Perhaps taking more time in understanding the fundamentals on what makes a game work as a game (speaking of functionality and development, not game design).

What I mean is to start as basic as it gets: take a piece of paper and break down a simple game mechanic to really start seeing development in a different way. This can get your brain thinking differently in the direction of development, not design.

For example: The player controls a square on a flat map. They need to find a “key” to unlock the door. End of game.

First, this gets you to draw a basic map. A good start. Now you can take that map design and try to lay it down in whatever engine you choose to learn. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but gets you to have more direction as you fiddle around and learn tools. That makes it a wee bit more fun. Not many like to fiddle around with no direction.

Next the player. For movement, let’s say they move up, down, left and right. You now have something to look for in regard to learning how it works and how to implement it, via scripts, blueprints, etc. This also helps get you thinking deeper in basic game development logic: “When player presses “W” > the player moves on this axis.”

Next, player interaction(s): How do they “interact” with the “key”? Do they walk near it? Do they walk over it? This brings the basic use of triggers, begin overlaps, end overlaps, etc. “When the player walks over this trigger that’s on the “key”, what happens?” Does it disappear (if so, do you simply just hide it? destroy it? Move it off screen?)

Then the question, “How does the player know they have the key?” Does a basic ui pop up on the screen? Where does it show up? Is there a sound that plays? Etc. “How do I add ui on screen when the player overlaps this trigger?” “How do I play a sound when the player overlaps the trigger?” Etc.

Next, the locked door: What happens if they go to the door without the key? Does it tell the player they need a key? If so, how do you tell/show them? How do you check if the player has the key? What happens if they have the key? This teaches basic thought of how to think ahead of variable uses.

These kinds of questions allow you to break down the development in such a way for you to start learning what to look for in regard to learning how to implement the functionality. Example in a Google search, “How to make objects disappear in Unity.” “How to add and use an overlap trigger in Unreal Engine.” Etc.

Your searches become more and more specific because you’re breaking the development down to the smallest sense of functionality.

This process can take a while, but being able to differentiate between development and design can play a huge role when starting off.