Thread by @ringlas

For obvious recent circumstances I finally dedicated hours to properly try out #GodotEngine

As a side project, I rebuilt from the ground up my 2017 mobile app Transomnie (with around 200 000 installs) from Unity to #Godot4.

Here's how it went and what was my experience: 🧵

I went with a full app rewrite to get a nice vertical slice that would be simple enough to complete as a side gig in a reasonable time frame.

After 2500 lines of code, here are the interesting things I tackled:

- UI
- GDScript (can't export to mobile in C# yet)
--- XML Parsing and custom Interfaces
- Input System
- Localisation and Fonts
- Production builds (Android and iOS (pending review))
- Plugins and Tools

I have some background in web, Java as well as WPF. Where Unity's old UI system (which is still very curent for most devs) feels like an archaic Java behemoth from the Netbeans era that scares you every time when the GC hits or the whole Canvas gets dirty, Godot's is just superb.

Before getting into GDScript, I do assume issues are within my newby knowledge of Godot. Usually there is a Godot way of doing things I am just not aware of yet. Still, I am not a fan of the string-y ducktaping nature of a dynamic lang, lacking interfaces and generics.

But you have a built in editor that runs smoothly even on my 2015 Macbook Pro with a proper debuger. You can also bypass the editor and start jamming in C++. I am yet to tackle this in depth but seems very promising. Not to mention C# is already available for desktop/Switch.

I needed a smooth scroll container with elasticity that is similar to how iOS does it. I kind of have it out of the box in Unity with some tweaks, but not in Godot. However, a quick plugin install from the editor itself did the job! And I added a custom scrollbar easily.

My app is in 3 languages and I was very impressed with the native solution Godot has for localization. Everything from fonts (even certain characters), images, audio to translation tables, it's all there. 👏

Adding templates for Android and iOS, building and deploying was very smooth. I lived to see no XCode warnings project as well!

The whole notion is you have a limited in scope engine compared to Unity and Unreal that actually doesn't get in the way of indie game dev tasks.

I did experience 8500 unsupported devices in Google Play with my initial setup due to not using gl compatibility but I reduced those to accetable 2500 of very legacy ones who hadn't installed the app before.

Ofc, this is a very simple app. But as an indie who has built some systems in C# already, it'd be a smooth sail if I can transition those tools and code architecture for bigger future projects. My biggest current concern is how well a solo dev can tackle Nintendo Switch support.

Godot *feels* extremely nice. I can't put my finger on all the 'why'-s but I've used Unity for 7 years now and I can say I found myself pretty much at home right away. The transition was smooth and both engines felt similar in many ways. Bonus points for lightweight editor and UX

End of my small🧵

In case you've come this far and you're interested in sharing my next steps with Godot, do tell :)

https://twitter.com/ringlas/status/1715107280742486213