i have been scripting in roblox since september 2023, i am proud of myself that i havent let go from demotivation and kept on the roblox studio developer journey as it has taught me alot about the roblox dev community etc.
However, lately i feel like i am not improving much on my coding skills, or you could say i am in a checkmate as i do not know where to go forward with my scripting knowledge.
I am not sure what tutorials to watch, what things i can do to get myself better at coding, the main thing i am doing is creating little projects as it will further improve my knowledge on luau, but it is not doing as much as i wouldve thought it was.
If you have any suggestions that can further my knowledge with luau i would be grateful, thank you!
yeah, i would love to start doing commissions, do you have any place that i can start? do i use the talent tab on roblox or find commissions through discord?
Both really. I find it easier to go through discord however you do need a portfolio for anywhere you choose. It is a super important thing and most people will ask for one. So to start with maybe make some projects for a portfolio?
Are you happy with your coding style/paradigm or do you feel like you are still repeating stuff a lot?
Maybe experiment with learning other styles of coding.
Do you use module scripts? Do you know how metatables work? Have you ever tried parallelization? Just some stuff you can try experimenting with to learn new skills. Not that I know what stage you are at.
The hard thing about coding is not actually around the coding part, but the application of this knowledge to realistic and unsolved problems. Arbitrarily speaking, you can learn how to optimise and improve your coding style to produce a desired result but even then you can only go so far. As someone who does a degree in computer science, and also demonstrates content towards lower years, I can tell you for a fact that 90% of being a good programmer is nothing to do with knowing the language but instead thinking how to solve a problem overall.
As an example, I am very confident everyone can learn to code a door - some people will code a door with complex features such as pin-coded access etc but the point is at its foundation it is a door, a very simple concept. I guarantee for a fact that I could program a door which such sophisticated security software, that without whatever access requirements I deem you’d be unable to open it - but again, at its foundation its a door. The complexity around coding is actually derived from making a product which achieves complex behaviours or solves a complex problem; an example of this could be creating a movement system which is more dynamic whilst still retaining the qualities that it is user friendly, smooth and can be used on all devices.
In my current studies, I’m working on neuroevolutionary artificial intelligence - its a very complex subject which requires a meticulous understanding of both genetic processes, neural development and of course the development processes of artificial intelligence - pair this with the fact I wrote my own custom library to create and genetically modify a neural network, it becomes extremely advanced both technically and logically. By definition of the problem itself, you could code what I am working on in a really inefficient and horrendous manner - I obviously chose to not do this, but you could and you would still be classed as someone who is extremely proficient in coding.
The point of the matter: if you want to improve, its more about learning the processes to solve increasingly complex behaviours, whilst also prioritising a programming style which is optimal and developer friendly. You can achieve this by simply setting yourself more and more complex projects, I started with making my own basic arrest system; now I’ve created everything from full frameworks to now my degree level research.
Just keep persisting, and you’ll keep improving. The only part that sucks about all of this? The moment higher level thought processes come into programming, the amount of mental strain also increases exponentially - which is why the development process becomes longer. You will end up making products that don’t work as intended, display unexpected results or even just break. And at that point, like myself, you will spend every waking hour thinking about the work - it is deafening.