Vapourware Medieval Isometric RPG focusing on swordplay

[Meatbag]

Greetings, esteemed readers. I am writing to you today seeking guidance.

I have zero industry experience and I think I need a reality check before I invest any actual money into what I've been working on.


The Plan:

I am a hobbyist 2d artist and writer trying to make my own isometric RPG set in a dark fantasy world with an Arthurian twist. I have a very very low level of competency when it comes to writing code. I would only trust myself to edit the values of existing code, not write anything from scratch by myself. Currently, my plan is to commission a dev on Fiverr (or similar) to make me a basic prototype that I can then populate by duplicating elements and changing their sprites & values to make a demo (I can afford to go back and forth a few times with the dev to get things right). I would then leverage that demo into a Kickstarter/Early Access campaign in an attempt to finance the hiring of a full-time dev to help me complete the game.

Looking at what's out there in the genre and art style, I'm pretty confident that my art can attract an audience with a well-cut trailer. I specialise in very detailed pixel art with a dark/melancholy tone and pride myself on making high-effort animations with minimal puppeteering.

Is this a viable way to produce a game? Is there a smarter way that I could approach this?


TLDR of GDD:

A single-player isometric RPG with turn-based combat that focuses on swordplay.

The player starts as a lowly peasant before embarking on an epic adventure to avenge their family and become a legendary knight of renown.

Core Gameloop:

• Get Quest
• Journey/Explore
• Combat/Objectives
• Turn in/Reward
• Spending earned resources (leveling up/buying items)
• Character progression (Upgrading skills/attributes/gear)
• Access higher-level quests

This loop will have the player going back and forth between quest locations/dungeons and settlement hubs where they can buy equipment and get new quests.

The combat system:

• Combatants have action points to spend each turn on actions or movement.
• The number of action points available each turn is determined by gear and player stats.
• During enemy turns, the player can choose to use some of their upcoming action points to react to enemy attacks (parrying, dodging, blocking, etc)
• Weapons have different effective ranges based on their type (Spears - 3 tiles, Arming Sword - 2 tiles, Rhondal - 1 tile)
• Combatants have a 'guard' bar which gets depleted as they take hits. when a combatant's guard is broken, they become much more vulnerable and can be killed much easier with a coup de grace. (A fully armoured opponent may be invulnerable against certain weapon types until their guard is broken.)
• Weapons have damage types and different kinds of armour vary in effectiveness against those damage types (chainmail would be good against slashing but poor against bludgeoning, for example).
• Combatants can not react to attacks from enemies that are outside of the field of view (90 degrees of either side of the current direction they are facing).
• Players can be disarmed by skilled opponents or get their weapon stuck in a felled enemy, forcing them to adapt by falling back on their sidearm, picking up a free weapon or fighting with their bare hands.

Take this with a grain of salt, but if I had to compare it to any existing titles, It would be like if the gameplay of Stoneshard mixed with the themes and narrative experience of Kingdom Come Deliverance.

Does this sound fun and/or interesting to you? What kind of challenges would this kind of game pose for the coding side of things?


Critique My Work:

As I've stated above, I am a hobbyist and have zero industry experience, so I'm looking for any critiques you may have on what I've done so far.

Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you would change, what could be designed better, etc...

I can only attach 5 images so you can check out more of the visuals here.


Capsule Art (WIP - 80% done):



Gameplay Mockup zoomed (players can zoom in and out at any time)



Armour/Equipment Showcase:



Game world map:



Walk Cycle:




Thanks for bearing with me. I hope you can forgive my naivete and I hope to hear from you! <3

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

1.
I think people on Fiverr are more about very short term jobs. And even then, a prototype of the kind you want, may require more time/funds than you have.
Done by a freelancer, that prototype will have the worst architecture/documentation possible, without possibility of extending the system further to actually make the game.
Anyone you hire later will likely want to start from scratch, not to deal with undocumented legacy shit.

2.
Even if you had a prototype created for you out of thin air, you wouldn't be able to gather more than $30k on kickstarter. That's half a year worth of salary of a decent programmer, and your game probably needs a few years of solo programming.

3.
I recommend: create a magnificent pitch showcasing more of your art and writing (not shown so far, ideally I'd read a ~10k words story from your world to see your writer's voice), and try to find an enthusiast programmer, not just on the 'dex, but everywhere. Don't accept beginners.

