Game Development or Something Else?

Context

I've always been perplexed by game development since I was a little kid. Since playing my first video game Mario Galaxy (CLASSIC!), I've been fascinated with the idea of making my own interactive world or playground. I had no idea, at the time, the amount of dedication and skills required to make a game. I didn't even really understand that the game I was playing was made by more than one person. Hell, it even took me a while to realize that programming was involved. Worst of all, when I realized programming was involved, my tech nerd cousin told me that computers worked on 1's and 0's. It made me assume that the only way to make a game was to code in raw binary.

I actually sat down to learn programming when I was 16. I started with Java, huge mistake, because I wanted to learn how to make Minecraft mods. Back then I quit things as soon as they got hard and didn't have consequences for quitting. This is why I was an excellent student but a horrible hobbyist. I couldn't even get myself to get very far into Minecraft's progression. Yes it took me 8 years to beat Minecraft. A few months after looking at Java for 30 minutes, I tried python. I set up pygame and got to work. I new very little about python but was able to make Snake. I was very happy when I finished that project, but my naive high-school brain thought I was faking it by using someone else's code. Someone else's code being Pygame. I had no idea that 99% of programming involves using others code. I also felt I was being lazy by not learning Java because "python is a baby language" which I assumed because everyone said it was beginner friendly. Today, I still use python because its just a banger language that, frankly, every programming skill level should use.

After maturing a bit and getting my ADHD in control, I opened Unity for the first time (GODOT is better-change my mind). I got the hang of it very quickly and changed gears from wanting to make a Minecraft mod to wanting to make a full game. This led me down a rabbit hole of abandoned projects and zero direction that haunts me to this day.

Where I'm at Now

Today I'm taking a step back. I watched a video by a creator on YouTube called Why I'm DONE With Indie Game Dev in 2026 by Andrzej Gieralt. It kind of opened me up to why I was learning Game Dev in the first place. I had started because I loved games. The question I am asking myself is, "do I actually want to MAKE games?". I'm slowly starting to realize that wanting to play games does not equate to wanting to make them. It's funny that I'm asking this because video game creation is a very multi-discipline activity. It's not that any of those disciplines don't interest me. In fact, all of them do, especially programming.

I think what's ultimately got me is the struggle to finish anything. Game Dev is one of the hardest hobbies to get into. Even if every aspect of it interest you, it's very difficult to get much satisfaction out of it because it will be so long before you finish anything. I think I feel stuck because I very rarely finish projects. That's honestly why this blog site has got me so engaged. It doesn't take me long to throw together I quick daily blog post that I can actually finish.

What I'm Thinking About Doing Instead

I think if I want to be able to keep going with this hobby, I might want to just take a break from it entirely. This may not be what you think. I'm going to keep working my ass off on learning the individual skills but I'm going to try and finish projects in each of those skills. That way I actually will be able to feel that satisfaction (dopamine hit) that I've been depriving myself of.

Finally

I know this is shorter than the last one. Its really more for me to get my ideas in writing. Like last time, take all of this with a grain of salt. This is literally a "first draft and done" post so don't question your whole life because of it. Anyway, I hope everyone who stumbles onto this has an...uh...exquisite day :3