Hey everyone, I need a brutal reality check and some advice.

I'm a college student from India with zero budget, trying to learn Unity. I have the ideas mapped out (a wildlife photography survival game and a short horror game), but I am completely stuck at the starting line.

My biggest problem is that my dopamine receptors are completely fried. I'm addicted to scrolling reels, edgy humor, and toxic mobile games (like BGMI/Free Fire). Because my brain is so used to cheap, 5-second dopamine hits, sitting down to actually write C# or learn greyboxing feels boring and exhausting.

On top of that, I have terrible analysis paralysis. I keep worrying about the Steam market, whether I should learn Blender right now, or what the industry will look like in 4 years... and meanwhile, I haven't even made a player capsule walk forward in Unity yet.

I hate strict timetables, so right now I am trying to implement the "15-Minute Rule" and "Non-Zero Days" just to build momentum without burning out.

For the devs who started out with terrible attention spans and zero discipline:

  1. How did you detox from cheap dopamine (reels/toxic gaming) and train your brain to enjoy the slow process of game dev?
  2. How do you stop worrying about the "big picture" and just force yourself to do the daily work?
  3. Is reading books necessary to become a good game designer, or is practicing enough? If books are necessary, do you have any recommendations for someone trying to rebuild their attention span?