Now I know what you’re going to say, how is a sandbox survival video game similar to a web developing coding language? Well, you’d be surprised that both of these platforms are actually really similar!
1: It’s hard at first, but gets easier later on.
Now, when you begin (either HTML or Subnautica), you’re going to be completely clueless about what to do to move on. You’re stranded on an ocean planet (or computer classroom) and you want to be able to succeed in surviving. You will have some help for a short time (emergency food supply or help from TAs), but you eventually need to get your feet wet and dive in. You will get very challenged at first (hey, I died two times at my first two days of playing!), but there are many things that you purposefully have to help you along the way (medical kit fabricator, fabricator, or an HTML&CSS book.). So don’t worry, you may screw up the first few times, but you’re bound to get it later.
2: You’re going to suffer a lot from easily fixable mistakes.
Especially in HTML, you have to be extremely specific with what you want to do. You have to plan this all in your head and be patient. There can be such minimal errors that can disrupt your plans and work. The first time I died, it was because I didn’t realize how to disinfect water, while the second time was because I wasn’t searching in the right place for materials I desperately needed. In HTML, you can suffer from mistakes like forgetting to close an ending bracket, incorrectly typing a command, or simply not even re-uploading your website! Which is why you should know that there are going to be a lot of problems, don’t suffer about what happened, because believe me, it’s happened to everyone.
3: It can get scary and mind-boggling, but if you want to learn and survive, you gotta dive deep.
In my first days of Subnautica, I completely stayed away from big animals and dark caves. I was extremely scared that I would die but I wanted to explore more of this hidden world of wonders and beauty. Same with HTML, you might want to stick to your basic headings, paragraphs, and pictures, but it’s not really going to be that one thing you want. You should always explore more because you’re not going to get anywhere sticking to a bunch of basic code (or area) and doing what you do best. Always strive to get out of your comfort zone because what you will learn and experience is amazing.
4: Never rely on others for major help 24/7.
It’s nice when you have things that make your problems get solved easier (autocorrect, validators, scanners and flashlights), but sometimes none of those are going to help you. You might not be able to locate any TAs for help with your HTML, and you might not be able to scan fast-moving predators for info or your battery can get easily drained out of your flashlight. Sometimes, you just have to examine from a distance and learn in a way what they do, and how they react (both for animals and code). Among all these different loopholes and ways you can get help, there’s Google. Google will help you the most during your time (even though I didn’t use it much for Subnautica since I didn’t want to spoil the game) and you might even have family members that can help you with the game. (Dev helped me a lot in both situations, and I also have to thank all the TAs.)
5: Have fun!
Both of these things seem scary, hard, and complicated, but their only purpose is to entertain and make you happy. While you’re at TIC, make some epic code and friends! Always remember that when you are striving to learn more about a subject, your biggest goal should be to be happy and captivated by the experience.
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