want to get back into making games after ~5 years. Looking forward to the rest of your journey, Mark!

[OuchGrouch]

Not gonna lie. You just really helped me with my ADHD brain by formalising the steps I used to learn other complicated things and showing me how to apply them to things like Unity.

[sco]

You can follow tutorials, but be sure to go beyond what is asked. Add in an extra mechanic or a new type of enemy. That way you will have to actually understand what you wrote. But I love your approach!

[Cimera]

I love how much you focus on "knowing what to Google". It's such a crucial thing in so many different fields.

[soloistream]

Yes please do make a quick-fire tutorial style series to accompany this - doesn't have to be exhaustive - just helps us type the right things into Google. Thanks for the amazing content!

[GarethDaine]

I’ve been a software engineer for a long time, primarily in web software and I’ve decided to go full force into game dev. Something I’ve been wanting to do for years.

I’ve chosen Unreal Engine and C++, but I don’t expect it really matters.

However, there is a LOT to learn.

I’ve also chosen to document the process (blog and YouTube channel) and I have to say, this video is fantastic and I’ve already had a few ahah moments, particularly the idea about creating simple games like flappy bird.

Really glad I discovered this, as you have all these grand ideas at the start, but I really love this approach. Thanks.

[Drecon]

As a Game Development teacher I'm certain that your method is significantly better than just following tutorials. The problem with blindly following tutorials is that it's sometimes pretty difficult to figure out what exactly you're trying to learn. Self-guided learning is actually the best in this business, as long as you get some kind of feedback mixed in to figure out how you're actually doing.

[Blackthornprod]

Awesome first steps Mark, and great video, being both informative and motivational! I'm looking forward to following you on your game dev journey.

[candlestick]

its so funny that, after years of working and trying to teach myself, this single video, literally less than 20 minutes, has put into words what I couldn't figure out for myself. jesus I feel so stupid for not realizing this, realizing this is how I've taught myself literally everything else I do in life

[sabbir]

Imagine following a tutorial to not follow a tutorial

[jerryboy]

“Now I know what to google” I think this is the single most important thing when learning how to code/develop/create on computer. At least that’s what I felt when learning to code. When I realized I had a pretty rough idea of what to google for when running into problems I became massively more confident than after having watched a dozen tutorials.