Why I Still Use Godot after Switching from Unity

I switched to Godot from using Unity nearly 3 years ago, and I haven't really looked back. Here are the 5 reasons I still use the open source Godot Game Engine as a Solo Indie Game Developer.

#godot #gamedev #unity

[JohnDupuyCOMO]

As an additional bonus that makes a difference to those working with others: the structure of a Godot project is git-trackable. Don't get me wrong, you can put a Unity project onto git. But other than source code, the structural elements are un-diffable binary blobs. But with Godot, change a setting, such as target windows size or a scene element or styling? You see it in line-oriented text config files in your commit history. It answers the: "what just changed?" question very easily.

[RockyMulletGamedev]

2:55 that's something I've been saying to people saying that "Most people don't make 200k anyway" no... but everybody dreams. Game making is passion craft, we are dreamers, everybody as this little "what if" in the back of their mind and that's enough to make you switch. Cause if you can't even dream to be successful anymore, what's even left ?

[joelgomes]

I agree with you 100%. About GDScript, it's the same case with me, I'm a web developer, and learning a new language only to use the engine seemed uncomfortable, but it didn't take more than a day to get used to it (it seems like a mix of Python and TypeScript, after all).

The engine flow is also super simple, all I deal with most of the time is nodes and their properties, resources and their properties, signals and their callbacks, and specific asset import details (since I work more with 3D) .

There hasn't been a single day in these two years using Godot that I've thought "this day wasn't productive", and that's great, it's a tool that doesn't stand in the way to give life to your ideas, they simply flow, you just need to know technically how to put them into practice.

[jerobarraco]

6:24 totally right.
i've been a dev for 20+ years and a game dev for 11+ years. and you hit the nail here.
if you work for a company they'll really appreciate your willingness to learn. and the most important experience is deeper than the tool or lang you use.
i had to change langs so many times and engines, and the tech itself changes. (e.g. desktop > android > vr. cascade > niagara, nanite lumen pcg metahuman they're all new. and maybe its a good time to switch to ue since noone is an expert on those new things so the ground is pretty leveled.).
i believe it's very critical to use what you love (and not something from an abusive company), but if you dont know which, just try it out. someone once told me that trying it out is how you find out.
btw awesome vid, nice vibes, down to earth, good audio, no distractive animations/noises. thumbsup-ed.

[charliehaigh]

Your game looks so good, the title screen art looks profesional.

[JeredtheShy]

Now THAT is a smug thumbnail face. You too can own this look of satisfaction.

[JoeSondow]

I’m also a Java developer, so I was planning on using C# in my Godot project but you’ve convinced me to use GDScript instead. Excellent point about the availability of good support for each language. Thank you!

[GoblinArmyInYourWalls]

Dodged a bullet is putting it lightly. I saw the writing on the wall and dipped

[erics]

Godot is basically the LINUX of game development. Free, community driven project. That's good!

[mksuprafy]

Tooling. You spend years learning, improving, building good tooling, preparing. Meanwhile, Unity is messing around.

[retrojon_]

Been using Godot since probably a year before Godot 3 came out. I'm currently developing a procedurally generated dungeon crawler, inspired by the first Legend of Zelda. This project is really making me appreciate the lightweight aspect of the engine so much because it allowed me to optimize the heck out of the dungeon generation code to the point where I can generate up to 300 rooms in half a second! I'm usually generating 20 rooms which takes an average of 35 milliseconds! (based on a sample size of 1000 generations) I've messed with other engines before but Godot is the only engine that I kept coming back to because of its ease of use, reliability, and flexibility. Also, I just made my first VR project in Godot 4 and it only took 20 minutes to get the headset and controllers tracking properly so that's a major bonus!

[Henry_GamesX]

I dodged the Unity bullet way back in 2016 back when there was Godot 2.0 because Unity was doing weird stuff back then too.

[stevendorries]

0:35 51mb in a few seconds, that’s still weird to my brain. I’ll never not be mentally on a 56k voice modem

[MrHarumakiSensei]

If you haven't been getting any crashes, try Godot 4. That's when I started getting a bunch, and it really gives me the feel that Godot can provide the experience I'm used to with bigger engines.

[mikekrow]

i just started a project around 2 weeks ago and man glad i chose to use Godot over unity. The clean interface and light weight were the main reasons I chose Godot.

[deviouschimp]

I just have to sit down and get used to the quirks of Godot.

I have tried a few times over the years, but always got put off by some quirks of the engines.

Tabs being open with different contexts, Ambiguity around what should be the base node for an game object, very very vauge errors with no further explanation...

I simply tried to recreate Asteroids... and kept getting an erros and bugs from spawning smaller asteroids on hit.

Either the game throws an error saying it can't spawn the object... or it would spawn a million copies of the object and crash the game.

I know it's just a matter of learning and improving... just really depressing to feel so stupid when you mastered an engine over years of learning..

[lizmichaels]

Love your giant cat tree. Nice video, very friendly.

[restushlogic]

Before I used Unity, I don't have a girlfriend, no social life, no money, and no time. But after Unity announce new Runtime Fee, I'm still don't have those things. Well, back to work.

[lufog]

3:58 also compared to Unity, Godot projects are tiny and git friendly.

[DiegoSynth]

I totally agree. Lightweight, no need to install (just unzip and good to go), runs 100 times better & faster (no more constant reloading, recompiling, freezing, crashing, pop up loading who knows what, opening with errors, again, again and again, etc.)
Also no more creating prefabs to send as parameters to the code, to declare in the code, to instantiate them, etc. Godot's interaction between editor and code is great, the full model is really good.
Yes there are things that are controversial, or lacking, like physics, soft bodies, some UI decisions, and more. But all in all, I find it closer to my way of thinking.