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Best way to start coding indie games? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by JocularGargoyle@beehaw.org to c/programming@beehaw.org

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Hey, folks! My son (currently 15) is interested in getting into game development. He's taken a class in Python in school and enjoyed it, but I know Python won't be enough. I don't think he's interested in ever making big, AAA games, but more along the lines of Undertale (which was made in Game Maker Studio) or Bug Fables (Unity).

There are just so many choices and so much content out there that I don't know where to start. Do you have any suggestions for which language(s) to learn or software (like Game Maker Studio) that you've found helpful? Thanks!

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My son got started around 12 or so in Game Maker Studio and it was a pretty easy introduction to game programming. Unity is also a great option, and would be a better choice if he's interested in 3D games at all. Godot is a great option, too, but with a caveat: It's conceptually very different from GMS or Unity, and he may find it more difficult to pick up. It's a very powerful engine, though, for both 2D and 3D, and it's completely free.

[–] JocularGargoyle@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! Looking into Godot, people seem to agree that it's great for 2D games and Unity is better for 3D, but apparently you can also use C# in Godot. We'll have to check that out!

[–] eerongal@ttrpg.network 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

to my understanding, C# is sort of a "second class citizen" on godot; There's a lot of stuff you can't quite do or is more clunky than using GDScript. But i also havent used godot enough to really weigh in on that (only a couple of small projects).

That said, while GDScript is very "python-like", it is definitely not python. If you want to focus on C#, i would definitely echo the unity sentiment over godot.

All in all, the best way to learn is to just do it. Go out on youtube and find some tutorials, and just hunker down and try!

[–] JocularGargoyle@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I don't know how my generation survived before YouTube! I've found that *literally *anything I've needed to know, someone has uploaded a video tutorial on how to do it.