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01-Getting Started

Main topics:

  • Godot installation
  • Four key concepts in Godot
  • Hello world program
  • How to run

1. Godot Installation

  1. Download from https://godotengine.org/download/windows/ The downloaded file is like Godot_v4.5-stable_win64.exe.zip
  2. Extract the file using 7z or any other utility
  3. If you downloaded an EXE installer, run it and follow prompts (or if it’s a portable EXE, just keep it where you want).

2. Key concepts

There are following fundamental concepts that we need to understand to work with Godot. (Do not worry if you do not understand them fully. They will become clear as we work along)

  1. Nodes:

    • Think of nodes like building blocks.
    • Each node does one thing — like showing an image, playing a sound, or detecting input.
    • Nodes are arranged in a tree (like folders inside folders), where some nodes are "parents" and others are "children".

  2. Scenes: A scene is a group of nodes that work together. It could be anything:

    • A player character
    • A weapon
    • A main menu
    • A full game level
    • Scenes are reusable and nestable (you can put one scene inside another like LEGO pieces.)

  3. Scene tree:

    • The scene tree is the overall structure of your game at any moment.
    • It’s a tree of all active scenes (and their nodes) running together.
    • This is what Godot shows you when your game runs — everything in one big hierarchy.

  4. Signals:

    • Signals are how nodes talk to each other.
    • Instead of constantly checking (“Hey, did something happen?”), a node can emit a signal when something happens (like a button being pressed or a character getting hit.)
    • Other nodes can listen and react.

3. Write a Hello World program

3.1 Create a project hello-world

  1. Click New Project (top-left).
  2. Project Name: type hello-world.
  3. Project Path: pick a folder where it will live (e.g., C:\MyGodot\HelloWorld).
  4. Renderer: leave as Compatibility (default).
  5. Click Create & Edit.

3.2 Create the scene

  1. In the Scene panel (top-left), click ➕ to add a new root node.
  2. Choose (by searching) Node2D (it’s the basic 2D container).
  3. Rename the node to Main (optional, but good practice).

3.3 Add a label

  • With Main(created in previous step) selected, click ➕ to add a child node.
  • Search for Label and select it.
  • In the Inspector (right panel), find the Text property → type: 
    Hello World

(to be continued.....)