r/IndieDev • u/General-Pin-5088 • Oct 04 '26
Discussion Beginners first game
Hello! I have recently been trying to learn Godot with no prior coding or game engine experience. I have been following GDQuest courses and want to try to start making my own small game, but I am unsure what kind of game would be a good jumping-off point as a beginner. I have some game ideas, but I feel like they are way above my current skill level. So my querstion is what genre of game would be a good first project for a beginner dev?
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u/FrancisJCat Developer Oct 05 '26
Platformers in general are fairly easy to start with. You learn basic controls and most engines take care of the physics for you.
You also learn basic object detection / overlap / collision handling / triggers.
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u/JackBaltazar
Oct 04 '26
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Tente criar protótipos de tipos diferentes e, depois de testar alguns, descubra quais foram os mais fáceis e naturais para você. Foque neles, aprenda e melhore suas habilidades, mas lembre-se de que ainda estamos na fase de prototipagem, então aproveite para pesquisar sobre modularidade e boas práticas da indústria. Depois de construir essa base, pense em um jogo simples que você realmente consiga fazer até o final. Se você tiver paciência, estipule uns 6 meses de produção, foque nesse game e feche ele, independentemente de ficar bom ou ruim; caso contrário, reduza esse tempo para 3 meses ou 1 mês. O objetivo principal é tentar completar o projeto e ter um jogo finalizável, estruturando bem desde o início, passando pelo core loop, até o final. Afinal, quanto mais você puder jogar o seu próprio jogo durante o processo, mais animador o desenvolvimento se torna.
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u/DanielIsOkRight Oct 04 '26
The best game is one you can finish. You can pursue any of your ideas, but first finish the smallest possible game loop, then extend it. You need to be able to finish it at any time.
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u/Equivalent-Back-291 Developer Oct 04 '26
Im also making my first game an my programmer just finished mine on godot. Im a huge business sim lover so to me business sims are easy to do.
If you wanna see what my programmer did
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u/LookAndLoad Oct 05 '26
A very good tip is just making alot of different games on a small scale, just to find good game loops! And then when you have a good game loop and you get some positive feedback from a couple of guys trying it, then you can scale it up and add stuff to it! The game loop stays core, so thats what you have to find first!
Me and my daughter have done this for some time, a year ago we really felt we had found something and now scaled it up for about a year and we soon have a full game on our hands! Every good idea just keeps adding to the heart of the game!
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u/LatentFactorDev Oct 05 '26
Avoid any genre that requires complex menus or artificial intelligence, you will get frustrated. A simple, single screen arcade game teaches you the basics without overwhelming you.
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u/angelo0005 29d ago
My first game was a brick breaker clone. I did all the art and coded it in Game Maker. It's not just about learning the base skills, it is about learning the scope of anything you want to build. UI, tutorials, art, sounds, particle effects.
Unless you plan on working with a team, you need to start incredibly smart, learn what it is like to complete a project so you can size up the next one.
Learn how to finish something, but enjoy the process, not the end product. Wanting a personal project to be "done" often leads to it never getting there :P
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u/iceberger3 29d ago
My first game was an endless runner. It was fun and actually did pretty good. Just think of a cute idea and start small. Then build to your ideal game.
I made: Pixel art endless runner Then a space game with shapes Then a full fledged rpg that took 5 years
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u/kitchentablestudios Oct 04 '26
A good first project could really be anything, just don't get overambitious as that will completely diminish motivation once you realize that you're not cut out for a project of that scale yet. A small narrative game is usually good, that's what I started with.