RE: Steering away from the developer mindset
I'm doing just the same thing right now, i am learning to program under unity, i am a little too much at ease with some aspects, so i train at programming hence why i can't post a lot unfortunately, i know 3D studio max very well, for modeling, animating and texturing, but i reinstalled unity after seeing some of your videos and i...
I was allways rebuted and bored by the programming aspect, now i kind of have some patience with it and learning from a lot of tutorials about it on videos, i too want to make some very personnal projects, even if it will probably take a lifetime with the quality of the models and environment, interactions i wish to have in the game.
My wants and envy for a game are really really too high even for myself, i have a really, really too high ambition for projects that can barely be made alone xD
Your approach open my eyes on the fact that me too, i have to look into these things even if they are "meh" and they were usually unattractive to me, it's hard, but i learn a little bit about sementics, clean and good commented code, and do it everyday doing programming exercises and tutorials on the internet.
Fortunately i already had a good basis in html and css before going in.
i might be contradicting myself but i find that it's almost impossible to make yourself interested in something. i try to learn 3dsmax or blender every now and then, but most of the time i fail. i understand the basics but that's about it. any depth on 3d modeling is very difficult for me. either you like it or you don't, and it's not under your control.
i find what i can use from the asset store and try to customize/fit everything into my game. most of my focus is still in programming even tho i've been trying to steer away.
so yea, it's hard. maybe later we can do a project together since you're an artist. i already have 2 right now that i'm working on, so it probably won't happen too soon. but just to think about it, i think it could be interesting.
btw i think if code is well written comments are not even necessary.