questionable learning topic topic

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Nerdzmasterz

Lots of action! Okay. What do you want to figure out first? Player movement? Graphics? What are your thoughts?

DaniTD

how codding works
if i compare my codding experience to math
i know Addition, subtraction and multiplication

Lethn

Get started here first if you know only a tiny bit.

DaniTD

i don't know how many times i have watched this video already

Nerdzmasterz

Okay. We can start there. I am going to assume you have no knowledge in coding at all, so if this seems too beginner for you, just bear with me- I don't know where you're coming from. 🙂

Let's say you want the code to print 3 + 5, which is 8.

the code for this is print(3 + 5).

However, in coding, you usually don't deal with numbers directly, you would deal with variables that hold these numbers. A simple example is a player's health, which would most likely be equal to 100.

to do this, you would type under the extends line:

var health = 100.

After that, you could do something like this in the ready function:

print(health - 10).

Again, you normally deal with variables, not actual numbers, so you could set a variable damage = 10.

When you use print(), the outpuut will be shown on the console at the bottom of the Godot editor. This only works in the editor, but we'll worry about advanced stuff once you understand basic math. GDScript understands how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. the symbol for adding is +, as we have seen. Minus is -, divide is /, and multiply is the symbol you get when you hit shift and 8 at the same time on a qwerty keyboard (*). You can have all of these appear in the console using the print function.

Nerdzmasterz

Okay, so you understand all that. Now, you're looking for how things work. And you know how to move a basic 2D object, I'm guessing as you said you don't want to learn 2D?

Nerdzmasterz

Sure, I meant player movement, though- or movement in general. Can you make things move?

Nerdzmasterz

Okay. Let's start there. This example is in 2D, but it still has its uses.

extends KinematicBody2D

export (int) var speed = 200

var velocity = Vector2()

func get_input():
    velocity = Vector2()
    if Input.is_action_pressed("right"):
        velocity.x += 1
    if Input.is_action_pressed("left"):
        velocity.x -= 1
    if Input.is_action_pressed("down"):
        velocity.y += 1
    if Input.is_action_pressed("up"):
        velocity.y -= 1
    velocity = velocity.normalized() * speed

func _physics_process(delta):
    get_input()
    velocity = move_and_slide(velocity)

It's the code off of the Godot docs, but what is it doing?

First off, the kinematicBody2D is what the player character is, obviously. It's the node used for the player.

Now, export (int) var speed = 200. Export is telling Godot to show the variable speed in the editor, and (int) is specifying what variable speed is. Without (int) or whatever the variable type is in parentheses after Export, it will not work and throw an error. The code would think speed could be anything, so it doesn't know what to put in the variable.

Okay, moving on.velocity = Vector2(). This is saying Vector2(0, 0). Why do we need that? Let's say you wrote out this entire code, and then deleted this part. What happens? Simple answer- once the player starts moving, without this line of code, it will not stop.

Input.is_action_pressed("right"):. All this is doing is checking if the input for right is being pressed. However, "right" is not a pre-built input. For beginners, I encourage you to actually use ui_right instead, even though this input is actually meant to be used for UI. The reason I actually like this is because, it's easier to use pre-built inputs over making your own. If you're just starting out, you don't have a clue on what anything does yet.

velocity.x += 1. What do these codes that say velocity.x and y -= or += y? This is telling velocity(0,0) to change. Why?

in physics process, velocity is actually the speed which your character is moving. It will add or subtract 1 from its original position to simulate movement. If you remove velocity = move_and_slide(velocity), the player will not move at all.

Now, go up just a little bit. What is normalized? If you go left, you move to -1,0. If you go up, it's 0, -1. if you go left-up, it's -1,-1. This means your character moves very quickly in diagonals. normalized() keeps the diagonal movement from moving so fast. Then multiply velocity * speed to make the character move in a direction based on a speed, so now velocity is actually -200,0 when you move left. Now remember, export (int) speed = 200 can also be changed in the inspector. Whatever number you put there will override the coded out speed.

As this was actually in 2D, these same principles can work for 3D, ie velocity = Vector3(), and then, based on the direction you need to go, you can change the x, y, and z coordinates. so velocity.x += whatever, or velocity.y += whatever, and velocity.z += whatever.

Nerdzmasterz

Yes, yes it does verify the key presses.

And like I said, I am assuming nothing. If something is not clear, feel free to ask.

I will try to break this down a bit further, ignoring speed for now.

