I'm asking a few questions to all the game developers here.
1. How'd you learn to make games (books, YouTube series, udemy, sold your soul to Satan, etc) ?
2. When and how did you realize that Game Dev is what you want to do?
Thanks.

I learnt gamdev from a youtuber called brackeys(unity)

@itzyzex are his tutorials beginner friendly?

Mixture of youtube, google, unity forums, trial by fire, stackoverflow

@ascelpiusboy Brackeys is very beginner friendly. He starts off very slow. My problem with him is that he's kind of a one trick pony in that there's a crapton of tutorials from him which simply say "Let's make a game" and he does the same things in them. But it's a good watch.

Youtube, Udemy.

@Mvzes yeah, so long as the entire experience is productive I'm all for it.

@Cyanite yeah I've got a recommendation for a udemy course from a friend, it's unity with Ben Tristem. I'm hoping to pick it up sometime this month.

@ascelpiusboy Do note that you don't have to start with a 3D engine. (Though, I personally prefer UnrealEng4 - Which is free now - Over Udemy) I'm working on a 2D game thats made in Python and will have a Kivy front-end. (Though, I admit, Python isn't the best choice for game dev.) And as a new developer, the best advice you can take (if your an Indie Dev, and don't actually take orders from someone) is to make something that YOU want to play. I see all of these shitty little apps that devs made over a weekend just to try and con a few dollars from people. If you make a game that YOU like, otgers will follow. And if not, you'll still have a game that you love to play.

@Cyanite yeah though I'm not yet sure if I can call myself an indie Dev in professional capacity, I'm more of a hobbyist. Game dev is a very broad subject, which is why learning something properly will obviously take time. I have about 0 experience in this field, and your advice about making something that I would play is something that I will keep in mind as I move forward. Receiving inputs from people who actually make games is really helpful, especially when I have no idea where to get started. There are so many tools and tutorials, but we don't really have as much time to explore all options.

@ascelpiusboy I have 'atempted' to make several games of several different types. As these were personal projects, I'd just drop them onve I got bored with the idea. Only when I stopped going after money, and started building for me, did I start enjoying my work, and stopped loosing modivation. Take that bit of my advice to heart. ^~^

@Cyanite will do ^_^

Learned from everywhere and nowhere over the internet, YouTube​series and tutorial series.
Liked it by trying it

Hey this was a very good question 🤗, I am right there with you. Super new at programming and i just want to make a game for the experience. Thou i still dont have any particular game design in mind.
Thanks for the question and the answers guys!

Yeah, thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response! This really will help people who are interested in starting game Dev and see this post.

In a time without broadband Internet, i startet with the starcraft, age of empires and unreal map editors, all learning by doing, because i had no access to documentation.

Later i developed a lovehate relationship with the rpg maker which made me start to get into gamebalance and formulas. While the interior and formulas of some eastern rpgs could be found on gamefaqs, it was world of warcraft and it's active community and developers that allowed me to watch how and why things were done and changed over time.

With a friend i started our own little rpg which was super fun and interesting and i learned so much, but in the end, failed because two programmers and zero designers don't make a well balanced team. I still remember it as a great time. My partner is on devrant so he might read this, hey buddy :-D

I worked a little with java, a little more with xna and joined a team creating a snes era rpg where I'm doing the coding, design and balance for combat.

PS: extra credits on YouTube has great videos on gamedesign. And it fun to watch.