Learn programming with GDScript (Part 1)

Hello Godotneers!
Do you want to make games with the Godot game engine but don't know how to program? And you don't want to take a full computer science course just to get started? Then this video is for you. We're going to explore the absolute basics of programming with the GDScript programming language. We'll find out how functions work, what variables are and how we can make decisions and loops to solve simple problems. And we'll do this with an example project that has everything you need to get started , so you don't have to know the ins and outs of the Godot game engine. At the end, you can use all the knowledge that you acquired to solve some challenges, so you get some programming practice under your belt. It's going to be a fun ride, so get your computer ready and join in!
== Contents ==
00:00 Introduction
01:51 Example project installation
04:10 What is programming?
05:50 The first program
14:08 Functions - Part 1
15:57 Naming rules
18:50 Comments
19:47 Variables
31:43 Functions - Part 2
42:55 Decisions
45:24 Data types
55:12 Repeating code
1:07:35 Introduction to the challenges
1:09:52 Some tips and tricks
1:12:12 Conclusion
== Links ==
The example project: github.com/godotneers/program...
GDScript Reference: docs.godotengine.org/en/stabl...

[@DannyKing]

When you move on to the advanced tutorials, I would love to see a video on best practices for project organization, which design patterns are best for what and how to implement them, and code layout. Great work as always, thank you!

[@dokMixer]

Oh god, THIS needs to be upvoted! I can't wrap my head around, in Godot, how i should approach a task system, movement of things... but in a organized shared way. I know i could attach codes to stuff, but if i want general things accessible by all, it means i have to add a function as a global thing necessarily ? Should i have a script in a scene called in another way? What should be "the" best practice for Godot? Also, how do you approach prototyping a new feature in a game? Do you create a new scene just with a stuff? What if it requires you to have already a progression in the game? What if i have an inventory system, coins, and i want to develop a feature like a forge. I can't just relaunch the game entirely from it's beginnings to debug the thing, so what could be a good approach? A load system? A debug scene?... In one word: workflow. 1000 upvotes for you for the videos you already produced my good sir. 10.000 more for an advanced video

[@zault]

You mean like the amazing video from 5 months ago he already posted?

[@dokMixer]

@@zault It does kinda help, and thanks for the reminder I already saw the video. But I think I'm trying to grasp a workflow more than anything. Doing components and reusing things is nice, but the example used seemed really very tutorial-level like. What if I want a loading system for example? Creating the code is one thing, but how do you approach the developing phase? Should you create a scene that just loads a file for testing purposes? Once it works, should you integrate that same script, independent, but on the main scene and attached somewhere? That kind of philosophy of code arrangement if that makes sense :)

[@SergeyPopovichevPS]

@@dokMixer you mean modularity?

[@Potato6153]

You are the new GOAT of godot tutorials. Massive props for your work!

[@dreamleaf6784]

The godoat

[@deansan4250]

​@@dreamleaf6784Dude that was hilarious! First day here hope to see your guys' work someday!

[@ogkay]

Ong….holy man

[@romanrioter5503]

Amazing content, as always. Folks like you are making the Godot community bigger and better every time you release a video. Look forward to seeing where your journey takes you.

[@godotneers]

Thank you very much for supporting me and also thank you very much for the kind words, I really appreciate it!

[@ykyjohn]

I had nothing to learn from this video, but for some reason I watched the whole thing. Very nice video for people that just want to start programing. Very high quality!

[@BlendtutsES]

Awesome tutorials! Thank you :D

[@godotneers]

Thank you very much for your support! I'm glad that this video is useful for you!

[@deansan4250]

Thank you for noticing the perspective where a person with no programming knowledge would struggle tonlearn gdscript as their primary coding language! I wills be taking and supporting this whole tutorial line and obviously your channel as I see you hold a very useful perspective!

[@nongbellybuttiskawaii6911]

This is an amazing tutorial, you make me realize that I miss a lot of basic topic in script writting. I learn a lot of new things from you. Keep up the good work! I'll be waiting for the new tutorial since I'm still an inexperience.

[@godotneers]

Thank you very much for supporting me! I'm glad the video has been useful to you!

[@AsmodeusMictian]

This is why I think the internet can be a cool place to be.

[@tayete]

Thank you! I was longing for March to start to check if you launched a new video... and I wasn't dissapointed! Great as always.

