Discussion I got stuck before I even began...

I started unity a week ago. To put it simply I just want to make a 2D top-down, puzzle solving, exploration game.
The closest game I can think of is somethin like Ib, but simpler, in the sense that I do not want healthbars and pretty sure not even a backpack, or the zoom function as in Ib. I am pretty sure that something like this for someone who has at least 1 year of experience is easy stuff.

But here is the problem, I dont know if I am looking in the wrong places, or my approach is bad, or that I am so hyperfocused on just wanting to do those things that maybe I am missing something, or all of the above or I why I feel like I am watching 1000 things but somehow its not really what I need.

I understand that the people who make courses or tutorial want to present as much stuff as possible in order to touch on as many subjects and mechanics as possible, but I always feel that I am getting lost very quick in thing that are to far from what I am doing.

So my question is, how should I approach this if I just want to make a game like Ib but with even fewer mechanics (which again, for me seems like a really easy game for someone with at least a bit of experience, but maybe I am super wrong and I can imagine that).

And the fact that above I say "it should be easy" and I feel stuck and overwhelmed so soon, I dont even know what to say about myself.

 

You have to start far simpler first. It sounds like this will be your first game? While it's great to have a goal of making a game similar to another game (Ib is this horror game, right?), you'll need to understand basic game development. Like for example, can you just launch a blank Unity project? After that, did you set up the project for 2D sprites? Have you tried importing a sprite into the game? Can you see the sprite rendered in your game? Maybe, try to write a basic script that makes the sprite move back and forth? Then, you can get a sense of how to put sprites in the world, especially in script. I wouldn't even worry about the UI elements yet. That will come later. You have to get a feel and familiarity with the tools you'll work with before you can actually design a game, but using and practicing with the tools (the stuff inside Unity), you'll get a sense of how you should design your game moving forward. Also keep in mind that that game was made with RPG Maker. If you are feeling overwhelmed with Unity, why not try that instead?

 

Easy is relative, and even a simple walk-around and talk kind of adventure game is a lot of work.

Just from the video I watched I see a lot of features or tech to be used:

• Main Menu GUI
• Save/Load GUI
• Options GUI
• Save/Load game state
  
• Progression state
• 2D 4-way Character Controller
• Character Orientations (Left, Right, Up, Down)
  
• Camera follows character
• Zoom in/out (centered on character)
• Spritesheet Animations
• Re-usable dialog GUI with multiple choice menu
• Scrolling aka "typing" text
• Text lookup for various items and dialogues, changing based on game state
• Taking Records GUI & interaction
• Interactable NPCs / Objects
• Scene Transitions
• Day/Night (lighting)
• Collisions (walkable vs blocked areas): editing and programming
• Writing dialogues
• Sprite design
• Room design

This list certainly isn't complete.
I would advice picking one aspect and making that right, no matter how long it takes. Of course you should prioritize, like dialog GUI and interaction and character walking around is going to be way more important than lighting or character animations.

Since you say "watching" I would assume you're in this situation where you find a tutorial on how to make X but that X is really taught in the context of the course, not the kind of X you are going to need. So you may find something about runtime GUI that gets you to click buttons, but what you really want is this interaction dialogue where you can cycle through available options with cursor keys and highlight the currently selected option. Those tutorials rarely lend themselves to adapting them to something else even if it's closely related matters, because tutorials by design are very narrowly focused.

Perhaps you may find it easier to learn by trying to find just the next narrow-focused thing you need to know about. Like "how to make a selectable button". Or learn about GUI in general, that isn't going to be wasted time at all.

Either way, it'll take time to put things together. That's normal. Just keep learning more. Eventually it'll come together. Don't be afraid to step sideways and implement another totally different tutorial project. Even if it doesn't directly help you progress on this one project.

 

But then there is another issue. For example the 2D 4-way Character controller. I used two different ways to implement movement, 1 with just script (the thing with getAxisRaw) and the other I found in a tutorial with using PlayerInput compenent. Both worked fine, but in neither tutorial (it was made by different persons) didnt explained why I would chose one method over the other. I found some forum posts about how you should be able to do it, but I do not know if I should go ahead with the PlayerInput component or the other method in doing so...and now I am realizing that maybe there are even more methods then just those two which complicates things even further.

 

There is no single right answer to most things in Unity. Any one thing can be implemented in multiple ways. You go with what works for you until it doesn't.

 

Tutorials are rarely helpful past the very basics. Part of that is because most tutorials just aren't made for people who have more than a very basic understanding of Unity, and part of it is due to most tutorials being very poorly made.

 

I'd start with something like checkers first.

If you patiently try to get proficient with only the ABC's of coding you'll get further faster than if you try to jump ahead. You can build games like you described using just basic coding skills. Basic skills is mostly logic, troubleshooting, and research. You acquire those simply with practice - tutorials are good to see what the tools can do but you won't gain these most necessary skills without your own practice.

Also like mentioned, tutorials are often created for beginners by beginners, so they may be taking something simple and making it seem complicated.

Also also like mentioned, RPG maker might be the most appropriate tool if you just want to focus on making the game and are more comfortable working from a "recipe" compared to a full blown game engine.

 

@Almost73 Look, i was there were you are right now, a couple of years ago, this are my recomendations.

1 - you want to start with a 2d project, right? well, look for a causal 2d game, it can be a simple runner or a space shooter or whatever but something casual, like, games from voodoo and clone it, yeah, go ahead and clone one of those 2d games and publich that game, you do not need to make 10+ levels, just 2 or 3 levels including score, changing levels, menus, game over all that

2 - Use an app like milanote to write tasks for every day for every week, things like:
*Monday: getting started with unity 2d, learn basic workflow, watch some tutorials
*Tuesday: create a simple 2d art and a script to move with input system (use the new input system please -.-)
and so on...

3- (optional personal recomendation) do not use visual scripting, get some respect for yourself xD

Why i'm telling you to do this? because make games is not an easy thing, even with engines like unity, with so many tools, is hard and you need to understand that before trying to create something complicated, you need to know if you really want to make games or you are just surprised by the games you like, also, if you start by making a clone you already have goals but you need to learn how to create or detect those goals for things to work like on those games (sorry my english there XD) Making a clone is easier than creating something that you do not even know what you want and when you finish your project you will be happy, proud, inspired and with a better understanding on what you need to create your real project.