The problem, of course, is that experienced enthusiasts work for revenue shares, but your game has niche graphics, so there's no potential for windfall and nothing to lure enthusiasts in with. You'd have to find some weirdo with nothing else to do in life.

Alternatively, change the art style.

 

[Tyranicon]

Welcome (back?) to the forum. Bester gave some good advice in the post above but I'll add my two cents.

• Your art is actually very nice and if this remains the same quality or higher, you'll be competitive in this niche.
• Focus on your strengths, which I would assume is art and writing since that's what you mentioned.
• Don't sink money into hiring some fiverr programmer to whip up something broken in Unity, do your own prototyping. There are numerous, easy to use engines out there that don't require coding experience. I personally started with RPGmaker, so that's what I would recommend.
• Build a short game, throw it up on Itch or Steam. If you're leading with art and writing, you'll be able gauge how successful you are immediately.
• If it meets your metrics, think about kickstarter.

Good luck! But be aware that solo gamedev is about as balls-breaking hard as everyone says it is.

 

[Meatbag]

The problem, of course, is that experienced enthusiasts work for revenue shares, but your game has niche graphics, so there's no potential for windfall and nothing to lure enthusiasts in with. You'd have to find some weirdo with nothing else to do in life.

Alternatively, change the art style.

Thanks mate. All great advice that I needed to hear!

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Yeah, as others say - don't try to hire anyone on Fiverr.

I wrote my own engine and isometric game, etc. so I know a little bit about it. I will say that the amount of work is significant. I documented it https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/old-school-isometric-rpg-hardship.113429/page-11

You will need an isometric engine to realize the game. You could use Unity for that. Unity is all round piece of crap but I still find it better than Godot. Having said that I actually tried the Unity3D 2020 edition isometric capability and for a simple isometric game(yours looks simple) its probably ok.

I agree with what others say. Try to get something simple up and running.

You can probably get a really simple isometric game demo up and running in a week using Unity. I will say just be really careful with Unity. It has some really really nasty gotchas. Pick an older, stable version and stick to it.

Then after that you can make a more in depth demo which would take a lot longer.

 

[Meatbag]

Good luck! But be aware that solo gamedev is about as balls-breaking hard as everyone says it is.

Thanks! That's a good idea. I was thinking about just trying to make a single dungeon and release it as a 30 minute free game to try and dial in the mechanics. It just felt like I was getting nowhere when trying to code it so I thought hiring some third world dev to chuck together a small prototype would be a better alternative.

I tried working with gamemaker at first but had a huge amount of trouble getting the isometric tiles to display correctly. I moved onto Godot and had a bit more luck, but I quickly hit a wall when trying to get the player character to navigate the tile map while displaying the correct animations.

Maybe I just need to start the whole thing over from scratch. Might help the coding concepts settle in my head a little better.

 

[Meatbag]

Yeah, as others say - don't try to hire anyone on Fiverr.

I wrote my own engine and isometric game, etc. so I know a little bit about it. I will say that the amount of work is significant. I documented it https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/old-school-isometric-rpg-hardship.113429/page-11

Woah, thanks so much for posting that dude. Really helpful!

I will take another look at unity. I got a bit scared off the engine with all the bas press but I guess revenue is the least of my worries with nothing yet even made

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Yeah, as others say - don't try to hire anyone on Fiverr.

I wrote my own engine and isometric game, etc. so I know a little bit about it. I will say that the amount of work is significant. I documented it https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/old-school-isometric-rpg-hardship.113429/page-11

Woah, thanks so much for posting that dude. Really helpful!

I will take another look at unity. I got a bit scared off the engine with all the bas press but I guess revenue is the least of my worries with nothing yet even made

You can always change the engine later.

You may need a couple days getting used to Unity.

After that follow the isometric tutorials https://unity.com/blog/engine-platform/isometric-2d-environments-with-tilemap to setup a project and import your assets. Theres some kind of some annoying things in there with setting up the tiles, getting the import scale setup.

But once thats done you can create your level. Thats the start point.

You will need to begin with a movement script for your character.

For collisions to work you have to add rigidbodies, to your character etc. Theres some of quirks in there.

It looks like you are using a 2D animation sprite sheets for the character?
The animation system is also annoying so probably easier to knock up an animation script.

That would kind of be the first stage to get to, having a guy controlled by arrows moving around a dungeon. With some hair pulling should be to do this in a week.

