Learning How to Learn

Whoops! It's been more than a month since the last post. Don't worry, we haven't died or anything. DigiPen sure does try, but we aren't down for the count just yet.

The first semester of college is usually a wake-up call for everyone. We learn new concepts, get overwhelmed by challenges, and (hopefully) resolve to make ourselves better for the trials ahead. It's been no different with us. We keep busy to make sure we're skilled enough to do what we want to do.

With this first semester came a disheartening realization: Now that we've actually worked on games, how can we go back to just talking the talk? It hasn't gone anywhere in a year and a half, and it won't get much farther until we actually do something about it.

We want to provide something substantial with each update. So we usually don't have anything.

Still, it's just a matter of time and effort. If I've learned anything in the last five months, it's that I have a very specific learning curve when it comes to tough topics:

• Basic Grasp: In the beginning, when I approach a topic for the first time, I pretend to know what I'm looking at. I skim through and simplify it. "Oh, so it was made up of this and this, so this is what I should do." Of course, that knowledge doesn't really stick. The moment I try to apply that so-called knowledge, I'm completely overwhelmed.
• Severe Frustration: This is the phase I'm most familiar with, the "staring at the screen for two hours" phase (also known as the "banging my head against a brick wall" phase). I read, reread, then read again. I go over the information a million times, but it's just as much gibberish the five-millionth time as it was the fifth. I seriously cannot comprehend what I'm looking at, nor can I understand why I should find it at all interesting. I can't make progress because I don't understand what I need to know, and I can't B.S. my way out of it.
• Understanding: But eventually, there is a breakthrough. After double- and triple-checking the information, I finally get it. The relevant bits stick out. My mind restructures the information into a more manageable series of points. What was incomprehensible before is now something I can really use. I can finally get to work.
• Annoyance: I apply my understanding, and most of it goes pretty well. There are a few complications, though, as flaws appear in my technique and holes poke through my logic. Worst-case scenario, there is one serious bug that I need to work out before it starts to work.
• Enlightenment: As soon as I resolve the remaining knowledge issues, I come to an expert-level understanding of the topic. I can replicate it in a different project, and I can remember all the essential details even if I leave it alone for months at a time. This is the point where I have really learned something valuable.

I wrote "Time" on the x-axis of that chart, but it could also be read as "Effort." If I'm lucky and work on a problem all freaking day, I can go through the entire process on this chart within four to eight hours. On the other hand, if I get bogged down... If I can't do more research, or I become too lazy to work on the problem, I can be stuck for years.

A lot of the insight I've posted on this blog has come from the "Understanding" phase. I'd rather like to bring topics to the table that I know thoroughly. But that means getting off my lazy butt and getting some real research done. And research is my Achilles Heel.

But we get better with practice. So we don't give up, and we keep pushing ourselves.