Git Basics: Do This First Before Working in Godot!

[jgbourque]

Always update your local repository before you work In Godot

Why this task matters

This will ensure sure you have the latest changes from your team before you begin working on the game. You will be making changes to your game quite a bit and pretty soon this will feel like second nature!

Important concept: Unlike Google Docs or other online tools, Git does not automatically sync the latest updates from your GitHub repository. You need to manually pull (download) the newest changes from online into your local repository before you start working. This is a key difference to remember when working with Git.

Steps

1. Open Git Bash.
2. Navigate to your project folder. Use the cd command in Git to target the folder where you cloned the project.(this stands for "change directory"). Ex: cd C:/Users/YourName/Documents/MyGameProject. You'll know you're in the right place when you see main next to your folder path - this tells you Git recognizes this as your main branch. You can also type git status to check if you're in the correct folder - Git will show you which branch you're on and confirm this is a Git repository.
3. Pull the latest changes. Before creating a new branch, always run this command on your main branch to get the newest updates from your team:
   git pull

This is important because whenever you create a new branch, it just copies your current main branch. If your main branch is outdated, your new branch will be outdated too, causing conflicts later.

4. Create and switch to a new branch. Think of a branch like making a copy of your project to work on. You never work directly on your main branch - instead, you make a copy (branch) for each task. This way, your main branch stays exactly like the online version, so you can always get new updates from your team. Once the pull is complete, create your new branch:

   git switch -c your-new-branch-name
   

   The -c flag means "create and switch to" the new branch. Choose a branch name that describes what you're working on, like intro-outro-tilemap or add-character-spriteframes.

5. Verify you're on the new branch: Git will show your new branch name next to the folder path, confirming you've switched successfully. You can also just use the git status command as well to double check that you have swapped to your new branch

6. Open Godot. Now you're ready to start working in Godot with your properly set up Git workflow. You can just leave Git open on your computer while you work in Godot. If you close it for any reason it's ok! Just open it up and navigate back to the correct folder and Git will remember that you were on your new branch.

Quick Recap

• Always open Git on your computer first and navigate to your cloned game project folder.
• Always do git pull on the main branch before creating a new branch
• The git switch command lets you move between existing branches. (git switch -c lets you create a new branch and switch to it)
• Your new branch is a fresh copy of whatever branch you were on when you created it
• This workflow prevents conflicts when you later merge your work back to the main project

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