Feeling a little overwhelmed...

I can see it so clearly in my head...

And it runs smoothly, and functions properly. It's just that there's so much to learn... instantiating objects, coordinating animations, moving my character in relation to others, messenging systems, GUI, tutorial...

I've come so far thanks to Unity's wonderful interface, and everything is set up to be as easy as it can be. All of the information is searchable, and I know what I need to learn. People on these forums are responsive when I get really stuck. It's all there!

But I'm having one of those moments and I think I just need to sit in the corner and tremble for a few minutes.

 

That's part of the fun! That's what drives most of us techno geeks, the idea that there is always something cool to learn and a better way to do it.

Sometimes when you feel overwhelmed it's because you've chosen too big of a project for your first, second, third etc go at it. I'd pick a game type your interested in but compromise on the size/complexity of it. Do something you believe you can finish in 1-2 months so that you can actually get it finished in 5 or 6 months .

 

same here ... just messing around tutorials now (FPS, 2D platform, 3D platform) and given up art ... enjoy yourself, reduce complexity, lower your bar ... divide et impera is the way

 

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when looking at the big picture...focussing on small bits at a time is, I think, essential to getting larger projects done. Or even smaller projects. Instead of saying "OK, so I have to do this, and this, and this, and this, and...::faints::", say "OK, this week I'll do the menus" or something. Just so long as you still occasionally step back to see how everything works as a whole.

--Eric

 

(gives self smelling salts to wake up)
"Huh? What? Where am I....
Oh, yeah. Unity Land!"

Thanks, all. I have been getting stuff done and having fun, and trying to remember that it's all cumulative, it's accumulating, like a glacier, slowly moving towards my destination. It's not like I forget what I learn, so every little bit leads me closer to my goals.

Next step: Go to the manual and learn about two things with intimidating names:

Quaternarions and Eulers! :?: :arrow:

 

I have the problem of not knowing when something is going to be small or not. If you don't know what it's going to take to make a game, apparently that can happen! I've started a bunch of projects, that a couple weeks in, I realized just weren't realistic to take on in any reasonable time frame. However, even in these cases, I got some practice and always learned something new.

So now I've been working on a project for months (a few months more than I planned already!). It's a big step, but I've found that I can imagine myself putting together the next piece, every day. I still run into a ton of unforeseen obstacles, but fortunately, there are a bunch of people out there, primarily in the Unity community, to help me surmount them.

The amount of potential knowledge to be obtained about working with Unity is too huge for several brains to encompass, and sometimes I feel the weight of that in a negative way. I think the key is to allow yourself room for small victories. Take on something new, constantly, and over time, you'll find it kind of cool how you can just make things happen, that had previously only been sitting in your own mind.