Back to For Beginners

It's Time to Start

For Beginners

Started by NailHeadDev June 03, 2016 05:08 AM

3 comments, last by Alberth 7 years, 11 months ago

NailHeadDev

103

Author

June 03, 2016 05:08 AM

Hello everyone! My name is Brandon.

I just finished out my sophomore year of high school as of today, and I earned the top grade in my Advanced Computer Technology class (I actually won an award for it as well. A medal.) Game production has always been my dream, and now I find myself with an empty summer schedule. Which, just so happens, offers a great opportunity to pursue what I've always wanted to do.

I do, however, have a couple of questions.

I want to not only produce a game over the summer, but also develop a good understanding and knowledge of at least one coding language.

I've picked up a steam copy of the Godot Engine, who's own language, GDScript, is based on the python language.

Is using Godot a good place to start my indie development?

If I pursue using this engine, will the engine adapt to my higher skill level? A better way of putting it would be: As I learn, is the engine going to hit a "skill cap" so to speak, or can it adapt to more professional projects as well?

Thank you all! I'll be documenting any and all progress I make on the forum.

-NailHead

Bacterius

13,181

June 03, 2016 06:19 AM

Is using Godot a good place to start my indie development?

Yes.

If I pursue using this engine, will the engine adapt to my higher skill level? A better way of putting it would be: As I learn, is the engine going to hit a "skill cap" so to speak, or can it adapt to more professional projects as well?

Maybe worry about that later? It doesn't really matter where you start (within reason). Realistically a lot of engine-specific knowledge you learn with Godot today will be well obsolete in four or five years. But that could be said of any technology you use. Don't worry about whether what you started with will "be enough" for the rest of your career; you'll probably need/want to expand later on anyway. Just get started now, and you'll figure out the rest later. I promise you will :)

There is nothing worse than not doing something because you could never decide on how to get started.

“If I understand the standard right it is legal and safe to do this but the resulting value could be anything.”

sirpalee

761

June 03, 2016 06:41 AM

I would go for unreal or unity if I were you. Simply because they have a bigger community and pool of resources behind them. That's a significant factor while learning any new tech.

shaken, not stirred

3Ddreamer

3,826

June 03, 2016 09:13 AM

Do a little research into the license of the game engine and what you can do to mod the engine for your purposes. Good editors, such as terrain editors or level editors are a huge time saver, especially for a beginning developer.

If you like the game engine, then use it, but I suggest looking at a bunch of other ones, too.

As for using GoDot as a beginner, it is okay. A scripting language based on Python would be beginner friendly, I assume. Some languages are better for beginners, such as Python, C, C#, and some others. In my opinion, good beginner languages are those with garbage collection that comes with the language in how it is used in the framework. I don't know, but it sounds like GDscript is an auto-memory language, which is usually the situation in natively adapted languages of game engines.

Skill cap? That's highly unlikely. You could spend potentially a couple years or more with an engine before you reach any limit, if any exists. It's good for a beginner to sit and work hard with the first game engine for 1-2 or more years anyway.

Most programming languages have enough similarities that it is really not a huge obstacle to switch or add another language to your skills.

One tip: I made the mistake of doing somewhat too much research out of curiosity instead of putting my nose to the grindstone. Get to work ! : D

Personal life and your private thoughts always effect your career. Research is the intellectual backbone of game development and the first order. Version Control is crucial for full management of applications and software. The better the workflow pipeline, then the greater the potential output for a quality game. Completing projects is the last but finest order.

by Clinton, 3Ddreamer

Alberth

10,210

June 03, 2016 04:47 PM

Some languages are better for beginners, such as Python, C, C#, and some others. In my opinion, good beginner languages are those with garbage collection that comes with the language in how it is used in the framework.

Woow, since when did C get garbage collection? I must have missed that memo!

More on-topic, Python and C# are good starter languages. C is good for understanding how the computer really works at "bare metal" level, so to speak. Definitely worth trying one day, but not as first language imho, as it takes ages to make something work.

@NailHead: Don't worry about the future, in computers everything is moving, so you'll be switching to new and better stuff as it comes along. Just try everything, and have fun programming stuff and things!

It's Time to Start

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

It's Time to Start

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Reticulating splines