Godot 4 and GDScript: make your first 2D platformer

Godot is a free and open source game engine that has become a popular choice for indie developers and game jams. It is small, starts in seconds, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and its scripting language, GDScript, is easy to read for beginners.

In this course you build Moss, a 2D platformer with a small hero who runs, jumps and collects seeds across four levels. Along the way you learn how Godot thinks: everything is a node, nodes form scenes, and scenes talk to each other through signals.

What you will learn

• The Godot editor, nodes and scenes
• GDScript basics with static typing
• A player controller with acceleration, coyote time and jump buffering
• Tile based levels with TileMapLayer
• Collectibles, hazards, enemies and checkpoints
• Animation, sound and simple particle effects
• Menus, a HUD and saving progress
• Exporting a build for desktop and the web

Game feel first

A platformer lives or dies by how the jump feels. We spend a whole section tuning movement and explaining the small tricks that make controls feel responsive, the same techniques used in many well loved indie games.

Before you start

You do not need any programming or game development experience. Free placeholder art and sounds are included in the project files, so you can focus on building. If you already code in another language, you will move through the GDScript lessons quickly.