Stage 2 of 8 · 7 lessons · ~2 months

Programming for games

Learn GDScript in Godot: nodes, scenes and the scene tree, the _ready and _process callbacks, signals, exported variables, state machines and debugging.

Start: GDScript with static types

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Finish the first units of your engine's official beginner course.
Rebuild the player from your clone with a state machine instead of booleans.
Split one large script into at least three small components or child nodes.
Add a health component that raises an event and a UI element that listens to it.
Expose every tuning value in the editor and tune the jump or movement until it feels right.
Fix one bug using a breakpoint and one using debug drawing.
Commit after each working change.

Start with· follow one of these

CourseFree
Learn GDScript From Zero
GDQuest · Beginner
A free browser app that teaches GDScript from zero with checked exercises
CourseFree
Godot Docs: Your First 2D Game
Godot Engine · Beginner
The official complete first game: scenes, signals, input, spawning and a HUD

Practise

GDQuest
Free Godot 4 project tutorials and open source demos to build and read
Brackeys
A friendly one-sitting Godot course that builds a small platformer

Keep handy

Godot Engine Documentation
The official docs and class reference, also built into the editor with F1

Also worth your time

Using signals (opens in a new tab)Read
The official guide to connecting, declaring and emitting signals
Game Programming PatternsGo deeper
Free book on the state, observer, component and other patterns games rely on

Before moving on: A small Godot game written in typed GDScript: a player scene with a state machine, an enemy scene, a health component that emits a signal, and a HUD connected to it, with tuning values as @export variables.

Tauseef's advice

Follow the official course for your engine, but after every lesson change the project without instructions: add an enemy, a power-up, a second level. The difference between people who can make games and people who can follow tutorials is exactly that moment of building something the video did not show.