Why I Decided to NOT Use Godot

Recently, I thought of a game idea. The idea has enough programming intrigue that I wanted to try it. I started looking at game engines. With the fallout around Unity still in the air, I gave Godot a try.

I love the open-source aspect of Blender, so why not?

What I Love About Godot

• While definitely not AAA ready, it’s indie-level graphics are a great starting point, especially for 2D and stylized games.

• Seeing its full executable being <1 GB made me gasp. Small and portable programs are a rarity nowadays. Always a great nice-to-have.

• GDScript is easy to pick up due to Godot’s IDE and autocomplete.

• It’s impossible to read binary files in many game engines - let alone what you just changed) without opening them. Having Godot focus on human-readable files is useful for this, especially for collaboration.

Godot had many community-based features that most bigger companies simply don’t prioritize. But that leads me to:

What Turned Me Off From Godot

• Interface differences and quirks left a “death by a thousand paper cuts” scenario - no one issue was that significant, all together they were noticeable and a turn-off. While the interface is different, it didn’t feel intuitive either. Granted, if I wasn’t already familiar with Unity and Unreal, this wouldn’t have been as much of an issue.

• Some object and API limitations bothered me from trying and experimenting with only a few nodes. Some nodes aren’t allowed have colliders for camera raycasts (even the primitives?!), whereas in Unreal you can just check a box on any collider. I had to make multiple nested objects for that same functionality in Godot.

Overall

Perhaps some Godot users are yelling at the screen right now: “But that can be fixed with X! You just didn’t know about Y!” Please let me know if that’s the case. I’m okay with being corrected.

Let me use an analogy: my trying Godot, after using Unity and Unreal, is like gaming on my own free tablet after using a company-owned gaming tower.

The tablet is impressive. But for my ambitions and what I’m used to, the tower far surpasses what the tablet currently can do. And sure, the tablet is free and I don’t really own the tower, but I know my game idea is better suited for the tower.

Is it the same for you?

I’m sure Godot will get better within the next few years. Blender has done the same. While I decided against Godot, I’d still highly recommend it to beginners and those making 2D games.

On the other hand, Unreal is an innovative engine. While it requires a small car to run (let alone storage space), it has all the qualities an AAA developer could dream of.

Although it’s been nearly a decade since I last used Unity, it’s a great middle ground between the “You got ambition? We can run it” of Unreal and the lightness and simplicity of Godot.

“It depends” is not the answer I was hoping for. But taking the time to study and articulate my needs made these decisions easier and safer.

I really wanted to like Godot, but knowing Unreal is best for me and the game right now keeps me confident moving forward. And maybe, as my game idea gets more articulated, it’ll make more sense to port over to Godot. We’ll see.

It’s essential to focus on your product’s needs, not just yours. As you do that, the product can “be itself” better. And that’s what I believe makes the difference between a good product and a product that can stand the tests of time.

In the meantime, give Godot a try. It’s as low risk as it can get. It may be what you need.