Godot 101

Box 1: What is Godot

1. 1.1Godot is an open-source game engine.
2. 1.2A game engine is a software framework that serves as the foundation and toolbox for making video games.
3. 1.3Instead of programming every basic part of a game from scratch, the engine already provides ready-made building blocks and systems for the technical work.
4. 1.4Godot is lean and open source, and people like to use it for both 2D and 3D. Box 3 shows which building blocks Godot brings along.

Box 2: Engines compared

Costs and licences can change. The details come from the makers’ official pages, retrieved on 03.11.2026 (box 8). Always read the current licence before you sell anything.

Box 3: Main parts

The main parts of a game engine

What Godot adds

1. 3.1Scenes and nodes: everything in Godot is a node (a building block, e.g. light, camera, character). Several nodes together form a scene. A scene can be placed inside another scene, like the character in the mini project.
2. 3.2GDScript: Godot’s own language. It feels very familiar to anyone who knows JavaScript or Python. Godot officially supports GDScript, C# and C++.
3. 3.3Editor: build scenes, write scripts and start the game with one click, all in the same program.

Note: there are also community extensions for JavaScript and TypeScript in Godot. They are not official, and this tutorial does not use them.

Box 4: Why Godot

1. 4.1MIT licence: Godot is free, open-source software under the MIT licence. You may use Godot for any purpose, commercially too, without fees or a share of revenue.
2. 4.2Your game is yours: whatever you build with Godot, characters, images, sounds and code, stays your property.
3. 4.3For beginners: if you are a complete programming beginner and love 2D games, start with Godot. Its own language GDScript is so intuitive that you see first results quickly. The official Godot docs also recommend GDScript to start with.
4. 4.4Advantages at a glance: completely free, lightweight, easy to learn and open source.

Not legal advice: read the exact text at godotengine.org/license (box 8).

Box 5: Platforms

Editor (where you build)

• Windows, macOS, Linux: official downloads, editor and exported games.
• Android: the editor as an app, still experimental according to the docs.
• Web editor in the browser: at an early stage according to the docs, good for learning, not for serious projects. It cannot export, has no C# and only the “Compatibility” renderer.

Export (where your game runs)

• Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Web (browser) and iOS. iOS is an export target only, not an editor.
• According to the docs, C# projects cannot be exported to the web with Godot 4 yet. With GDScript it works.
• Consoles: information is on the Godot website (console support), not in this tutorial.

As of: Godot 4.7.2 (released 18.08.2026), docs “List of features” and “Using the Web editor”, retrieved on 03.11.2026.

Box 6: Mini project

Your character from Blender 101

This is how the character comes out of Blender 101. If any of this is off, it will lie crooked in Godot, be too big or walk backwards.

• figur.glb: glTF 2.0 binary, exported with “Apply Modifiers” and “+Y Up”
• 1 Blender unit = 1 metre, character about 1.8 m tall, origin between the feet
• Facing -Y in Blender. In Godot the front then points to +Z, as the Godot docs expect for characters.
• Actions idle and walk meant as loops, jump optional

Step by step

1. 6.1Create a project: start Godot 4, click Create in the Project Manager, enter a name, keep the “Forward+” renderer, create.
2. 6.2Bring in the character: drag figur.glb into the project folder (the FileSystem dock, bottom left). Godot imports it straight away.
3. 6.3Set the keys: Project → Project Settings → Input Map. Add four actions and give each two keys: links (left) = A and ←, rechts (right) = D and →, vor (forward) = W and ↑, zurueck (back) = S and ↓.
4. 6.4Build the world: new scene with a Node3D called “Welt”. Below it: DirectionalLight3D (sun), Camera3D (position 0 / 4 / 6, rotated about -30° around X) and a StaticBody3D “Boden” (floor) with CollisionShape3D (BoxShape3D 20 × 1 × 20) and MeshInstance3D (BoxMesh 20 × 1 × 20), position Y = -0.5. Save as welt.tscn.
5. 6.5Player: under “Welt” add a CharacterBody3D called “Spieler” (player). Below it a CollisionShape3D with a CapsuleShape3D (radius 0.3, height 1.8, position Y = 0.9). Then drag figur.glb onto “Spieler” and rename the new node to “Figur”.
6. 6.6Script: select “Spieler”, Attach Script, name it spieler.gd and paste this code:

spieler.gd · Godot 4extends CharacterBody3D
## Player: walks with WASD or the arrow keys, plays idle and walk.

const TEMPO := 3.0       # metres per second
const DREH_TEMPO := 10.0 # how fast the character turns