 

[shihonage]

You would be a great find for someone who already wrote an isometric renderer for their own 2D RPG and whose vision aligns with yours (medieval; pixel art style visuals). It is super useful to have an artist who is your partner on the project.

 

[Meatbag]

Yeah, as others say - don't try to hire anyone on Fiverr.

I wrote my own engine and isometric game, etc. so I know a little bit about it. I will say that the amount of work is significant. I documented it https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/old-school-isometric-rpg-hardship.113429/page-11

Woah, thanks so much for posting that dude. Really helpful!

I will take another look at unity. I got a bit scared off the engine with all the bas press but I guess revenue is the least of my worries with nothing yet even made

That would kind of be the first stage to get to, having a guy controlled by arrows moving around a dungeon. With some hair pulling should be to do this in a week.

Thanks dude, I will give this a try and see how far I can get!

 

[Meatbag]

You would be a great find for someone who already wrote an isometric renderer for their own 2D RPG and whose vision aligns with yours (medieval; pixel art style visuals). It is super useful to have an artist who is your partner on the project.

Well if you know anyone who matches that description, holla at ya boy. It would certainly make things easier to be able to work with someone who really knows what they're doing in the programming department.

 

[shihonage]

You would be a great find for someone who already wrote an isometric renderer for their own 2D RPG and whose vision aligns with yours (medieval; pixel art style visuals). It is super useful to have an artist who is your partner on the project.

Well if you know anyone who matches that description, holla at ya boy. It would certainly make things easier to be able to work with someone who really knows what they're doing in the programming department.

Unfortunately I do not fit that description since my project, although written from scratch in C, is very Fallouty.

 

[Habichtswalder]

If you just want a simple prototype to see your sprites in action for a nice trailer: Don't hire someone on Fiver. You could just use the GDevelop isometric example and swap out the graphics since everything is already set up: Here

GDevelop itself is no code and surprisingly useful for 2D prototypes. I used it for several game jams because of the fast progress. Other tools you could use for a prototype are RPGMaker or RPG Architect. Both specialize on RPG. Architect is more useful for the graphic setup because you're not restricted to tilesets (Maker needs PlugIns for that) but it's still early access which however shouldn't be a problem for prototyping.

While working on a prototype you can already feel whether you want to go the full solo dev route using one of the the aforementioned engines or not. If you want more advanced stuff, you could move to Unity but you need coding skills for that...but there are also Toolkits like Ork RPG Framework that do a lot of work for you. But it's still much more work than Maker/Architect or sth. like GDevelop/Construct.

I wouldn't be too optimistic about finding someone to program for you. You might be able to afford one guy for a year to do the work from Kickstarter money. But do you really want to rely on a single person from somewhere else? Nah, I would rather learn and do most of the work myself using tools that make life easier.

 

[Meatbag]

If you just want a simple prototype to see your sprites in action for a nice trailer: Don't hire someone on Fiver. You could just use the GDevelop isometric example and swap out the graphics since everything is already set up: Here

GDevelop itself is no code and surprisingly useful for 2D prototypes. I used it for several game jams because of the fast progress. Other tools you could use for a prototype are RPGMaker or RPG Architect. Both specialize on RPG. Architect is more useful for the graphic setup because you're not restricted to tilesets (Maker needs PlugIns for that) but it's still early access which however shouldn't be a problem for prototyping.

While working on a prototype you can already feel whether you want to go the full solo dev route using one of the the aforementioned engines or not. If you want more advanced stuff, you could move to Unity but you need coding skills for that...but there are also Toolkits like Ork RPG Framework that do a lot of work for you. But it's still much more work than Maker/Architect or sth. like GDevelop/Construct.

I wouldn't be too optimistic about finding someone to program for you. You might be able to afford one guy for a year to do the work from Kickstarter money. But do you really want to rely on a single person from somewhere else? Nah, I would rather learn and do most of the work myself using tools that make life easier.

Holy shit, I've never seen GDevelop before but it looks perfect for my current needs. Thank you so much - great recommendation!

 

[Kruyurk]

Learning how to code good enough to use Unity or Godot takes time but you are capable of it. Your "very very low level of competency" will become "very low" in a few weeks, then "low" in a few months, etc. Once you are comfortable with a few key concepts (e.g. object-oriented programming), you will be able to do a lot.
I think it is much more reliable to do it yourself rather than hopefully finding the right person. With someone else, you trade the trouble of coding with the trouble of being dependent on another person.

