Not doing the challenges

Unity Courses Talk
#1

I feel bad that the instructor keeps asking me to do the challenges but I honestly feel like this is a waste of time unless you have written a lot of code before this course. I’ve never used this language before and am just trying to absorb the syntax and logic of why we are doing things this way. It’s starting to sink in and I’m getting more comfortable but I freeze up at every challenge and feel overwhelmed. Not only do I never get the challenge right but I alter my code and then not only have to add his code after the challenge but have to remember what I did and erase it correctly each time and troubleshoot it and rewatch the video. I just can’t help but think there is a more efficient way to learn to code in c# and learn unity. I hate people who complain and don’t offer alternative suggestions so here is mine.

make a game where you cannot progress to the next level until you figure out what’s wrong with the pre-written code. All code I have ever learned I have stolen from someone else anyway and videogames reinforces learning through repetition. This may seem like a rant but honestly I’m just trying to be helpful. Either way I do feel the course is extremely valuable the way it is as it is opening me up to coding for gaming.

#2

Although I see your point, i am not really following you.

Learning, at first, always is “stealing” someone else’s knowledge. You get to know available information and wrap your thoughts around it. From there you are starting to develop your own ideas and ways to realize them.
Mostly by repeating what you have learned with some variations. again and again aaand again.
That is the nature of learning. Creating starts a bit later on :slight_smile:

Your suggestion to give a problem and only to go on when you have solved it, is basically exactly what the instructors are asking. It is up to you to work on it until you have solved the task or decide to “peek” and go on with the course.

In its core, your suggestion and the way the course is presented are very similar.

Doing the challenges and having a different outcome is in no way a failure. It is training.
Analyzing what the instructor did differently and understanding why is the key, i think.

Beside that, as long as your way is working as well as the “official” way, it is as good as the “official” way :wink:

#3

You could try watching each game in full first and then go back and watch it again, but this time stopping to do the challenge first and see if you can recall what you learned he first time around.

After you’ve done this for the first 3 or 4 games, maybe you’ll feel more comfortable trying it yourself in the middle before the challenge solution is provided

But really you’re better doing the challenges as you go along, getting them wrong and then seeing why it’s wrong. Deleting a whole load of code and starting again is not a bad thing, you will learn a lot that way.

#4

I feel its the other way around with this course. That if you are used to coding and know exactly what you’d do and want to make quicker progress then possibly you’d move on and not bother. Though I still do it.

I still do it, and I still get a slower, less optimal version but so what, the course is planned while as I’m blagging it as I go along so I don’t punish myself… I just change the code afterwards to what the course says…because it will increase the compatibility of your code with future lectures.

If you don’t know how to do the coding then what’s the point in doing the course because its supposed to be teaching coding.

#5

Well I’ve obviously bitten off more than I want to chew but I’ll keep watching the videos as everything he is saying makes sense I just have no confidence in my abilities to come to the same conclusions he is within my life time.

#6

This section “S08 Bowl Master” is really tricky, probably is the most difficult of this course, so don’t be so hard with yourself.

Because GameDev.tv courses are much more focused on game development, If you are really trying to learn how to code and you are having problems with the language syntax, I recommend you the book “Head First C#”, you will not become a C# expert but will easily and deeply learn all fundamentals required to write actual good code. This book has an accessible language and very funny methodology.

But if you are aiming game development, don’t bother so much with coding now, just make sure that you understand how Unity work, finish the course, start your own projects and then start to research how to code what you are trying to do. I’d say that coding is the easy part of game development.

In any case, I’d recommend “Learn to code by making games 2.0” the second course is much better than the first one, but their focus continues in game developing not in programming in general.

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#7

Thank you. I’m sure my expectations for the course were incorrect when I started which frustrated me throughout. I’m also sure I’ve learned more than I think I have. The challenges are just frustrating to me and out of my comfort zone and learning style. Perhaps this course should be broken up in to 300 courses and used to accompany the online documentation. I’ve learned Unity several times over the past decade and always forget everything I know after 6 months but keep coming back to learn it again. This was the most in-depth course I have ever taken but I still think there is room for improvement. I will try to become a part of the solution.

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#8

Listen to Will Smith

Fail early, fail often… this is how you learn and progress :slight_smile:

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#9

Well sure I agree but in my opinion I am so over my head that a simple thought experiment will suffice to alert me that I have no idea what to type to get this to work before I click play on the video again but yes I always stop the video and take time to get depressed that I am lost.

#10

hahah i feel literally the same ;D

#11

truth of the matter is you aren’t going to absorb everything the first time, like as you mentioned you havent learnt C# before… this is normal. Only by absorption, repetition, doing different projects were you might write a similar function in a slightly different way will things begin to stick.
I think feeling lost is you expecting too much of yourself and expecting to grasp everything first time. Trust me you wont. Just keep at it, go rewatch some sections you need clarification on, and slowly things will begin to make more sense.
At the end of the day… dont panic, have fun, enjoy!

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