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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Godot is opensource and uses a scripting language pretty similar to Python.
That’s two votes for Godot – we’ll take a look into that!
Adding this here so you’ll see it, but Humble Bundle has a huge python book bundle going on right now.
Godot is really lightweight and the scripting (gdscript) is similar to python. It can be a bit rough around the edges but is my go to when making small games.
The documentation is pretty good,but nowhere near as available as something like unity. If I can’t find something in the docs,I’ve been using https://www.phind.com/ to generate a snippet which does a pretty good job of getting me going.
I’m by no means an expert,but if you have any questions feel free to reach out and I’ll help if I can!
I 2nd GoDOT, but I also recommend the Learn Python books from No Starch Press, they have several books for kids & learning while making games.
I’d been looking at those books! There are some saved on my Amazon wishlist, I might pick a couple up for when he comes back from vacation.
I know you have a lot of opinions on this, so I’ll recommend something different: Gamejams. They are a great way to flex that skill, try new things, and be a part of a group all at once. And another tip from another amateur game developer: Use Itch.io for sharing work.
I can help a bit with software. I tried Godot a while ago, didn’t personally like it, though I do recommend your son tries it, as it does work with Python and won’t require learning a new language. Also heard it’s beginner friendly. That’s how I started at least.
Unity is my recommended game engine - it’s more versatile and has quite a community, so it’s easy to find answers to almost any questions your son might have (and trust me, he will have a lot). It does require learning C# though.
For big AAA games the answer is Unreal. It works on C++. Can say much about it, I haven’t tried it myself, but I did hear it’s has a bit of a steep learning curve. Would recommend this one only if your son becomes very invested and will have made a few games already.
Yeah, I’d read that about C++. But Godot and Unity seem to be the favored recommendations here, so we’ll give those a go!
Good luck to your son! :)
