For our regular monthly tutorial nights, we're basing our teaching on the wonderful series by AJ's Learning Lab, Godot FPS Tutorial - Learn Godot by making Wolfenstein 3D.

He has made the assets he uses freely available (please consider donating) here: https://ajslearninglab.itch.io/boganstein-3d-learn-godot-4-with-wolfenstein-3d/

All the code we use is available on AJ's Learning Lab github - https://github.com/AJsLearningLab/GodotFPS

• Download Godot from https://godotengine.org/download/ and install it (it's available on all platforms)
• Download the assets from AJ's Learning Lab here: https://ajslearninglab.itch.io/boganstein-3d-learn-godot-4-with-wolfenstein-3d/

Goal: Learn about Godot, create a world/room (floor and walls)

• New scene: click 3D Scene, rename to 'world'
• Create floor. Add MeshInstance3D to scene
• Set Mesh type to 'New PlaneMesh'
• Change size. Transform → scale to 20
• Create collision mesh. Using the 'Mesh' top button, choose 'Trimesh Static Body'. That automatically creates a StaticBody3D of the correct type, and then adds a CollisionShape3D.
• New wall. Create another new mesh. This time the Mesh should be New BoxMesh'. Move walls to edge, set z to 20
• Tweak the wall height, 'y to the sky', set to 10
• Duplicate for the other three walls

Goal: Create a player character that can be controlled by the keyboard

• New scene. Click + next to the world scene. Other node. Search for CharacterBody3D. Name it 'player'.
• Add subnode. Click +, search for MeshInstance3D. Set Mesh shape to Capsule shape.
• Fix the height. Transform, adjust Y to 1m.
• Select player node, add new node, Camera3D.
• Adjust Camera height to eye height.
• Create script. Select player node. Use script+/scroll button. Select a template for Basic movement.
• Add new variable. const TURN_SPEED = 0.05
• Add new code

if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_left"):
  self.rotate_y(TURN_SPEED)
if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_right"):
  self.rotate_y(-TURN_SPEED)

• Comment out the jump code
• In the world scene, drag the player scene into the world
• In the three dot menu (world scene), use 'Add Sun to scene', 'add environment to scene'
• In the player scene, use the Mesh button to add a 'Simplified Convext Collision Sibling' mesh to the player's MeshInstance3D
• Set up WASD controls in the Project Settings

Goal: Add textures to the walls and floor

• Import a texture by dragging it into the file system.
• Select a wall. Use Geometry → Material Override. Select New StandardMaterial3D. Click the sphere. Expand Albedo. Drag the texture to the 'Texture' input.
• Find UV1, experiment with the sizing, approx 30 x 10
• Apply to floor/other walls.

Goal: Add a UI/HUD and a knife

• Create new scene, other node: 'CanvasLayer', rename to 'ui'
• Create new node, AnimatedSprite2D
• Create new node, ColorRect
• In 2D view, size the ColorRect. Layout → Anchors → Bottom Wide. Set the colour to dark blue.
• Import wolfweapons.png
• Select Animated Sprite. Expand Animation → Sprite Frame. Click New SpriteFrames. Click it again to view the animation frame at the bottom.
• Rename default to 'knife_idle', set as default.
• Click grid, adjust, set up idle frame.
• Adjust position of animatedspirteframe in 2D view, use Transform→Scale to size up to 5
• Create new animation called 'stab'
• Add new stab animations, disable loop, set FPS to 16
• Click UI root node, add script. Enter the following code:

ui.gd

extends CanvasLayer
 
var ammo = 0
var current_weapon = "knife"
 
func _ready():
	$AnimatedSprite2D.animation_finished.connect(_on_AnimatedSprite2D_animation_finished)
 
func _process(delta):
	if Input.is_action_just_pressed("ui_select"):
		if current_weapon == "knife":
			$AnimatedSprite2D.play("stab")
		elif current_weapon == "gun":
			if ammo > 0:
				$AnimatedSprite2D.play("shoot")
				ammo -= 1
 
func _on_AnimatedSprite2D_animation_finished():
	if current_weapon == "knife":
		$AnimatedSprite2D.play("knife_idle")
	elif current_weapon == "gun":
		$AnimatedSprite2D.play("gun_idle")

• Add the ui scene to the player scene (Drag drop from file system onto player node)

Goal:Add a hand gun, firing, add a global script

• Add new handfun sprite animations ('gun_idle' and 'shoot'). Disable looping. (Adjust to 5×4 for grid)
• Edit the ui code, after the ammo -= 1 line, add:

else:
  current_weapon = "knife"
  $AnimatedSprite2D.play("knife_idle")

• Set the ammo and current_weapon to 'gun'. Test.
• Create a global script. File → New Script (based on Node). Name it global.
• Move the ammo and current weapon variables from the player script to the global script.
• Open the project settings, in Autoload, add the global script and mark it global
• Tweak the project setting page, allow fullscreen too
• Edit the ui.gd script and change all references to current_weapon and ammo to be Global.current_weapon and Global.ammo
• Test everything still works

Goal: More weapons

• Edit the ui AnimatedSprite2D, add new animations/sprites
• Rename 'shoot' to gun_shoot
• Add new variables to ui.gd script

var time_since_last_shot = 0.0
var fire_rate = 1.0

• Add a line to the _ready() function

$AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_idle")