[@Muphet]

even tho i have nothing to learn it's always such a pleasure to watch videos on this channel

[@LargoSensei]

Love how the information is organized and weaves in debugging effortlessly. Even filled in a couple missing bits of GDscript info I was missing. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

[@henrywadman2908]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for such a detailed and digestible tutorial!

[@deadslapTV]

Always a good day when Godotneers drops a new video!

[@bobblify]

really appreciate the effort you put into making your videos so clear and easy to follow!

[@nicoletang1834]

omg you are the best! I'm going to learn all your GDScript tutorials!!!

[@olmrgreen1904]

Your tutorials are just top quality! Thanks again for such great content!

[@gabrom5047]

You're tutorial is very thoughtful and I appreciate that you are able to take time to include us all on this journey.

[@kennethalvaro6499]

This is a HUGE help, specially for us that don't know how programming works. Thanks for this video

[@robkazer5841]

Thank you for these videos! I'm excited to learn about Godot, and these are so easy to follow

[@kantorobo7718]

I really appreciate the structure of your videos just like this one :) will check it out tomorrow first finish work programming :).

[@SimulationWinks]

Thank you. That was the best lesson I have seen so far. Much better than tutorials I have paid for .

[@martinithechobit]

Ty again. The very basic tabs explaining is very helpful.

[@Humanoid78985]

This was extremely helpful. You explained things exceptionally well, to the point that for the first time I feel like I actually have my foot in the door in understanding code and how it works. Please make more, you're doing so so good.

[@juangabrieleliasgomez518]

what an amazing video, the whole challenges thing is so awesome!

[@volary]

finally a new upload you are the super star! 🎉thank you

[@bluedragooo]

You’re the goat of Godot tutorials! Thanks bro!

[@MemeMand1996]

Dude you are freaking amazing, thank you so much for all the work you do!!!

[@El5iver]

your are the reason i’m starting coding this tutorial is clear and consice and doesn’t it doesn’t just make you copy code edit:you’re not your

[@Frank_144]

Love it, subscribed so I can know when part 2 releases

[@bewilderedlearningevolving]

Love your videos, thanks for your contributions!

[@Iglum]

Nice one 👍 perfect timing because I’m done with the Gdquest material and more practice and repetition is essential to learn

[@SootytheMagicalBear]

did you get their paid course? godotneers project in this tutorial seems very similar

[@IndieSpy]

Top quality! Keep it going please!

[@andisf2719]

Ich programmiere seit vielen Jahren, habe aber noch nie ein so gut gemachtes und motivierendes Video für Anfänger zu diesem Thema gesehen. Sehr aufwendig und professionell gemacht mit viel Liebe zum Detail und hervorragenden Ideen der Wissensvermittlung. Meine Hochachtung.

[@mr.messofgeorgia]

If you are missing the button to popout the script and make it float, you need to go to *editor* in the top menu and select *editor settings." Scroll down to "Single Window Mode" and deselect it.

[@gorgeanderson9813]

thx bro you are helpful than ever you started with most basics and that what i like and also very organised video and i love your way of explaining continue on you are a legend😇😊

[@zipruns9990]

excited for part 2!!

[@lonegamedevlongjourneyman]

very beginner friendly , good audio, and good editing very clean

[@spxcyinc]

This was very insightful, thank you!!

[@Vseznamus]

I can't wait for the next video!

[@brunovieira3316]

Hope for more! Great content

[@brennyDoon]

Incredible tutorial. Thank you.

[@TheScreemShot]

THIS is what I needed right now :D

[@OldM8]

WOW, you're an absolute epic teacher my friend ! Would love some tips on books to read or any courses you'd recomend that helps build up this level of skill...

[@Vseznamus]

Cant wait for another video 😊

[@alexxander7289]

having a project as a base is very nice. TY.

[@flaviopsilva_]

Amazing video, thank you !

[@trip_tohell9333]

This was great. On to the next.

[@Druiduk1973]

Very informative. Thank you.

[@potatogamer95]

very nice, Thank you!

[@honda02134]

Beautiful tutorial thanks friend

[@martinithechobit]

This is the real work here.

[@Asilhan]

You're top tier with the clear code channel. Can you please do more advanced topics?

