itch.io

Thank you!

Some people get frustrated by the sandboxing done by the app. Others would like a much longer course that has a lot more detail. Overall it's done well and it's used in many schools, but it's actually quite difficult to make a really inclusive programming basics course that works for everyone. You'd need something that adapts to different people. Also, often, different individuals need someone there to clear specific doubts that block them. I think that's in part why our stuff's used quite a bit in schools and we didn't really get issues reported by teachers - they are there with students in the classroom to clear doubts as they come up.

Thanks for the kind words!

I understand, you seem to have already learned programming notions covered by the app before, so as the app is an alternative to learning these notions, and you're now actually looking for the next step, so it's not what you need at all.

Languages are a good analogy and I'd say the app and many of the videos you watched follow exactly the process you describe: learn a concept, see how it's used, and use it yourself. Your problem is that at this stage what we're doing is more analogous to learning the alphabet and combining letters to write words words, and you've already done that and you're looking to put sentences together. You now need resources that take you through creating many different prototypes of increasing complexity.

This app and probably many videos you watched are a steppingstone for that phase. It's necessary if you want to help many people because without that, lots of people quit. The ideal formula would be something with a lot of optional notes that'd give people who get frustrated by the lack of context a lot of extra information without burdening students who can't take that extra cognitive load. I hope to have the time and resources to do something like this someday.

But to give you an idea, in our curriculum, it takes about 1 semester to get where you're looking to get, through 10 course modules. This app is 1 out of those 10 modules. You need this amount of learning and practice, layering concepts gradually, to get to the point where you have enough skills to really understand code.

There's really a lot to learn, but if you're looking for free resources to learn programming for games, I can recommend Godotneers' lessons. They don't form a structured learning path and some might be above your current skill level but they're each quite detailed and worth bookmarking. In the Godot community, people made free resource lists that have overlap but also allow you to cobble things together and unlocks pieces of the puzzle with each new series or project you follow. I'd recommend taking a look at that, and at your stage probably skipping the resources that explain basic coding concepts, it sounds like that's not what you need now.

I just saw the comments mentioning issues, I pushed a new build for web, macOS, and Windows. Please let me know if you keep having issues - you can reach me directly at support [at] gdquest.com if needed.

Go to options -> Language -> Italian and click Apply to display the Italian version.

For the latest release, we're lacking maybe 5% of Italian translations. The Italian version is community-translated. If anyone wants to help bring it back up to 100%, they can contribute translations here: https://github.com/GDQuest/learn-gdscript-translations/

I absolutely understand it's easy to forget some parts, and there could be more practices to go more gradually, as well as more user experience features if we had more funding. The app helped many people learn, and we're well aware that it can be improved and how. We've started work on a complete remake from scratch, though the lack of funding for this kind of free and open-source project makes it challenging to achieve.

To answer the specific case of the for loop you mention, I would invite you to re-read the lesson dedicated to for loops, where this is introduced ( https://gdquest.github.io/learn-gdscript/#course/lesson-18-for-loops/lesson.tres ).

When you write a for loop, you define a temporary variable to which the computer will assign individual values from the array. It's something we introduce in the lesson linked above. So when writing for size in rectangle_sizes, the size bit is a variable that we, the developers, create. You could name it however you'd like, for example, for current_rectangle_size in rectangle_sizes. 

In each loop iteration, the loop variable will receive one value extracted from the rectangle_sizes array.

We'd need to make a different app for touch screens. You need a keyboard for this one. For now, we don't have the budget to make a separate mobile app or even just to remake the system to work without a keyboard.

That'd be great but it's not easy to do. We currently don't have the budget to achieve that.

Thanks for reporting it!

The jam starts in 15 hours! Are you excited?

We're already more than 200 developers registered for the event, pretty impressive! I can't wait to see all the games that result from it 😄

What's your goal for the jam? Do you plan on exploring specific features in Godot?

I'm going to try and find a concept that will make for a good open source demo for learning purposes, as usual. Even if it's not 100% on the theme.

Some quick advice to rock the jam

Sleep well: if you don't rest your code quality will get lower, you will generate bugs and waste time. I think it's best to work at most 10 or maybe 12 hours a day if you really want to push your project, but you have to make sure to get a good night of rest, to get away from the computer from time to time… It helps to keep your mind fresh and to stay productive.

Focus on one or two game mechanics: the best way to both manage the game scope and to make the game fun is to focus on one mechanic and to dig it as much as possible. I say one but it can be one, or two. It gives your project clear bounds so that you don't waste time going in many directions. Your programming work will have to focus on that mechanic, making it as fun and as pleasant as possible.

Start with a prototype: to know if the game will work or not you want to prototype the full game loop at the start of the project. Focus on the core mechanic, the core loop, and the controls. You don't want the game to look good at this point: you just need to set the pace, proportions, the flow of the game. And to have your full loop, with the fail and win conditions, if possible.

Do you have some more advice to share with everyone? Please add it below!

Hey there! This is off topic for this game jam so I will lock the topic.

You may want to look and general into game development groups on social networks. There are some on Facebook, and you can find general forums like TIG source where you may have better luck finding people to work with.

Thanks for the share @tinmanjuggernaut ! I went ahead and fixed the links in your post as itch grouped them in one URL.

I highly recommend starting with the docs (first link above), the official demos and the gdquest godot demos as they're designed for learning.

Both Chris (KidsCanCode) and I (GDquest) worked on the official docs, along with many other industry professionals. They're getting more and more polished over time. The getting started series alone should keep you busy until the jam starts :)

This jam is for Godot games only. From the jam page, first line:

"Time for a new Godot Community Game Jam, to have fun together making free and open source games with Godot Engine"