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After starting my course in Python in my Software Engineer degree I wanted to make a game but had a problem. The most experience in gamedev other than downloading the game engines Unreal and Unity, looking at them, poking at the tools then never opening them again. I took to where I spend most of my time Youtube and began watching comparison videos. To a novice like me Unreal looked like playing the gamedev route in hard difficulty. Too many tools that felt overwhelming and not easy for me to get into. I wanted to do 2d game development since for some reason one less dimension seemed easier in the development side of things while also being harder creatively for the same reason. 

I settled on learning Unity and signed up for a Udemy tutorial to learn how to go about using the software. I was enjoying the tutorial and the system. I managed to complete the tutorials first project and felt good about it. Then the Unity debacle happened. I took a break from the tutorial and wondered what to do about the development. Right now it is 100% a hobby but if I wanted to one day transition into becoming a full time developer then "Would I want to develop the skills to do that in an engine like this?".

I have been in the workforce around 12 years and I know how quickly things can go from good to the worse when you get new management. While I was on a break I began to look into more options since most videos I looked up were comparing Unreal and Unity. However, in the mix another option kept popping up. It was called Godot. I started looking into the software and saw how many people were in love with it. I was looking it not too long after its update into Godot 4. It was open source but in constant development with no overhead. I heard that it's node system is user friendly and that it can do both 2d and 3d. I had been going back and forth about possibly using GameMaker but wanted the option to do 3d one day as well.

After watching multiple gamedevs do challenges in it I was sold. I tried multiple tutorials on Youtube but running into issues with each. Something would not work or they would just do things without explaining why. These were good for building exactly the same thing but would not be able to use these in my own project since I was not 100% on the reasons why they were used or how they interreacted on every level.

During this troubling time I started using ChatGPT for homework help and debugging my simple code. I would post in lines of code that I had questions about and ask it to breakdown what the code was doing and it was good at explaining what was happening. I would even use it to breakdown the breakdowns it gave me for particular issues. The only issue with this is that I am using the free version and it is not updated to Godot 4 so most of the recommendations that it was offering was from outdated information. This was followed by hours of research just to find one answer. 

It took me 6-8 hours just to get the hp to decrease when the mob was clicked. First I did not know how to have the individual sprite sense when it was clicked on and decrease the individuals hp down by a set amount. It is almost always a simple solution but since I have no background in gamedev and no one to ask it takes me much longer for simple things. Despite that I managed to get an unpolished but finished project. My want to make it better is going to drive me to make this better and learn more. Not sure how much I will dive into development but it was fun to work on this project.

If anyone reads this know that this was a struggle but a fun one. Anyone who wants to get into game development the tools to start are out there and free if you dig enough. Now is a wonderful time to be learning something. The first step is always the hardest. Thank you for your time.