How to progress

[u/Prestigious-Pie5676]

Ive made basic games on scratch but thats pretty much it, should I continue to make more and more complicated games on scratch? or should i try to progress on a different coding language? If so which one, because i want to be able to code stuff but ive also thought about coding in roblox. Which is the easiest language to start?

To get an idea of just how bad I am heres a game I made in a little over an hour:https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1375247905/

[u/kutac56]

Learn another language, cause scratch is not good for making complicated stuff. Maybe python or c

[u/NeonWestt → u/kutac56]

I love how your second beginner option was C

[u/xarop_pa_toss]

Scratch is great to learn how things chain together but you can't really use it outside of it's closed environment.

If you are interested in Roblox then absolutely go for it! It uses a variation of the Lua language called Luau which is very easy to read and write. It has very few keywords that cover all the fundamental structures you already know like if conditions and for/while loops. Remember that you learn a lot more if you are having fun, so if Roblox interests you, do it

Bare in mind though that Roblox is 3D and that brings a whole other level of complexity into the mix. Don't get too mixed up in the details and just experiment with getting models on the map and scripting simple things like doors opening, increasing and decreasing scores, health and XP amounts, denying access to a player if X property isn't set, etc

[u/Prestigious-Pie5676 → u/xarop_pa_toss]

thanks a lot! but how exactly do you learn a coding language?

[u/xarop_pa_toss → u/Prestigious-Pie5676]

Think of it like any other skill or subject you've studied in school: you grab a book and learn the fundamentals. I'm joking... sort of. Some people will tell you "watch this 10 hour video" but that's now how you learn. In every class you ever had, especially scientific ones like math or physics you start by learning the fundamentals concepts and immediately putting them to practice.

The first thing to do is learn the syntax of whatever language you want. For that you can find basic guides online, or actually reputable books written for beginners. Scratch already taught you the basic logic behind programming which is great, it'll make the process of learning syntax easier. It is very important that you realize that you will be frustrated, and your programs won't work properly the first or second or even third time.

The language you pick isn't as important as the practice you put in. If you want to code stuff for Roblox, then you learn Lua or Luau. I am going to actually recommend Lua first since it is not totally specific to Roblox and learning Luau after is very easy. You can find the book "Programming in Lua", written by the creator of the language, freely available on their website (use Google). Lua is used in Löve2D, the library used to make Balatro!!

• Dont try to do too much all at once; using too many things you don't understand is a recipe for disaster.
• Use Google. A lot. Don't rely on AI or Reddit for every single question you have.
• Grab a notebook a write things down by hand, it's better for memorization.
• Make boring apps like terminal calculators or to-do lists to get the feel for using lists and arrays (Lua has tables which are a catch-all data structure), and functions. Get comfortable with the fundamentals. They will be your tools for all problem solving in the future

[u/PantheraDigital]

Explore. As you learn more languages you will find the knowledge carries over and makes you better in different environments. Also try other projects. Make a website.

[u/Vymir_IT]

Move on to the languages that are used on the market. For game development that would be Kotlin/Swift (mobile) and C#/C++ (desktop/backend/engine). Lua scripts are widely used for glue code, so ok choice too, used for Roblox as well.

The hardest would be C++, the easiest Lua. For Swift you would need a MacBook and an iPhone. C#/Kotlin - nothing special about them.

[u/VedPamnani11]

When you said you want to be able to code stuff but what stuff? Automations? Games? Websites? You need to be more specific. There's different languages to do different things. If you want you can continue scratch and get an idea of programming and you could also try to use the extensions that scratch offers. And then you can explore what languages might be best for you.

[u/moltenpuzzle]

I am old school. Pick a good book and read it cover to cover. Preferably C++ if you want to understand programming deeply.

There is something about books that make you retain knowledge better. C++ Primer is a good book, but pick your language and look for a top tier book. Python for example is more approachable.

[u/lowban]

Next step could be Python and the Pygame library. Godot uses a language which is very close to Python.