I’m a beginner with Godot and I have very little coding knowledge (mostly really basic stuff from Arduino projects). I’ve recently gotten back into game development after a decade away from even considering it but I find myself constantly frustrated with trying to learn and understand coding with Godot.
I feel like I am unable to ask questions or do research on how to program anything, because most of the answers I find are someone else’s code. I can watch a YouTube tutorial on how to get a die to roll in Godot, and follow along with the code, but then I’m stealing someone else’s code. It feels like I have to have a full understanding of every single potential line of code in order to start making a game legally and ethically.
How do I learn coding with Godot and figure out ways to build even the basic features of the game (rolling a die, moving a character, creating a UI, keeping a score, etc.) without stealing someone else’s code? And what’s the point of YouTube tutorials on anything Godot (or anything coding, for that matter) if I can’t legally use what I learn from them?
I’m just very overwhelmed trying to do this legally and ethically without spending the next five years trying to get a perfect understanding of programming languages before I even attempt to make my first game. I’m confused and discouraged.
Copying code, especially if it’s public and the license allows it, is not unethical. But in order to learn from it, you should be able to understand what the code does you’re copying. Then you can a) recreate it without looking it up again, b) modify it to fit your usecase and c) extend it in order to create your game.
Firstly learn the syntaxis of a language what you wanted to use for scripting, use documentations and books for do this.
Secondly start practicing but stop try making games actually because you can’t now.
Figure out for yourself some small example tasks like this:
Use Godot engine for writing out even and uneven numbers up to 5000 but use only one cycle, after try to write a prime checker, etc…
IMO you’re seeing the problem in the wrong way, there’s nothing wrong in see tutorials and use other people code they show because the tutorial objective is the code be used anyways, but what you need to do is not just copy-paste and call it a day, you need to understand what the code do line by line, word by word. Instead just copy-paste, modify the code, change the arguments and see what happens different, comment a line and see what happens, understand what every piece of code is doing, so you’ll start to learn the logic behind.
Five years is too much, but 1~2 years if you want REALLY know how to do a game will be necessary, you will not learn how to code in 1 month, you won’t learn how to do a game with 2 tutorials on youtube, if you want to do game in just 2~3 months i have bad news for you, you won’t. This is a process that require time and is a reason because lot of people give up on the way, because they think will see some videos, read 2 pages of docs and will do the next GTA or the next Skyrim.
I recommend you start not doing a game, start doing small tasks: How to move the character, how do damage, how do a bullet, etc. Your first game will not be your commercial game, think more your first game is a playground for you consolidate your knowledge.
Also, read the documentation, lot of people just look one / two tutorials on youtube and think they know how do games and fail in basic tasks because didn’t read the basics of the engine. Also, will be much more easier to develop your logic if you know the tools you have in hand, the Godot docs has two sections you should read and will help you understand the engine:
