Before choosing a language or an engine, it helps to know what every game has in common. This module covers what makes a game work: the mechanics that shape how it feels, the building blocks every engine gives you, and why the fastest way to learn is to build a small prototype and play it.
You'll start with design lessons on mechanics, genres, prototyping, and playtesting. Then you'll see how Unity, Godot, and Unreal Engine each organize a game into objects, scenes, scripts, and input. You'll finish by building a first playable game in Godot.
With the basics in place, you'll be ready for Pick a Programming Language, where you choose the language you'll use to write gameplay.
Game Maker's Toolkit on what makes a game feel the way it does: mechanics drive the experience, genres are loose, and an idea only counts once you prototype and playtest it.
A fast tour of how a game is put together in Unity: game objects, components, C# scripts, input, and physics, ending with a playable prototype.
The same building blocks in Godot: scenes and nodes, scripts in GDScript, input mapping, and exporting a finished game.
A quick look at Unreal Engine: the visual editor, actors, materials, lighting, and adding gameplay logic with Blueprints.
Put the ideas into practice by building Monster Chase from scratch: create and control a player, add monsters, and give them simple AI.