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Analyzing the Godot Engine Codebase: Millions of Lines of Code

Overview

The Godot engine is a powerful, open-source game engine that competes with commercial alternatives like Unity and Unreal. When we set out to analyze its codebase, we discovered it contains approximately 13.13 million lines of code. This analysis provides insights into the languages used and the distribution of code across different components.

Findings

Using our comprehensive analysis methodology, here's what we discovered about the Godot engine codebase:

Total Lines of Code: 13.13 million

Language Breakdown

  1. C/C++ (8.6M lines - 65%)
    • Core engine implementation (3.3M .cpp files)
    • Headers and interfaces (2.7M .h files, 576K .hpp, 197K .hh)
    • Performance-critical systems
    • Platform abstraction layers
    • Rendering pipelines
    • Template implementations (.inl, .inc files)
  2. Translation Files (3.3M lines - 25%)
    • Multilingual support (.po files)
    • International localization
    • Community translations
    • Massive global reach effort
  3. XML (326K lines - 2.5%)
    • Project configuration files
    • Build system definitions
    • Documentation markup
  4. Asset Files (240K lines)
    • Binary assets (.pack files with 227K lines)
    • Font files (.woff2 with 22K lines)
    • Platform-specific resources
  5. C# (110K lines)
    • C# language bindings
    • .NET integration layer
    • C# API surface
  6. Java (95K lines)
    • Android platform support
    • Android-specific features
    • JNI bridge code
  7. GLSL (71K lines)
    • Shader programs
    • Rendering effects
    • GPU compute kernels
  8. Objective-C/C++ (57K lines)
    • iOS platform support (.mm files)
    • macOS integration
    • Apple-specific features
  9. Python (27K lines)
    • Build scripts
    • Code generation tools
    • Development utilities
  10. GDScript (24K lines)
    • Example projects
    • Test scripts
    • Documentation samples

Reproducing These Results

To reproduce this analysis, save and run this script:

#!/bin/bash
# analyze_codebase.sh - Count lines of code by language

# Usage:
#   ./analyze_codebase.sh                           # Analyze current directory
#   ./analyze_codebase.sh <git-url>                 # Download and analyze repo
# Example: ./analyze_codebase.sh https://github.com/godotengine/godot.git

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    # No arguments - analyze current directory
    echo "Analyzing current directory: $(pwd)"
    ANALYSIS_DIR="."
else
    # Git URL provided - clone and analyze
    REPO_URL="$1"
    REPO_NAME=$(basename "$REPO_URL" .git)
    ANALYSIS_DIR="${REPO_NAME}-analysis"

    echo "Cloning $REPO_NAME from $REPO_URL..."
    git clone --depth 1 "$REPO_URL" "$ANALYSIS_DIR"
    cd "$ANALYSIS_DIR"
fi

echo -e "\n=== CODEBASE ANALYSIS ==="

# Count total lines
echo -e "\nCounting total lines..."
TOTAL=$(find . -type f -not -path "./.git/*" \
        -exec cat {} + 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
echo "Total lines in repository: $(printf "%'d" $TOTAL)"

# Count by major languages
echo -e "\nLines of code by language:"
echo "=========================="

# Define extensions and their labels
declare -A languages=(
    ["cpp"]="C++ source"
    ["h"]="C/C++ headers"
    ["c"]="C source"
    ["cc"]="C++ source"
    ["cxx"]="C++ source"
    ["hpp"]="C++ headers"
    ["hh"]="C++ headers"
    ["hxx"]="C++ headers"
    ["inl"]="C++ inline"
    ["inc"]="Include files"
    ["ipp"]="C++ inline"
    ["ixx"]="C++ modules"
    ["tcc"]="Template impl"
    ["tpp"]="Template impl"
    ["cs"]="C#"
    ["java"]="Java"
    ["py"]="Python"
    ["gd"]="GDScript"
    ["js"]="JavaScript"
    ["glsl"]="GLSL shaders"
    ["xml"]="XML"
)

# Get all extensions in the codebase
all_extensions=$(find . -type f -name "*.*" -not -path "./.git/*" | \
                sed 's/.*\.//' | sort -u)

# Count known languages
declare -A counted_extensions
for ext in "${!languages[@]}"; do
    count=$(find . -name "*.$ext" -type f -not -path "./.git/*" \
            -exec cat {} + 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
    if [ $count -gt 0 ]; then
        printf "%-15s %'10d lines\n" "${languages[$ext]}:" $count
        counted_extensions[$ext]=1
    fi
done | sort -k2 -nr

# Count unknown extensions
echo -e "\nUnknown file types:"
echo "==================="
unknown_total=0
for ext in $all_extensions; do
    if [[ ! ${counted_extensions[$ext]} ]] && [[ ! ${languages[$ext]} ]]; then
        count=$(find . -name "*.$ext" -type f -not -path "./.git/*" \
                -exec cat {} + 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
        if [ $count -gt 0 ]; then
            printf "%-15s %'10d lines\n" "*.$ext files:" $count
            unknown_total=$((unknown_total + count))
        fi
    fi
done | sort -k2 -nr

if [ $unknown_total -gt 0 ]; then
    echo "----------------------------------------"
    printf "%-15s %'10d lines\n" "Unknown total:" $unknown_total
fi

echo -e "\nTop 10 file types by count:"
find . -type f -name "*.*" -not -path "./.git/*" | sed 's/.*\.//' | \
     sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -10

Insights

The Godot engine's codebase reveals several fascinating patterns:

  1. C++ Dominance: The engine remains fundamentally a C++ project, with 8.6M lines (65%) in C/C++. This reflects the performance requirements of a modern game engine, with sophisticated template usage and inline optimizations.
  2. Global Reach: The most surprising finding is 3.3M lines of translation files (25% of the codebase!). This represents one of the most comprehensive internationalization efforts in open-source software, with community translations spanning dozens of languages.
  3. Multi-Platform Architecture: Significant code for Java (95K - Android), Objective-C++ (57K - Apple platforms), and C# (110K - .NET) demonstrates true cross-platform commitment at enterprise scale.
  4. Third-Party Integration: The massive 1.66M lines of C code likely comes from integrated third-party libraries (physics engines, audio codecs, image processing, compression libraries, etc.).
  5. Advanced Rendering: 71K lines of GLSL shader code (doubled from our initial count) indicates extremely sophisticated rendering capabilities rivaling commercial engines.
  6. Developer Accessibility: Native support for GDScript (24K), C# (110K), and Python (27K) bindings shows strong commitment to developer accessibility across skill levels.
  7. Asset Pipeline: 240K lines dedicated to asset files (.pack, .woff2, binary resources) reveals a comprehensive content pipeline system.
  8. Professional Tooling: Extensive build systems, IDE integration files, and development utilities show this is production-grade software infrastructure.

Real-World Godot in Action

While the Godot engine itself contains millions of lines of code, games built with it can be surprisingly concise. Our own game, Piano Roll Man, demonstrates this efficiency with just 10,500 lines of GDScript - proving you don't need massive codebases to create engaging experiences.

Piano Roll Man gameplay

Piano Roll Man is a unique music-based game that lets you load any MIDI file from the internet and play through it as a level. With a full level editor and the ability to share levels by simply sharing MIDI files, it showcases Godot's flexibility in creating innovative gameplay mechanics.

Get Piano Roll Man now for just $6 during alpha! (Price increases to $12 in beta and $18 at release) Available for Linux, Windows, and Mac - your purchase includes all future releases as we shape the game together with our alpha community.




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© Russell Ballestrini.