Where to start for game development with python?

[VirusDumb]

So basically I've been wanting to learn to make games for more than 6 years, recently I upgraded my 10 year old PC by slapping some Ram and a gt 730 so that it can atleast run Unity, and started with tutorials from brackeys, but during that I've faced some issues, like things (usually code) showing up as obsolete and having to browse around comments and forums to find a fix, but, this thing I'm doing is on the side, in my School Syllabus for Computer science there's python (and the brackeys tutorials are in C#), so I really want to learn to make games (on Unity) with python, I have no experience with unity (apart from the 5 tutorial videos I watched on brackeys), but I have some ( till Printing useless patterns with for loop, and some putting stuff in lists) experience with python, but the main problem is, I can't find many tutorials to do so, and I really can't afford a paid course as my parents don't support it.

[heimdali]

IIRC vegastrike uses python for something.  Maybe you can learn from it.

 

Why python?  Wouldn't that be somewhat slow for games?

 

[SupaKomputa]

AFAIK unity uses C#, the phyton-like script has been scrapped / deprecated.

[mariushm]

Python is an interpreted language, which means it's much slower than other programming languages which produce a compiled executable, so it's less popular for games for this reason. C# , C and other languages are more popular for this. 

 

I feel you're trying to jump over a lot of steps by going directly to a game engine like Unity when you barely have the basics of programming.

 

How about you start from something simpler and try to make a game like let's say Tetris or some platformer like Mario or a simplified Celeste? 

You could use Pygame or SDL for basic 2D stuff, and you'd learn to use sprites, you'd learn how to control characters in game, how to do jumps and stuff, how to detect collisions with objects in the game, how to do animations and lots of things. 

You'll end up with lots more useful knowledge than simply copying what others make in tutorials 

 

 

[JogerJ]

Python is too slow for anything graphical. The only games made in python that ever took off are mostly visual novels, because Renpy. Developers can focus more on writing a good story than figuring out how coding works because it relies on python.

If you want to do anything involving 3D, go learn C# or C++. C# will run your games, your OS, your peripherals, etc.

[VirusDumb]

7 hours ago, heimdali said:

Why python?  Wouldn't that be somewhat slow for games?

That's the programming language that I'm most familiar with and it's on my curriculum.

 

I just have no idea where to start, I want to learn something which I can master without having to spend money.

[heimdali]

2 hours ago, VirusDumb said:

That's the programming language that I'm most familiar with and it's on my curriculum.

And that curriculum requires you to write some kind of game in python?

2 hours ago, VirusDumb said:

I just have no idea where to start, I want to learn something which I can master without having to spend money.

That's very general.  You could learn to bake bred without spending extra money.  It's very rewarding because the times when you could buy enjoyable bred are long gone.  I don't buy bred anymore.  You could even make money with it because I can imagine that a lot of people would be willing to spend $10 on a well baked bred once in while if you put it up for sale, at least those who remember good bred and those who tried it.  The junk that comes out of the factories they call bred is, well, junk that can go into the trash right away.

 

Maybe you're putting the cart before the horse in that you're trying to do something before you figured out what you want to do.  So what do you want to do (learn)?

 

[VirusDumb]

1 hour ago, heimdali said:

And that curriculum requires you to write some kind of game in python?

Nah, it's just boring programing 

 

1 hour ago, heimdali said:

Maybe you're putting the cart before the horse in that you're trying to do something before you figured out what you want to do.  So what do you want to do (learn)?

I just want to make a game and pick up some coding skills but have no idea where to start.

[mariushm]

Start by making some simple games as I said, like Tetris , or the Nokia worm game, or whatever...  they can even be text mode, just manipulating characters on screen.

Then go on from there. 

Making a game is not point and click and check that in a game engine, it's not writing just a few lines of code, you need lots of things to learn about, start with something small first and learn the basics then advance to something more complex.

[heimdali]

31 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

Nah, it's just boring programing 

 

I just want to make a game and pick up some coding skills but have no idea where to start.

When programming is boring for you, programming isn't for you.

 

How about using the Unreal engine?  IIUC it's intended not to require programming but to allow the game developers do what they want without.

 

And did you check out vegastrike?

 

[riklaunim]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:00 PM, VirusDumb said:

That's the programming language that I'm most familiar with and it's on my curriculum.

 

I just have no idea where to start, I want to learn something which I can master without having to spend money.

 

There is limited emphasis on game development in Python. There is PyGame and few other libraries but most traffic (guides, tutorials, resources and tools) are for Unity and Unreal (C#).

 

And don't expect to master anything faster than in few years at minimum. You can watch a guide for some simple showcase game, try to create something similar and hit a wall of actual complexity of game dev. And if you want to get a job later on - for Python it will be mostly web dev so you should know that. Plus if it's boring for you then I doubt you get  a job as for junior positions there is a lot of applicants. Bad code, lazy/lack of skill is first to get rejected.

[Takumidesh]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:00 AM, VirusDumb said:

That's the programming language that I'm most familiar with and it's on my curriculum.

 

I just have no idea where to start, I want to learn something which I can master without having to spend money.

