For today's 80 Level Digest, we have curated a selection of informative tutorials, educational materials, and valuable resources aimed at helping you acquire a solid understanding of Godot fundamentals and advance your skills in mastering the engine.
If you're an aspiring game developer looking for a powerful, free, and open-source game engine to bring your ideas to life, you might want to check out the Godot engine, a cross-platform game engine released under the MIT license. It's designed to offer a complete and integrated game development environment, requiring no additional tools beyond those used for content creation.
Godot's architecture is built around a tree of "nodes" which are organized inside of "scenes" – reusable, instanceable, inheritable, and nestable groups of nodes. All game resources, such as scripts and graphical assets, are saved as files on the computer's file system, facilitating collaboration among development teams that use version control software. The engine is versatile and supports deployment to multiple platforms, including desktop and mobile, virtual and extended reality, and web platforms.
Today, we've gathered some useful tutorials, articles, and books that cover the basics of using the engine, from creating your first project to learning some more complex features. Additionally, we'll share other resources, such as forums, user groups, and documentation, that can help you connect with other developers and get the support you need to succeed. Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced developer looking to expand your skills, we believe that the recources we provide will be helpful and informative.
Let's start our list with some valuable insights from the creators of the Godot engine. The Godot documentation offers a comprehensive and concise overview of how Godot works and how to get started with the engine. The developers provide in-depth explanations of the engine's features, its architectural design, and the supported programming languages as well as offer some crucial considerations to bear in mind when embarking on your first Godot project.
The documentation contains multiple articles on various aspects of the engine, including introductory materials, details on GDScript (a language specifically tailored for Godot), step-by-step instructions on nodes and scenes, creating instances, making your first script, using signals, and more.
Reviewing these articles can be definitely helpful in determining whether Godot is a suitable choice for your needs.
If you wish to learn the basics of Godot and explore various aspects of Godot development, you might want to check out GameFromScratch's series of tutorials.
The author of the channel delves into a broad range of Godot features, including 2D and 3D game development, physics simulation, importing and exporting assets, C# programming, visual scripting, shader development, networking, virtual reality, and more.
GameFromScratch's videos provide a gentle introduction to beginners and are highly regarded within the Godot community.
KidsCanCode is another great YouTube channel where you can find numerous tutorials on Godot – from beginner lessons to specific features you might want to learn.
The Godot 101 series, for example, will guide you through the process of getting started with 3D development in Godot teaching you how to navigate the 3D editor, create and manipulate 3D objects, and work with critical 3D nodes, including cameras and lighting.
Meanwhile, the Godot Recipies tutorials will be great for more advanced game developers who are familiar with other modern game engines. It offers a collection of practical guides and tutorials covering specific and complex features of the Godot engine.
You can also check out text versions of KidsCanCode tutorials on its website. Apart from the tutorials covering the current version of the engine, you can also find materials on the upcoming Godot 4.0.
On the Godot Tutorials channel, you can find multiple playlists with plenty of useful information needed to learn the foundations of working with the engine. The channel is dedicated to providing you with easy-to-follow tutorials that cover the basics of Godot, including Godot basic tutorials, GDScript fundamental tutorials, and the basics of design principles in Godot.
Whether you're a beginner just starting out your journey in the Godot development or have a basic knowledge of GDScript and some experience working with the Godot engine, you will definitely find something to hone your skills.
Getting Started with the Godot Game Engine is an excellent free course that will provide you with the knowledge of all the tools necessary to create games using Godot. With detailed explanations and practical, step-by-step projects, the course covers fundamental concepts that are essential to understanding Godot.
The initial videos provide a broad introduction to the engine, nodes, scenes, scene tree, signals, and interface. The course then progresses towards building two full game projects, one in 2D and another in 3D.
Getting Started with the Godot Game Engine can be completed within a few hours, and by the end, you will have developed two complete games from scratch.
Although the course was released in 2021, it still provides all the necessary foundational information that can help you get started with the engine.
You can watch the video course on YouTube or read the text version here.
Learn GDScript from ZERO is another wonderful course from GDQuest that offers interactive tutorials that are designed for absolute beginners who wish to learn to program using Godot's GDScript language. It can be accessed via a desktop application or in-browser.
This app is the free component of a larger paid course, Learn to Code From Zero with Godot, aimed to teach aspiring game developers to create fun games. The course covers everything from the basics to writing a complete action game with procedural levels.
FinePointCGI is an excellent resource for those who have some experience using the Godot game engine. It offers a range of tutorials that provide insights into many of the engine's features. On the FinePointCGI YouTube channel, you can find a variety of videos showcasing advanced tips for coding and building various systems.
One of the major advantages of this channel is its tutorials on the upcoming Godot 4, which is currently available in the beta version. These tutorials can help you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the engine and improve your skills as a game developer.
Additionally, you can check out free text tutorials on the FinePointCGI website, if you prefer to learn through written guides.
Aside from the video tutorials and text guides available online, there are also several great books on Godot game development that can help you take your skills to the next level. One of them is Ariel Manzur and George Marques' book Godot Engine Game Development in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself: The Official Guide to Godot 3.0.
It's a comprehensive guide that helps readers master all the essential skills and techniques required to create 2D or 3D games for mobile, desktop, or HTML5 web platforms using Godot 3. The guide provides a number of game development techniques and relevant examples, ensuring that readers have a complete understanding of Godot's capabilities.
Godot Engine Game Development Projects serves as an excellent primer to the Godot game engine, catering to both novices and seasoned developers. While beginners can learn the basics of game development with ease, experienced developers can leverage the engine's powerful and customizable features to realize their creative vision.
The book comprises five projects that provide comprehensive insight into building games using Godot, helping developers gain a thorough understanding of the engine's functionality.
The initial book in the Godot from Zero to Proficiency series, A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Your Game with Godot, offers an efficient approach to learning how to code and develop video games using the engine. By the end of the book, readers will get a comprehensive understanding of the tools required to develop 3D environments for their games.
This book caters to a diverse audience, including hobbyists seeking a hassle-free way to kickstart their game development journey as well as aspiring indie game developers who wish to learn the insights and techniques of Godot development.
The book comprises six chapters that offer a user-friendly approach to mastering Godot's interface, core features, and the creation and navigation of lifelike 3D environments. It requires no prior knowledge on the reader's part and provides comprehensive information and explanations at every step to ensure a seamless learning experience.
If you went through Godot from Zero to Proficiency (Foundations), you might also want to check out the second book in the series, Godot from Zero to Proficiency (Beginner): A step-by-step guide to code your game with Godot. Upon completing this book, you will learn how to code using GDScript, grasp and apply GDScript concepts, develop a 3D adventure game featuring a main character, a timer, and a mini-map, and more.
These were our picks for great resources to learn the Godot engine. If we missed any valuable resources, please share them with us in the comments. We would also love to hear your personal experiences on mastering the engine and any topics you would like us to cover in the future. Feel free to share your thoughts with us!
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