Your art looks really good.

 

[spectre]

Critique My Work:

Okay.
I really like the style, reminds me of Wasteland, but improved. Durr... I obviously meant Darklands here.
Fingers crossed that you may find everything else you need along the way, would hate it to go to waste.

My only gripe with this, each metal surface is shaded as though it had its own light source, each coming from a different direction.
Makes it look a bit schizo, but this mistake doesn't occur on other images. It's the title screen, so perhaps you felt tempted to overdo it.
You also chose a pretty difficult angle for the composition, makes all the awkward bits stand out more.

 

[Kruyurk]

I think you could increase the lightning and/or contrast of your art a little. The way Battle Brothers looks is nice when it comes to this, it has a grim atmosphere but not overly dark.

 

[Meatbag]

Learning how to code good enough to use Unity or Godot takes time but you are capable of it. Your "very very low level of competency" will become "very low" in a few weeks, then "low" in a few months, etc. Once you are comfortable with a few key concepts (e.g. object-oriented programming), you will be able to do a lot.
I think it is much more reliable to do it yourself rather than hopefully finding the right person. With someone else, you trade the trouble of coding with the trouble of being dependent on another person.

Your art looks really good.

That's true. I think I just really struggle with the delayed gratification that comes with taking on something like coding. With are I can immediately see every improvement on the screen but with coding, I never manage to get anything off the ground and I get very frustrated with myself.

Do you know of any good resources that explain the bare fundamentals for coding in a way so simple that even a humble retard (such as myself) could gasp them?
when I try to read engine manuals, the huge wiki pages full of text just fry my little brain

 

[Meatbag]

Critique My Work:

Okay.
I really like the style, reminds me of Wasteland, but improved.
Fingers crossed that you may find everything else you need along the way, would hate it to go to waste.

My only gripe with this, each metal surface is shaded as though it had its own light source, each coming from a different direction.
Makes it look a bit schizo, but this mistake doesn't occur on other images. It's the title screen, so perhaps you felt tempted to overdo it.
You also chose a pretty difficult angle for the composition, makes all the awkward bits stand out more.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it!

You're right about the capsule art. This is my first attempt at rendering metal at such high resolution, so still trying to work it out while maintaining the correct form. Agree that the composition is at a weird angle. I thought it could be interesting but maybe I should try something more simple, especially since capsule art gets displayed at such a small size.

 

[Meatbag]

I think you could increase the lightning and/or contrast of your art a little. The way Battle Brothers looks is nice when it comes to this, it has a grim atmosphere but not overly dark.

Yeah, Battle Brothers has really nice stuff. That and Stoneshard are a huge influence for me. I think one of my main issue is that there's a bit too much contrast in the grass tiles, which means the other foliage gets a bit lost and the leather boots of the characters get a bit lost as well. Colour work has always been the weakest aspect of my art. I'll keep tinkering away with it and hopefully it will come right

 

[Kruyurk]

Learning how to code good enough to use Unity or Godot takes time but you are capable of it. Your "very very low level of competency" will become "very low" in a few weeks, then "low" in a few months, etc. Once you are comfortable with a few key concepts (e.g. object-oriented programming), you will be able to do a lot.
I think it is much more reliable to do it yourself rather than hopefully finding the right person. With someone else, you trade the trouble of coding with the trouble of being dependent on another person.

Your art looks really good.

That's true. I think I just really struggle with the delayed gratification that comes with taking on something like coding. With are I can immediately see every improvement on the screen but with coding, I never manage to get anything off the ground and I get very frustrated with myself.

Do you know of any good resources that explain the bare fundamentals for coding in a way so simple that even a humble retard (such as myself) could gasp them?
when I try to read engine manuals, the huge wiki pages full of text just fry my little brain

Unfortunately I don't have any resource to recommend beyond the Unity or Godot manuals and tutorials, but these contain the bare essential that you need to grasp. Beyond these, you will need to look how to organize your code so that it does not become "spaghetti", that is why I was talking about object-oriented programming in my previous post. For example, the damage value of a weapon should be a variable that is linked to the weapon as an object, not something linked to a character. The more complex your game is and the more you need to organize your code this way. For example, that means you would have a class "weapon" that has all the code and information related to them. This really is the most advanced stuff that you need. If I remember correctly, the Godot tutorial teaches this a bit, with scripts attached to different objects, communication between them without total dependence between them, and variables held by the proper script.

