I had tried out the Godot engine back when it was 2.x and while it seemed kinda interesting, the UI was obscure, and it just didn’t seem like a good fit for me. I got a subscription to Construct 3, as well as a GameMaker Studio. There were lots of tutorials on Youtube for them, and I like that Construct 3 was based on JavaScript and other web technologies.

Then I started working on my own game engine. I call it IttyBittyRPG. It’s a simple tool to allow folks to create small RPG’s and stories. I’ve been inspired by the simple tools like the Bitsy game engine and Twine. My goal is to create something that will let you make simple games on your phone that you can share with friends and have fun in little worlds.

I had seen new tutorials about Godot 3.0. The UI was revamped, and the workflow seemed to have been updated. I wanted to check out another mature game engine and I downloaded it and tried it out. At first I was kinda confused, but I got a few tutorials on Udemy and I have to say I’m really impressed. I like how everything is hierarchical via Nodes, and that there is a dedicated 2D and 3D mode. Also, the fact that it is open source and extensible is also a big plus.

What really surprised me was that I learned that the UI that made up the IDE was itself in fact a Godot “game”. Yes, this supposed game-centric engine had enough widgets and layout capabilities to render its own IDE! I was amazed. I started looking into the documentation and read about how well organized and set up the engine was. The scripting language is a derivation of Python, and while I’m not a super fan, it’s growing on me and certainly capable of working with the internal game objects.

I also learned of another game making tool that had taken this capacity for rendering UI widgets in Godot and created a wholly new tool on top of Godot. This got me really excited. The game tool is called RPG in a Box and it is quite inspiring in its own right.

So, here I am, working on a simple game engine (Using HTML, CSS, and JS) that I want to make mobile first, and easy to use for anyone. I discover a relatively new game engine that allows anyone to create 2D and 3D games for Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and even direct to web via webAssembly. It’s free, open source, and is extensible enough that anyone could write plugins or even new apps using it. You can even write scripts that control the IDE itself like macros.

Needless to say I’m super excited. And so should you be! I’m only at the barest beginnings of learning how this tool works. But I already know that it looks like Godot has a very bright future, and I want to continue to explore it’s features as a possible tool for me to build my own applications on top of, as well as make some cool games!

Check out a few showcase videos below:

And here’s a preview of the future:

So, you might be saying to yourself, “But … Unity.” or “I’ve got Unreal.” And you’d be right and fine with sticking with the two big giants. They have amazing communities, tons of assets, and an insane amount of developer support and games. If you are looking for the super best game engine out there, then no doubt you’ve already made your decisions. I’m not here to convince you to change your mind about your huge investment of … money … to those excellent tools.

What I am hoping to get across — as someone who’s only just scratched the surface of Godot — that there’s a lot of goodness here. And potentially in the future greatness. Look at how Blender has evolved:

All because of a passionate community of open source developers. Godot has that potential as well.

If you’ve read this far, then I’m hoping you are willing to go give Godot a try and see what I’ve seen: a simple, elegant game engine that is free, yet powerful and versatile.

As for me, I’m seriously considering abandoning my HTML, CSS, and JS plans for my tool (not that it’s not perfectly ok to build something with those technologies, but the UI is going to look like an amateur created it — because they did) and instead writing add-ons for Godot, and potentially a tool on top of the engine itself. I will continue to post here about my learnings and I hope you consider taking the trip with me!

If you would like to read more about Godot, take a look at my “Creating an RSS Reader in Godot” tutorial.

Life is like an RPG, you tell yourself. With sagas and quests and boss fights (hopefully not your work boss!) and, inevitably, NPC’s. Often when playing an RPG you find yourself raiding houses and encountering the residents within — blissfully unaware that you are robbing them of that Phoenix Down, or the bag of gold in their kitchen cabinet. As you bump into them they are only vaguely aware of your presence and will simply repeat some pithy or vague clue like “the pirates are sure active in the Crystal Cave north of the town”. Or you might run into some wandering folks in the town square who seem to be endlessly walking in circles, or standing there with a cloud or exclamation point over their heads — waiting patiently to receive some token item that you’ve faithfully fetched for them back in that Crystal Cave. ( Don’t forget, it’s north of the town ).

Of course real life is not an RPG, as much as we would like it to be, but there are parallels. One of those is the presence of “NPC’s”. You’ve probably encountered on your day to day journeys. Those people that seem to be in the background wherever you go — chatting on their phone, walking their dog, or otherwise being — for lack of a better word — mundane. When I would go out with my kids I would often play a game with them about who or who wasn’t an NPC. You could tell non-NPC’s (or, I guess, PC’s) because — at least for us — they would be people who seemed aware of their surroundings, instead of actively ignoring all the people and scenery around them. Often they would not be using their phone, but instead be looking around, smiling, and interacting with folks around them. Whereas NPC’s would be mostly staring downward at their phones, or looking bored, or passively watching some sports team on a screen nearby.

