In Commodore 64 days you got some book that was all you had. You couldn't email the author of the book or look online.
If you got through the huge filter of the initial steps being much harder than today then you were doing well and would go on.
However, the endless set ups and downloading every library that is used is going to make maintenance of programs in 5, 10 or 20 years a nightmare.
And even then, experts and resources were available online, for suitably primitive values of "online". Think CompuServe.
Another thing we had back then but less so today was magazines, full of programming and technical tips and info, usually tailored to a particular computer family. (So, Commodore magazines, Tandy magazines, Apple magazines, etc.) Once business computing took off, the dominant players (PCMag, MacWorld, etc.) became more productivity-oriented -- but I still learned Windows programming from the free utility and programming columns in early 90s PCMag. And then once the Web hit, the dead tree publishers were fighting over scraps.
I tried to build games on the C64 using BASIC and, while I had some success, the results were always limited by the fact that it was in BASIC, it was going to be slow, and that planning and editing your code was extremely painful, you didn't even have a proper text editor.
The real way to develop on the C64 was with assembly. Unfortunately, finding information on how to do this was virtually impossible. Almost no books existed, and those that did were rare and expensive. Even when you got the book you were missing huge chunks of knowledge: The CPU itself is just 10% of the problem, the rest is knowing the memory layout, the supporting chips, and so on, stuff that wasn't well known.
The methods employed by actual production games were dark and mysterious, often close to protected secrets. You were welcome to painfully disassemble these games, but you also had no tools, not even a basic assembler, unless you went out and bought one.
Today it's easier than ever to build games for vintage hardware because everything, every little thing, is lovingly documented. This was absolutely not the case in the 1980s.
[0] https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Commodore_64_Programmer%27s_Re...
I remember visiting some other kid who had a C64, and his dad had given him the Programmer's Reference Manual. He never opened it and didn't care about programming at all (he just used the thing to play games). I cracked that book open and my mind was blown!
> I cracked that book open and my mind was blown!
I really wish I had had the opportunity to read through one when I was younger.
> Commodore hopes you've enjoyed the COMMODORE 64 USER'S GUIDE. Although this manual contains some programming information and tips, it is NOT intended to be a Programmer's Reference Manual. For those of you who are advanced programmers and computer hobbyists Commodore suggests that you consider purchasing the COMMODORE 64 PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE GUIDE available through your local Commodore dealer.
Honestly, until I checked the PDF just now, I thought the User's Guide came with a card to order it through the mail.
[0] http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/c64_users_guide/c64-users_gu...
You say the book wasn't rare, but I didn't know anyone who had one, or who even had access to one. I had a friend with a technical reference like that, but it was for the Apple ][, so that was no use. The only access to computers at all was at the local school, and the faculty had no idea how to use them for anything other than to train kids on typing.
Now that book is available online for free which is a sterling example of how much things have changed. Anyone who wants this information can get it if they look hard enough, and anyone with questions can get them answered by experts.
A few years ago in a 2nd hand bookstore I finally laid eyes on Programming the Z80, which I'd heard about but never seen, and I was like "OMG, I would've given a leg to have had that in 1985!"
Life with LibGen (and StackExchange) is so vastly different to my childhood isolation from the world's knowledge. I'm constantly profoundly grateful. But wish I'd had that access back then! Although I can't imagine it.