Coding can be dicouraging

[BlueBird02]

Am I the only one scared to work on game maker specifically because of the coding?
I can't be the only one who have this feeling right?

 

[Nocturne]

Topic tidied and stupid posturing removed.

 

[Toni]

Am I the only one scared to post on the game maker community specifically because of nocturne's tyrannical post removal?
I can't be the only one who have this feeling right?

EDIT: I'm not sure why that encouraging post by Matthew had to be deleted.

 

[RichHopefulComposer]

I'm curious what posts were deleted, personally. Unless it got way out of hand since last time I checked, Nocturne's post is the most aggressive and posture-y of the thread so far. All I saw earlier were goofy jokes. :x

 

[pixeltroid]

Been using Gamemaker for about a month or so. As someone who's never coded anything before I too feel discouraged by coding from time to time. I'd say it feels discouraging because a small mistake can crash the entire game or make it unplayable. Its intimidating because I don't know my way around coding. Unlike graphics and level design, where I can use drawing and layout skills to fix design issues, I'm completely helpless when it comes to coding issues. I've spent between 1-3 days on issues that are considered simple by programmers....example - player getting stuck in walls, screen fades not working, sprites facing the wrong direction etc.

Yes I do feel discouraged, but then I snap out of it by remembering that there are people on the forums and places like reddit and youtube who have patiently addressed even the most stupid of my questions and have been patient enough to give me step by step instructions. I sometimes even shamelessly ask GM users to paste the entire code and give me step by step instructions. The help I have received along the way, has given me confidence to keep working on my game.

I only happened upon GM by pure chance. Only a month ago, I would have never DREAMED of creating a player that runs, jumps, shoots, kills enemies, open doors etc. Sure its not Metroid or Megaman, but I made it work! Yes, some coding is required. Yes, coding can be dull and sometimes discouraging. However, it is outweighed by the fact that Gamemaker is a FANTASTIC tool that has enabled programming noobs like me to express myself artistically! And the best part is the codes can be easily obtained from these forums or youtube. Because only a month ago, a line like "instance_create(x,y,obj_bullet)" would have been complete gobbledegook to me. But things have changed in that one month! I may not call myself a coder, but at least now I know enough to fix minor issues.

The thing is, nothing comes easy in life. You gotta work for it. Every art form that looks "fun" on the outside has a "dull" or "discouraging" side to it. Example - Making music requires knowing chords and scales, art requires knowing human anatomy and perspective etc. Games...requires knowing code. With Gamemaker, even if you don't know code you would AT LEAST need to know clearly what you want to achieve in your game, so you can ask about it on forums. As far as code is concerned, that is ALL I've been doing so far!

If coding isn't your strong point, then your drive to create games should be strong enough, you will get the codes you need and be able to implement them eventually.

 

[Nocturne]

Am I the only one scared to post on the game maker community specifically because of nocturne's tyrannical post removal?

Lol! I haven't removed anything except a bunch of off topic posts that had nothing to do with the OP and everything to do with Matt and Misty trying to out-do each other, and then a bunch of passive-aggressive posts by Mathew that were attacking me personally. I don't think I've ever removed anything by you and rarely by anyone else... I think both Tsuka and chance tidy more topics than I do...

 

[RichHopefulComposer]

Thanks for editing your original "topic cleaned" message, Nocturne. A bit more positive now, the way it should be.

Edit: Also, BlueBird, of course you're not the only one scared of coding!
The best way to learn anything is to not worry about how good or bad you'll do. The best mindset is "I'm going to try my best to learn this, and it doesn't matter how it turns out, as long as I give it my best effort." Trying your best is all you can do, so you shouldn't worry about how things turn out. As long as you're giving it your best shot, you should be satisfied with yourself. For the longest time, I worried about how things would turn out during my drawing sessions and stuff, which would cause me to avoid drawing practice altogether sometimes. It's an unhealthy way of viewing things, though. Just do your best! Every time you put practice hours in, you are improving, even if it feels like you're going nowhere sometimes. Good luck! =)

 

[Gedor Games]

I was also scared of coding when I first started out, if you have no experince of any coding language before starting working with Game Maker a lot of things are really confusing. However the best way to learn is just trying out certain things with the code and learn that way, but making tutorials, reading the manual, checking the GMF and watching youtube videos (Shaun Spalding videos is great for beginners at code) all helped me to become more secure with the GML and coding in general.
But of course there are still many things I dont know but you learn by trail and error

 

[HammerOn]

I'm using GM for 10 years now. I also do things like coding a game engine from scratch and using many languages to write tools.
GML is a direct and easy to use language with a direct and easy to use API.
However, the lack of some kind of structure with member functions and variables (classes) and others small but universal features, make it stressful to code libraries and scripts that need to work with complex data.
Also some incomplete features forces me to use other tools. For example, ray casting is a important piece of any physics engines and Box2D has it but it's not implemented in GMS.
I use it for prototype and projects that can do fine with the built-in API (which is 80% of the cases.)

