So i want to achieve many types of hobbies. For the longest time ive wanted to make games but im honestly unsure where to start, what tools to pick up, and what to learn especially sense i want to attempt to learn for free without having to pay for anything.
Ive been told gamedev is like learning a new language in a way. I could use a point in a starting direction if possible.
I also have a dumb question but i cant really make out a different between the definitions of coding and programming, what is the difference if any?
Start with pen and paper - no computer, because that’ll just distract you.
Write down what kind of game you want to make. Sketch out what you want your player to see when they play the game (top down, third person, first person; which UI elements should they see? Health? Mana or power bars? Selected items?). Does it have a story of sorts? What kind of setting (future, past, fantasy, sci-fi). 2D or 3D? What kind of visual style are you going for (realistic, cartoony, abstract?).
This will be your Game Design Document. You don’t have to get it perfectly at the first go - iterate over it, scratch things that you feel won’t work.
Once you have something that looks like a minimally viable product (MVP), THEN you can start making something in Godot, Game Maker, or Love2D. Because now you have something to follow along. Try to get something out ASAP, because feedback from people who are not you is important. Maybe you made something that feels fun to you, but no one else likes it - you would want to know that as soon as possible, not after toiling away for 5 years.
Do not start caring about “what is the fastest programming language”. Even the slowest of languages are fine, because you’re learning how to build a game, not how to program like a pro.
I’d have to subtly disagree with this. It is really good advice, especially when the scope of your game is larger than what one could reasonably finish in a game jam; If you can’t get to a fun game in a couple of days or less, you need documentation as to what your plan is to get there.
The problem is that this is the best advice for someone who has the technical “hard” skills to make a game (compsci, digital art, etc.), but lacks the "soft"er skills (software eng., scheduling, etc). To be fair that is super common, but the OP implies to me they’re not confident that they have the technical skills either yet.
Without either of those skills you can’t know what’ll take a couple of days or what’s actually weeks of work, and the value you get out of design docs becomes effectively random.
The common advice that I’d have to agree with is that your first few games should be as small of a scope as you can make them. Other comments to this post already go into detail, but the jist is that when you’re starting the amount you learn is more per-project than per-hour, so get out as many small things as possible to get your bearings.
Once you’ve done that, this is really good advice for your first sizeable project.