Absolutely. I think a lot of people misinterpret this advice like this (or actually the advice is intended this way): if you don't use an off the shelf engine y

Absolutely. I think a lot of people misinterpret this advice like this (or actually the advice is intended this way): if you don't use an off the shelf engine you are destined to slogging away writing your own engine. When in fact it's perfectly reasonable to ship a game without using any off the shelf tooling, or worrying too much about "patterns". Follow up advice (from someone who isn't really qualified to give it): stop listening to people who say "do this, don't do that, you can't do this, it must be done like this" etc. You know yourself what you're curious about and interested in and what you want to build. This includes this advice, maybe reading about patterns will help you. Let your inner voice guide you.