Artist's game dev journey

Who am I?

  • Self-taught artist, geek, punk, game dev
  • Chronically ill != school compatible
  • Many reasons formal education isn't accessible
  • You can teach yourself

Jam Journey

Infinite Sorrow

Jam #1 – Artist
Interactive puzzle, top down pixel

The Incubator

Game #1 – Solo dev
First godot game

Wild Thyme

Game #2 – Solo dev
Top down, cozy pixel

Kakakop

(Homemade) Jam #2 – Artist
Card game remake

Trips

(SFA) Jam #3 – Art / Design / Dev
Novel card game

Live, Laugh, Lift

Jam #4 – Art
Hidden object game

Kelp Helper

(Girly) Jam #5 – Lead Dev
Cozy environmental sim

FROGS

(kinda) Game #3 – Solo Dev

FROGS

(kinda) Game #3 – Solo Dev

Arachnoise

Jam #6 – Art / Dev
Music theory game

Rapid iteration

  • Get involved
  • Join meetups
  • Give talks
  • Join jams
  • Invaluable for skill share accessibility

Cool things I've learnt

Climb on shoulders

  • Use plugins / other people's scripts
  • Not a cheat – just a tool
  • Even beginners can use advanced tools

State Machines

plugin - Godot State Charts
  • Managing NPCs & effects without one = spaghetti
  • Rudimentary: signal connections in a script
  • Sophisticated: State Charts plugin, nice UI

Behaviour Trees

plugin – LimboAI
  • Forces modular, separated code
  • Reusable scripts (e.g. find_navigable_position)
  • Visual debugger!!!

Behaviour Trees

plugin – LimboAI

Auto Tiling Maps

built in
  • You will spend more time on maps than you think
  • Set it up properly – even in a jam
  • Then you can just draw your levels

Dual Grid System

plugin: TileMapDual
  • Based on Oskar Stålberg's system
  • Standard 3x3 bitmask: up to 47 tiles
  • Dual-grid: only 15 tiles
  • NB* Artists at jams

Automator

built in – AnimationPlayer
  • Animates EVERYTHING. Literally.
  • Every editor setting has a key position
  • Ours handles transitions, music, and more

Scalable Vector Shapes 2D

plugin
  • Vectors inside Godot
  • Scale and animate easily
  • Feels like Moho or Rive

Tips and stuff

Git Good

  • Version control == essential
  • Even for solo devs
  • and artists

Get used to code

  • Write your code to be read
  • Don't be afraid of the wall of text
  • You can do it!
code wall of text
(even this presentation is code)

Explore Godot!

  • Great internal docs
  • People!
  • Tutorials

Strongly type things

  • Makes auto complete work
  • Stops bugs

Asset Lib

  • Built-in, full of community plugins
  • Each links to a documented Github repo

Quantity over quality

  • 10 ok assets > 1 great one
  • 20 variations of one effect, randomized at runtime
  • Teaches you what "modular" means for your engine

Go make something