Traditional or Visual Scripting? A (Not-So) Tough Decision.

Game Demo 50% complete,
Game  Overall 10%,
​Unity, Bolt Visual Scripting

A few weeks ago I hit a road-block in game construction. I needed to add some actual functionality. Running around a pretty environment is great, but that alone doesn't make a game (Okay, there're some games where you only run).
​
My choices were to learn traditional scripting, or visual scripting. Here's the difference, as I see it:

Traditional scripting is like learning a new language, complete with new syntax, context and grammar. And you have to be so accurate. Every line has a function and every word on that line has to be spelled, cased and spaced correctly. Otherwise you have errors. Here is what it looks like:
"using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
public class menu : MonoBehaviour
{
    public void PlayGame ()
    {
        SceneManager.LoadScene(SceneManager.GetActiveScene().buildIndex + 1);
    }
    public void QuitGame()
    {
        Debug.Log("Quit!");
    Application.Quit();
    }
}"
That was the first and only code I ever scripted. All it really says is when to load the game and when to exit.

Visual scripting, on the other hand seems to be perfectly made for people who have a visual arts background, like myself. Here's what it looks like:

This example does the same exact thing as the other example.
I put them together here so you can see the comparison, but keep in mind that you wouldn't put game start and game quit side by side as you see them here. They should be in separate bolt flow charts, attached to different UI or buttons.

Obviously I am biased toward Visual Scripting. If you're just starting out with coding and have no problem learning new languages, then you probably should give traditional scripting a go. Otherwise, I recommend visual scripting.

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