I’ve been reading this thread and realized I never introduced myself, even though I’ve been here on and off for months :P.
I found Defold, searching for a well-developed engine with a lively community. I found the website, checked it out, and immediately thought, “Where’s the price tag? This seems perfect for me, but I’m sure I can’t get it because it can’t be free.” At the time I hadn’t a bank account, so I wasn’t able to pay for anything online. Well, turns out Defold is so wonderful and free.
Over the past year I’ve been balancing homework, learning Lua and Defold from documentation, work, and a defold project. This project I hope to eventually sell, and I realize it’s going to take a large chunk of time to get it to that quality and playability, but I’m willing to do that because this is how I’m teaching myself the language and because I honestly long to play it when it’s finished :D.
As you might have “read between the lines,” I haven’t taken programming classes. I’ve taught myself with others’ examples, and many communities have been very kind to lend me help on many different problems. So just know, if you see me asking a very simple question, please have patience because I’m still learning many things ;).