Step 1: The "Invisible" Dog (Data Only)

Before we build buttons or UI, we need to teach Godot what a "dog" is. In Pong, your ball just had a position and a speed. A dog in a management game has states that change over time.
We are going to use something called a Custom Resource. Think of it like a cookie cutter. The resource is the cutter (the template), and each individual dog you create is a cookie.

Your Homework for Step 1:

  1. Create a new script in Godot and name it dog_resource.gd.
  2. Erase everything inside it and write this code:
GDScript
extends Resource
class_name DogResource

@export var name: String = "Buddy"
@export var hunger: int = 50  # 0 is starving, 100 is full
@export var energy: int = 100 # 0 is exhausted, 100 is hyper
  1. Go to your FileSystem dock in Godot, right-click, and choose New -> Resource.
  2. Search for your DogResource, select it, and name the file dog_togo.tres (or whatever name you want!).
  3. Click on that file. In the Inspector on the right, you will see fields where you can type your dog's name and change their hunger and energy values. Create a second one for a different dog.
Why we do this: You have just successfully separated your game's data from your game's visuals. This is the foundation of all management games.

Step 2: Making Time Pass

Once you have your dog data files, we need a way for their stats to tick down. Otherwise, they're just static files.
For this, we will use a Timer Node.

Your Homework for Step 2:

  1. Create a simple 2D scene with a basic Node or Control root.
  2. Add a Timer node as a child. In the Inspector, set its Wait Time to 2.0 seconds and check the Autostart box.
  3. Attach a script to your root node.
  4. Drag your .tres dog files into this script as variables, and connect the Timer's timeout signal to your script.
Your code will look something like this:
GDScript
extends Node

# Load our dog data files
var dog_1 = preload("res://dog_togo.tres")
var dog_2 = preload("res://dog_rocky.tres")

func _on_timer_timeout() -> void:
	# Every 2 seconds, the dogs get a little hungrier
	dog_1.hunger -= 5
	dog_2.hunger -= 3
	
	# Print to the output console to verify it's working
	print(dog_1.name, " Hunger: ", dog_1.hunger)
	print(dog_2.name, " Hunger: ", dog_2.hunger)
When you run this scene, nothing will appear on the game screen, but look at your Output log at the bottom of Godot. You will see your dogs' hunger numbers steadily dropping every two seconds.

Your Milestone for this Step

Stop right here. Don't worry about buttons, don't worry about progress bars, and don't worry about graphics yet.
Try to set up these two steps in a fresh Godot project. Once you can see your two dogs' stats printing and decreasing in the output console, you have successfully mastered the "brain" of a management game.
Let me know when you've got that running, or if you hit any snags setting up the Custom Resource!