Create a video game in the Godot engine

Godot is an open source video game development engine. In last issue we looked at the engine platform and produced our first application: a 2D interface that displayed Hello World. This issue we’re going to use Godot to develop our first video game.

We’re going to start off with a dodge ‘em game, reminiscent of Asteroids, with enemies swarming a two-dimensional environment and the player having to avoid them. However, we won’t have a weapon to begin with, so to score any points we’ll have to survive for the longest amount of time possible, without colliding with any enemies.

Two-dimensional games are simpler to create, so we’ll start there, before jumping in to a three-dimensional environment.

Let’s begin with a brand new project in Godot. Assuming that you followed along from last issue, launch Godot. Otherwise, make sure you have everything installed.

Full Steam for Godot

The easiest way of getting Godot downloaded, installed and kept up to date is by using Steam. A simple sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install steam should get Steam sorted on a Debian-based distro. There’s also a .deb installer available at SteamPowered.com. Run Steam for the first time, accept the terms and conditions and then install the font packages. Sign up and sign in, and you’re ready to go.

On the Steam store page, search for Godot, install it for free and