hoping someone familiar with both the engine and the genre of izometric ARPGs can chip in. I’m embarking on a project to create a game of this style, but I’ve read that GDScript, while more intuitive, and perhaps easier to learn, is “slower” than either C# or C++. since I’m truly starting from scratch and would have to learn the coding language along with the engine, it would seem to make sense to learn whatever will best suit the type of game I am making, but if the difference is negligible, then the simplest language to learn and write in would win out.
Can anyone offer any insight?
I’m not the best person to be answering this because I’m relatively new to GODOT myself (though I have plenty of experience with other engines). I’m only answering because I’m not seeing anyone else answer.
For your first project, a complex ARPG is likely significantly overscoped for a single person. A senior developer could pull it off but I’d suggest other first projects. With godot 4 in its current state, I think a modern ARPG is iffy, depends on what kind of enemy counts, projectile counts, and effects you want. But its improving rapidly and by the time you’ve developed your skills to the point where you are ready for a project of that size, who knows.
The engine is definitely capable of allowing you to build something like that. It will take you time to learn the ins and outs of Godot, but I definitely think a project like that is feasible.
One thing I have learned using Godot for our project (a split-screen multiplayer arena FPS, think Halo 1 + Unreal Tournament) for the better part of a year is that the engine can really do just about anything you want it to. The issue always comes down to how you choose to implement your functionality. If you go out there where no dev has gone before, you will have to bang your head against the wall a LOT until you figure out how to solve your issues. That’s not a bad thing, as your solutions are often unique and inventive as a result. But you have to be willing to do the struggle yourself.
TL,DR: The engine is very capable on a technical level, and GDScript is fairly easy to work with, but if you’re looking for a perfectly smooth gamedev experience with lots of documentation, it may not be the best choice.