[@Shadow-Strikers909]

Well I watched brackyes tutorial and im ready to watch this one i think this is one of the videos that i'll learn something

[@qingxian3870]

this course is really fun for beginner ,it was like play a game

[@ThaAftrPartie]

1:09 Already know I’m gonna know most of what’s in this video, but I’m gonna watch it just to have that confidence after a ~month of using godot

[@Bardenschule]

Thank you so much! I started to write codes with Scratch and wanted to get a step further with Godot. I watched many tutorials but they where all way to complicated. This one is perfect! I was looking for this kind of video for days. How can I thank you with some money?

[@Asilhan]

Your teaching style is top-notch. First, do it like a beginner and get an error, then show the correct way and how to fix that error just like learning yourself but without spending hours to solve the problem. This way you can see why the first idea that comes to our mind always doesn't work.

[@WanderfromSOTC]

Thank you so much😊

[@Asguardian22]

Your videos are great as usual. For me, the great thing about your channel was that you covered "less visited" topics in Godot 4. Now you seem to be covering the same stuff everyone else on youtube is covering which is great for people who are beginners, but there are 1,000 learning how to code GDScript Godot 4 videos. Glad to see your great quality is continuing though. Best of luck.

[@godotneers]

Thank you very much! Would you happen to have any suggestions for "less visited" topics?

[@Asguardian22]

​ @godotneers Sure, Godot is so great because it has so many quality gaming subsystems already built into the engine. For example, 1.) Navigation2D system (with and without tilemap). 2.) Particle system (not a single in depth explanation and implementation on youtube that I can find, including shaders and sub emitters and multiple particles). 3.) Plugins (I really wish there was more detail about this topic. Coming from Unity, we had the Granddaddy of all solutions, ODIN, for inspector customization, but on Godot, it is a chore and a mystery. All the tutorials are how to setup a plugin, but then they do something incredibly simple without any depth.) . 4.) Animation (I haven't seen any decent Cutout or Skeletal 2D animation/animation tree tutorials for Godot 4 anywhere. Everyone seems to focus on sprite sheets.). These are a few topics that IMO are rarely covered, but probably often used, in Godot4. You've already covered several great missing topics like Shaders, UI, Resources, State Charts and if you are not a professional teacher/instructor, you should be, because your delivery and explanations are some of the best I've seen. I hope this does not come across as critical because I have a huge amount of respect and gratitude for what you are doing. Regards.

[@godotneers]

@Asguardian22, thank you very much that list is very helpful! I have no problem with criticism that is constructive like yours - it helps me to get better at what I'm doing. Thanks again!

[@ngrlicious]

good video man thanks

[@tomasalves3462]

Yo your channel is wasome. Big Hug from Portugal!

[@jesteR_playZ_]

man I love your videos. could you sometime make a grid system for 2d games? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the implementations

[@phvianna]

Beautiful!!!!

[@UberOfficer1]

Your pacing is perfect for my slow brain 😂 I feel like this lesson was made for me 😂😂

[@SergeyPopovichevPS]

💪SUPER!!!!!!! I"m happy

[@asthalis]

Wow, thanks again for this ! I really love this Channel. Your slogan really should be "quality over quantity" !

[@Rauler_]

Never thought Rudeus would teach me gdscript

[@kadenfrfx]

ur about to create thousands of game developers with this series

Though I know python, it was still worth my time to get the small details of GDScript. I would love to follow a video where you make a small game (like Flappy bird or similar small), where you take us through the whole process of the game dev and have everything in Godot fit together.

[@moqiu4920]

Thank you !!!!!!!

[@kruth6663]

Ah I almost missed a new video, glad I checked

[@tauabn]

Thanks a lot brother. Fancy doing a GUT tutorial with some real case more complex scenarios?

[@Cluxiu]

Legend.

[@johnnyclifton3373]

FYI... to comment out a block of code or multiple lines of code on a Mac, first highlight or select the code then select 'command' key and 'k' key together.

[@MadManTnT]

Yep!!!

[@yeye3999]

i love how the captions say hello gooners

[@svemunTheEmperor]

good you showed how to open the project...

[@friendlyreptilian3767]

amazing tutorial! thanks a lot for your efforts

[@rrRowboat7]

I did the challenges. I made Mr. G. turn in circles. I am a god!

