I wish the instructor Rob, would linger a bit more after a line, just so I didn’t have to pause so damn much. I mean compared to Ben and Sam, this guy moves but not in a good way for me as a student. I understand there will be some variability with this, but man…
I mean the GetController() call, he types it and moves off screen literally in the same second he gets it out. I’ll deal with it, but good god I have to pause a lot and I type about 100wpm.
I agree he’s fast and efficient but I do wish he would focus on the presentation of the lesson a smidge more. It’s a good problem to have though. I’ve had instructors in the past who seemed like they were learning the material while they were teaching so all Rob has to do is pace the lesson so we have time to absorb the material better.
Maybe take the opportunity after he’s explained the code how it may be expanded upon before starting on the next thing.
tl;dr Please slow up and explain the lesson a little more? Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback. I guess I can be a little agressive with some of the edits to remove gasps and lip sounds. I’ll be sure to consider this for the future and see what we can do with the current content to add some natural pauses back in.
Great, thank you for considering. I think one of the key things as I was thinking about this more, and it may apply to just my learning style. I like it when I’m told what you’ll do, then see you do it. I think what’s been overwhelming me a bit is that you’re typing it WHILE you’re saying it. I realize this may increase the video lengths, but that would be a huge improvement to me at least. I realize you might need more than just one input though. On the flip side, totally dig your tone man and speech speed, awesome. Project has been fun except for the repeating, and also getting even more into some of your YouTube content. Thanks again for consideration, especially as you develop future content.
Agreed with the post.
I’ve been using Unity for about 4 years now, and have decided to get Unreal under my belt. I learned Unity with GameDev.tv. Maybe it’s just how I’m normally used to lectures being given.
Things definitely seem faster paced. I’m pausing a lot more often, which isn’t necessarily bad. But I feel like I’m just not retaining what’s being said, to the point it’s feeling discouraging. I’m going back through code after a lecture and trying to piece together what’s been done, but the documentation is still so confusing for me to read at this stage. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Unity’s awesome documentation lol.
In my humble opion, don’t be afraid to over explain. I’ve seen Rick pre-emptively explain a concept, for example, and then implement it, and then step back through it. That might be a bit slower paced for some people’s taste, but I feel like it caters to more learning styles and re-inforces the knowledge.
With that said, I’m excited to keep going with this section and I think @Rob_Brooks definitely knows his stuff. I’m excited to learn from him.
Hopefully I’ll get better at piecing things together when reviewing code post-lectures.
Unreal Engine documentation really needs to step up compared to Unity. They need examples in the code documentation is the big weakness.
I feel like I am learning almost nothing watching this man teach. He’s clearly very good at coding but is not a very good teacher. Make note that most of his videos are 3-7 minutes long. He often just types out code we’ve never seen before and speed talks and types through it and I learn nothing. He also will type something out and instantly hotkey to another file. I end up having to pause the video constantly. There’s often no explanation given as to why he’s typing what he’s typing and the deeper we go into the lectures the more confused I get.
Compare to the previous instructor who spoke slowly and explained ‘every’ single thing he was typing. He included mini quizzes in between and his challenges were often and he would include hints as well with helpful visual cues. Also make note his videos were often 10-20 minutes (some videos over 20 minutes) explaining in depth even smaller things to make the broader code more sensible.
ToonTanks needs a 'total redo’
It’s not about speaking more slowly…it’s about explaining the code. Making the code sensible and understandable. Going throuh each step methodically, and why we do the steps we do. The quizzes and frequent mini challenges of the previous instructor were perfect.
The fact that the tutorials consistency is lost once we switch instructors is not helpful for a beginner as wlel.
I just wanted to concur with the above feedback. Just finished the Toon Tanks section and found the sharp cuts and lack of lingering on code lines to be much tougher to follow while coding live. The amount of times I needed to pause, go back, and rewatch sections to pick up code segments was a little demotivating. Definitely felt like I was pulled out of the flow more and I wasn’t picking up the concepts as deeply as in other lectures. It was particularly jolting coming from Building Escape which I felt had good pacing. I know this has all been said above but hopefully it’s incorporated into future edits! Great content though! Thanks!
I need to reply again.
I am on section 152 Creating Widget Blueprints and the instructor is just WHIPPING through the blueprint. He’s typing things not giving any explanation to the use of anything and just click click click, doing hot keys not saying what they are. All he is doing is vocalizing himself.
Vocalizing what you’re doing is not the same as teaching. When someone is trying to learn they are learning because they yet do not understand how to do something. Unfortunately this is more of watching someone script and copying them without learning a thing. Having to pause the video literally every few seconds at times when it’s at its worse just to keep up.
am done with the ToonTanks section as it’s only added confusion to understanding how to code for Unreal Engine.
