Introducing myself and looking for guidance on learning Godot

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Hi everyone,

I’m a first-year Computer Science student and I’m excited to join the Godot community.

I have experience with Python, C++, and web development, but I’m new to game development. Recently, I decided to start learning Godot because I want to explore game development and eventually contribute to open-source projects.

My goals are to learn Godot, build games, improve my programming skills, and hopefully contribute to the Godot engine and community in the future.

Since many of you have much more experience with Godot than I do, I’d love some advice:

What would you recommend as the best roadmap for someone with Python and C++ experience who wants to learn Godot and eventually contribute to the engine?

Are there any beginner projects, learning resources, or contribution paths that you think are especially useful?

Looking forward to learning from all of you. Thanks!

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  1. Have small defined project you want to make and know it’s very simple, e.g 90s style minigame or tutorial game
  2. Try to make it, read docs if you don’t know something about GDScript, also watch begineer tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOhfqjmasi0
  3. After few days, maybe weeks you’ll know basics of GDScript and node system
  4. Watch dev worm’s tutorials as he shows godot specific stuff https://www.youtube.com/@dev-worm
  5. Play with the engine or make smth you want and learn as you go, you might fail few times but eventually - if you’re not completely new to coding, it wouldn’t be bad
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Welcome,

at first it’s the best to learn the Godot engine in and out, the concepts and workflows. Use GDScript for that. Build some prototype games.
Than explore GDExtension system to expand engine features without to have to compile Godot itself.
At that point jump into the Godot code itself and interact with the other devs and look for low hanging fruits. Be prepared that your first patches will not going to be included or only after some discussions.

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Start here. If you have programming knowledge, this won’t be difficult for you.

Then check out the official demos:

And after that, you can take a look at a selection of other demos:

If you want to dive really deep into learning the engine and getting hands-on practice, you can join our project:

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Start with the tutorials in the documentation.

Then go from there.

Get to know GDScript. Ask questions on here. Read posts on here.

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Thanks for the recommendations!

I’ll start with a small project, read through the documentation, and check out the tutorials you linked. I appreciate the guidance.

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Thank you for the resources and guidance!

I’ll start with the documentation and then take a look at the demo projects. The Game-Demo Godot project also looks interesting, so I’ll check that out as well.

I appreciate the help!

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Thanks!

I’ve already started with the 2D documentation. There are a lot of new things to learn, but I’m gradually grasping the concepts and getting more comfortable with Godot.

I’ll keep working through the tutorials and documentation.

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Call me 20degree loll. Me also i am learning Godot and have a game i would like to build that is based on the old Radioshack TV Scoreboard. Beside that i have created free pdf guides on some softwares with the autorisations and permissions that i do printscreens. Even if it is many years ago it have been made, it is still used; but there are some referal links inside that is not valid anymore.

I think to create a pdf guide about Godot, but i’ll not only need to understand the software. I’ll need to have help from peoples that indicate each steps to do, to reach and obtain certain goals. All the guides i have build in the past. I have try and tested to be sure that my step by step indications are clear for all peoples. The guides i have build is with some table of content, that you can go directly to the subject by clicking onto and it show the pages also. At the bottom of each page you can go back to the table of content. Not only that i can do some thumbnails of the pages, i can do bookmarsk up to 3 levels of parenting (grand-father, father, son).

A big advantage, is that it can be read and used offline. There is many things i’ll need to learn with the help of peoples to create such guide about Godot.

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Please not the PDF Format.
It is very annoying to read anywhere except Ink on Paper.
Please consider HTML and ePub instead.

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I disagree; I have very many documents, of every ilk, in ‘Pdf’ format, including games programming, and find it to be practical and easy to read and work from, or even to print out and read without a screen..!. Just sayin’. :slight_smile:

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The big Issue with writing a Book in only the PDF Format is that it’s only meant to be printed on Paper, and Pieces of Paper have a fixed Width and Height.

This does not map well to the much more common medium of Screens, which have a big Range of Sizes.
And then Documents are often made smaller by being placed in a Window next to other Software like for Example the Godot Editor.

On my regular‑sized HD Desktop Screen, maximizing the Width of the PDF Document on‑Screen is often a Must and then the Text may still be too small to read comfortably.

