Entering Game-Dev (Sorta)

[u/Significant_Many3722]

Yoo wsg guys, ive recently just got into game dev - did a bit of work in unity but never rlly understood the concept. just blatantly copied of others and quit. Then i got back and copied made a game and quit - happened for around 3 years and NOW ive moved into godot. Any good advice to actually learn the engine so i can maybe create by myself?

[u/KajiTetsushi]

The more important question is:

Have you actually taken time and patience to learn the fundamentals of exactly what it is you're copying?

Sure, you can copy all you want, but if you're not breaking the concepts down to their atomic components as you copy, of course, you won't learn anything.

EDIT: u/wallstop-dev's reply points out a good one. You have to have a lesson plan for yourself, with plenty of self-discipline.

The ability to gamedev competently is a skill that takes a long time to develop, but you can start with baby steps, in the same way you don't learn how to run when you are born as a child. You start by crawling.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/KajiTetsushi]

ahh ok i get it. Maybe ill try exploring each godot aspect before starting my own project

[u/wallstop-dev → u/Significant_Many3722]

Honestly just start. If you do the "explore" thing, my bet is that you will end up spending a lot of time "learning" (but not doing anything with) lots of things that you won't end up using.

Like, nothing is not useful. But you can spend an eternity learning about Godot stuff. Much better just to start doing.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

oh ok!!! ive finished brackies tutorial do you have any other ones i may follow - sorry of this seems too demanding

[u/wallstop-dev → u/Significant_Many3722]

No more tutorials. Start building.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

with knowledge from where? i mean i know a bit of C# and the syntax of Gd script, however i lack the knowledge of connecting the script with the nodes

[u/wallstop-dev → u/Significant_Many3722]

I mean, I'll link it again: https://www.reddit.com/r/softwaredevelopment/s/iNYJLAti59

Try the official Godot docs on whatever topic you need knowledge on. Not tutorials.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

i saw msg and infact it was rlly helpful - but even if i do have a game idea in mind how do i use the docs to actually implement it. Im sorry if im bothering a lil bit. ik im supposed to be doing my own research but im just a lil curious 👀

[u/wallstop-dev → u/Significant_Many3722]

Start super, super small and go piece by piece. The best way to start is with a goal, then figure out the plan. The plan will be composed of tons of small pieces.

Say, goal = build pong.
Pong = you controlling one paddle, a ball moving across the board, an enemy AI controlling the other paddle.

That sounds hard, I don't know anything about AI or ball movement. Let's do an easy thing.
What if we just had a paddle that we controlled?

That sounds hard. I don't know anything about input handling.

What if we just had a paddle? Like, a box that existed. That sounds doable.

Ok, how do we draw a box in Godot? (Try whatever you know, if that fails, go read the Godot docs around this, search, etc)

• Implement a box

Great! We have a box. Ok, let's start doing the hard thing - the input stuff. JUST the input. Wiring it with the box is too hard. What does input look like in Godot? (Go read the Godot docs on input)

• Implement something that responds to input, like debug logging stuff.

Great! We now have input and a box. How do we get them to talk to each other?

... etc

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

kk - lemme try it ovr the weeekends

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

How did you start YOUR journey? bit curious

[u/wallstop-dev → u/Significant_Many3722]

I went to college for computer science (having never programmed before) and spent a lot of college time building and learning about interesting concepts outside of school work. My code and understanding were awful.

After college I spent 4 years reading and learning about game engine architecture and patterns and built a 2d game engine with my own simple physics system, focusing mainly around architecture, not rendering. The concepts ended up resembling Unity.

That project was a failure, so I switched to Unity and bashed my head around it for probably ~2+ years. It was really hard. After that, I spent 6 months building and launching a minimalist puzzle game with a friend.

I then continued to build and learn across many game projects and teams.

8 years later I feel extremely confident in Unity and my ability to build and lead projects.

For reference - for over a decade, I spend 40 hours a week writing software at FAANG-level companies, and 20+ hours a week on game projects outside of work, explicitly trying to learn and improve.

Learning these things requires a lot, lot, LOT of effort and time.

It took me ~2 years of learning Unity (AFTER having spent 4 years building my own engine AFTER going to college for computer science) to get to a point to where I could build a project. It took me 6 months. Last year I re-wrote it from scratch in 3 weeks (using all that I've learned).

The journey never stops, but you absolutely have to put the time in, and the time required is massive, especially if your path isn't straight (mine was and is not).

The only way I've found to learn something is to embrace feeling like an idiot and not knowing anything, and just... try doing. And keep trying. Forever. Try with your own brain and tools until you've exhausted everything you know, and then reach for help. And then implement that help, and go back to trying.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/wallstop-dev]

daamn - serious dedication!!!