3D Cartoony game

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1

Hi,
For a while now I’ve been wanting to make a 3D cartoony game about exploration with a large, beautiful open world.
Im fairly new to godot, with only one proper previous 2D exploration project (Shadows of Fire by FreddyM1111) and so I really have no idea about any of this workflow.
First of all, should I stick to godot, or should I try unity for a 3D game?
What should I expect as my workflow?
Would I be working in blender and then exporting a flat mesh to a 2D art program (like krita) to paint over it? Or would I do the painting bit in blender?
Would I just export a black and white version to godot and color it with lighting?

Thank you for your time and I’d appreciate any help!

2

You’re asking this on the Godot Forum, so an answer will obviously be biased towards Godot.
Both Unity and Godot are as capable of any 2D or 3D game you can imagine and your own capabilities will fail way before the engine’s. Don’t overthink it, just choose an engine (Godot of course), and start creating.

Whatever you prefer, there is no objectively good answer to this. You need to try out all options and decide which best works for you.

I don’t understand that part. You don’t color with lighting, unless you want to achieve some very specific mood.

Be careful, these usually don’t go well together. Make sure you understand the basics before you hop on to a large project, otherwise chances are that you’ll get quickly lost and discouraged from gamedev.

3

You should make a few small, ugly closed rooms first.

You will have much more Determination for your ambitious game and save a lot of time if you learn the basics first.

4

HI all -
I fully understand the basics of 2D godot , especially in relation to 2D art. 3D is where I may struggle. By the sounds of things 3D is manageable?

5

Of course it is.

6

Have you a reference for what’s on your mind?

7

Fair or Fowl - devlog - Showcase / Games - Godot Forum

8

i wouldn’t call it a reference because I just thought of the idea, but here’s my plan…

9

A 3‑dimensional World doesn’t necessarily make a Game more complicated than a 2‑dimensional World.

The Difficulty of making a Game is determined by its Scope and Play Mechanics, which the Game being 3D doesn’t necessarily change.

So feel free to make a simple 3D Game for your very first Game.

10

This is a documented Pattern across experienced Game Devs:

With enough Experience, you will not want to make your exact Dream Game anymore, that originally motivated you to start Game Dev.

The Dream Game is the general Direction that you will aim for at the Start.
But after a lot of Playtesters played many early and late Versions of your Game, you will gradually know how your Game has to change — the many inevitable weak Points that worked in your Head but completely break the Game in the Hands of real Players.

If you embrace the Fact that you will have to slowly and completely change your Game over its Development, you may make something even better than you originally dreamed of.

The Kinds of sweeping Changes that you should expect — even though not all of them may happen to your Game — are:

  • Different Gameplay

  • Different Vibes & Art Direction

  • Different Characters

  • Different World

  • Adding big Chunks to the Game

  • Removing even more big Chunks from the Game

  • Accomodating Disabilities that you didn’t know Players have

  • Making not just one Game that is vaguely similar to your Dream Game
    but one or two Sequels or major Updates
    that are certainly better than the previous one if you embrace continuous Playtesting and Player Feedback.

  • Wholly scrapping one Game Idea and starting on a new Codebase — but probably still pasting Code and Assets from your failed Game — if you realize that your first Idea completely does not work.

    This should not happen with enough Prototyping. Beginners should prototype for a Time that feels way too long for Prototyping — you will eventually realize that it saved you infinite Time because most Prototypes only take up to a Week to make alone besides a Dayjob, but it teaches you almost as much as a Game that took Months or a Year to completely fail and collapse.

With this much Unpredictability, it is super important that you enjoy the Process of Game Dev and do not insist on Ideas that Prototypimg and Playtesting has shown you don’t work.
But you don’t have to get there immediately. The Beginning is at most Times the hardest Part of Game Dev.