I’ve been wanting to learn game dev for a long time.

I’m not good at programming. I did some PHP scripts twenty-plus years ago, to work with MySQL and make requests to databases when WordPress was not as full of plugins as it is now, and when I ran a phpBB forum—it was beneficial back then, probably a lot less now.

My youngest kid is learning GameMaker. He’s really into retro gaming, and when we looked into what was available as game engines, it seemed the right choice for him.

I, on the other hand, am a big Brotato fan. My dear husband and I love to couch co-op, and we like Vampire Survivor-style games. It’s always a crazy time when I use my magical powers: screaming and running around aimlessly on the screen while the hubby cries from laughter. It works, by the way, I’m never in the zone like when I howl in panic.

When I learned that Brotato was made in Godot and that Godot is entirely free, I felt it was time for me to learn something new.

I’ve been existing with no real purpose for the past few months. Depression, anxiety, tons of adulting to do, and various sicknesses on top of my chronic illness have taken a toll on my mind and body. Getting a new obsession is a good thing. It keeps my mind occupied.

I used the amazing tutorial from GDQuest: Learn GDScript From Zero to revise my programming knowledge. I still knew most of it and just had to cram a little harder on things I do not enjoy, like arrays.

I then decided to try my hand at the Godot engine with a tutorial I found online, again by GDQuest: Your First 2D GAME From Zero in Godot 4 **Vampire Survivor Style**.

Wow, let me tell you. Godot is truly made for game development. I’m sure I’m only touching the surface of all the game-oriented, smart functions that are already implemented for game devs directly in the engine. It takes away a lot of the anxiety of having to code everything… and the math… the math!

If you know me at all, you know I am not a math-head.

Anyway… Of course, I had bugs. Not because the tutorial is not well done, oh no: the tutorial is perfectly done and explains everything in depth. No, it’s because I have the foggiest brain of all time. Both times I only had to blame myself.

I must say that the GDQuest Discord is really great. People are nice in there (the motto is: be excellent to each other), and they’re also ready to help. If you’re starting on Godot, I’d recommend joining us in the chat for help. Well, the other users help, I’m not there yet. 😂

I wanted to leave a trace here of my first tutorial. I had fun. It was nice.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to look at this and remind myself that I can do difficult things just fine.