So i struggle with learning new things but i think i can manage but its hard because it feels like i need someone to hold my hand or give me a powerpoint about something new. im dying to make a video game or something and i think maybe visual novels are the way to go because i also want to tell a story even if its lame. my interest seem to change alot but how do i learn renpy without getting overwhelmed? i havent even open the software yet because im afraid of failing also ive only used a little of unreal engine 4 intill i relised it was overheating my pc and its slow. ive probably used something else like scratch but i forgot.

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[–] housepanther@lemmy.goblackcat.com 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Learning how to learn is often one thing that is overlooked in our education system. I am disabled and there are certain things that I will struggle to learn and other things that come naturally to me. I am currently looking to change careers from doing IT support to web development. I found a great and free online, self-paced course called The Odin Project. Since software development is something totally foreign to me, I am taking the lessons in small chunks, usually 20 minutes at a time before I take a 5-10 minute break. I might say work for a total of an hour a day of new material. Then after I finish, I write a blog about what I learned. This helps to reinforce the material and keep it in my head.

Also, it sounds like you are trying to run before you have even learned to crawl. Game development will be challenging if you haven't even learned a language yet. If learning is going to be challenging, then structure is key. Why not start on something like The Odin Project which will provide that structure and is designed to take you from 0 computer experience to just about job ready. Once you learn a language and learn the skills and habits of development, then you can specialize by learning gaming development. I would love to be able to be a game dev and I have some really good ideas, but for me that would be overwhelming when the most code I have ever really written are basic Unix shell scripts.

[–] LemmyKnow@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey thanks for sharing your experience. I really liked the "I write a blog about what I learned." part. I am definitely going to implement this in my learning sessions from here on out. I love teaching others and I'm guessing writing about what I learned while trying to explain that will also help me get a better understanding of the topic.

[–] housepanther@lemmy.goblackcat.com 1 points 1 year ago

You're welcome. I got pretty good at being self-aware of how to learn. It comes from being on the autism spectrum and having had to learn how to learn whereas most people kind of get that it naturally.