Basic Video Game Skills

Accelerated Python

Basic Video Game Project Home

Basic Game Design

Why Godot?

Welcome to the exciting world of game development with Godot Engine! If you've ever dreamt of creating your own captivating video games, this comprehensive course is your gateway to turning imagination into interactive reality.

Godot Engine has garnered immense popularity for its user-friendly interface, powerful capabilities, and remarkable flexibility. Whether you're a seasoned programmer or a complete beginner, this course will take you on an immersive journey through the art and science of crafting video games.

By the end of this course, you'll not only possess a solid grasp of Godot's features but also have a portfolio of 2D game projects that showcase your newfound skills.

Important Software Notes!

All the tutorials below use Godot 4+. If you are using 3.5 then please utilise other resources.
This course utilities itch.io for playtesting purposes which your school may or may not allow.
Using Godot 4, in order to export it in a HTML playable state you must make your game in compatibility mode at the moment. It will also not work on macOS computers. Godot 3.5 currently has better HTML support but is missing a lot of the other features. For a full explanation check out the current docs or list of current HTML 5 issues on Github.

Part 1: Develop Understanding

You are going to start off learning Godot by making two simple 2D games. Then there is a Quickfire Introduction to some of the art tools you could use. You will do a simple learning reflection at the end of each episode to help consolidate your learning.

Task #1: Make a Platform Game

Follow the tutorials and make the game. You'll have 2 weeks so don't worry too much about cusomizing it just yet. You'll have achance for that later!

When you're done, fill out the learning reflection and hand it in to your teacher.

Complete Beginners Platform Game Series

Make a platform game as you learn the absolute basic of the Godot Game Engine. Aimed at complete beginners, this vide series contains a series of lessons with lots of explanation about how and why we do things so that you can get ready to design and make your own game in Godot.

Learning Reflection

Tutorial Learning Reflection

Now make a copy of this document and fill out a learning reflection.

Teachers: You may want to assign this as a task and have students hand it in when they are done.

Task #2: Make a Shooter Game

Follow the tutorials and make a new style of game. Again, you'll have just 2 weeks and hopefully you'll be getting more familiar with Godot.

When you're done, fill out the learning reflection and hand it in to your teacher.

Complete 2D Space Shooter Tutorial

This playlist covers another common game genre- the shooter. This a complete beginner focussed tutorial so it goes pretty slowly. You'll learn how to import assets, spawn objects like lasers and enemies, detect collisions, using signals and display the score with some basic UI.

Learning Reflection

Tutorial Learning Reflection

Now make a copy of this document and fill out a learning reflection.

Teachers: You may want to assign this as a task and have students hand it in when they are done.

Task #3: Pixel Art

Follow the tutorials and make some game assets using Piskel. Art is easy, good art is really hard. Get some practice and learn how to do it right.

When you're done, fill out the learning reflection and hand it in to your teacher.

Setting up a Pallet

One of the most important decisions to make is the colours you will use in your game.

An excellent resource for finding colour pallets is https://lospec.com/palette-list.

Chose a pallet that you like and downloads it as a .GPL file.

In Piskel click the New Pallet button

Then click Import from file and select the .gpl file you downloaded

Your new pallet is not ready to be used in the Palette menu!

Making Art in Piskel

You are ready to now learn the Basics of Piskel. Follow this tutorial series through to learn the basics and then practice making some art of your own. Try making one of each of the following categories of game assets. Some ideas are given for you but you can imagine your own.

Try making your pixel art in different sizes, typical sizes are 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64px. If you make a background use instead 480x270px. You can change the size of your canvas by clicking the Resize button on the right hand side of the editor.

Jack.likes.carrots

Character Sprites

A dinosaur
Mario
Knight
Sheep
Rubber Duck
Wizard

Environment

Trees
Rocks
Bushes
Grass tiles
Water tiles
Buildings
Fences
Signs

Jonty Uren

Items

- Weapons
- Potions
- Coins
- Keys
- Chests
- Treasure
- Food items

Vehicles

- Cars
- Bicycles
- Boats
- Airplanes
- Spaceships

Xander from Burnside

Animations

- Opening/closing doors
- Moving platforms
- Water ripples
- Swinging pendulums
- Moving conveyor belts

Backgrounds

- Daytime sky
- Night sky
- Sunrise/sunset
- Interior scenes
- Outdoor scenes

Tilesets

- Grassland
- Desert
- Snowy landscape
- Dungeon
- Urban cityscape
- Underwater world

NPCs (Non-Playable Characters)

- Villagers
- Enemies
- Animals
- Monsters
- Quest givers

Isaac Latimer

User Interface (UI) Elements

- Health bar
- Mana bar
- Inventory icons
- Buttons
- Menu screens
- Dialogue boxes
- Icons for abilities or actions

Xander Hales

Effects

- Fire
- Smoke
- Explosions
- Lightning
- Magic spells
- Weather effects (rain, snow)

Learning Reflection

Tutorial Learning Reflection

Now make a copy of this document and fill out a learning reflection.

Teachers: You may want to assign this as a task and have students hand it in when they are done.

Apply and Extend

Chose one of your game projects that you have made already now is your opportunity to juice it up! Below are some suggestions for things to add and some links to get you started. Take your pick and spend 2 weeks customizing one of your games. How much have you understood?