Which course should I focus on first?

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#1

Hi,

I’m new to these forums, and new to Udemy courses. I’ve purchased the Unreal Developer course, the Complete Unity Developer course, and the Complete Blender Creator course. I’m not sure which of the Developer courses I should learn from first.

To help any of you give me helpful advice, let me tell you a bit about myself and my programming experience.

I’m 60 years old, and haven’t done any programming in decades. The first programming language I learned was Fortran back in 1981 or 82. I later learned BASIC. Later, around 1988 or 89 I took a course that taught me a little bit about a number of different programming languages, APL and C are the only ones I recall at the moment. I haven’t done any programming at all, hardly any, since those days. About as close as I got to programming was creating useful .BAT files for earlier versions of Windows in years past.

I’ve always thought I would enjoy learning to program with C++, but just never did much about it. I hadn’t even heard of C# until looking at these courses the past few days. I’m retired and have plenty of spare time, which I mostly use playing games. I’ve been a hardcore gamer all my life, long before anybody ever thought of the term “hardcore gamer”, or even really referred to anyone as being a gamer.

So, with a bit of past programming knowledge, a brief acquaintance with the original C language, do you think it would serve me best to do the course that focuses on C# and Unity first, or the course that deals with C++ and the Unreal Engine? My purpose for wanting to learn these is not really expecting to begin a new career, but mostly to enjoy learning again, and enjoy doing some creative programming. I also got the Blender course, as it seemed like it will be useful eventually, based on the video discussing other courses that I was able to watch while previewing the videos related to the C# and Unity course.

Sorry if this is a bit long winded, but I get chatty when I’m tired, and at the moment I’m VERY tired.

Thanks in advance to any of you that take the time to offer me useful advice.

Bob

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#2

Hi Bob, you really can’t go wrong with either course in your circumstances. Anecdotally you might find C# easier than C++ to start with.

What are your favourite game genres? The wisdom in the past is that Unreal is better for 3D FPS style games on Windows and looks better out of the box, whereas Unity is better for 2D/multiplatform/mobile and needs more effort to look as good. However it’s no longer that clear cut, and decreasingly so.

edit also it might help that if you’re into RPGs, Ben is about to release the RPG course (on Unity).

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#3

Hi Bob,

Welcome to the community and it’s fantastic to read about your desire to enjoy learning again.

Based on that I would agree with James (@ninjachimp), that the Unity course would serve you well, it’s a nice gentle introduction to C#, the games you make are also a lot of fun and there is plenty of room for expanding on them and taking each one a lot further should you wish. If you have family members who may enjoy playing these games too you’re sure to get lots of feedback.

With either route I’m sure you will enjoy the courses, there is plenty of support via the Q&A on Udemy, but also here and there is the Discord channel also if you feel like having some real time interaction with other students :slight_smile:

Wishing you all the best on your journey and I will look forward to seeing you share your take on the games from the course(s).

#4

Hi, there. With your background, I think you would do very well in either game development course. I would start with the Complete Unity Developer course, not because its easier, but because one of the principle advantages of Unity is that it’s a quick process between starting a new project and having something playable. That ability to reward yourself by seeing your code actually do something or your new features become playable is hugely rewarding and is widely regarded as one of Unity’s principle advantages. I think for someone starting out, the quicker you can go from blank page to game prototype, the more likely you are to maintain your momentum and motivation toward learning and delving deeper in.

For this same reason, blender can be an awesome starting place, too. Although after a few blender lessons, I still don’t feel ready to make game assets yet (I have a lot of lessons to go still), I went really fast from “I have no artistic talent and can’t even draw” to “look at this 3D airplane I made!”. Even though there’s a lot of visual/artsy stuff about it, it is also hugely technical and I definitely don’t get bored with it. (I find it much more challenging than C#). Also, the more you learn about making your own assets, the more fun learning Unity will be. The same is true, the other way around.

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#5

It`s even faster in Unreal … you got a few templates with basic logic to choose from and continue from there. Also Unreals BP-System is just awesome =)

I’d advice to open both programs and do the first lessons in both courses … than decide, with which Engine appeals more to you. I began with Unity but I just don’t liked it and when I opened Unreal … I was directly in love and still in love… in both cases you need to put a ton of time into. I´d really suggest to stick to one, when you`ve chosen … this switching between engines is so time-consuming =P

#6

Thank you all for the advice so far. The first few all felt Unity might be the better one to start with, and I’ll probably do its first few lessons first. However, Dom_Cabrinha makes a good point, in suggesting I do the first lessons in both courses, then decide. He has also had a similar choice between these courses, from his comments, and is personally drawn more to the Unreal course.

As to what sorts of games I enjoy playing, it has been a lot of years since I played any FPS games, but did have a lot of fun in days gone by with Duke Nukem, Doom, Unreal Tournament, and one or two others whose names are blurred by the sands of time, in my brain. :slight_smile:

Currently, I’m having a lot of fun with Star Trek Timelines, and I’ve gotten my favorite Nephew, a true gamer like myself, to start playing it also. When I mentioned to him I was trying to decide which course to buy, while they were still on sale, he pointed out that the first loading screen, when starting STT, displays the Unity logo. It was developed with it.

Up until now, I really hadn’t spent much cash on F2P games that had “cash currencies” associated with them. However, I’m having enough fun with STT that I’ve invested several times in buying “Dilithium Crystals” for use in the game, and my Nephew has been even more generous with his financial support of the game’s developers. It is nice to know that such an appealing and popular game can be put together with Unity.

If after the first lessons in each of these 2 developer courses, I’m fairly even in my interest to proceed further, then I’ll go with Unity, since Ninjachimp mentioned in his reply, the first reply to this thread, that Ben is about to release an RPG course (on Unity). Computer RPGs have always been prominent in my game play choices through the decades.

Thanks again for the quick replies. Any others who would care to weigh in on these choices, by all means do. Others with a similar choice might find this thread useful, and I’ve got a number of other things pulling at my time these days… STT and another game I started recently, King of Avalon I think it is called… and another friend wants me to give Adventure Quest Worlds a look. :slight_smile: So many excellent choices out there already, for possible games to play. And here we go, all of us wanting to learn how to create even more choices to share with the world, or perhaps just our friends. :laughing:

Thanks again,

Bob

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#7

Nice to hear your igniting a passion for making games Bob :slight_smile:

Like the lads have said, whichever avenue you decide to pursue, there is a whole load of fellow students always to hand to help out or bounce around ideas here on the forum, or over on discord channels.

Good to have you here and enjoy the journey :slight_smile:

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