I am currently learning to design games in Unreal Engine (UE) 5.6, and it has been an interesting challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. I’m a couple of months in, and I figured it’s about time to share some of the challenges I have faced while studying something I have wanted to do for a long time.

My first—and possibly my biggest — challenge was my own brain. Those of you who have read this blog before know that I have ADHD, specifically inattentive ADHD. I have trouble retaining instructions, especially if they are given to me verbally, which, due to the course being an online one, are delivered in video form. I am constantly struggling to keep up with what instructors are saying while trying to implement what they are saying at the same time. Watching the videos in one go also presents a problem because I have to watch the video multiple times to recognise what it is the instructors are actually asking me to do, or even remember what they’ve said, which, given that some videos are up to ten or fifteen minutes long, means I often spend hours trying to make the tiniest amount of progress and I find it infuriating.

I also find myself trying to bite off more than I can chew. I want to be able to try and do things beyond what I’m being taught, so I end up getting a bit lost and frustrated. I get a bit lost trying to make sure all the code I’m trying to implement works, as I have minimal coding experience, and it seems like the course is designed for people with some coding experience already.

I struggle to explain what I’m really trying to say here because it’s sometimes a case of “I don’t know what I don’t know”, if that makes any sense. That’s how confused I get by certain things, and the explanations offered by the “instructors” don’t help at all, as they are usually long-winded and waffly videos that don’t always get to the point. It also doesn’t help that the course is based on an outdated version of Unreal Engine, and some of the things that the instructors refer to are either in different places or no longer exist, which is incredibly annoying.

On the whole, though, it has been interesting and I feel like I have learned a lot. I certainly have a newfound appreciation for how games are made and how much work goes into making them. The level of detail in some games always blows me away, and having now had a peek behind the curtain into how they are made only increases my respect for the people who made them.

I want to keep getting better at this, and I’m determined to do so. I’ll keep plugging away and keep trying to create what I can, and naturally, I will eventually get better at it.

One day, I’d love to create my own game! Maybe one day I’ll get there, but it’s best not to rush these things. A rushed game is never a good game. I will try to be patient and experiment, and learn as I go.