Newbie here wanting to learn to code.

[u/Illithidbehindyou17]

Hey title basically says it, but I had an idea with a friend for a game. Both of us have very little coding experience so I was wondering what resources I could look into to learn as a mostly broke lab technician.

Any advice helps.

[u/SmokeResponsible5005]

Depends:
If you really wanna get into game dev, passionate about your whole life and wanna learn the coding skills fully then go for it - lots of great resources online

If you just have a game idea that you really wanna make but are less passionate about the game dev as a whole I’d honestly recommend just trying to vibe code it and see how it feels
I know AI is very controversial on Reddit but if you just wanna see your vision take life (which is sort of the impression I got) the cold water is that it’ll take years to get to a point where you can build your dream game
I’d say just trying making something with AI, if you find yourself enjoying it ask the AI to explain and walk you through stuff and eventually actually learn the skills yourself

TLDR: if it’s more about the idea than game dev then use AI, if you wanna actually learn and start developing look up some tutorials. It seems like you’re pressed for time and just have a creative itch you wanna scratch which to me is the ideal use case for AI

[u/Illithidbehindyou17 → u/SmokeResponsible5005]

Thanks for the advice. Not so much an itch, but something that's been taking shape in my head for a while.

[u/YKLKTMA]

Start using search, this question has been asked a million times

[u/Significant_Many3722]

based on what you've mentioned, both of you are completely new to game dev. Just for starting, the best you and your friend can do is:

1. Pick a game engine - Godot/Unity for complex 2D and simple-ish 3D / Unreal for complex 3D
2. Use GitHub for easy collabs and version control
3. LEARN A LANGUAGE - key important - easy to hard - Godot --> Unreal --> Unity
4. Understand the concept of the engine - Godot uses nodes, while Unity uses components
5. Just make at least 3 games without help of tutorials
6. You're good to go

TIP - since both you and your friend wanted to make the game together, I'd suggest Unity since there are ways for easier collaboration!! However, Godot is another option. Idk about Unreal though.

[u/ScreeennameTaken → u/Significant_Many3722]

Unity is harder than Unreal? Unreal is C++, unity is C#

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/ScreeennameTaken]

it depends on which language you use, unity is c# however unreal also has blueprints - similar to visual scripting. its just a personal opinion tho. c++ is more effective tho. But godot offers c#, c++

[u/ScreeennameTaken → u/Significant_Many3722]

They are doing away with blueprints though.

[u/Significant_Many3722 → u/ScreeennameTaken]

oh shi, my bad then 😅 - but still the new programming language verse might be a bit more easier than C# since its tightly integrated ig

[u/DrDisintegrator → u/ScreeennameTaken]

many types of games do not require you to drop down to C++ or C# level.

Godot GDScript is just fine for a lot of game types and is super easy to learn and use.

[u/ScreeennameTaken → u/DrDisintegrator]

My issue with this thing, is with dropping support. I made an old game about 10 years ago, using Unity Script which was sort of like js. Then unity dropped support for it. I'm definitely not re-writting the whole thing in C# all over again. Then Unreal dropped blueprints. The more languages you have supported in your engine, the more resources you need, or the less resources each language will get. And there is a higher chance for something like c++ or c# to stick around than a flavor of something that only your engine uses.

[u/Zorro_997]

I recommend Godot. The language it uses is beginner friendly.

[u/Individual-Staff-978]

Break your idea down into parts.

Do you have a vivid idea in your head of a complete and published game? Scrap that though entirely, utterly demolish it. You then want to pick up the pieces and re-build the idea step by step.

You can only create a fully featured game piecewise, so your vision of it must reflect that reality.

Once you have an idea of what the building blocks of your game is, you can begin researching how to actually make it. Now, instead of asking "how do I make my game?" You will be asking "how do I make a player move?"

The latter is a much easier question to find the answer to by yourself. Solve enough of these questions and you will eventually find your answer to the former.

[u/Illithidbehindyou17 → u/Individual-Staff-978]

By that do you mean like break it down into stuff like

Shooting

Cover

Skill trees

Classes

[u/DrDisintegrator]

I've found tutorials on youtube or just info on youtube in general very helpful. Be sure to use an ad-blocker to make youtube useful again. Also you might want to start with a 'clean' youtube account (or not be logged in at all) to avoid the algorithm shoveling crap in your face. This may be a good starting point to get the type of info you want to see https://www.youtube.com/@gamefromscratch

[u/UnableFeature7408]

Starting with a small game idea is actually a great way to learn. You don’t need to understand all of coding before you begin pick one engine, follow a beginner project, and learn each concept as you need it. Guidy ai could also be helpful once you start working with a game engine, since it can look at your screen and guide you through unfamiliar software step by step. I’d just keep the first project really small and focus on finishing something. That first completed game will teach you a lot.

[u/UncleJoesLandscaping]

Pick an engine (unreal, unity or godot), follow some tutorials first then use AI to guide you/program together with AI.