[@godotneers]

Fantastic! It's always great to celebrate a little when you learned something new. Keep at it!

[@SootytheMagicalBear]

my solution for challenge 1 is as follows, but its 5 lines instead of 4. It seems to count a turn as an action which is why I made it 12 for steps:int in 12: if tile_color_before_me != "light blue": turn_right() else: step_forward()

[@dakotah4866]

That helps. hey did you have a problem with the Mr g not picking up the coffee?

[@SootytheMagicalBear]

yeah, I was confused at first why there were transparent cups on the board and what they were for. After a while I realised they are just the pattern you need to have the cups in for the smaller circle. otherwise you would get an error/endless loop. Looking at the notes in the project though, I think my solution was not a good one, because he wanted us to practice for loops in for loops in the next challenge. also additionally a friend pointed out to me I didn't need the else statement. So now it at least meets the requirement of 4 lines. for steps:int in 12: if tile_color_before_me != "light blue": turn_right() step_forward() @@dakotah4866

[@martinithechobit]

Thanks yall.

[@phatslug7373]

Great video, but am unable to open up the project due to my laptop being so old (I think Hercules used it for his school work) is there a compatibility mode version that can be used. Thanks

[@tinsaus5498]

No clue why, but at around 22:40 when you look for step_forward in the ''search help'' tab. Nothing along the lines of step_forward shows up for me. So there's no way for me to find similar functions this way. But it does auto complete when writing a script. So it does exist. Kinda confused right now.

[@TheBlackredzone]

Yeah, have the exact same problem. "Search help" doesn't find any custom functions for me.

[@chinweokoli5501]

Came on here to wonder if I'm the only one. I'm having this exact same problem too. Isolated it to searching through Methods specifically since its that according to the video and no reference under the Methods category show up. Have you been able to fix this on your end?

[@pzyko1]

I am having the same issue, trying to figure out why I can't find "stepping robot" in the documentation

[@SlimsPickns]

Same issue here.

[@BigKat182]

Hello! I really appreciate the in depth tutorials. I was wondering if you did private paid lessons for Godot?

[@godotneers]

Glad you like them! I currently don't do private lessons as my bandwidth is pretty much fully occupied with making videos and maintaining the libraries.

[@jasonwilliams8730]

👍

[@teiny5605]

Hi, your videos are very helpful, you are doing a good thing. I have a question for you, do you have plans to talk about how the servers work in Godot 4 (PhysicsServer, RenderingServer, etc.)?

[@godotneers]

In general yes this would surely be interesting. However I would need to have good use case for this which I can use to explain things and I currently fail to come up with a good one that isn't so niche that it won't be of interest for the vast majority of users. There is actually very little need to directly work with the servers for most projects. Any ideas?

[@teiny5605]

@@godotneers Hmm, there's truth in that, that servers for the most part aren't needed for direct use, but that issue comes up differently on the optimization point. Godot is very good for development and there over-optimization is not needed there in projects that don't have as much calculations as visible actions. Mostly, I think, they should be used to optimize miscalculations of intersections between areas, collision checking, object rendering and even more rarely for sound. Based on this, it makes the most sense to use a physical and rendering server. Going deeper, it reminds me of shooters, bullethell games, maybe also something voxel-based. If we use nodes instead of servers, we get a lot of "unnecessary" checks, which the node does only for the purpose of transmitting data to us, if we need them, although we can do without them. That is, I see the scenario of using servers as getting only what you pay for, rather than connecting a "subscription" to a "smart home" and using only a "smart toilet" when there are dozens of other types of equipment.

[@teiny5605]

Hmm, there's truth in that, that servers for the most part aren't needed for direct use, but that issue comes up differently on the optimization point. Godot is very good for development and there over-optimization is not needed there in projects that don't have as much calculations as visible actions. Mostly, I think, they should be used to optimize miscalculations of intersections between areas, collision checking, object rendering and even more rarely for sound. Based on this, it makes the most sense to use a physical and rendering server. Going deeper, it reminds me of shooters, bullethell games, maybe also something voxel-based. If we use nodes instead of servers, we get a lot of "unnecessary" checks, which the node does only for the purpose of transmitting data to us, if we need them, although we can do without them. That is, I see the scenario of using servers as getting only what you pay for, rather than connecting a "subscription" to a "smart home" and using only a "smart toilet" when there are dozens of other types of equipment.

