Fear and Loathing in Game Development

Iā€™ve learned a lot over the years ā€” mostly about my own shortcomings, sometimes about my strengths, and only a little about my fellow humans. I always try to finish any project or task I take on, but itā€™s much easier when Iā€™m actually passionate about it. Tutorials and long technical manuals rarely spark that fire; Iā€™m driven by a clear image in my head and the impatience to turn it into something real.

Right now that ā€œsomethingā€ is a game. Itā€™s an old RPG I first wrote decades ago and have ported to new languages over the years, partly out of curiosity and partly as a way to learn. The very first version was in BASIC, the first language I ever touched ā€” turnā€‘based text, some cool ASCII art, and a lot of imagination doing the heavy lifting. What Iā€™ve always wanted, though, is to turn it into a realā€‘time RPG (technically tickā€‘based), something that feels alive. With modern tools, that dream finally feels within reach. The hard part, as always, is dragging the idea out of my head and into the world.

GODOT

My first experience with a game engine was modding TES3: Morrowind. It was exhilarating to tweak something, spawn a character, and then see it appear in the actual game world. Years later came Project Spark ā€” still one of my favorite tools ever. It was 3D, realā€‘time, easy to modify, easy to scriptā€¦ everything I wanted. A fantastic idea killed before it had time to shine by good old Microslop.

Now, more than a decade later, Iā€™m trying again. This time my weapon of choice is Godot. And Godot is way more complicated than I need. Thatā€™s not really a criticism ā€” powerful tools usually are. Itā€™s the same problem you see with image editors: Paint is simple and immediate; GIMP and Photoshop are deep but buried under layers of terminology and workflows. Paint.NET and Pinta hit the sweet spot for me: enough power to get things done without requiring a crash course in graphic design theory.

Godot has tons of tutorials, manuals, and tips online, and theyā€™ve helped. But what it really lacks is a proper beginner mode ā€” something built into the editor that walks you through common tasks without assuming you already know the entire pipeline. Even something as basic as creating a road turns into a multiā€‘step ritual involving meshes, curves, textures, coordinates, and a dozen tiny settings. Iā€™m sure this is second nature for professional developers, but for a firstā€‘timer itā€™s anything but intuitive.

I know there are other engines ā€” RPG Maker, Unreal, Unity, and whatever else ā€” and Iā€™m sure they all excel at their own niche. But I think I like Godot, and the finish line finally feels within reach. The scripting is great, the coding was easy, and that part actually feels fun. Itā€™s the 3D worldā€‘building thatā€™s far harder than I would have wished.

The Road Ahead

I hope to release an earlyā€‘access demo on itch.io once the prototype is solid enough. One of the trickiest parts so far has been finding assets. There are free ones out there, and Iā€™ve used several, but itā€™s a strange balance to walk. On one hand I want to support creators and pay for their work; on the other hand I donā€™t exactly have a game budget lying around. Free assets get you moving, but they also make your project look like every other hobby game on the internet.

The plan ā€” or at least the hope ā€” is to get the prototype into a state where people can actually play it, get a bit of hype going, and then bring in an animator and a graphic designer to give the game real art and real movement. Iā€™m confident in the core system. The design document is strong, the mechanics exist exactly the way I want them to, and the core gameplay loop is genuinely fun. In the end, thatā€™s what matters. But I wonā€™t pretend that proper graphics, animation, and sound wouldnā€™t elevate the whole thing dramatically.

If I can get the world to feel right, even with placeholder art, then the rest can come later. One step at a time ā€” or one tick at a time, I suppose.