Game development is an exciting but challenging field. When thinking of this field, most people envision a large office of multiple teams working together for years, or even decades (looking at you Bethesda), to develop the next Game of the Year. The largest number of developers are actually indie developers, or independent developers; these are individuals or, in my case, a small team of people coming together and using the tools at their disposal to build their own creative and unique games. The number of independently developed games is growing with each day as new people pick up learning how to develop their own games.
Learning how to develop a game is more encompassing than one would expect. In my case, the Escape Room Challenge capstone project was my first introduction to game development. With this comes quite a bit of a learning curve, but to be good at something, you must first be terrible at it. One thing that helps is the tools my team and I have chosen to use, Github, Godot, and Blender.
Github is a developer platform that allows my team and I to work simultaneously on our project, as it hosts our project repositories, or code. This tool was the easiest to use and learn, as there is an entire community dedicated to sharing information or troubleshooting issues. I was first introduced to Github in 2021, and have since become comfortable with git commands, making the process of learning game development better.
Godot is a free game engine offered to allow various games to be developed. Out of all the tools my team uses, this is by far my favorite. GDScript, the programming language used in the game engine, is simple to understand, making development much easier. It is open source, allowing the community to continue improving the engine to meet more developer’s needs. Godot also does not require massive system resources, unlike other game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine, making it more accessible to independent developers.
On the opposing side, Blender, is another free, open-source software that is used to create 3D models, textures, and animations. This software is not my favorite by far, due to a steep learning curve, complex UI, and seemingly endless keyboard shortcuts. Due to time constraints, we have limited use of this tool for creating only assets that could not be found online. After spending time with tutorials and trial and error, it becomes evident that Blender can be a powerful tool, once you get familiar with it.
This project has been a huge learning experience, and while there were frustrations along the way, I’ve gained valuable skills in game development, programming, and collaboration. Every technology we used, Godot, GitHub, and Blender, had its own strengths and challenges, but in the end, they all played an important role in bringing our game to life.
If you’re thinking about making a game, I highly recommend giving Godot a try, especially if you’re new to game development. And if you’re working in a team, learning GitHub early on will save you a lot of headaches!
