Learning Rust… by creating a game?

#learning #digital #gaming

So, when learning a language, where do we start? Letters or characters, words, grammar, conjugation… in other words, syntax, types, structures, functions, controls… well, I’m not too keen on memorizing a dictionary and a grammar book by heart. Let’s have some fun, shall we?

And what better way to have fun than by playing? By creating a game, of course!

(Well, I’ll still keep a reference to the « dictionary » (the official documentation): https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/book/)

OK. How do you create a game with Rust?

Like other languages: by writing each line of code, using libraries or existing frameworks, or by using a well-equipped Game Engine, presumably.

What exists in this field?

According to GameForScratch, and here, we have several resources like frameworks, game engines, or Rust extensions for game engines. I note:

1. Bevy Engine, which seems more like a framework than a complete Game Engine at this point. The Bevy Book acknowledges its youth and recommends using Godot Engine with a Rust extension!

2. Fyrox Game Engine, which appears to be a more equipped Game Engine with an editor, similar to Unity, Unreal Engine, or Godot.

3. Rust bindings: gdnative for Godot 3, or gdext for Godot 4.

I have two options:

– Fyrox (there’s a tutorial for a 2D platformer game, among others),

– or the extension for Godot 4, a game engine I’ve started getting familiar with, using gdscript for now (an example game, Dodge the creeps, is given).

I’ll start by looking into Fyrox.

To be continued…

Any recommendations on this matter?