If devs say to start with small projects, but I already started a bigger one... am I screwed?

[GyroGames]

I created a game in Godot, and it’s super cool! I spent months working on my dream game, including scripting and other aspects. However, every time I watch a “My Game Dev Experience” video on YouTube, they always say, “Start with a small project and keep building until you can create your dream game. Trust me, that’s a HUGE mistake in game development.”
but it was too late for me I already created it. It’s still in development, and this is my first Godot project. Do I throw it away? or what? When I am creating stuff. I don’t do it in my main game. I put it in this testing scene like a playground. I don’t know what should I do with it. Are the people wrong? If so, what do I do with my project?

[gertkeno]

The advice is to build your short-term skills before you have to worry about long-term skills. A short project lets you focus on how the engine works and hopefully you will be done with the project before it gets out of control and too hard to manage. “Spaghetti code” is hard to unravel, large projects require foresight to prevent spaghettification, for game engines you just need experience to find the pain points of how some things connect to others and how to resolve those pain points. These resolutions are usually the mantras or programming patterns you’ll see around, “signal up, call down” kind of thing.

You’re not screwed! The good news is as long as you are challenging yourself you are learning. In the worst scenario; if your big game gets unwieldy you can re-make it, next time will always be much faster than the first and you can include the new practices you’ve learned from the first time. I’d actually recommend remaking systems over “patching things up”, call it early, rewrites always sound like more work than it ever is.

However, this is why starting small games is nice, instead of rewriting systems you can release a game with messy spaghetti and take your learnings into a new project.

[dragonforge-dev]

You do you. Whatever motivates you is fine. You’re likely going to have to refactor your code a number of times. It’s like when you’re writing a paper for school, and then you have to go back and edit it. It sounds like you’re also doing small projects first. If your game works and you’re having fun making it, then keep trucking. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.

Everything @gertkeno said is correct. You’ll get there on your own eventually.

[Demetrius_Dixon]

Small projects could also be bigger than you expected.

For my project, Monkanics, I’m developing a minimum viable product. Meaning I’m creating:

• A player character with all planned base functions.
• A simple version of a planned weapon creation system.
• PvP multiplayer shooting systems necessary for game function.
• A singular core game mode to design the game around.
• 1 map for that core game mode.
• Some developer visuals to convey the vibe of the game.

That sounds pretty small, but every small piece takes a lot of work, learning, and consideration to create. This isn’t even considering my development as a person and the challenges that come with it.

My best piece of advice is to make the smallest version of your game. And continuing to make it through the many, many, MANY tribulations you will face.

That’s what I’m doing at least. I spent 5 WHOLE DAYS struggling with projectile collision, only to find out it was because a checkbox was unchecked:

How to implement 3D projectile collision?

Godot Version 4.4.1 Question This question is going to sound so silly considering my ambitions, but how do I implement collisions for projectiles? That seems like a really simple question, but I have no experience with working with collisions in Godot. So I’ll need some guidance to learn, like I did with raycasts. I tried watching some tutorial videos, but they didn’t help me understand what I was even doing. All I want is for the projectile to delete itself when it hits a body. If I learn h…

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Also, what are your long-term goals?

Like, 10 years from now, who do you want to become as a person? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to experience? How do you want to change the world; and would you even want to?

These are VERY important questions to ask yourself. I asked them many times over these past 2 years as I’m maturing into an adult (I’m 20, turning 21 in November)

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So, I’d say if your confident in where you’re going and take every step with care, your not screwed.

[GyroGames]

Thank you for your advice!

[GyroGames]

THANKS For the advice! I also has experience with coding from a switch game
so i get alot of concepts

[GyroGames]

Ok thanks!

[Demetrius_Dixon]

By the way, I had the exact same fear as you earlier this year:

Should I REALLY use Godot 4 to create a small, multiplayer, third-person, arena shooter in 3D? (Serious Question)

Background So, I’ve been developing my project for a few months, it’s a third-person arena shooter about inventing your own weapons. I’m not a new developer or new to the Godot Engine (You’ve probably seen me on this forum), but I’m also not a professional and I intend to work independently on my own whims. However, about 30 minutes ago as of posting this topic, I was in a VC in the Godot Café discord to network and improve my socialization skills. When I told them about my project and the ve…

I was pretty afraid of the journey ahead at the time. Just like you.

However, since I reached out, I got the drive I needed from others to continue despite my fear.

So, take this as your sign to continue your journey.

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Also, what’s your game about? If you don’t mind.

[GyroGames]

Oh my game? My game is a liminal, backroomish game where you just explore
and do puzzles. Its a horror game too

[Demetrius_Dixon]

That sounds pretty cool (and spooky). I wish you luck and slightly less troublesome technical issues.

[GyroGames]

Thanks! I had little to no issues and if so they are easy to solve. Rn inventory is my biggest issue.

[gertkeno]

Inventory is always the tough one haha, no one-size fits all. I always tell my students to watch out when they start talking about inventory

[OriginalBadBoy]

You could always put your current project on hold, and do some smaller projects, and then come back.

[ananasblau]

@GyroGames

My game is a liminal, backroomish game where you just explore
and do puzzles. Its a horror game too

An eclectic mix but one thing to learn when working with Godot is using scenes for almost everything. Above you wrote that you put everything in a testing scene, really just one scene? Why not try moving one of the puzzles into its own scene that you could actually export and release on its own?