How did you learn game development/design?

I started with online tutorials, and UDK. I messed around with Cry Engine, and Unity a bit too.

How did you start with learning game design?

I haven't worked with any engines, but for more simple games that don't require a lot of resources I've mainly looked at some tutorials and a lot of time going over the documentation and trying things out.

A lot of what I picked up on has been based on trial and error.

I know a quite abit to 2d game development with lua.

Years ago, like 2010, a buddy of mine came up to me and said, Senkusha, I want you to write a story for my game that I'm building. My friend, who was actually my neighbor from across the street at the time, had recently poked around with Unity 3D, and began making a game. He had big ideas of making a game, pitching it to the big boys, like Microsoft and making a big profit. His wife informed him that my story would probably be heavily anime-centric. Yup, she was correct. Anyway, as I was writing the story and seeing what he was building, I started picking at Unity 3D, and I wrote the controller inputs module for his game. (I've always been a geeky girl, and already had a functioning knowledge of C# and JavaScript)

Well, that idea blew up in his face, because Microsoft literally stole his ideas, (and mine. I gave him the idea for a Juice that would act as a power-up/buff), because a year later, Microsoft released a game very similar to what my friend had been working on. He was devastated, and turned toward carpentry and wood working. But that didn't deter me. Maybe because I wasn't as invested as he was. I was enjoying all the creativity I was doing.

Years go by, I had moved on to several other hobbies, including a major dive into fan fiction, and about five years or so ago, I picked up Unreal Engine (4.x at the time, now 5.x), and I was amazed at how much easier it was to put together a game! I've toggled between making my own role playing open-world, and RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, and haven't decided between the two of them just yet, but I'm having a blast just making 3D models and using the Visual Scripting language (called Blueprints) that makes everything work. It kind of reminds me of those electric building kits/toys with all the springs that you'd attach components to, like resisters and capacitors with wires to make like a light detector or crystal radio? It's kinda like that. The kids today are spoiled with those Raspberry Pi's!

Anyway, I've rambled long enough. Yeah, I still play with Unreal Engine when I can find the time to sit still for a few hours.