The first three sections were brilliant so it’s a shame and I am kind of annoyed.
I definitely agree with you. I just started the Section ToonTanks. I feel that the instructor is just whizzing though the lesson like he’s got somewhere to go and needs to get the lesson done first. Definitely not the same as everything previous where we were learning. This is like someone else said, "Just follow along and try to keep up.
This section definitely needs to be redone with the same feel and pace of those section before. Because right now I want to go to the archived section and do battle tanks
Have to add that after lesson 134 I’m frustrated and going to do the section on Battle Tanks instead. Hopefully GameDev.TV will fix this part of the course soon because this is just going to kill all motivation I’ve built up to this point.
Sorry, but it’s true
Just be prepared for a different kind of frustration with BT. Blueprints removing set references or components altogether. Physics is wonky with tank movement right up until the end when Sam fixes it with physics struts/wheels. I really prefer the instructional style of Ben to be fair and I still learned a lot with this section even though it’s harder with engine version I used 4.22.
This is literally the reason why I entered the forum now. There is no time to listen to the instructor, press pause and go through the code. The frame changes instantly !!!
On the contrary,
I find @Rob_Brooks pace to be concise and to the point.
Other instructors’ videos (in other courses on this site) are a bit long for my taste and take too long to get into the actual implementation.
That said, I’ve learned at least a little something from each instructor so thank you all.
I probably learn more from rob, because im pausing the video every 5 seconds trying to do it, and fixing his mistakes before i realise he fixed them 1-2 minutes later in the video… lol I’m getting quite efficent in finding the correct header files and finding / fixing errors on the fly from his videos alone hahha. Hes probably a bit too quick and more for someone that has played about with unreal for a few weeks, like I got over whelmed soon as he started throwing in all the
CapsuleComp = CreateDefaultSubobject<UCapsuleComponent>(TEXT("Capsule Collider"));
RootComponent = CapsuleComp;
BaseMesh = CreateDefaultSubobject<UStaticMeshComponent>(TEXT("Base Mesh"));
BaseMesh->SetupAttachment(RootComponent);
TurretMesh = CreateDefaultSubobject<UStaticMeshComponent>(TEXT("Turret Mesh"));
TurretMesh->SetupAttachment(BaseMesh);
ProjectileSpawnPoint = CreateDefaultSubobject<USceneComponent>(TEXT("Projectile Spawn Point"));
ProjectileSpawnPoint->SetupAttachment(TurretMesh);
but i kinda understand it now but then couldnt get the camera to show up from UProperty details had to read through the forum to find other peoples solutions. (just needed to comment it out compile, take out the comment and recompile)
I think Mike was like was a super safety cushion that explained everything like we havnt seen a variable before etc which made it easier to follow for us beginners.
Oh, so I’m not the only one frustrated with the Toon Tanks section… Good to know, it gives me more head space to move along.
I hate saying this because it feels like I’m crapping on Rob when he clearly put a lot of work into this, but yeah, Toon Tanks NEEDS a redo. I am retaining literally nothing, and I already knew how to do a lot of this stuff before I even began the course! By the time I reached the section about “Spawning particles” I stopped following along and just watched the videos. Everything is coming at me at warp speed, I have no clue what I’m following along with, and I have no clue what exactly these functions are. I’ve become so discouraged that I started looking online for other courses to follow along with. I’m practically using the video titles as a guideline for what functions I should be looking up on youtube so I can try to get a better grasp of how they work.
This website has been great for me, and I’ve really enjoyed it. But I think its taken me longer to get through Toon Tanks than the rest of the course combined. If I didn’t already have a background in coding, I don’t know if I would have even made the attempt to make it through this section of the course or not.
No offense intended to Rob. He’s very clearly a talented programmer, and I’m sure he will be an excellent instructor when he slows down a little bit and start over-explaining things. But as is, I’m so frustrated and feel so dumb right now I have to decide whether or not this is the site I wish to continue using.
Don’t bail, go to simple shooter if toon tanks isn’t for you. Also there is a battle tank section in the archive that might be more your speed. Ben teaches that one but it’s getting a bit dated. Still some really cool concepts to learn there about UE4 and C++. Sam fixes all the wheel physics issues with a wheel/strut physics setup as well. Good luck!
I have already said this in the discussions a few lectures ago but I think it fits here, too.
My main issue with this project is that we’re never really told why we do what we do, only how to write it.
To me, programming is basically problem solving. You want a certain result and have to solve how to get the game to do what you want.
In the previous lectures every small milestone was laid out first and then it was explained how to get there.
Now we are just told the solution but we can’t really learn much from that if we are never told what the problem is.