Installing Godot 4 and Creating a 3D Project on Ubuntu

Welcome. This course will take you from an empty Godot project to a compact first-person 3D action prototype: melee combat first, armed enemies that can detect and shoot at the player, and a one-bullet pistol reward for each enemy defeated.

This first module establishes the tools and programming habits that make the later combat systems possible. Today’s practical outcome is modest but important: install the standard Godot 4 editor on Ubuntu and create a clean project configured for 3D work. By the end, you should be able to open your project reliably and know where its files live.

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Choose the right Godot download

Godot has two Linux editor downloads that can look similar:

• Godot Engine is the standard editor. This is the one to use for this course and for GDScript.
• Godot Engine – .NET adds C# tooling and requires the .NET SDK. It can still run GDScript, but it adds setup you do not need yet.

For nearly all Ubuntu desktop and laptop systems, choose Linux x86_64. If you are unsure of your processor type, open Terminal and run:

uname -m

If it prints x86_64, choose the x86_64 download. Only choose arm64 if you know your Ubuntu machine uses an ARM processor.

Godot recommends a graphics card with Vulkan support; it can also run using the older OpenGL compatibility path on hardware that meets the minimum OpenGL requirement. We will choose an appropriate rendering mode when creating the project.

The short visual walkthrough below uses an older Godot version than the one you may download, so some styling may differ. The essential workflow is the same: download, extract, launch, then create a project.

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Extract and launch Godot on Ubuntu

After downloading the standard Godot archive, find it in your Downloads folder. It will be a .zip file.

Godot does not need sudo, an Ubuntu package installation, or a system-wide install directory. Extracting it somewhere you control is sufficient. A sensible location is:

~/Applications/Godot4

Using the graphical file manager:

1. Create an Applications folder in your Home folder if you do not already have one.
2. Inside it, create a folder called Godot4.
3. Right-click the downloaded Godot .zip archive and choose Extract Here, or use Extract To… and select ~/Applications/Godot4.
4. Open the extracted folder.
5. Double-click the file whose name begins with Godot_v4 and does not end in .zip.

If Ubuntu asks whether to run the executable, choose Run. The first window you see should be the Godot Project Manager.

If you prefer Terminal, the equivalent process is:

mkdir -p ~/Applications/Godot4
cd ~/Downloads
unzip "YOUR_DOWNLOADED_GODOT_FILE.zip" -d ~/Applications/Godot4
cd ~/Applications/Godot4
./Godot_v4*

Replace YOUR_DOWNLOADED_GODOT_FILE.zip with the exact downloaded filename. The ./ means “run the executable in this current folder.”

A useful distinction: engine location versus project location

Keep these separate:

Location	Purpose	Example
Godot editor folder	The engine application you launch	~/Applications/Godot4
Project folder	Your game’s scenes, scripts, models, sounds, and settings	~/GodotProjects/melee_arena

This separation makes updates easy: you can replace or add a newer Godot editor later without moving your game project.

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Create the project

In the Project Manager, select Create in the upper-left corner. You will choose a name, a project folder, and a renderer.

Use these values:

Project Manager field	Recommended value	Why
Project Name	Melee Arena	A readable name in the Project Manager.
Project Path	~/GodotProjects/melee_arena	A predictable, dedicated folder for this prototype.
Version Control Metadata	Leave off for now	We will introduce project structure before adding version-control tooling.
Renderer	Forward+ if your computer supports Vulkan	Best default for a desktop-focused 3D game.

You can create the folder in either of two ways:

• Select ~/GodotProjects as the location, enable Create Folder, and let Godot make a melee_arena subfolder.
• Create and select the empty ~/GodotProjects/melee_arena folder yourself.

Do not put this project directly in Downloads. Downloads is a temporary holding area, while a game project is something you will build over many weeks.

Renderer choice

For the intended first-person desktop prototype, choose Forward+ when available. It is the normal choice for a modern Linux desktop with Vulkan-capable graphics hardware.

Choose Compatibility instead if:

• you have older hardware,
• Godot reports that Vulkan is unavailable,
• or a Forward+ project opens with a graphics error or unusable display.

This is not a permanent disaster or a test you can fail. Godot allows the renderer to be changed later. The early lessons focus on scenes and GDScript, which work in either renderer.

Click Create. Godot creates the project folder and opens the editor.

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Recognize that the project is ready

Once the editor opens, you have successfully created the foundation of the game. The folder now contains a project.godot file: this is the project’s central settings file. Godot will create additional folders and files as you add scenes, scripts, and assets.

A Godot project is not permanently “2D only” or “3D only.” The renderer and the kinds of scenes you build determine how you use it. For this course, we will work primarily in the 3D workspace and build scenes rooted in 3D nodes.

For now, simply confirm these three things:

• The window title includes your project name, Melee Arena.
• You can see the editor’s top workspace choices, including 2D, 3D, and Script.
• The FileSystem dock shows res://, which means “the root folder of this Godot project.”

Do not worry if the center of the editor is largely blank or asks you to choose a root node. That is expected: you have created the project container, but you have not yet built and saved a playable scene. The next lessons will make the editor layout familiar, then build the first scene deliberately rather than filling it with placeholder objects.

Completion checklist

Before finishing, verify that you can do all of the following:

• Launch Godot from the extracted executable.
• See Melee Arena in the Project Manager’s project list.
• Open it and see the Godot editor.
• Locate the project folder at ~/GodotProjects/melee_arena.
• Identify res:// in the FileSystem dock as that same project folder.
• Know whether you selected Forward+ or Compatibility, and why.

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Key takeaways

Godot on Ubuntu is portable: download the standard GDScript-oriented editor, extract it, and run the executable without a traditional installation. Keep the Godot application folder separate from the game’s project folder. For this first-person 3D project, Forward+ is the preferred renderer when Vulkan is supported; Compatibility is the practical fallback for older or problematic graphics setups.

Next, you will tour the editor itself: the Scene tree, Inspector, FileSystem dock, 3D viewport, and Output panel. Those are the places where nearly all scene construction, configuration, and debugging will happen.