Start by learning programming first.

Also read some books.

Everyone wants to jump in and make a game from nowhere. Programming and as a subset game design is a skill like anything else.

If you were very new to playing music would you expect to be able to just jump into an orchestra and keep up with everyone else?

 

Get comfortable writing code. Get past the roadblocks that stop beginners (environment issues, common anti-patterns, how and why things work)

 

Don't try to race an F1 car just because you got your learner's permit.

[Guest]

On 11/10/2022 at 3:04 AM, VirusDumb said:

like things (usually code) showing up as obsolete and having to browse around comments and forums to find a fix,

Welcome to programming. 

On 11/10/2022 at 3:04 AM, VirusDumb said:

my School Syllabus for Computer science there's python (and the brackeys tutorials are in C#),

It's easier to support one programming language. 

Your college choose python because it's "easy"

Unity choose c# because it's "fast" when compiled.

On 11/10/2022 at 3:04 AM, VirusDumb said:

so I really want to learn to make games (on Unity) with python,

You can download older versions of unity. 

The last version to support Boo was like... Unity 4?

This engine version is no longer supported but that doesn't mean you cannot make games. 

Boo is a python like language. 

On 11/10/2022 at 3:04 AM, VirusDumb said:

I have no experience with unity (apart from the 5 tutorial videos I watched on brackeys), but I have some ( till Printing useless patterns with for loop, and some putting stuff in lists) experience with python, but the main problem is, I can't find many tutorials to do so, and I really can't afford a paid course as my parents don't support it.

I started with JavaScript or "unity script" as unity called it at the time. 

I would say it was definitely worth it for me to learn c#. 

I don't know much about how python works but python can do a lot. 

Keep learning python. 

 

You have two choices:

1. Figure out the last version of unity to support Boo and find the code snippets you can to get started. THEN... Plan a project and using what you learned from code snippets, you should know exactly how to make what you want to make. 

 

2. Learn c#. I love c#, it's my favorite language. You can learn c# on code cademy, or you can get a book called "learn c# in a day and learn it well." 

 

 

If you're dead set on unity you can do one of the two. 

 

I think learning pygame is the option you should go with. However, it's up to you in what you do. 

[VirusDumb]

4 hours ago, fpo said:

. Learn c#. I love c#, it's my favorite language. You can learn c# on code cademy, or you can get a book called "learn c# in a day and learn it well." 

 

Just doing that, but instead with brackeys, thanks for the reccomendation, I'll see if I can get the book

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

Just doing that, but instead with brackeys, thanks for the reccomendation, I'll see if I can get the book

It's only like 10 bucks. C# is also used in business programming as an alternate to Java. 

[Takumidesh]

4 hours ago, fpo said:

It's only like 10 bucks. C# is also used in business programming as an alternate to Java. 

Not just business programming... C# is taking over the world! MWAHAHAHAHA...

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, Takumidesh said:

Not just business programming... C# is taking over the world! MWAHAHAHAHA...

Haha, sure is. 

 

Figured I'd give him an argument to ask his parents to buy the book for him. 

 

I imagine that's his major roadblock when it comes to making games. 

[Takumidesh]

1 minute ago, fpo said:

Figured I'd give him an argument to ask his parents to buy the book for him. 

This is legitimately the best reason to learn C# IMO. 

 

It is probably the most practical language for getting real work, that is also suited for fun hobby stuff.

 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Takumidesh said:

This is legitimately the best reason to learn C# IMO. 

 

It is probably the most practical language for getting real work, that is also suited for fun hobby stuff.

 

Except when it comes to me setting it up to work with Godot and vs code on my laptop. 

Then it's super infuriating. XD

 

But that's a personal problem haha

[VirusDumb]

12 hours ago, fpo said:

It's only like 10 bucks. C# is also used in business programming as an alternate to Java. 

I just can't find it for sale anywhere 

[SlothWorkaholic]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:04 AM, VirusDumb said:

I want to learn to make games (on Unity) with python

Sounds fun, but doesn't work. Python will not get You past 2D games. I strongly recommend learning C# alongside Unity. And for that there is a sea of free tutorials on youtube.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, VirusDumb said:

I just can't find it for sale anywhere 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1518800270/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

[VirusDumb]

43 minutes ago, fpo said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1518800270/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Well amazon.com doesn't deliver to my country, we use amazon.in but nvm, got the book for free with my mum's prime membership 

 

Thanks 

[mariushm]

You didn't even have to buy anything, you only had to search for them 

 

Example :   https://github.com/EbookFoundation/free-programming-books/blob/main/books/free-programming-books-langs.md#csharp

Has around 4000 books, link above goes straight to C# section

 

Another page with around 300 books :  https://www.theinsaneapp.com/2021/01/free-programming-books.html

 

and a smaller selection here : https://www.toptal.com/software/toptal-s-list-of-top-free-programming-books

 

Still think you're making a mistake jumping into C# and game engines, and that you'd learn much more by making some game - any game - in Python or whatever you know already.

With C# you'll probably either be distracted and jump into doing other things and wasting time, or you'll be so demoralized you'll soon give up because you find it too complicated.