Back from lunch, fueled by pizza and renewed determination, they gathered around Chris's desktop.
"Okay," Chris said, opening a new Notepad file. "Milestones. Let's plan the next seven days. We need a roadmap, and today is 22nd of March 2025."
Tyrone nodded. "Gotta break this down. Godot's huge."
Max was already typing. "First, the basics. We need to be comfortable with the editor itself."
They started brainstorming, throwing ideas back and forth.
"Day one," Chris suggested, "today, focus on the interface. Nodes, scenes, the inspector panel."
"Day two," Max added, "diving into GDScript. Basic syntax, variables, functions."
Tyrone chimed in, "Day three, I'll start messing with sprites. Importing them, creating simple animations."
They continued like this, assigning tasks and topics to each day. Level design concepts. Basic UI elements. Understanding input (keyboard and mouse clicks).
"Day seven," Chris said, "we try to build...something. A very simple scene with some interaction. Like, a character that moves."
Max smirked. "Ambitious. I like it."
It took them about an hour and a half to finalize the plan. The Notepad file now contained a detailed, day-by-day breakdown of their learning goals:
Project Nebula - 7-Day Godot Learning Sprint (March 22nd - March 28th, 2025)
March 22nd (Today): Godot Interface Mastery.
Scene Tree, Nodes, Inspector.
Creating, saving, and loading scenes.
Viewport navigation.
March 23rd: GDScript Basics.
Syntax, variables, data types.
Functions, control flow (if/else).
Simple script examples.
March 24th: Sprite & Animation Basics (Tyrone Focus).
Importing sprites.
Creating SpriteFrames.
Simple 2D animations.
March 25th: Input & Basic Movement.
Handling keyboard input.
Moving a sprite with code.
Basic collision detection.
March 26st: UI Elements.
Create basic buttons.
Make a simple text label.
Learning about signals and slots.
March 27th: Level Design Concepts.
TileMaps (if time allows).
Basic level layout planning.
Adding and positioning nodes.
March 28th: Mini-Project: Moving Character.
* A single scene.
* A sprite that moves with arrow keys.
* (Optional) Simple interaction.
Chris, Max, and Tyrone each copied the plan onto their own machines.
"Alright," Chris said, glancing at the clock. It was 3:30 PM. "Let's get started on today's goal. Interface mastery."
They opened their Godot editors, the now-familiar grid of panels less intimidating than before. They clicked, explored, and experimented, pointing things out to each other, asking questions, and slowly, steadily, getting a feel for the engine that would become their creative tool. They had a plan, and they were sticking to it.