 

[BlueBird02]

Wow! Thank you guys! I appreciated the encouragement! It's hard for a beginners, who loves video games, when it comes to game codes, but I just only started just 3 days ago. I guess I have to get use to all the BIG codes by taking tiny steps (and also along some tutorial videos and forums). Thanks guys!

 

[TehPilot]

I remember one of my first collegiate programming classes required an operation that was quite complex for that level of class. It was an advanced Computer Science class, and I myself was woefully unprepared for it. I got through the basics of the assignment fast, hit that wall, and wound up taking a line off Stack Overflow that did exactly what I needed, no problems whatsoever. I left the comment indicating where I got it from and moved on. Later into that assignment period, our instructor wrote that exact line on the board and said to use it for that operation. Everyone looked puzzled, and the general consensus was "ask no questions, just use that". Even the instructor said "I got this off Stack Overflow, even I don't know exactly how it works."

That moment stands out to me a lot now that I'm further along in my studies and I know more, and having done a few teaching assistantships as side work, there's an important lesson for aspiring programmers in there. I think treating certain things in programming as enigmas not worth solving is a really bad approach - if it's presented as Confusing and Scary™, it does not help anyone who feels Confused and Scared™. My advice is to try and understand anything you use - even if that knowledge is really basic and not line-by-line, it can help you learn to write those things yourself in the future. I learned a lot of my programming tricks and habits by deconstructing things I didn't understand, and trying to recreate those systems from scratch myself.

And, as always, you have the manual and the programming Q&A subforum to help you out.

 

[foldupgames]

To answer your opening post: it gets easier. I've actually found it to be lots of fun when I realize I know exactly what I want to do and how to make it happen.

Used to be, I'd write a few lines, test it, fix it because it didn't work, and try again. Now, I might write out block at a time, knowing it will work.

I'm not as hardcore as SOME people around here, but I feel good about what I know. So...it gets easier. It actually becomes fun.

 

[RujiK]

When I get dicouraged, I try to get moativated by seeing all the past ackomplissments I did allready make and how good i have be come.
Progriss leeds to moar progriss for me.

Also when Nocturne's trannyical rain is overbareing, i just rember Trump will make Ammerica grate again and kick out all bad peeple who deny basic rights by moddurating fourums

 

[BlueBird02]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

 

[Law]

I spent a day and a half on a single piece of code, and only just realized what I was doing wrong.

Usually after all of that work you hope to feel good for solving the problem, I mostly just feel stupid for not solving it earlier, maybe the happiness comes after the anger wears off. : P

 

[AnonyMouse]

I am not a programmer and I was faaaar away from programming at any level but found gamemaker and just started for fun. Also I wanted to create my game but noone would do that instead of me which forced me to learn it myself to the level I can and I need. Now I love it, and I would dedicate more time in learning programming, got a huge book for C, but not enough freetime.
I would never learn a bit of it if someone could do it for me. But the choice is simple: learn GML and make a game or... nothing.
(Just to mention I am not good at programing but I can do most of what I need for my game)

 

[Dogwithswords]

That sense of reluctance is often a sign that you're about to improve yourself when you try. You must first identify what is holding you back to begin with and come up with a plan to eliminate that issue. Yes, I too run into a few brick walls in coding but during my leisure, I will sit down and ponder the code a bit and write down my hypotheses for later experimentation. Other times if that particular issue is too much or I do not feel like working on it, I move onto the next issue and repeat the process.

Good luck on your coding endeavors and have fun!

 

[Argonaut14]

I often get completely disheartened when I have something working *almost* how I like, then I try to improve it to work *exactly* how I like and the whole thing breaks and what used to work is now creating idiotic behaviours from my objects/sprites and I get in a big tantrum thinking "Why did I even change this, it was almost working? I should have left it alone!!!"... and then I can't remember what I did before to have it even *almost* working. [insert finest scotch whiskey here]

code is sometimes about fresh eyes. Something that has been elusive and annoying for maybe two hours in the evening, is solved in ten minutes the next morning.