@onready var figur: Node3D = $Figur
@onready var anim: AnimationPlayer = figur.find_child("AnimationPlayer", true, false)


func _ready() -> void:
	# glTF has no loop setting. We switch it on here.
	for anim_name in ["idle", "walk"]:
		if anim and anim.has_animation(anim_name):
			anim.get_animation(anim_name).loop_mode = Animation.LOOP_LINEAR
	spiele("idle")


func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
	# Gravity: only while the character is not standing on the floor.
	if not is_on_floor():
		velocity += get_gravity() * delta

	# Read the keys: left/right and forward/back, each from -1 to 1.
	var eingabe := Input.get_vector("links", "rechts", "vor", "zurueck")
	var richtung := Vector3(eingabe.x, 0.0, eingabe.y)

	if richtung != Vector3.ZERO:
		velocity.x = richtung.x * TEMPO
		velocity.z = richtung.z * TEMPO
		# The character faces where it walks. Its front is +Z (from Blender: -Y).
		var ziel := atan2(richtung.x, richtung.z)
		figur.rotation.y = lerp_angle(figur.rotation.y, ziel, DREH_TEMPO * delta)
		spiele("walk")
	else:
		velocity.x = move_toward(velocity.x, 0.0, TEMPO)
		velocity.z = move_toward(velocity.z, 0.0, TEMPO)
		spiele("idle")

	move_and_slide()


func spiele(anim_name: String) -> void:
	if anim and anim.has_animation(anim_name) and anim.current_animation != anim_name:
		anim.play(anim_name)

1. 6.7Run: F5 (Run Project). The first time, Godot asks for the main scene: choose welt.tscn. With W A S D or the arrow keys the character walks, turns towards where it is going and plays walk. Let go and it stops and plays idle.

How the code works

• get_gravity() takes gravity from the project settings. It only acts while the character is not on the floor (is_on_floor()).
• Input.get_vector() reads four actions at once, so walking diagonally is not faster than walking straight.
• move_and_slide() moves the CharacterBody3D and lets it slide along walls and the floor.
• atan2() and lerp_angle() turn the character smoothly towards where it walks.

• loop_mode = Animation.LOOP_LINEAR in _ready() turns idle and walk into loops. Without this line Godot plays each animation only once and then stops.

Next you could add jump: an action “springen” on Space, and when the character is on the floor, set velocity.y upwards. This is not worked out here yet and not checked.

Box 7: On to Blender 101

1. 7.1Focus on the pipeline (Blender → engine): what matters is not just modelling itself, but how the animations land cleanly in the engine.
2. 7.2Rig and actions: learn in Blender how to build a so-called rig (skeleton, called an “armature” in Blender) and how to organise animations as actions in the Dope Sheet’s Action Editor. Blender 101 shows you how.
3. 7.3Install Godot 4 and import the character: as figur.glb as in box 6, or directly as .blend with the Blender import (tip in box 6).

On to Blender 101 →

Margin note: for 3D straight in the browser there are libraries such as Three.js or React Three Fiber. For more complex games outside the browser that use the PC’s full graphics power for your Blender assets, a classic engine like Godot is the right place. That is what this is about.

Box 8: Sources

1. Godot: License (MIT, commercial use without fees, copyright notice)
2. Godot: download, version 4.7.2 of 18.08.2026, also .NET version with C#
3. Godot docs: List of features, Platforms section (editor and export)
4. Godot docs: Using the Web editor (early stage, limitations)
5. Godot docs: Using the Android editor
6. Godot docs: FAQ (languages GDScript, C#, C++; GDScript for beginners)
7. Godot docs: Available 3D formats (.blend import, Blender 3.0 or later, Blender Path)
8. Godot docs: Model export considerations (front +Z, -Y in Blender)
9. Godot docs: Import configuration (Import dock, Advanced Import Settings by double-click)
10. Godot docs: CharacterBody3D (move_and_slide)
11. Blender manual: glTF 2.0 (exporting actions and NLA tracks)
12. Blender manual: Action Editor
13. Blender manual: Armatures (skeleton)
14. Unity: Unity Personal (USD 200,000 limit)
15. Unity manual: programming with C#
16. Unreal Engine: License (5% above USD 1 million per product)
17. Unreal docs: Programming and Scripting (C++ and Blueprints)

The Unreal Engine pages could not be opened directly on 03.11.2026; the details come from the search excerpt of the official pages and should be checked again at the next update.

Based on: text by Mikey (03.11.2026), arranged into these eight boxes. © Michaelangelo Zünd · Knowledge is free, finished work costs.