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.
I’m going to give you the advice I usually give new Gamemaker users who come to the engine expecting to make their dream game in a week but quickly realize that isn’t happening. You’ll have to adjust it a biy for renpy but the core idea is the same:
Start small: smaller than you thought possible. Start by making pong. Start by making asteroids. Learn how to do collision and movement by making a platformer where the one goal is jumping over a single ledge. The goal is to break your learning down to tiny, incremental steps, so that you are only learning one new thing or mechanic at a time. As you get more confident and start to get a feeling how to think like a computer and solve problems that could arise slowly expand to slightly more complicated projects, move from pong to brick breaker, to pacman, to something else small but has a few more moving parts.
Ask questions (find f.i the forum), look up tutorials, and do not be afraid of experimenting, of breaking things, of taking projects others made and changing things to see what haooens, of really asking “why” things work the way they do.
So, just take a bit of time. No need to be afraid of failing, programming is a skill like any other, it takes time to learn, you are going to suck for a bit. People learning the piano sound awful the first few months, and then suddenly with practice and diligence they start sounding kind of ok, then good, then actually really good. Same with cooking, knitting, writing, painting, building, and programming. All things that take time and effort to get good at. You wont make your dream visual novel today, nor tomorrow, but you will make something, and something is a lot better than nothing.
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.
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.
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.
I’d recommend starting with a very small-scoped project that has some of the features you want to learn. Some images, some choices, branching dialog trees, resources, etc. depending on what it is you care about, pick a couple of things to focus on and make it very small scale. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, so having a small working prototype of something beginning to end (esp. something you can put together in days to weeks, rather than more time) is good for learning and something you can be proud of and look back on without getting overwhelmed with over designing and never finishing. I’d also recommend treating the project as the first in a long line of cool games you can make, instead of your magnum opus—again, trying to be a perfectionist with your first game can be very overwhelming and lead to you eventually giving up instead of getting your first game done. You can always go bigger later.
If it’s programming itself you are intimidated by, you might want to look into Twine or other interactive fiction tools to start off with—these should allow you to easily make choice based stories without having to worry about learning a bunch of coding off the bat.
Most of learning is just picking something you want to do, and finding other peoples examples of doing it and seeing how they do it—whether it’s showing unique sprites or implementing an inventory. Through this you make incremental progress learning. Don’t be afraid to search for examples and troubleshooting.
(Most of this is generic advice, sorry if it comes across as too basic but not sure what level your at — a lot of this is the same advice I give to my starting game design students. But coming from someone who is in game dev now and does programming every day, most of my learning is just searching “how to do X in Y [language/game engine] and learning to dissect stack overflow, examples, and documentation, plus following starter guides for new tools/projects in unfamiliar with). I’m not sure if there are more structured lessons or tutorials out there for the kind of game dev you are interested, but that could be worth looking into and following if you are easily overwhelmed or feel like you need more structure.
Good luck!
Idk what that is but a quick google search shows a quick start on the homepage if the renpy website, so I’d recommend starting there. Most people have a hard time learning stuff it’s just a matter of figuring out how to learn best yourself
