I spent 2 years being too intimidated to build with AI. So I built a course for people like me.

Hey Indie Hackers 👋

Longtime lurker, first-time poster. I've been reading founder stories here for years, always impressed by people who actually ship instead of just talking about it.

The backstory that explains why I'm posting:

I wanted to add AI to games since forever. Every tutorial? "Start with linear algebra and gradient descent." I'm not a math person. I quit. Three times. Over two years.

Then I discovered something that made me angry: modern game engines (Unity, Unreal) have AI tools that hide all that complexity. You can train an NPC to learn from player behavior without writing a single line of calculus.

Nobody told me this. Every course assumed I wanted to become an AI researcher instead of just making better games.

So I got pissed off enough to build what I wished existed.

The project:

AI Powered Game Dev For Beginners

A 50+ hour course that teaches:

NPCs that actually learn from player behavior

Reinforcement learning agents (train them like digital pets)

Unity ML-Agents and Unreal behavior trees

Zero "let's derive backpropagation" energy

The numbers so far (Kickstarter):

Launched 2 weeks ago

78% funded

$78k raised

Goal: $100k

What's working:

The positioning resonated immediately. The hook isn't "learn AI" - it's "you don't need a math degree to build intelligent games." That message clearly struck a nerve.

What I'm still figuring out:

Marketing to developers is weird. We're skeptical by nature. We hate being sold to. The posts that work best are the ones where I'm transparent about the struggle, not the ones where I pretend to have all the answers.

Question for this community:

For those who've launched educational products before; what channels gave you the best ROI? I've been leaning into communities (Reddit, Discord, game dev forums) but curious where others found traction.

Also happy to answer questions about:

Building a course while learning the subject yourself

Kickstarter strategy

Why game dev is actually the best gateway to understanding AI

Campaign link if curious: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eduonix/ai-powered-game-dev-for-beginners?ref=3pp4e7

Thanks for existing, Indie Hackers. This place made me believe I could actually build something instead of just lurking.