How to download godot 4?

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Ben1980

Hello everyone,

I am totally new to game programming and wanted to learn the new GoDot 4 but I cannot work out the donwload page where it says this:

The downloads for this dev snapshot can be found directly on our repository:
Standard build (GDScript, GDExtension).
.NET 6 build (C#, GDScript, GDExtension).
Requires .NET SDK 6.0 installed in a standard location.

What shall I choose please?

Thank you

DaveTheCoder

Unless you have a specific reason to write scripts in C# (as opposed to GDScript, which is much simpler), download the standard build.

The latest stable version (3.5.1) is available here: https://godotengine.org/
The latest release candidate for the next stable version (3.5.2-rc2) is available here: https://godotengine.org/article/release-candidate-godot-3-5-2-rc-2/
The latest beta version (4.0-beta12) is available here: https://godotengine.org/article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-0-beta-12/
All builds are also available here: https://downloads.tuxfamily.org/godotengine/

Be aware that Godot 4 is still buggy, which will make learning much more challenging if you're new to programming.

Ben1980

Thanks for the reply.
I watched on Youtube that Gobot GDScript has been dropped in version 4.
I really do not want to learn a language that will not be used in the future, this is the reason why I prefer to learn Godot 4 right away(even if it is more difficult).
I am already a Laravel/php/vue js programmer, I am hoping to be able to jump in pretty quickly with whatever language this software/framework will use.

If GDScript is being dropped, why would people still learn it in the long run, any idea please?
I understand that people who have games running on it are kind of forced to learn it, but what about the new users?

Any idea why they dropped it by trhe way?

Thanks.

DaveTheCoder

GDScript has not been dropped in Godot 4. It's been improved.
https://godotengine.org/article/gdscript-progress-report-feature-complete-40/
https://gamefromscratch.com/gdscript-2-in-godot-4/

You might have confused GDScript with VisualScript, which has been dropped in Godot 4.
https://godotengine.org/article/godot-4-will-discontinue-visual-scripting/

I didn't intend to discourage you from using Godot 4. The more people who use it, the faster the bugs will be found, reported and fixed, and the sooner it will become stable.

I have both Godot 3 and Godot 4 installed. I'm developing my game in Godot 3, but am doing some testing with Godot 4, mainly so that I can help report issues.

Ben1980

@"DaveTheCoder" Thank you so much for the reply, yes you are right, I checked again, it was VisualScript, sorry for the confusion.

So from what I understand, Visualscript(by its name), was some kind of drag and drop code block logic. Does it means that from Godot 4, every part of a game must be hard coded?

Thank you.

Megalomaniak

I'm not sure how VisualScript was any less 'Hardcoding' than GDscript. Besides to my mind 'Hardcoding' implies writing something like C/C++ that gets compiled into binary before it's ran. In which case no. GDScript remains a rather dynamic language.

Ben1980

Megalomaniak

By hardcoding I mean that it seems that VisualScript was a drag and drop UI and not something you write by hand letter by letter(which is more complicated).
eg: Laravel vs wordpress. Wordpress has many drag and drop tools and premade UIs and plugins, while with Laravel, you have to code your models, controllers and views piece by piece(hardcoding) to get your solution to work. And this makes a huge difference when you develop something.

Megalomaniak

Well in godot you can do quite a fair bit in the editor visually even when coding most of it via GDScript so I guess it's fair to say it's still a bit of a mix.

If you want you can just spawn all the nodes and set up the scene hierachy via code or you can do most of the node composition and create most of the signals visually through editor GUI.

But since VisualScript was dropped(with the hope that user community might create an alternative as a GDExtension plugin) since you still have to create some logic programmatically you currently have no choice but to write at least some code. GDScript would certainly be easier, especially to someone new to programming than C# tho.

Ben1980

Megalomaniak Very cool, I did not know that. I am hoping to start coding with my son in about 1 month. It is very nice to know that you both have a visual scripting possibility.

Any idea if there is a speed difference between GDScript and C# in this framework please?
I think I will start with GDScript first, just to understand how everything works. Do you agree with this post?

That GDscript has the worse performance when comparing it to C#?

Probably bad performace for a very large game, but not small 2d games(I believe).

Megalomaniak

Ben1980 It is very nice to know that you both have a visual scripting possibility.

No, no. In godot 4 the visual scripting support was indeed dropped. But certain aspects of what could and in some engines, would have to be done via code, can be done in editor GUI. Most of the logic still have to be written tho. Creating signals via the editor GUI creates the appropriate function names in your script for you, for an example, but you still have to fill in the logic within them by writing your own code there.

DaveTheCoder

Ben1980 speed difference between GDScript and C#

C# is theoretically much faster, but in practice it may not matter. If your code is doing enough calculations, then C# would be an advantage. If it's mostly making calls to Godot engine built-in functions that are written in C++, which is faster than C#, than there's probably little difference.

Ben1980

Megalomaniak Thanks I understand better now.

Ben1980

DaveTheCoder Thanks for this. I never played with either C or GDScript. I will try both in the long run.