Contrast that with an HTML Document, which is very good at adjusting to a minimum‑Width Browser Window,
so that i can read it comfortably and still keep the whole Godot Editor on‑Screen.

The same responsive Design also makes the HTML and ePub Formats better than PDF at printing out the Documents,
because it adjusts to the Size of the Paper that the User has, and the User can set the best Font Size for themselves.

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Horses for courses. I would suggest multi-format as offering the best of both (all..?) worlds. I’m old (76 next birthday…), and don’t use a 'phone except on rare occasions, for 'phoning. I like to read books and documents outdoors, in the shade of an apple tree, and turn the pages myself. I’m aware that hard-copy is considered a waste of the planet’s resources; I could argue that recharging a 'phone or tablet is much the same.
I read Pdf on my screen with no issues, and have bound copies of many documents for reference when simply reading in my armchair, or outside (even in the bath, on occasion..!).
It’s a moot point; do whatever is thought best. Peace. :slight_smile:

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Here is an example of an old free pdf guide i can make. It is about a software called Bforartists. Note that it’s possible that some external links might not be valid anymore. It have a table of content that show the pages, you can see bookmarks and thumbnails of the pages. At the bottom of each page you have a link to the table of content. It have a nice look, and background image. There is many step by step images with text indications. Also the pages is pc screen oriented, wich mean the height is less then the width. This beside the qualitys of the images is great, even for zoom in and zoom out; for peoples that have not much good vision. I try to think and make the best. Seeing this old pdf guide, and experimenting it; so you can easy imagine the pdf guide id like to do for godot. But of course ill need help, and i will have many questions, to give easy step by step indications with great images in it. Here is the old link of this out dated free Bforartists pdf guide: https://drive.google.com/open?id=17ANvDZvigt1y_UpNUBHhKyY2pZLu8HMr

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I would still strongly prefer a Format that adjusts the Width of Text Lines to the Width of the Window on my Desktop

but if PDF will stay the only Format for your Guides, this is a good Way to format it.

Also, i forgot to mention Markdown.
It’s the Format used for Posts and Comments on this very Forum
but it’s powerful enough to write a full Guide in it, similar to your Bforartists Guide.

Editing Markdown is even simpler than PDF because there aren’t a million Formatting Options like in LibreOffice,
and it can be converted to other Formats like HTML and PDF fairly easily.

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Could you please tell me more about Markdown? Me i have writen with the software OpenOffice, it have taken me many video search tutorials and viewing, still i am open to suggestions; as long that it is softwares that are full (no trial or limitations) free and mostly legal.

From OpenOffice i have converted and exported as pdf. This because pdf i do think is some universal format, there are softwares that can open and read this type of file; it is for many operating systems as windows, mac, linux, android, iphone, tablettes.

When i do some pdf guides with OpenOffice, i not only use this software, i have softwares to create some images and make designs. Like i could put the godotengine face image (keeping its properties, mentionning that it belong to them; and that i’m simply a user of the software). Brief give them the credits and respect them.

If you look this old guide dated many years. You should notice that i have done a header and footer. I have done a top design and bottom design of the pages. I have put a background look, that i have covered with some white with alpha transparency percentage, so that i can show the background; and at the same time put things over as text and images.

I have thinked about the page number and total page number count. Have made that what ever page the user is, when the user click the link to go to the table of content; then it do as so. The elements in the header and footer auto-repeat it self and auto-ajust. Example i dont have to write each page number it does it automaticly.

I had to think the printscreens quality (dpi) images to put in the pages. So that the total weight of the pdf is not much big, but that the image is of good quality when peoples zoom in and zoom out; so i had to optimize as best as i can (but not too much or it could go fast pixelated). Have think to do some arrows or/and draw circles pointing things in the images and giving explications, so that anyone can easy follow.

For the table of content i had to make it auto-update for the content that are in the pages, so when i add content i just update the table of content. I had also to think the formating of the table of content, formating of the titles, formating of the text, etc. Had to think the parenting tree of the bookmarks as the thumbnails, when you open or close the bookmarks or thumbnails you should notice that i even have think about the bookmarks. Again in the table of content i had to not only indicate the subject, but indicate on what page it is; even make it clickable if a user want to go directly to the subject.