Finally, coding is nothing more than learning to write. We all know about Capital letters, full stops, commas, spaces and paragraphs. Some people are better at grammar than others - but everyone can learn to be better at grammar (and coding!) Difference is, if you Miss Out Or Add Extra Stuff To Writing, People Know Wot U mean. Do this is code and it breaks. Simply learn to be more accurate with your grammar!

Also, everyone had to experience Ice Cream for the first time. It was probably a bit of a shock and a bit painful if you bit it the first time - but everyone loves Ice Cream now!

 

[Matthew]

I often get completely disheartened when I have something working *almost* how I like, then I try to improve it to work *exactly* how I like and the whole thing breaks and what used to work is now creating idiotic behaviours from my objects/sprites and I get in a big tantrum thinking "Why did I even change this, it was almost working? I should have left it alone!!!"... and then I can't remember what I did before to have it even *almost* working. [insert finest scotch whiskey here]

code is sometimes about fresh eyes. Something that has been elusive and annoying for maybe two hours in the evening, is solved in ten minutes the next morning.

Finally, coding is nothing more than learning to write. We all know about Capital letters, full stops, commas, spaces and paragraphs. Some people are better at grammar than others - but everyone can learn to be better at grammar (and coding!) Difference is, if you Miss Out Or Add Extra Stuff To Writing, People Know Wot U mean. Do this is code and it breaks. Simply learn to be more accurate with your grammar!

Also, everyone had to experience Ice Cream for the first time. It was probably a bit of a shock and a bit painful if you bit it the first time - but everyone loves Ice Cream now!

Why don't you just rollback the change, or examine the lines that you modified? You do use version control, don't you?

 

[Argonaut14]

Yeah but it doesn't stop me having a rage. And a scotch.

 

[ConsolCWBY]

Here's a story for all of you:

Spoiler

When I was 12, my father bought me my first computer against my mother's wishes. She punished me by not allowing me to buy ANY program for it (my father agreed to this because he didn't know what a computer program was). So, I was relegated to booting it up and looking at this screen for an hour:

It came with a book on BASIC. I tried to read it, but it wasn't very 'kid' friendly. But over the course of a week, I was able to type in a program at the back of the book which made a very blocky man dance "mr. bojangles". After taking 2 days of typing in code I didn't understand, I ran it and recieved an error message. It was obtuse, and debugging took me nearly twice as long as it did to type! During this time, my mother kept telling me if I quit, she would buy me 2 Atari 2600 games. If I quit, she would return the computer and give me the money. IF I QUIT. No way. I now had an obsession of seeing this bastard dance. After 1 week of starting to type in the code, I got to see him dance - and my relationship with my mother has been strained ever since. BUT - I got to see him dance! Now, that I understood a little, I began to try to make games. Over the next 2 1/2 years I must have made nearly 50 games, mostly buggy and broken, but some I will never forget. (A D&D rogue-type of game, A text adventure, a graphical choose your own adventure starring The Hulk, a 3 part mini-game based on Track & Field, and my favorite: Gary Graveyard - a side shooter, man vs ghosts) This was the beginning of my time. When the 90s came up, I was attempting to use Borland C to create an RLE .PCX compression method which could be injected directly into a bit-blitter. Why? Because I wanted to animate sprites at a resolution higher than 64px by 64px without shearing, tearing, or creating artifacts. I never finished. Life got in the way. Illness got in the way. My time ended too soon. But I never ever ever would have reached this point if it wasn't for my mother, that computer, or BASIC. I miss my time, because every possibility was open - learning languages became easy.

What can you take away from this?...
NEVER GIVE UP.
NEVER LET THOSE AROUND YOU TRY TO STOP YOU.
TAME THE BEAST - THE MACHINE - BEND IT TO YOUR WILL -
Because this is your time. Take it by the balls while you have your chance!
And above all - make that bastard dance!

 

[StuffandThings85]

It can be kind of intimidating, in a way, when you're a beginner and don't know coding. But if it's something you are really interested in, you will figure it out. It does get a little frustrating at times when you want to have things a certain way and one little mistake really messes things up. Although, that's how you learn. You make mistakes, you figure out how to resolve them, and that just makes you better at what you're doing.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Everybody does, no one is perfect. What matters is how you handle those mistakes.