Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today I am learning a thing or two about game development with the Godot game engine. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Godot has had my interest for several years. As far as I can tell, it is the only general purpose free and open source game engine (if you want to make a block game for the fun of it, use MineTest instead). Engines like Unreal and Unity allow you access to their software free of charge until you make it big enough that it\u2019s worth their bother going after you. With Godot, your final product is 100% yours, but as with other open source projects, you are encouraged to donate as you are able.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My sister (Tzarina8472) and I were on a dog walk when we decided a game about Cream the Rabbit in a chao garden would be fun. The adorable and ever-popular chao \u2013per fan consensus\u2013 have gone criminally underused since they were featured in Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 (SA1, SA2) (and their Director\u2019s Cut remasters), where player characters could raise a number of these creatures in a number of themed gardens. Once your chao is strong enough, you can enter it to compete in chao races. While our hypothetical game revolved more around what a wild chao garden would look like, it still made me want to play it for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have been admittedly lacking in access to primary sources for this project. I only own Sonic Adventure 2: Battle<\/em>, but both my GameCube and Wii stopped working before I made it half way through the game\u2019s content. We picked up a used Wii in good condition for cheam on short notice on Thanksgiving (Thank you, Jesus!), so that will be on my to-do list some time. Otherwise, I\u2019ve been playing a humble offering I found in the Android Play Store library called PocketChaoGarden<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Godot proper doesn\u2019t require installation. Download\/unzip it, and you can run it directly from your file system. The stable version is Godot 3.5.1, but Godot 4 is in beta. Long story short, between my two daily drivers, only DerpyChips is willing to run the stable version. I kept getting any number of errors I\u2019m clueless about for other configurations. I will be adding this and a selection of other of my open issues to my Discord server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have found the GodotQuest brand tutorials to my liking. They have two introductory course lines \u2013 one for game developers switching to Godot, and one for programming newbies. I already know about variables, loops, and data structures, but I bet on the non-elementary course line skipping over vital information about how game engines work in general; I opted to review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I focused on the playlist Getting started with the Godot game engine in 2021<\/em>[1]. It introduces concepts one short video at a time. Most importantly: Games are made up of scenes. Scenes are made up of nodes. Scenes can act like nodes for building larger scenes (think: a player scene or enemy scene being put into a level scene). One script can be attached to each node. GDScript is a Python-like scripting language that\u2019s been optimized for use in Godot. The playlist concludes with a pair of two hour long videos where it walks you through assembling a creep crushing game \u2013 once in 2D, and again in 3D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I skipped the 2D game and went wildly off script on the 3D one. Where the tutorial provided a textured model, I spent an hour or so making a poorly textured cube in Blender with a sprite of Cream\u2019s face as provided by Taz. I coded the horizontal movement, but I diverged from the tutorial around half an hour in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of my improvements since splitting with the tutorial have been invisible to what would be an end-user. I spent around day figuring out how to use materials effectively so I can replace art assets without the need for Blender. I reorganized the internal node structure and am presently playing with getting inherited scenes to behave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This post needed longer than a week to study. I\u2019m learning a lot, but if I gave any more through coverage, I\u2019d find myself parroting the tutorials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever wanted to make your own game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look forward hearing your answers on in the comments below or on my Socials<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] GDQuest, \u201cGetting started with the Godot game engine in 2021,\u201d <\/em>youtube.com<\/em>, Apr. 22, 2021. <\/em>[Online]. Available: https:\/\/youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLhqJJNjsQ7KEcm-iYJ2a8UCRN62bTneKa<\/a>. [Accessed Nov. 28, 2022].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today I am learning a thing or two about game development with the Godot game engine. Let\u2019s get started! Why Godot? Godot has had my interest for several years. As far as I can tell, it is the only general purpose free and open source … <\/p>\n\u201cInstalling\u201d Godot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Learning Around Tutorials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Our Game So Far<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Takeaway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Final Question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Works Cited
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