Also i had to do some thinking about putting my self in the beginner shoes, explaning each step and explaining steps to do. Many times trough the year i have buy paper books, even looked free guides online; but notice that it was not easy to follow and not enough well explained. I had to also try my self my own teaching, because it is important for me that it is real easy for anyones.

Sometimes i have seen some books “For Dummies” example: Coding this coding language (for dummies). After opening the book, it say that (this book is for peoples that have some basics in coding), but the categorie is “For Dummies”. That’s weird the book say for dummies, and opening the book, this book say (you must have some programming knowledges or others). So why it is said “For Dummies”?

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Markdown is a simple but extensive Text Format, which uses special Punctuation for Formatting.
This has big Advantages:

  • Easy to read without Formatting applied
  • Easy to apply Formatting automatically
  • Faster to type, as you don’t need to use the Mouse or learn obscure Keyboard Shortcuts for Formatting

There are many Versions of Markdown but most Software uses CommonMark: https://commonmark.org/
This Website also teaches you how to write Markdown.

If you want special Styles (like Text Colors, different Text Sizes, and Page Backgrounds), there are multiple Ways to do it:

  • The HTML & CSS Method: After converting Markdown to HTML, add CSS Stylesheet*s with the Effects.
    I recommend this Method to create a Design that adjusts to different Screen Sizes and Print Sizes.
    CSS also supports Print Styles, so you can make the printed Version look great too.
  • The LibreOffice Method: Copy-paste the Markdown into LibreOffice Writer and manually adjust the Document for Print.
    Don’t change the Formatting of individual Elements but change the Formatting Templates that they use,
    to change for Example every Paragraph or Headline at once.
    This Method results in a static Layout designed for only one Print Size but it’s good if you have Trouble using CSS to style HTML.

Today, Markdown is an universal Format, much more so than PDF, so you should feel free to use it.
There are many special Apps (Offline Apps and Web Apps) just to read and/or write Markdown.
Even the Microsoft Windows 11 Notepad understands Markdown.

HTML with CSS is also more universal than PDF.
Websites are in this Format, and many Markdown Apps convert Markdown to HTML for Formatting.

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Most Markdown Software doesn’t translate any Punctuation to Page Breaks
but they also allow inserting HTML, so you can add Page Breaks like so:

<div class="page-break"></div>

This HTML Element does nothing by itself, so you need to define a CSS Style that makes it a Page Break:

@media print {
	.page-break {
		break-after: page;
	}
}

or like so:

.page-break {
	@media print {
		break-after: page;
	}
}

Sources:

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Everyone is telling you to start small with a project of limited scope. While this is genuinely good advice and a good place to start as you’re learning general programming concepts and how to work with Godot specifically, I recommend taking on an “impossible” moonshot project at some point as well. Read a bunch of academic papers on rendering techniques or algorithms which don’t yet exist in Godot and see what it would take to make them happen. This will force you to learn the internals, and can be very fun and educational in its own right, even if the results are not publishable and it is ultimately a disaster.

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Well long time ago i have created free pdf guides on a software called Futurepinball, i had explaining the different zones of the software (screenshots) with the permissions and authorisations of course, explaining the elements of the software, programming of the elements in the software, creating 3d models to put into the software. The external link of theses old pdf guides are not valid anymore. I had put link to websites that existed, but now theses websites dont belong to the peoples at thoses times; even worst some operating system say that theses websites have some virus.

But it is not GodotEngine software. I have writen to them an e-mail asking permissions that i do screenshots to put in the pages of the guide. I know Godot is license Mit, but still it is important for me to let them know that my intentions are good and for educational purpose with illustrations.

A thing that is important doing some illustrations. Explaining first making the readers feel comfortable with the environment. Like this A zone is for this, this B zone is for this, etc. Also to indicate that the guide is a non-official guide, for protecting Godot peoples and foundation; brief for respecting them always. Yup i’ll need help trough ime.

There is many things i must learn, but with the help of peoples explaining me the software; when i have time to check my messages. It’s gonna help to learn and should accelerate. Of course i have my ways of life (work, cleaning, groceries, etc).

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