How to Escape Tutorial Hell (As a Beginner Game Dev) Without Becoming a “Framework Collector"

The real issue: you’re optimizing for “recognition”, not “creation” ## The system: Struggle → Build → Repeat ## Step 1: Struggle (but don’t cosplay as a genius) ## What to do during those 15 minutes (simple routine) ## If you still fail after 15 minutes ## Step 2: Build the smallest working version (embarrassingly small) ## Example: “Top-down movement” ## A constraint that helps ## Step 3: Repeat (this is where the learning actually locks in) ## Repeat Protocol ## Practical mini-projects that kill tutorial hell (pick one) ## 1) Dodge Arena (2 hours) ## 2) One-Button Jump Game (2 to 4 hours) ## 3) Collect + Return (3 to 6 hours) ## 4) Simple Horror Loop (3 to 6 hours) ## How to use tutorials without getting trapped (rules that actually work) ## The “30/70 rule” ## Never follow a tutorial twice ## Force a change immediately ## Debugging mindset for beginners (so you stop rage-quitting) ## A simple weekly plan for busy beginners (realistic) ## Week 1 ## If you want a structured path (engine agnostic) If you’ve ever done the classic move where you finish a tutorial, feel productive, then open your own project and instantly forget what to do… welcome. You’re not broken. You just haven’t trained the part of the brain that generates solutions. dev.to has a lot of smart people, but beginners still get stuck in the same trap: passive learning feels like progress. This is a practical, engine-agnostic post (Unity/Godot/Unreal all fine) on how to escape tutorial hell with a loop you can repeat forever. Tutorials train recognition: But building games requires creation: So your learning method has to force creation. 1) Struggle: try without help (short and controlled) 2) Build: implement the smallest version that works 3) Repeat: rebuild from memory + change one thing The goal is not to “finish the tutorial”. The goal is to build the skill of moving forward without a guide. Rule: You must attempt for 15 minutes before searching. Why? Because the struggle creates a map of what you don’t know. Without that map, searching becomes random doomscrolling. Open a scratch note and write: This turns confusion into a process. Good. Now you earn the right to search, but with a constraint: Search for one missing piece, not the whole solution. Beginners try to build “a real game” too early. That creates complexity and kills momentum. You want minimum playable mechanics, not minimum viable product. Then you ship the learning. One mechanic at a time. One file if possible. If your “movement” requires 9 scripts and a state machine, you are building a cathedral, not learning. This is the most important step and the one almost nobody does. Once you get the thing working, do this: 1) Delete it (or start a new empty project) 2) Rebuild it from memory 3) Only after you rebuild it, compare with a reference 4) Then change one variable and rebuild again This is how you move from “I watched it” to “I own it”. These are designed to be: Goal: survive 30 seconds Variations for repeats: Goal: jump over obstacles and score points Goal: collect 3 items then return to exit Goal: find key, escape, avoid enemy If you finish any of these, you are already ahead of 90% of beginners. Tutorials are not evil. Your usage pattern is. If you are doing the reverse, you are training comfort, not skill. If you need it twice, you did not learn it. You consumed it. When you do use a tutorial, you must change one thing before you close it: No change = no learning. When something breaks, beginners think: “My mental model is missing one piece” Use this micro checklist: 1) What did I expect to happen? 2) What actually happened? 3) What is one possible cause? 4) What is the smallest test I can run? Your goal is not to “fix it fast”. Your goal is to tighten the loop. If you only have 30 to 60 minutes a day, do this: This looks small because it is small. That’s the point. Finishing tiny things builds the identity: “I finish games”. If you want more content like this (and the full channel + program behind it), I’ve put everything here: 👉 https://smartindie.dev It’s focused on helping beginner solo devs stop bouncing between tutorials and unfinished projects, and actually finish and release a first game with simple systems. Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Hope you found this article useful! Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse - “Yeah, I’ve seen this before” - “I remember that menu” - “I know that line of code” - “What do I do next?” - “Why did this break?” - “How do I simplify this?” - Goal: “Player can jump” - My guess: “I need gravity + input + velocity” - Try: implement your best attempt - Result: what happened? - Next guess: one adjustment - “how to make a platformer movement system” - “how to detect grounded in 2d” - “difference between AddForce and setting velocity” - “how to clamp camera movement” - WASD moves a square - no animations - no fancy camera - no sprint, no stamina, no diagonals handling beyond normalization - small enough to finish - easy to debug - easy to repeat with variations - player moves - enemies (or hazards) move toward player - collisions reset the timer - add invincibility frames - add dash cooldown - add random spawn waves - obstacles spawn - game over on hit - variable jump height - speed increases over time - “perfect jump” bonus - player movement - exit unlock - add a timer - add a “wrong pickup” penalty - add fog of war - flashlight cone (fake is fine) - enemy patrol/chase (basic) - win/lose state - sound lure mechanic - hiding spot - random key location - 30%: watching/reading - 70%: building/testing/changing - rebuild from memory - then look up the one missing piece - different control scheme - different movement speed curve - different enemy behavior - different UI layout - Day 1: pick one mini-project + define win condition - Day 2: build core movement - Day 3: add one obstacle/enemy - Day 4: add win/lose state - Day 5: rebuild from memory (Repeat Protocol) - Day 6: variation #1 - Day 7: variation #2 - Email [email protected] - Location Norway - Work YouTube - Joined Jul 9, 2024