So ive been told many time sto use godot becasue its for low end computers and it like unity but not. the thing is im not sure where to start or even whihc version of godot would be best to use. there another thing si cant code like at all i usally look up some code or let chatgpt do the wrok or expalin things to me but its usally not too good in that department. but i really want to make a video game and im not sure why or even how to start or what i should make, becasue i keep coming up with ideas that are way to complex.
do you have any tips, advice or something you would like to share with me by chance?
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Godot is an incredibly mature and actively developed open source game engine. You cannot start with something better, not without weird licensing compromises or financial contracts if you make enough money your game using their engine.
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/community/tutorials.html
There are plenty of resources. The structure of development is very unique, but also very intuitive, so please don’t get discouraged if anything seems new.
On a personal note, I implore you to refrain from using ChatGPT and learning to program things yourself. The tutorials are very thorough, and the graphical interface is thorough and robust enough that you will probably be programming less than you think, and of course with time it gets easier. Documentation is built in and searchable. The Godot Scripting language is Python like, which is a very easy language to learn.
The only tips really is to read through all the tutorials and make as many games as you can think of. Start small and stay small. All big systems are just tiny systems strung together.
Do not worry about making your own assets, unless you are an artist already.
Lastly, have fun. You are making games after all. If you are ever feeling stuck, it can be useful to force a new perspective: https://schellgames.com/art-of-game-design/
Godot is excellent! Would definitely recommend it.
Whatever you choose though, my advice: a great way to get better at writing code is just reading code (example projects, github repos, etc), and trying to understand what each line is doing. The skill is really learning lots of patterns, but focusing on reading lets you discover good/bad patterns more quickly than trying to arrive at them on your own.
thank you, and im still debaiting whether i make a game or not or if its for me, but ill see.
Actually I think you should stop thinking about the theoretical pros and cons and just start using Godot for a test project.
Like the simplest game ever. A capsule collider (or the Godot icon if you want to stick to 2D first) running from left to right and jumping over obstacles for example.
You will learn so much while you just figure out how to do stuff and that will probably not take longer than a week. Just think in very small steps like “how to move an object in Godot” or “how to react to user input in Godot” then google this questions and try implementing it for your project.
If at the end you feel like Godot is not for you do a similar project in the next engine and compare the two.
Yep, thinking and research are all well and good but you cannot reach any kind of potential until you start doing.
Uhh, you can’t, or at least shouldn’t, rely on chat gpt to replace your inability to code. It is a skill you absolutely will need sooner or later if you want to make a video game, unless you want finished solutions like game maker, fortnite editor or roblox (but even then I think you will need to script custom stuff sooner or later).
So I’d say take it easy and learn the basics first, do it proper and gain a skill while doing it. Forget about chatgpt and learn basics of programming languages, doesn’t even matter which one as long as you like it, you need to get a feel and understanding of how code and computer logic actually works. I personally recommend python for beginners, which will translate nicely for gscript in godot down the line.
After that, I’d say sure go with godot. I personally like it more compared to unity but I haven’t made any complete products with it, just messing around a bit and having fun. It’s simple and easy to understand, relatively speaking.
Oh and definitely abandon these complex ideas for now. Make Pong as your first project and it will be challenging enough :D
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet: since you’re absolutely new to coding, if you choose Godot start with 3.5 version. 4 is new and shiny, but that means that there isn’t as many guides and tutorials. There’s also some changes from 3.5 that will make it hard to follow old tutorials. And some of the better changes are being backported to 3 anyway.
Once you’ve got a decent understanding of 3.5 you could upgrade to 4 for the quality of life features. And you will have to adjust to the changes, but there aren’t as many resources for 4, especially for completely new coders as there are for 3. There are kidscancode and GDQuest - there are also plenty of YouTube tutorials for Godot 3.5.Godot is probably a pretty good engine to learn stuff with. There are a ton of guides on youtube for it.
Skills translate, learning one game engine is never entirely a waste of time, even if down the line you end up going with some other one. Modeling, shaders, code, as you get better at it all, and your understanding of things improves. Even after a switch, you’d get up to speed a lot faster than the first time.
Start with something extremely simple. Something you wont sell or maybe even show to someone else. For me, back in the day, I made an extremely simple twin-stick shooter in pygame. You could make sudoku, if you’d like to learn the programming side of things. Another good practice project is tetris, which you could start off making in 2d, and then figure out how to do 3d by doing tetris again, but in 3d.
I never got that into game dev, but I still use my skills to mod titanfall 2 today.
The best advice I have, whatever language or framework you chose, is to make the simplest game you can think of - space invaders, pac man, asteroids - something like that, and use it as a way to learn coding a bit. But make the entire thing, score system, menu screen, game over screen and all that. Leave your good ideas until you are a bit more confident or you’ll risk burning out or getting so frustrated you give up, best of luck!
I know that a lot of other comments recommend Godot, but I would seriously consider not starting out with a game engine when learning to code. It’s another huge time sink and source of frustration and can even teach bad coding practices.
Start learning programming with a small and easy language like Python, Lua or JavaScript. Python would be an obvious pick if you plan to use Godot, the syntax is very similar.
After learning the basic programming concepts, start learning Godot. Trust me, this will be much easier in the long run.
Yes. It has the easiest scripting language of all the main engines (very similar to Python). The interface is also very quick. Unity can be quite the slog.
Look for a YouTube channel called GDQuest. There’s a Getting Started with Godot tutorial series there. Watch the videos and follow along on your PC, and you’ll learn a lot.
I can add some advice here if that’s ok? I’m not a programmer by a long shot, but I do teach basic programming in Python and some coding in HTML and CSS. So I have a little confidence when it comes to learning new coding. I picked up Godot a little while ago, and I’m progressing to the point where I can read code and get a good understanding of what is happening. For a beginner I would recommend the following:
Watch some good quality videos that get you up to speed with Godot - it’s not completely logical to an absolute beginner. You have to understand scenes and nodes. You have to understand how the file system works and relates to your game. While watching these videos, follow along until you’re comfortable with the interface and moving around it.
Now put some study in. You’ll need to read some books / articles / tutorials. Rather than copying code (which is perfectly fine to get used to the programme) try to do the simplest game you can think of. So for me it’s a character who can run around the screen. But I want this character to move a little in the style of Mario, so it speeds up and slows down gradually. So I searched on google “Godot how to speed up and slow down gradually” and got a few tips and tricks. But I couldn’t quite figure out why certain things were not working. That’s where ChatGPT really helped me out. I basically asked it “what’s difference between get_action_strength and input.get_vector in Godot”. So I had a good understanding of both pieces of code but just couldn’t figure out what each was doing. In the end ChatGPT really helped me to understand when to use the different methods. So yes, I say use ChatGPT lots and lots, but not to learn how to use Godot but to help you understand stuff when you get into the programming and you have a little confidence.
As a starter, there are so many channels out there - GDQuest’s YouTube channel is fantastic. There’s a tiny channel called The Guide Knight who has a style of tutorial I can really relate to. There’s also a ton of ebooks out there. To get started here’s a free one with some good stuff in it:
https://gamedevacademy.org/free-ebook-godot-game-development/
Good luck, you’re only a little ways behind myself in learning Godot - it’s a heap of fun!