[@teiny5605]

​@@godotneersBy the way, the topic of servers in the community in my opinion is covered by a curtain, for besides documentation without specific explanations and 3-4 videos on KZbin, there is nothing else. Knowing how you approach making videos and spend months or more on it, I think your opening of the curtain would be really impressive and could show the community and, I think, more than a thousand developers who need this knowledge, how this black horse works :)

[@LightGames_8056]

when you will upload the next video ? please answer

[@godotneers]

Part 2 is currently in scripting phase, during which the script is developed and any code for exercises and examples is written. This usually accounts for about two thirds of the overall effort going into a video. After that I record audio and video and edit everything together. I cannot give an exact date for when this will be done as I am doing this in my spare time which is not entirely predictable.

[@xbrc70]

a midterm worth of ComSci in one video

[@everton4806]

32:41 my checkpoint

[@Kieroj1357]

Day 1 = 19:47

[@hanelyp1]

GDscript is python + the Godot library. A python programming tutorial may help with the base language.

[@Aolovar]

step_forward is not in my Search Help list. what should I do now?

[@Aolovar]

Thanks for not helping me

[@godotneers]

There seems to be a bug which prevents the class from appearing in the help sometimes (github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/86577). I'm currently not aware of a workaround for this. But you can open the stepping_robot.gd file and see all the functions and properties in here. Its not as nice as the documentation but it's at least workable (github.com/godotneers/programming-video/blob/main/infrastructure/stepping_robot/stepping_robot.gd)

[@dakotah4866]

I don't get this I put pick up item in the script and Mr g isn't doing anything there's no errors.

[@dakotah4866]

I get him to move but it won't pick up the coffee for some reason

[@dakotah4866]

Never mind I thought the Google automatically updates I had to download the new one works fine now.

[@Narwhal12]

Is it best to watch this first or something like the “Ultimate introduction to godot 4” first, thanks if anyone responds!

[@godotneers]

If you don't know how to program I'd start here and then continue with the "Ultimate Introduction" as the "Ultimate Introduction" assumes that you know how to program. If you already know how to program, I think you can move directly to the "Ultimate Introduction".

[@Narwhal12]

@@godotneers thanks! I was on the ultimate introduction but didn’t get to the programming part yet so I’ll use this then go back to that Thanks for responding!

[@user-nj4pc8kv2w]

棒！爱来自中国

[@shubhammiskite]

Hiii why there is an error in class stepping robot

[@godotneers]

It's difficult to say without seeing what you are seeing. If you'd like you can open up an issue here and maybe post your code and some screenshots: github.com/godotneers/programming-video/issues

[@shubhrajitart3897]

Can anyone tell that can it work on Godot v3.5.3 😢

[@godotneers]

Most of this will work exactly the same in Godot 3.5, except that some of the type hinting (e.g. in loops) is not available there. The example project requires Godot 4 though, as I don't have the bandwidth to maintain two versions of this. That being said - if you are new to the engine, there is very little reason to use Godot 3.5 which is inferior to Godot 4 in almost every aspect. Godot 4 is pretty stable right now.

[@shubhrajitart3897]

But my computer doesn't support Godot 4

[@x3nomat]

You could also say: "You got a discount of ", discount, " coins!" ...by the way. 🙂 Not sure why people do this casting. Is there any best practise i should be aware of...? Also "== true" is not needed, "if is_item_before_me:" already means "if true:".

[@godotneers]

For this particular case you can use the comma syntax (the say method actually supports it) but this was not the point of the example. The idea was to make the viewer aware that there are data types and that in general you cannot just throw strings and numbers together and expect it to work. This may be obvious if you come from another programming language, but this tutorial is really intended for people who have no programming experience at all. For the same reason I stick with the "== true" even if it is technically not needed. We just introduced the concept of comparison operators and I think this needs to sink in before we throw more techniques at the viewer. Optimizing or streamlining code at this level is likely to create more confusion than understanding as new programmers still struggle with understanding the basics.

[@rrRowboat7]

Everyone should read the Bible at least once. Every ruler should read the Declaration of Independence at least once. Every game dev should watch this video at least twice.

[@ভোমরা]

Variable,Data types,loop,ifelse,function,oop

[@gambar]

Explained on idiot level. THANK YOU! :))))