Selfish DevI consider myself an expert in the fine art of wasting time, so trust me—I know this topic inside out. But let’s not waste any more and get straight to the point.
My Journey in Game Development
I started my game development career in October 2023 by creating my first game—a simple car game made in Unity.I decided to take things more seriously and developed my first official game, Over Time. As a long-time horror fan, it felt like the perfect genre for me.Fast forward to November 2024, and I was still using Unity to make games. However, there was one big problem: I relied heavily on the Unity Asset Store and AI-generated code. This gave me the illusion of productivity—I felt like I was doing a lot, but in reality, I wasn’t truly learning anything.Then, the inevitable happened. My laptop, struggling under the weight of Unity, finally gave up. Forced to switch to another laptop that couldn't even run Unity, I had to rethink everything.
A short story, right? No.
This experience taught me several lessons that shaped my future. One of the most important?
- Don’t Over-Rely on AI in Game Development
A perfect example of this lesson comes from my favorite anime character, Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling. Despite having an entire shadow army capable of doing everything for him, he still chooses to fight his own battles. Why? Because he refuses to depend entirely on his army.
AI is the same. I’m not saying to boycott it—go ahead and use it. But don’t rely on it so much that it takes over your learning process. If you let AI do all the work, you might feel like you’re progressing, but in reality, you're just standing still.
- Decide a game engine before its too late
Now, let’s imagine a different version of my story. Instead of relying on AI, I took the time to learn Unity from scratch—understanding its interface, coding in C#, and mastering game development concepts. Over time, I became a skilled developer, confident in my abilities.
But then, disaster struck again. My laptop died. And suddenly, all the knowledge I had gained in Unity became partially useless. Not all of it, of course—game development fundamentals stay with you—but many Unity-specific skills I had spent months perfecting were now wasted because I could no longer run the engine.
So, before you dive deep into an engine, make sure your device can handle it. This one step can save you countless hours of effort and ensure that your skills remain useful no matter what happens.
To be continued....
