Node Essentials Godot 4 Edition The Gamedev's Almanac

Uncover the secrets of Godot's nodes!
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Pre-order it now $74
$99.95at full release
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    Templates for 100+ game mechanics
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    60 day "no questions asked" refund policy
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    Lifetime access
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Early Access
Jul 30, 2024
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Godot version
Latest (Godot 4.0+)
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Duration
Self-paced
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Language
English
graduation cap
Prerequisites
Programming skills

What you can expect from this course:

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Teaches 40+ nodes and 100+ mechanics
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Designed for experienced developers
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Uses Godot 4 and GDScript
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Examples are bite-sized and to the point
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Backed by powerful search
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Covers it all: 3D, 2D, UI...
Every game developer has been through this motion: You want to add a specific mechanic to your game, so you watch a series of tutorials more or less close to what you're trying to accomplish. Then you look up engine documentation and try to piece something together.
The trouble is: engine documentation is often is feature centric. It references syntax and properties. There's still a small ocean to cross between that and coding your mechanic.
Node Essentials is a massive compilation of recipes, how-tos and templates that you can look up and refer to, as you're building your games. It effectively bridges the gap between code references and real game mechanics.
Having spent a long time writing official documentation for Godot, I couldn't help but notice that, as a developer, I would still miss a game-centric reference guide, and that has no place in the engine documentation.
Nathan
Founder and teacher at GDQuest

Slash your development time by making the most of Godot's many nodes.

Godot's nodes are designed to speed up your workflow but it's not always evident how to leverage them to serve your purpose.
Engines like Godot are so packed with features and options and there is often more than one way to accomplish the same thing. It takes years of practice and reading documentation front-to-back to learn all the time-saving tricks.
That is why we designed Node Essentials as a Game developer's Alamanac. We gathered thousands of hours of experience from some of the best Godot developers and distilled them into a practical reference guide.
I've been using Godot for awhile now, and I was still surprised by some of the node use cases presented on this course. As usual, the code is clean and formatted with a clear standard that complies with recommended Godot standard practices.
N
nodeg
nodeg · on Nov 3, 2021

Crack the code of 100+ mechanics and reuse it in your games

Node Essentials is so comprehensive that on any given subject, the amount of information covered by the official documentation is less than 10% of what you're getting in this reference.
That's why we made sure it's intelligently searchable and organized by game devs for game devs.
It runs directly in Godot allowing you to study demos and scenes in detail and reuse and modify more than 8000 lines of code.

Just a few of the many mechanics you can study and use

2D and 3D Vortex

Did you know you could override physics properties like gravity as well as audio processing in a restricted area using the area nodes?
You can use this to create a vortex that pulls objects toward the center.

Animated hack-n-slash skill buttons

Using progress bars, you can not only create health and stamina bars; You can also create active skill icons that trigger and animate on key-presses and refill over time, as seen in Hack-n-slash games and MMORPGs.

Click to move units with pathfinding

With a combination of navigation regions and tilemaps, you can easily make AIs move to positions snapped to a grid (or not!). This allows you to implement any click-to-move mechanic effortlessly.

Lines of sight and turn to target in 2D and 3D

With raycasts and shapecasts, you can easily create lines of sight, perfect for turrets that target you whenever you move out of cover.
These mechanics and 100+ more are why, since the launch of its first edition in 2021, Node Essentials has come to be considered as an all-round secret recipe book to follow and then refer back to while developing.
What an awesome way to create a reference tool. From the start, the UI is amazing and easy to navigate and then, with each node, there a several examples of how the node works and what you can do. Then, top that off with the code right in Godot to allow you to reference the exact code and tweak it as needed for your own game.
You're doing yourself a disservice not purchasing this. I'm thrilled that I made the purchase.
T
Tom Boyles
(bombadilio) · on Jul 23, 2021

Master the fastest-growing game engine and make games faster than ever

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Godot is the biggest and most active open-source game engine.
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Godot's effort to provide a professional-grade open-source game engine is backed by Valve, Epic Games, Microsoft, Meta, and more.
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It is community-driven and built by game devs for game devs. Many of its users also contribute to its development.
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Unlike other engines, Godot is truly Free: No shady license or royalties to pay. No strings attached. Godot is run by a Foundation and is under the MIT license.
Nathan Lovato avatar
Nathan Lovato shield
GDQuest founder and early contributor to the Godot documentation. Teaching gamedev with Godot for over 8 years. Here to help you become a game developer!

Frequently Asked Questions

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$99.95 at launchYou save $25.95
Pre-order it now $74

What people have said about our courses

I published 6 games on Steam. All of them are made with Godot and GDQuest is my day one teacher. Thank you so much. 😄

Avatar of Napas Torteeka
Napas Torteeka
Game developer
Farm Keeper on Steam

See also

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