We would make up fun stories of the PC’s who were on a grand quest, or who were seeking other PC’s to take on that next challenge. Often they would have colorful hair, cool clothes, or otherwise look like “rebels”. I think mainly what we saw as PC’s were people who were being authentic, aware, and engaged. The people who were checked out, bored, or simply “plain” we’d designate as NPC’s.

Obviously, this is a very arbitrary designation. Surely one day someone might come across as an NPC because they were having a bad day, or perhaps they were tired from a long day and were just wanting to check out. Also, having some special interests like sci-fi or racing or Harry Potter may also tip you into PC territory. You often find in the real world PC’s in seemingly NPC roles. Like for instance working in libraries or bookstores, coffee shops, or even the occasional Chipotle. It really doesn’t matter the role or location, it’s the person that really makes the designation.

I assume you are a person who would not like the NPC life. Being checked out, bored, constantly doing the same things over and over, responding to people in a robotic fashion, and generally living a dull, repetitive life. If you strive to become a full “player character”, here’s some tips.

1. Avoid the routine. Find ways to make aspects of your life that are routine into an adventure. Find a different way to get to work each day. Order lunch from a new location. Write a blog. Try out a new JavaScript library.
2. Be engaged. When you are out and about, try not to just be a phone zombie. Look around yourself. Smell the smells. Look at the people around you. See someone who looks interesting? Strike up a conversation! Preferably not one you pick from a list of choices on a HUD.
3. Go on an adventure! NPC’s are stuck where they stand. They stay in the house all day, or stand behind a counter and just wait for the adventurers to come by and brighten your day. Take the initiative and go somewhere new. Take a trip to the museum. Go to the movies and watch a film you would never have picked for yourself. (I recommend ‘The Shape of Water’.)
4. Respond (to life)in different ways. When somebody interacts with you, find different ways to respond than just the routine “hi” or “nice weather”. Have a series of interests that you are following and present them like little gifts when you talk to people.
5. Don’t let people walk over you. You know that Hero that comes into your living space and steals your (item) joy? Don’t let them do that any more. Stand your ground. Notice your surroundings. Speak up!

If you find that doing these things is hard, that’s a good thing. Stretching yourself, becoming aware of your surroundings, engaging with people is taxing to the mind and it takes effort. That’s the whole point. NPC’s glide effortlessly through their day — zoned out, boring, and predictable. You want to be more than that. You want to be the Hero. You want to find the Treasure in the Crystal Cave and make it back out alive. You can’t do that if you are an NPC.

I’m just starting to write about life, gaming, and coding. If you found this little article interesting, or even if you didn’t , please let me know so I can grow up to be a real writer someday, and break free from NPC.

Knowing that I could create “pages” with just a few HTML tags and later on CSS and JavaScript transformed my life, and my career. Before that, I wanted to become a Cognitive Scientist — learning how to make AI and ALife (Watch out, AI. ALife will catch the world by surprise — but more on that later). After learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I found one of my first passions in life. To create web pages.

However, I also had another passion. It was to create games. When a kid in school I did the whole DnD thing, Which-Way books, and even tried out some of the “shareware” early IF (interactive fiction) software. While I tried many things — nothing really “stuck” and I ended up always being a dabbler.

However, in recent years the web has grown to become an all encompassing way to build just about anything. Including games. New tools like Gamemaker , PhaserJS, and Construct have opened the door for folks like me once again to have that “ah-hah” moment where you can put together some blocks and a little bit of events — so much like building an HTML page.

There are many parallels between creating indie 2-d games and building web pages. For the web, you create atomic elements with HTML, change their appearance with CSS, and then give them interactions and listen for events with JavaScript. Taking that knowledge and applying it to game making is very straightforward. For most game making tools you have the equivalent of a “page” with some kind of room. HTML elements translate to Sprites which then can listen for events like mouse movements or key presses.

I’ve found that much of what I have learned as a web developer translates very well over to (2D) game making. There are even things from “games” like Sprite Sheets and requestAnimationFrame that crossed over into the web. There are, however differences that one must be aware of.

For pages, the content is the king. Folks are reading stuff, and perhaps clicking to buy, or mousing around a carousel, etc. For games, it’s the Systems that are king. Your waves of enemies, the next quest, the skill tree that levels up the character, the specific settings for gravity that “feels” right for a platformer. These are things that you don’t necessarily encounter as a web developer, and it’s this very difference that makes game development so gratifying.

You get to use new ideas, and new ways of developing something new, while leveraging your skills with the “web” to make creating that game that much better.

So, what is the point of this article? I want you to take a moment and think about the skills that you have right now. Perhaps you code in C++, or perhaps you write excellent spreadsheets. Or you might love the web like I do. Think about your other passions, like say music. How can you leverage what you already know in your “day” job to give life to your other passions in a unique way. Imagine if you combined spreadsheets and music in some creative way, or you used your C++ skills to create an app that helps lost dogs find their owners.

Everything is connected. I love the web, and I love making games. I’ve learned that I can let those passions mix together to create something wholly new. What will YOU do with your special mix of knowledge and talent to create something brand new and interesting? I’d love to see it!

