I’ve gone through both the 2D and 3D tutorials that the Godot documentation provides, made a total of 5 2D games (more specifically, a flappy bird clone, a platformer to get my head around the engine, a game jam game, a 2D rpg controller, and a puzzle platformer template) and made a character controller for 3D platforming, I believe I’ve done enough in the engine to no longer be considered a complete beginner. However, I’m nowhere near ready enough to be considered ready to tackle big projects just yet, so I’ve come to here to ask for advice! What should my next project/s be?
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Well it sounds to me like you are ready to make your first game. How exciting! You have a blank sheet in front of you, what will you fill it with. Only you can decide that. My only advice would be to make a small game first. A very small game. I mean a tiny game. Whatever idea you come up with, halve it, then halve it again.
Now build it. Then polish it. Then do all the stuff for it, the key bindings, the settings, the save progress, the load progress etc etc. And when it’s all polished and zingy and ready to roll, put it on itch, or playstore or wherever. Go through that process once. You will not only be a different person at the end of it, you will have a much better idea of what you really want to build. Now even for a tiny game that is already a year at least (of course depending on how much time you have to spend on it and how ‘not-tiny’ it ended up).
Build a game you enjoy, build a game you would play. Nobody can tell you what you want to build. Welcome to the adult world of making up your own mind, choosing your own direction, picking your own targets, setting your own goals.
You are at a very exciting time, the “I could build anything” time. Enjoy it, it might be years until you get there again (unless you abandon a build of course. But that can be heart wrenching.)
And don’t rush it. It is not a race. Good luck! I can’t wait to be at that stage again. It is always such a refreshing time. It’s like you are about to go on holiday, and you can go anywhere! Where are you going to go? It’s up to you!
PS You can be doing this for years and you will always find some aspect where you feel like a beginner. Or talk to someone and realise they know much, much more than you. You never stop learning so in a way we never stop being beginners of a sort. It’s not a bad thing, that is a good and motivating thing, the game dev world is vast! Enjoy exploring it!
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Maybe something a bit more advanced?
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or you can just be me and choose a game and let scope creep run wild as you learn a ton of stuff along the way. My first project, summit, was a year of just following unit tutorials and integrating them into my project until I had the foundation to hop over to 3d like I’m doing now. Small is definitely good, having ambition can lead to more scope creep and having to learn a lot and accept that you don’t have the skill to do what you need. But if you take on something big there’s so much to learn and you get to experience so many things. That said, not having a good base leads to issues like having terribly formatted code because you just learned without a great foundation but you also get to work with various topics integrated into your good game. If I had to make a recommendation I’d say do a small game but if you have the patience to wait and bang your head against the wall for a while, then a large project can work.
P.S. Sorry @pauldrewett, I initially meant to say the first sentence and send it but then I elaborated and said a lot more that I meant that doesn’t really pertain to you.
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Agreed.
I’ve been working on my prototype for a year and some change. But actually, I’ve the same rough concept for 7+ years now.
That sounds unproductive, and it kinda is, but I’ve learned a LOT via doing this and I actually really want to make my project, Monkanics, real. It’s just part of me now.
What I did is just take things one step at a time. Learn how to do that step, make mistakes, learn from them, and then do the next thing.
I’ve also acquired a skill in game design. Not “I can make a perfect concept first try”, but a “I know how to iterate on a concept over and over again to achieve better results”
Just start something. Preferably on a Google Doc. Who cares if you “finish” it or not. Just enjoy the process.
Or, if you are me, write it in vs code since you enjoy ide shortcuts too much to use Google docs.
Just start making your dream project directly, regardless of what everyone says. It could be a complex RPG, a strategy war game, or really anything you want. Making small example games is boring and your motivation will not be high.
So, try a more exciting project; even if you don’t actually finish it, or you finish it years later, it doesn’t matter, as long as you give your best while doing it.
When I started with Godot (6-7 months ago) I went straight to develop my main project, a MMO 3rd person open world action game. I didn’t even complete 1 full Godot game yet, but I am working full time on my idea (however, as a disclaimer, I do have a decade+ of prior programming experience which helps of course, but I didn’t know anything about materials, shaders, meshes, animation etc.).
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Ok I take it back. If you want to jump into a massive project there is nothing stopping you. Go ahead with that MMORPG, or the new Metaverse. And good luck and I respect the ambition and the commitment.
If, like @Sasino, you have plenty of prior programming experience, even in a new environment, that will ensure you have good separation of concerns, a maintainable code base with only minimal coupling and single responsibilities. That’s not a bad start for any complex program in any programming environment. A bit like learning to swim, it’s hard to learn that from a book.
You asked for advice, mine would be start small. But despite repeating myself, I will say again, it’s up to you. It’s your game, your time, your efforts.
I hope you share here what you decide to build next. I for one would love to hear what decision you made and what direction you choose to head in. There are no right or wrong answers and I am sure we will all have kind words of support to offer you.
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Game jams: Game jams - itch.io
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Thank you all so much for replying to this thread! Especially @pauldrewett, thank you for the lengthy post detailing what a small but polished project could feel like and @Sasino for what a bigger scoped game could also feel like! It’s like an all you can eat buffet, honestly, with the amount of choices that have been presented to me, but I got into game development because I like to build things. I feel like (at least for the moment!) that a big project would lead to me losing motivation because I would only be stuck building toward a big goal rather than just building and tinkering for the sake of it, I think I’ll end up trying to make a small little game first, and later on see if I’m ambitious enough to tackle a dream game 
Thank you all for the feedback!
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I second that. Global Game Jam starts next week (GGJ2026), so maybe find a venue to join and participate?
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Your post brought me strong memories. I had the same exact question in my mind a few years ago, and that made me realize at the time that being able to program and use a game engine can only take you so far. For me, game design and project management were the following steps. And also trying to commit to a small project from start to finish, idea to release, just to see if this was something I would really enjoy doing. After each game you release, no matter how small, you understand more about the whole process, and that gives a lot of insight on how to prepare for bigger projects.
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