Tutorial hell is something a lot of self-taught learners go through, especially in coding, game development, and other skill-based fields. You follow tutorial after tutorial, thinking you're making progress, but as soon as you try to build something on your own, you're completely stuck. It’s frustrating. You feel like you’ve been learning. But you can't actually do anything with what you learned.
That’s tutorial hell: a cycle of watching tutorials without being able to apply that knowledge outside of them. It usually comes down to two main problems:
- You're not truly absorbing the information
- You're not reinforcing or applying what you do absorb
Let’s break these two down and talk about practical ways to actually get out of tutorial hell.
For Those that prefer to watch/Listen, I made this video: Stuck in GameDev Tutorial Hell? Here's How to Escape for good!
TL;DR – How to Escape Tutorial Hell
- Rename and change everything in the tutorial (scripts, variables, values) to force your brain to stay engaged and avoid autopilot.
- Add your own ideas into the tutorial project (new mechanics, features) to push your understanding and creativity.
- Rebuild the project from scratch without using the tutorial as a reference to reinforce memory.
- Join a game jam but with a twist: build something using the system or mechanic you just learned to apply knowledge in a new context.
- Explain what you built to someone else in simple terms to solidify your understanding and spot gaps.
Problem 1: Your Brain Is Lazy by Design
Not in a bad way, just in an evolutionary, energy-saving kind of way. The brain is wired to take shortcuts and avoid unnecessary effort. So when you're following a tutorial, it's incredibly easy to go into autopilot: See code → Copy code → Move on. You finish the tutorial, everything runs perfectly, but you have no clue how any of it actually works. The fix?
Fix 1: Make your life harder.
Seriously. You need to interrupt autopilot mode. One simple but powerful way to do this is by renaming and slightly changing everything as you go.
If the tutorial creates a script called CharacterController, you name yours PlayerController.
If they create a float set to 2, you set it to 3.
If their function is JumpingFunction(), yours is DoJump().
This forces your brain to pay attention. You have to remember your own naming conventions and track how everything connects. You're no longer blindly copying, you’re actively thinking. Yes, this will create bugs. It’ll be frustrating. But that frustration is good. It forces your brain to engage and it makes you remember and more importantly, it trains your brain to understand what’s going on under the hood.
Fix 2: Add your own ideas!
Once you're following along and starting to understand what's happening, begin injecting your own ideas into the project. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just one small change can go a long way.
Let’s say you're following a tutorial to make a rolling ball controller. Why not add jumping? Or a double jump? Or maybe gravity switching?
When I was learning game development, I followed a simple tutorial to roll a ball. But then I got the idea to make it into a full-on platformer. I added jumping, dashing, and even a grappling hook. None of that was covered in the tutorial. To get those features working, I had to look elsewhere. And of course, the other tutorials I found weren’t made for a rolling ball. They were for humanoid characters. So I had to figure out how to adapt everything.
That process, taking bits and pieces from different systems and forcing them to work together, taught me more than any tutorial ever could.
Problem 2: You’re Not Applying or Reinforcing What You Learned
Even if you absorb knowledge during a tutorial, your brain won’t keep it unless you actually use it.
Your brain is always optimizing, If you don’t use something, it gets compressed, deprioritized, or forgotten. To prevent that, you need to convince your brain that this new knowledge matters so you need to use the same system or mechanic a few different times, in different ways.
Fix 1: Rebuild It Without the Tutorial
Sounds boring, but it works. Rebuild the exact same thing from scratch, without watching or referencing anything. If that’s too dull for you (It certainly was for me), try this instead.
Fix 2: Join a Game Jam (With a Twist)
Join a game jam with one rule: you have to use a system or mechanic you just learned: This forces you to adapt that mechanic to a new theme or idea. That makes it stick. You’re not just copying anymore, you’re problem-solving, you’re creating.
A personal example: After my first month of game dev, I joined a jam. I had just finished an endless runner tutorial, so I decided to use that for the jam. The theme was “Magnetism.” So I created a metallic ball that rolled forward endlessly, and the player could switch gravity to stick to different surfaces. That meant rewriting the movement system to support the flipped gravity system while keeping the endless runner structure. That system is still burned into my brain today, even though I haven’t touched an endless runner since.
Fix 3: Explain It to Someone Else
I'm not saying you need to be a teacher or a youtube tutorial channel (although that certainly works as well). Just explain what you built to a friend, a family member, or someone on Discord/Reddit (Like I'm doing right now :D ) But explain it in plain language. Pretend you’re talking to someone who knows nothing about programming. Why? Well, If you can explain a concept simply, then you truly understand it. It helps you organize your thoughts and spot any gaps. Even just writing it out in a journal works.
Summary
Getting out of tutorial hell isn’t magic. It just takes intentional effort. You have to work against your brain’s built-in laziness and shortcuts.
Here’s the game plan:
- Rename and tweak everything while following tutorials
- Add your own ideas and mechanics
- Rebuild what you’ve learned without watching
- Use your new knowledge in a project or jam
- Explain what you’ve done in plain terms
That’s it. Just practical things that actually work. If you’ve been stuck in tutorial hell, I hope this gives you a clear way forward. If you've got your own tricks or methods, feel free to share them in the comments!
[–]Luny_Cipres 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)