As for me, I’m going to go have fun making games knowing that I’m not starting from zero, but that I already know a lot about making something for the web, and that I can use that to create something for people to play that is unique.

My greatest desire, however is to find a way to encourage you to do the same with your skills and desires. GO DO IT!

I’ve been struggling for a while to finally break through and make a “game”. You know, something more than a tech demo, or a clone of something everyone else is making. Getting a voice: a vote in the amazing conversation that is going on with the explosion of indie games that is currently happening.

No doubt we are in a kind of Cambrian Explosion of indie games. And it’s great. Even if every person on earth had their own game out there, it would not be enough. Every game is like a mini-world. A set of rules that you get to explore and test the borders of, or find the secret gems hidden so carefully within.

So, as I’ve always dabbled in game development — even getting so far as creating a few haphazard RPG engines for the web — I wanted to finally stop playing around and MAKE SOMETHING. After a lot of searching and poking around with engines like Construct 3, Superpowers, PhaserJS, and more I finally decided to “settle” on Gamemaker Studio 2.

Why do this instead of the “roll your own” strategy? Well, I want to actually get a game out this year, and not get bogged down in library code, and trying to make a square move after weeks of coding.

I’ve gone back and forth between three top candidates : Construct 3, PhaserJS, and Gamemaker Studio 2. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, which you can surely discover on your own. However the thing that finally convinced me to dive into Gamemaker Studio 2 was the fact that there are actually shipped games using this engine, and there’s a large community of friendly people who are more than happy to help you with questions and tips.

PhaserJS and Construct 3 also have great communities, and Construct 3 allows you to make games on any platform now with their web based editor — and PhaserJS probably has the most advanced JavaScript engine, but it seems like Gamemaker Studio 2 has the features I’m looking for while not being too expensive or having too much of a learning curve. ( This is also why I passed by on Unity. It’s great, but kinda overkill for the simple 2D games I want to create.)

I’ve flip-flopped a lot with this — because those other engines are also quite attractive. But right now Construct 3 is still too rough around the edges, and PhaserJS doesn’t have a good IDE that’s not too expensive. Other engines I’m sure are great too, like Defold — which was a serious contender for a while, and Smile Game Builder — which if you are making an RPG you should definitely get and try out.

For me, I just want the shortest path to having a game I can post on my new itch.io account and share with the world. I want to have a voice in this new conversation about building worlds and exploring new horizons. And Gamemaker Studio 2 is for me the best choice right now. It’s the best of “many” worlds, to create “many” worlds.

I hope to post “dev blogs” here (and crosspost to itch.io ) about my progress, and I hope this encourages you to go out and make that game you’ve always wanted to as well.

If you want some tips on getting started with GMS2 — check out Shaun Spalding’s videos. My first game is going to be called NarraTiles — and it’s going to be awesome — of course :)

I’ve been following the progress of a new RPG making tool called Smile Game Builder. I bought it a while back in September, but never really got much time to play with it, or check out it’s features. Recently, however, given the holiday time off, I started looking at it once again and was pleasantly surprised at the progress the team has been making to improve the engine. Users have been asking fervently for a 3-D battle system to replace the existing 2-D system which is — to say the least — underwhelming. They have come through in a big way as you can see here.

Having seen how often they update, and their dedication to their users, I’ve decided to give the engine a try and build a simple game with it. I’ll document my findings here on this blog/site/medium whatever it is and hopefully you’ll gain some insight as well.

You can try out a fully fleshed out game created with SGB here: It’s called The Story of Grand Boom Kingdom — which is similar to SGB — Smile Game Builder. This engine has some challenges to face — as it is competing against RPGMaker — the reigning king of RPG making tools, but I think it has a huge number of benefits going for it. For one, it’s 3D which opens up a huge range of possibilities, it’s extensible — meaning you can add new models, particles, and other effects, and finally — it’s simply fun to launch the editor and play around — a bit more daunting than RPGMaker, but way more possibilities when it comes to the range of games it can make. Here’s a page with features.

Any new tool needs documentation — and SGB has that, but also there are a growing assemblage of online videos to help out new game developers. A user named Companion Wulf has a very nice set of “getting started” videos that I’m currently going through, and others are creating things like cut-scenes, dating engines, and other types of features that really go beyond what you’d expect when you don’t even have a scripting engine. However don’t let that turn you off. There is a very nice Event system that makes it easy for non-programmers to create complicated scenes and events. This is where folks are pushing the envelope with what can be done with this tool. There’s even already a commercial game on Steam called Town of Night that’s already been published, and it’s only been a few months since the engine was released.

I have high hopes for Smile Game Builder — not only as a new engine with new potential, but as a way for folks who don’t necessarily want to learn to code to create fun and interesting games. You can check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/smilegamebuilder/.

Also note: this engine is still a work in progress. They are adding features like VR and other cool things all the time.

You should check out the free demo, or buy the engine now while it’s on sale on Steam. For more tutorials try Youtube, or take a look at the Indie DB page. A bit harder to follow, but still interesting is their Twitter feed.

Next post: I’ll link to a simple game I’ve created and talk a little about the basic features of the engine.