Helvengard #002
Why Tutorials Don’t Make You a Developer

After I started building my first small game, I quickly moved into the next phase: tutorials.

And I didn’t just do a few.

Over time, I went through dozens of them. Small ones, bigger ones, complete systems like inventory setups. Movement, animation, UI, interactions — everything you can imagine.

And at first, it felt great.

Things worked.
I saw results.
I felt like I was making real progress.

Every tutorial gave me something new, and it looked like I was moving forward quickly.

Tutorials are designed to guide you step by step.

You follow instructions.
You copy code.
You click where you’re told.

And at the end, everything works.

That creates a very strong feeling:

“I understand this.”

But in reality, you often don’t.

You understand how to follow the process — not how to build it yourself.

The real problem appears when you try to go beyond the tutorial.

Even small changes can break everything.

You try to adjust movement.
You try to extend a system.
You try to combine two ideas.

And suddenly, nothing works anymore.

That’s when you realize:

You didn’t really understand what you built.
You just reproduced it.

I had many of these moments.

Sometimes the issue was on my side.
Sometimes the tutorial itself had problems.

Outdated code.
Missing explanations.
Even errors that were never corrected.

And as a beginner, you don’t know the difference.

So you go back.
Replay the video.
Compare everything again.

And sometimes you still don’t get it.

That can be extremely frustrating.

At some point, my approach changed.

I stopped relying completely on tutorials.

Instead, I started trying to understand things on my own.

I read documentation.
I tested variations.
I intentionally broke systems just to see what happens.

And slowly, something changed.

I started to understand not just what works —
but why it works.

A lot of people talk about “tutorial hell” as something negative.

But I don’t fully agree.

Tutorials are useful.

They help you get started.
They show you possibilities.
They give you orientation.

The real problem is staying there too long.

If you never move beyond tutorials, you never truly learn how to build.

The key shift is simple, but not easy:

From
“I follow instructions”
to
“I solve problems”

That shift changes everything.

It’s slower.
It’s harder.
It’s more frustrating.

But it’s also where real learning happens.

If I started again, I wouldn’t avoid tutorials.

But I would use them differently.

I would treat them as a starting point — not as a solution.

I would try to change things earlier.
Adapt them.
Break them.
Rebuild them.

And most importantly:

I would start solving my own problems much sooner.

But sooner or later, tutorials are not enough anymore.

That’s the point where you need to build something of your own.