A clean, minimal Godot 4.4 game template with loading screen, main menu, and game scene structure. Perfect for starting new game projects with a professional foundation.

This template provides a solid foundation for game development with:

• Loading Screen: Professional loading animation with progress bar
• Main Menu: Clean interface with New Game and Quit options
• Game Scene: Empty game scene ready for your content
• Scene Management: Automatic scene transitions via singleton

• Enhanced Loading Screen:
  • Professional loading animation with progress bar
  • Dynamic loading stages (Initializing, Loading Assets, etc.)
  • Rotating tips and helpful information
  • Version display
  • Smooth animations and transitions
  • Background color animation
  • Configurable loading time
• Audio System:
  • Background music support with fade in/out
  • Sound effects for UI interactions
  • Volume control for music and SFX
  • Automatic audio file detection
• Settings Management:
  • Persistent user settings
  • Audio volume controls
  • Display settings (fullscreen, vsync)
  • UI preferences (show/hide tips, version)
  • Configurable loading time
• Pause System:
  • Professional pause menu with resume, settings, main menu, and quit options
  • Game state preservation during pause
  • Audio pause/resume handling
  • Input blocking during pause
  • Escape key toggle functionality
• Main Menu System: Simple and clean menu interface with audio feedback
• Scene Transitions: Smooth scene management with fade effects
• Input Handling: Escape key toggles pause menu in game
• Responsive Design: Works with different window sizes
• Clean Architecture: Well-organized code structure with singletons

getting_started/
├── scenes/
│   ├── loading_screen.tscn    # Enhanced loading screen with tips and animations
│   ├── main_menu.tscn         # Main menu with New Game/Quit options
│   └── game.tscn              # Empty game scene for your content
├── scripts/
│   ├── scene_manager.gd       # Singleton for smooth scene transitions
│   ├── audio_manager.gd       # Singleton for audio management
│   ├── settings_manager.gd    # Singleton for user settings
│   ├── loading_screen.gd      # Enhanced loading screen logic
│   ├── main_menu.gd           # Main menu with audio feedback
│   └── game.gd                # Game scene initialization
├── audio/
│   ├── music/                 # Background music files
│   │   └── README.md          # Music usage instructions
│   └── sfx/                   # Sound effect files
│       └── README.md          # SFX usage instructions
├── project.godot              # Project configuration
├── icon.svg                   # Project icon
├── icon.svg.import           # Icon import settings
└── .gitignore                # Git ignore rules

1. Download and Install Godot 4.4 from godotengine.org
2. Open the Project:
   • Launch Godot Engine
   • Click "Import" or "Open"
   • Navigate to this project folder and select the project.godot file
3. Run the Project:
   • Press F5 or click the "Play" button
   • You'll see the loading screen, then main menu, then game scene

1. Enhanced Loading Screen (configurable, default 3 seconds):

   • Shows game title with breathing animation
   • Dynamic loading stages (Initializing → Loading Assets → Preparing Game → Almost Ready)
   • Rotating helpful tips and information
   • Version display
   • Smooth progress bar animation
   • Background color animation
   • Optional background music (if loading_music.ogg exists)
   • Fade transition to main menu

2. Main Menu:

   • New Game: Starts the game scene with button sound
   • Quit: Exits the application with button sound
   • Optional background music (if menu_music.ogg exists)

3. Game Scene:

   • Empty scene ready for your game content
   • Press Escape to pause the game
   • Pause menu with resume, settings, main menu, and quit options

Edit the title in scenes/loading_screen.tscn and scenes/main_menu.tscn

Modify the loading time in settings or change SettingsManager.get_loading_time() in scripts/loading_screen.gd

• Add loading_music.ogg to audio/music/ for loading screen music
• Add menu_music.ogg to audio/music/ for main menu music
• Add button_click.ogg to audio/sfx/ for button sounds
• Audio files are automatically detected and played

The game automatically saves user settings to user://settings.cfg:

• Audio volumes (music, SFX)
• Display settings (fullscreen, vsync)
• UI preferences (show/hide tips, version)
• Loading time

Update the ColorRect colors in each scene file

1. Create new scene files in the scenes/ folder
2. Add corresponding scripts in the scripts/ folder
3. Use SceneManager.change_scene("path/to/scene.tscn") to transition

1. Include the pause menu scene in your game scenes
2. Use pause_menu.show_pause_menu() to pause
3. Use pause_menu.hide_pause_menu() to resume
4. Customize the pause menu UI as needed

Edit the loading_tips array in scripts/loading_screen.gd to customize the rotating tips

• Godot Engine 4.4 or later
• No additional dependencies required

• SceneManager: Handles smooth scene transitions with fade effects
• AudioManager: Manages background music and sound effects with volume control
• SettingsManager: Handles persistent user settings and configuration
• Each scene has its own script for specific functionality
• The template uses Control nodes for UI scenes and Node2D for game scenes
• Input handling is set up for basic navigation (Escape key)
• All scripts are well-commented and follow Godot best practices
• Audio files are automatically detected - just add them to the appropriate folders
• Settings are automatically saved and loaded between sessions

After setting up this template:

1. Add your game content to the game.tscn scene
2. Create additional scenes for different game states
3. Add sound effects and music to the audio/ folders
4. Implement save/load functionality for game progress
5. Add a settings menu using the SettingsManager
6. Create additional UI elements and menus
7. Add particle effects and visual enhancements
8. Implement game-specific features and mechanics

📋 For detailed recommendations and enhancement roadmap, see RECOMMENDATION.md

• Godot Documentation
• Godot Tutorials
• GDScript Reference

This template is open source and follows the same license as the Godot Engine.