So Vector2(0,0) is the movement of the player at the start- which means it's idling. When we ask it to go right, velocity changes to 1,0, This is then the direction you will be going. If you look on a grid, 1,0 is one unit to the right The speed modifies how quickly in that direction we are going. When we release the right arrow key, the velocity = Vector2(0, 0) at the top of get_input() resets the velocity so the player is idling again.

Nerdzmasterz

That code above is actually what will make your KinematicBody2D player move based on movement. It makes you go up, down, left, and right, and it makes you stop. I encourage you to make a new project, 2D, and just paste the code onto a KinematicBody2D to show you what it does. Nothing else needs to be done in this basic project. Add a sprite to it so you can watch it.

Now, here's a fancy trick. Let's say you are making a magnet game, where you have to reflect the movements of another magnet. So one magnet would have a code that goes up when the down arrow is pressed, and down when the up arrow is pressed. You can also have them do it horizontally, by instead making the left key make the other magnet go right and vise versa.

Nerdzmasterz

The next step would most likely be collision detection. I'll try to make this simple.

Let's say you put the Gobot sprite on the Kinematicbody2D. Under the kinematicBody2D, add a collision shape 2D to it, and make it a box and resize it to fit the sprite. This Player scene is done, save it. Open a new 2D scene, and add a static body 2d with a collision shape as a child somewhere, in an area the player could bump into it, and add the player into the scene. You can optionally add a sprite to the static body2D. Make sure the collision shape is not touching the player right away. Then test it. The player should not be able to move through the static body2D.

Nerdzmasterz

As stated before, you can do the exact same thing with a KinematicBody in 3D, although it's a little different.

Here's a tut from KidsCanCode, which actually shows 3D movement. Now that you got the 2D character to move...

https://kidscancode.org/godot_recipes/3d/kinematic_body/

Nerdzmasterz

You don't have to know the entire plan. You could just start off with a basic concept- like, an FPS. You may not know what it's about, but you know the basics of what an FPS would need. Then go from there. Find assets you like, find a style that suits it. After that, build onto it.

The catch: your game should not necessarily have all the bells and whistles figured out right away. You may even find you can sell the first viable product- a bug-free, smaller version of the game. If it sells in that stage, then add onto it as desired. Else, maybe you need to move on.

Nerdzmasterz

Ie, let's pretend we're making a game about a crook. What do we need?

A world

A crook

Obstacles

Cops

Possibly weapons?

The thing to snatch to win the game.

You might want to add lasers, robots, or whatever else, but the things listed are the core of the game. Can you build a product with the core?

The reason I say this is because 3D models, animations, audio, SFX, UI elements- all of these will take up time to make, and/or money to get, and most 3D models, the really nice ones, are not cheap. You have to make something with as small a budget as possible, and it has to be good enough for people to buy/want to play.

newmodels

DaniTD

There really isn't that much needed to make basic logic. This is because most of the work has already been done, that is Godot game engine.

There is more than one way to solve the same problems.

Pixophir

No worries, just start. There is nothing one can damage. Do the first chapters of
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/
with Godot 3.4 to get confident with the editor. That is the first thing, and it is unavoidable.

Once you know what's where in the editor, then people can start doing coding with you, like put a node there, add a script, let the script print "Hello Dani!". Can you do this ? Show us ;-)

But for 3D you will need an understanding of very basic linear algebra, a vector (position, direction), a matrix(transformation, moving things). If that wasn't yet subject in school, you'll either have to dig in and try your own (there's a chapter in the documentation), wait a while (my personal favourite :-)) until knowledge comes to you, or use a framework that allows visual scripting, like for instance Game Maker. But afaik they can't do 3D.

But first, grab the documentation and follow it with actively doing the examples in Godot on the computer. We all have to start there.

Nerdzmasterz

This video here gives you the basic concept of player movement in 3D, similar to the 2D code I just gave you. It's very basic, but it should be enough to get a model moving.

Nerdzmasterz

Ik, it's just a baby step. Once you are comfortable with moving a cube, it will give you enough knowledge to move other objects.

Sometimes, you don't have to understand the how. Ie, in Unity, the code would be something like transform.Translate(Vector3.ZERO); for idling, or something similar. What does all that do? Tbh, it's closed-source, so we'll never know for sure.

newmodels

3d is similar to geometry and trigonometry. If you can plot points on 2d graph paper than you have a basic understanding of it already. 3d is the same as 2d except there is a 3rd graph.

Nerdzmasterz

X is left and right, Y is up and down, and Z is forwards and backwards.