First of all thank you very much for the feedback!
The decision to make this a paid product was not easy, in the end, I decided that while I would like to share this, having to compete in a game jam with another person that uses my template and lose would be kinda of rough =). Giving it the lower possible price felt proper, that way even if I lose at least I know I won something XD.
As for the functionalities, yes it lacks a lot of functionalities. Recently I've been looking at other templates and I have this open question running through my mind "Is my template good alternative or even better?".
I want to add a bunch of settings and stuff to it, hopefully that will make it worth its price. If you have any recommendations of free templates that I should look please do tell.
Also if you manage to take a look at the code and have any feedback, I would love to hear it.
Viewing post in Godot SSTemplate Project jam comments
When we switched to doing game dev full time, we started by doing a bunch of game jams. The main one we did was Godot Wild Jam. One of the regulars in the jam, Maack, created a template that the jam now recommends for people starting out who want to use a template. I have not used it myself, as we created our own after our first GWJ submission and before that template was in the recommendations, and maybe before it was released. (I'm not sure on timing of when it was announced, just that we learned of it during the second or third GWJ we took part in). I did look at it when I learned of it, and if we did not already have one we probably would have used it. There are others out there, but this one is the one I recommend to people if they ask for one to use.
Personally, the thing that is missing from yours that I most value, and the reason we created our template, is input remapping. We try to have high accessibility in our games, and input remapping to allow players to use whatever inputs methods and layouts they want was something we saw mentioned a lot. When we started out, most templates and tutorials we found with input remapping only supported a single remapped input for any action, but we wanted to support at least 3, since our defaults would include support for multiple devices. We ended up going with offering 4, but once you have it setup for multiple, the number allowed is largely a UI choice.
The other big thing for a template like this, is going to be customization. We have our own template that is designed for our use. It is not very customizable, as it serves our needs and is not being offered to others. For our stuff we want a certain overall look that ties our games together, while for a template we'd want the dev to be able to personalize the look and feel more for their projects. I admit that I did consider releasing our original template while I was making it, but when I learned of Maack's, it already had all the core things ours had, and in a much more adaptable way. Since I wasn't going to release it, I focused the future template design on our needs, and left out any of the features I'd considered that would have been for making a public one. Having gone through this process myself is why I felt it important to share my thoughts, while trying not to be too critical.
I can totally understand not wanting to lose to someone using your template. Of course, the template is really just meant to be the base allowing you to skip redoing the same things repeatedly and get into making the game. The game itself is what should win or lose the jam, unless the jam is about templates. GWJ does have a category for Accessibility, and that is an area where the template can influence score. But it is only one of many, and in that jam plenty of people will be using the same template.
Good luck with your work on this. A good template is a lot of work, but also can be valuable to many people, especially those just starting out. Having multiple options with a different feel is a good thing and offers devs more choice.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. Getting feedback on this is extremely valuable for me. I truly appreciate the time you took to respond.
I checked out GWJ template, even tho I need to delve deeper into it.
I think I tried it long before starting my own. And somehow I think this template among some others is what made me make my own.
The problem that I have with them is that they are very "heavy" (packed with too many features).
I find it hard to believe that these are easy to use by people starting out (being good for them is something that I will agree to some extend =), learning how those features work is quite helpful in learning godot and probably for making games as well).
Input mapping is something that I want to add soon. And controller support is something that I really want to have in my games.
Especially now that Godot 4.7 has a virtual controller node built in.
My goal is to have a really light template that still covers most of the things I would need in terms of UI.
Hopefully I will achieve it =). Lately it seems that it is getting more complex than it needs to be.
I guess we will see how it goes.
Thank you again for taking your time to discuss things with me! Wish you the best!