You should not underestimate yourself when it comes to coding. Even if it seems daunting at first because you have a big goal yet you currently don't have the skill to reach it, if you put in the time you will become good enough of a coder for that. If you believe that you can improve and you put in the effort, you will be amazed in a few months how much you will have learned.
I work in applied statistics, before that I thought that I was too stupid for math and code, now it is my job.

 

[Meatbag]

Unfortunately I don't have any resource to recommend beyond the Unity or Godot manuals and tutorials, but these contain the bare essential that you need to grasp. Beyond these, you will need to look how to organize your code so that it does not become "spaghetti", that is why I was talking about object-oriented programming in my previous post. For example, the damage value of a weapon should be a variable that is linked to the weapon as an object, not something linked to a character. The more complex your game is and the more you need to organize your code this way. For example, that means you would have a class "weapon" that has all the code and information related to them. This really is the most advanced stuff that you need. If I remember correctly, the Godot tutorial teaches this a bit, with scripts attached to different objects, communication between them without total dependence between them, and variables held by the proper script.

You should not underestimate yourself when it comes to coding. Even if it seems daunting at first because you have a big goal yet you currently don't have the skill to reach it, if you put in the time you will become good enough of a coder for that. If you believe that you can improve and you put in the effort, you will be amazed in a few months how much you will have learned.
I work in applied statistics, before that I thought that I was too stupid for math and code, now it is my job.

Thanks man, that's really good advice.

To burrow deeper into the example you used for object-oriented programming; would this mean that the damage for a weapon would be defined within the script attached to that element/node (my only real coding knowledge is from Godot) and then the modifiers (gear/stats) would be defined on the character/equipment nodes, and the weapon script would have code blocks that reference these variables (or constants?)

Also, I have a stupid question to ask - are there any other kinds of coding/programming that I would have to do within an engine besides scripting? The way I hear people and tutorials talk about scripts, it sounds like it's a specific format or use case of coding but I also don't see any reference to other kinds of coding when I'm learning how to use the engine.

Is this because the engine handles everything else and the scripts are just further defining or making adjustments to what's already set up by the engine?

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Learning how to code good enough to use Unity or Godot takes time but you are capable of it. Your "very very low level of competency" will become "very low" in a few weeks, then "low" in a few months, etc. Once you are comfortable with a few key concepts (e.g. object-oriented programming), you will be able to do a lot.
I think it is much more reliable to do it yourself rather than hopefully finding the right person. With someone else, you trade the trouble of coding with the trouble of being dependent on another person.

Your art looks really good.

That's true. I think I just really struggle with the delayed gratification that comes with taking on something like coding. With are I can immediately see every improvement on the screen but with coding, I never manage to get anything off the ground and I get very frustrated with myself.

Do you know of any good resources that explain the bare fundamentals for coding in a way so simple that even a humble retard (such as myself) could gasp them?
when I try to read engine manuals, the huge wiki pages full of text just fry my little brain

Unfortunately I don't have any resource to recommend beyond the Unity or Godot manuals and tutorials, but these contain the bare essential that you need to grasp. Beyond these, you will need to look how to organize your code so that it does not become "spaghetti", that is why I was talking about object-oriented programming in my previous post. For example, the damage value of a weapon should be a variable that is linked to the weapon as an object, not something linked to a character. The more complex your game is and the more you need to organize your code this way. For example, that means you would have a class "weapon" that has all the code and information related to them. This really is the most advanced stuff that you need. If I remember correctly, the Godot tutorial teaches this a bit, with scripts attached to different objects, communication between them without total dependence between them, and variables held by the proper script.

This "spaghetti" is also why no code engines never took off - they are horrible at scaling. I can't imagine using one to create anything beyond a prototype. GDevelop looks pretty good but I would not use it for anything more than concept stuff.

What I really hate about Godot (besides its wokeishness and cultishness) is the whole node based way of doing things. I never ever get very far with it.

Whilst Unity on the other hand is malware/bloatware, the paradigm of the component based system is much better. But that too has its problems particularly when you are trying to extend the Engine it just doesn't fit every need that well.

In regards to resources. If anything there are too many tutorials and information on programming that it can be overwhelming to begin with.

ChatGPT actually might not bad if all you need to do is learn with small snippets. But if you try to push it too far it blows up in your face pretty quickly.