• Add some lines to the start of the _process() function

time_since_last_shot += delta
var can_shoot = time_since_last_shot >= (1.0 / fire_rate)

if Global.current_weapon != "knife" and Global.ammo <= 0:
  Global.current_weapon = "knife"
  $AnimatedSprite2D.player("knife_idle")

• Tweak first if statement, change to:

if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_select") and can_shoot:

• Remove everything after the stab line, and add

else:
  $AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_shoot")
  
time_since_last_shot = 0.0

if Global.current_weapon != "knife":
  if Global.ammo > 0:
    Global.ammo -= 1
    
match Global.current_weapon:
  "gun":
    fire_rate = 3.0
  "machine":
    fire_rate = 6.0
  "mini":
    fire_rate = 10.0
  "knife":
    fire_rate = 2.0
  _:
    fire_rate = 1.0

func _on_AnimatedSprite2D_animation_finished():
  $AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_idle")

The full code for ui.gd should now be:

ui.gd

extends CanvasLayer
 
var time_since_last_shot = 0.0
var fire_rate = 1.0
 
 
func _ready():
	$AnimatedSprite2D.animation_finished.connect(_on_AnimatedSprite2D_animation_finished)
	$AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_idle")
 
func _process(delta):
	time_since_last_shot += delta
	var can_shoot = time_since_last_shot >= (1.0 / fire_rate)
 
	if Global.current_weapon != "knife" and Global.ammo <= 0:
		Global.current_weapon = "knife"
		$AnimatedSprite2D.play("knife_idle")
 
	if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_select") and can_shoot:
 
		if Global.current_weapon == "knife":
			$AnimatedSprite2D.play("stab")
		else:
			$AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_shoot")
 
		time_since_last_shot = 0.0
 
		if Global.current_weapon != "knife":
			if Global.ammo > 0:
				Global.ammo -= 1
 
	match Global.current_weapon:
		"gun":
			fire_rate = 3.0
		"machine":
			fire_rate = 6.0
		"mini":
			fire_rate = 10.0
		"knife":
			fire_rate = 2.0
		_:
			fire_rate = 1.0
 
func _on_AnimatedSprite2D_animation_finished():
	$AnimatedSprite2D.play(Global.current_weapon + "_idle")

Goal: Add enemies

• Create new scene. Other node→CharacterBody3D. Name it guard.
• Add two children to the enemy node. A CollisionShape3D (set to capsule), and a AnimatedSprite3D.
• Set the Y to 1, to make it on the floor. Adjust the capsule size to be 2m.
• Import the guard sprite to the file system.
• Select the AnimatedSprite3D, Click Sprite Frame→ New Sprite Frame. Click it again to set a default animation using the grid, set to 7×2
• Adjust the eize, choose AnimatedSprite3D. Transform → y =1, scale = 4 ish.
• A new animations, 'die' and 'shoot'
• Select the AnimatedSprite3D, in the inspector find 'Flags', enable 'Billboard - Y:Billboard'
• Edit the player script and add this line to the _ready() function:

add_to_group("player")

• Select the guard root node. Create a new script, use the code below:

extends CharacterBody3D
 
@onready var player : CharacterBody3D = get_tree().get_first_node_in_group("player")
 
const SPEED = 5.0
var gravity = ProjectSettings.get_setting("physics/3d/default_gravity")  # Get the gravity from the project settings to be synced with RigidBody nodes.
var dead = false
var is_attacking = false  
var attack_range = 5
 
func _ready():
	add_to_group("enemy")
 
func _physics_process(delta):
	if dead or is_attacking:  # Check if the enemy is dead or attacking
		return
 
	if player == null:
		return
 
	var dir = player.global_position - global_position
	dir.y = 0.0
	dir = dir.normalized()
 
	velocity = dir * SPEED
	# Add the gravity.
	if not is_on_floor():
		velocity.y -= gravity * delta
 
	move_and_slide()
	attack()
 
func attack():
	var dist_to_player = global_position.distance_to(player.global_position)
	if dist_to_player > attack_range:
		return
	else:
		is_attacking = true  # Set the attacking flag
		$AnimatedSprite3D.play("shoot")
		await $AnimatedSprite3D.animation_finished  # Wait for the animation to finish
		is_attacking = false  # Reset the attacking flag
 
 
func die():
	dead = true  # Corrected variable scope
	$AnimatedSprite3D.play("die")
	$CollisionShape3D.disabled = true

Goal: Enemy Death and Raycasting

• Edit the ui.gd script. Tweak the can_shoot variable, set it in the object scope (top) and remove “var” from “var can_shoot” from the _process()
• Access the 3D view of the player. Add a new node as a child of the camera 3D, type: RayCast3D
• Set the target position to y:0, z: -20
• Make sure the raycast has access to collision mask layers 1+2
• Check the guard scene, collision should be on layer 2, mask 1+2
• Check Player is layer 1, mask is 1+2
• Edit the player script, add new const at the top

@onready var ui_script = $ui
@onready var ray = $Camera3D/RayCast3D

• At the bottom, just above move_and_slide(), add the following code:

if Input.is_action_just_pressed("ui_accept"):
  if ui_script.can_shoot:
    shoot()

• Add the shoot function

func shoot():
  if ray.is_colliding() and ray.get_collider().has_method("die"):
    ray.get_collider().die()