What Functions Can a Non-Coding Artist/Designer Accomplish with the Godot Game Engine?

GregSmith

Gentlefolk:

I am not a Programmer or Coder - and I hope NEVER to become one. I do not like abbreviations, secret (coded) language and detest the " _" keyboard character.

I do, however, like the idea of adding computer interactivity to animated characters. I have no aversion to writing instructions for how I would like an animated character of my making to behave in a 2D or 3D environment, using the understandable language of my native origin (English).

As of today, I understand that the Godot Game Engine does not possess the ability of writing instructions on how game objects are to behave - in plain English. Is there any possibility that such functionality could ever be added to Godot? Is there any possibility that something approaching "English-Like" instructions could ever be implemented, as a compromise?

As of today, what kind of interactivity can I introduce into my animated character, using Godot, that does NOT involve writing the instructions to do so in the un-intuitive syntax and abbreviated language of CODE?

Thank you,

Greg Smith

Ross

No, it's not possible to make games without learning anything or doing any work. ~~Take off your fedora and grow up.~~

GDScript, like Python, is extremely "English-Like". It is the compromise you are talking about. There are no curly brackets, semicolons, or ||s necessary, and no "secret language" that I know of. You can literally write: if falling and scared: scream(). If that's not intuitive then the english language certainly isn't either. If these keyboard characters: () are also enough to send you into a spiral of uncontrolled rage, then you shouldn't try to be a writer either.

Programming itself is actually really easy. The sometimes frustrating part (the part that can take some time) is learning how a given game engine works. The best way for a total beginner is probably to follow some tutorials and copy-paste their code without thinking too much and check out the example projects. Mess around with the graphics and settings in the editor until you get the feel of things, and try adjusting some numbers in the scripts to make things work differently. Then gradually work your way deeper. Try mixing together bits of code from different tutorials to add new features to a project, and so on. Pretty soon you'll get the hang of it and be making more complicated projects of your own design.

. . TL;DR: You can do anything with Godot, with plain English commands. Just be born into plenty of money and pay someone with actual life skills to do what you want!

waiting4

Greg, I'm not all sure what you're asking for. Do you only want to use it to animate sprites for other engines? Are you interested in making a game, or are you only using the tools in your own pipeline for whatever project you're working on?

BinaryOrange

I've never known of an "English-Like" scripting language, at least in the terms oi what you're talking about.

However, code is far easier to write than people tend to think, especially when starting out with something as easy as Python/GDscript. Yes, you have to use the underscore character in some cases, but you get used to it.

However, if you have non interest in learning code at all, then Godot sadly is not for you, as you pretty much have to code most of everything.

GregSmith

Here is my question, again:

What Functions Can a Non-Coding Artist/Designer Accomplish with the Godot Game Engine?

Now, with more clarity: Is there any form of interactivity that can be added to animated characters or other animated objects without writing these instructions in GDScript - or any other programming (CODING) language? Are there any plans to implement a system of writing instructions (or dragging and dropping pre-made instructions) that will avoid the ambiguity found everywhere in the Godot Class Reference, such as:

method_track_get_key_indices ( int idx, float time_sec, float delta ) const method_track_get_params ( int idx, int key_idx ) const get_modulate ( ) const timeseek_node_seek ( String id, float pos_sec ) oneshot_node_set_filter_path ( String id, NodePath path, bool enable )

. . . and many, many more.

These obscure "translations" of processes which could otherwise be written in very plain English make it impossible for any non-coder to understand, by simply reading, what these things mean, when to use them, how to use them or why to use them at all.

This should make it clear that Godot is a tool made for Coders by Coders - as far as I can tell. Maybe I am missing something - but is this actually the case?

Thank you, Greg Smith

TwistedTwigleg

Here are my two cents:

You'll never find a game engine that requires no 'coding'. There are engines like Stencyl and Scratch that give you 'visual coding' and perhaps those are closer to what you are looking for. I have used both, and personally I find actually writing code to be easier, but maybe that's just me. Even with those two engines, they still have their own 'coding' language (the drag and drop blocks) that have their own syntax. English, sadly, doesn't make a very good programming language (too many complexities!)

As for Godot, I really would suggest learning Python (GDScript is almost exactly the same). I started programming in python at eight years old! :smiley: It's really not hard once you get into it! I would suggest buying and reading through the book Hello world as it is a great introduction to python (python knowledge translates almost 1-1 to GDScript. Though the book will teach you how to use pygame, which is slightly different from Godot, it's still a great introduction and book!).

As far as the class reference examples go, I've only used get_modulate(). The class reference is really only for showing the programmer the functions (or abilities, to put in it English) that a node can accomplish (example: get_modulate() returns the color tint you can assign in the inspector). The class reference isn't meant to be an introduction to coding/programming/making games in Godot. Maybe look through some Godot tutorials and see what you think! There are great tutorials by (Game from scratch)[http://www.gamefromscratch.com/page/Godot-Game-Engine-tutorial-series.aspx] for Godot.

To conclude, Godot is a tool made for coders/programmers by coders/programmers. Every game engine is made by coders/programmers for coders/programmers, just how they represent their choice of 'coding' is different.