The other point I'd make is that creating isometric games are not for the faint hearted developer, depending on what features you want in there. It can be fiendishly difficult to work with.

Also things like creating a turn based system, and so on, are also quite involved.

 

[Kruyurk]

To burrow deeper into the example you used for object-oriented programming; would this mean that the damage for a weapon would be defined within the script attached to that element/node (my only real coding knowledge is from Godot) and then the modifiers (gear/stats) would be defined on the character/equipment nodes, and the weapon script would have code blocks that reference these variables (or constants?)

Yes, that is exactly how it would work. That way if a weapon is not attached to a character (e.g. on the floor, somewhere in the UI), its relevant information can still be accessed without accessing a character. And the weapon logic and information is cleanly encapsulated in a script.
Another important aspect of object-oriented programming is inheritance. A class can inherit from another class in a hierarchical way. For example you can have a generic "weapon" class that would have all the logic and information common to all weapons, then you could have subclasses (e.g. melee weapon, ranged weapon) further defining the logic specific to these type of objects, but that would inherit from everything that defines a generic weapon.

Just a precision to avoid confusion, variable is a generic word for "information". A value constant within a context could still be called a variable (e.g. the damage of a weapon is a variable from the perspective of all weapons, but can be constant for a given weapon).

Also, I have a stupid question to ask - are there any other kinds of coding/programming that I would have to do within an engine besides scripting? The way I hear people and tutorials talk about scripts, it sounds like it's a specific format or use case of coding but I also don't see any reference to other kinds of coding when I'm learning how to use the engine.

Is this because the engine handles everything else and the scripts are just further defining or making adjustments to what's already set up by the engine?

From the perspective of Unity or Godot, scripting and coding are used interchangeably. There is not another type of coding that you need.


One thing you could try first is a simple clone of an easy genre to make, just to get your feet wet. Because as the above post mentions, a RPG is more complicated to code than other genres.
You could try to make a simple Vampire Survivors clone with your sprites. Create a level with a character that you can control, create some logic to have enemies spawn and move towards the character, put some damage logic for both characters and enemies, etc. You would learn a lot by doing that and get quicker result than starting directly with the RPG.

 

[Meatbag]

To burrow deeper into the example you used for object-oriented programming; would this mean that the damage for a weapon would be defined within the script attached to that element/node (my only real coding knowledge is from Godot) and then the modifiers (gear/stats) would be defined on the character/equipment nodes, and the weapon script would have code blocks that reference these variables (or constants?)

Yes, that is exactly how it would work. That way if a weapon is not attached to a character (e.g. on the floor, somewhere in the UI), its relevant information can still be accessed without accessing a character. And the weapon logic and information is cleanly encapsulated in a script.
Another important aspect of object-oriented programming is inheritance. A class can inherit from another class in a hierarchical way. For example you can have a generic "weapon" class that would have all the logic and information common to all weapons, then you could have subclasses (e.g. melee weapon, ranged weapon) further defining the logic specific to these type of objects, but that would inherit from everything that defines a generic weapon.

Just a precision to avoid confusion, variable is a generic word for "information". A value constant within a context could still be called a variable (e.g. the damage of a weapon is a variable from the perspective of all weapons, but can be constant for a given weapon).

Also, I have a stupid question to ask - are there any other kinds of coding/programming that I would have to do within an engine besides scripting? The way I hear people and tutorials talk about scripts, it sounds like it's a specific format or use case of coding but I also don't see any reference to other kinds of coding when I'm learning how to use the engine.

Is this because the engine handles everything else and the scripts are just further defining or making adjustments to what's already set up by the engine?

From the perspective of Unity or Godot, scripting and coding are used interchangeably. There is not another type of coding that you need.


One thing you could try first is a simple clone of an easy genre to make, just to get your feet wet. Because as the above post mentions, a RPG is more complicated to code than other genres.
You could try to make a simple Vampire Survivors clone with your sprites. Create a level with a character that you can control, create some logic to have enemies spawn and move towards the character, put some damage logic for both characters and enemies, etc. You would learn a lot by doing that and get quicker result than starting directly with the RPG.

Thank you so much for the explanation bro. You are a legend. I feel my mind swelling with newfound knowledge and a deeper understanding already!

I think You're right about making a simple game first. I'm going to see what I can do with GDevelop first because it's simple enough for me to understand, but once I've exhausted that program I think I will move on to making something from scratch with a proper engine.