Godot 4.2 released; A brand new era of FOSS game creation software

Another development update.

In short…

  • ----2.1.5 is coming along nicely for those still on that 2.x branch. One of the more notable things is the advancement of the 2.x to 3.x project converter (allowing for less and less work after an upgrade).
  • ----Work on version 3.1 is ongoing. The estimate time of arrival will depend on how quickly it takes to get full GLES2 support back for 3D (it’s already done for 2D). Enhancements, new features, and bugfixes get committed otherwise.
  • ----Version 3.0.3 will be out in a few weeks (likely with a nice bunch of bugfixes and smaller features).

Godot has now gotten to the point where Sketchfab is taking notice, meaning it will join Unity and Unreal in terms of having a plugin for it.

It will not be usable until Godot 3.0.3 is released due to bugs in the current version, but it does show how far Godot has come (now possibly one of the most successful FOSS solutions in the area of game engines).

I just started with Godot 3.0.2 ( I previously worked with Godot 2.x ) and it’s amazing jump…So I’m working on a some learning project…something like a 3d futuristic or sci-fi platformer :slight_smile:
…spatial material used
…no RE and GI probes
…sorry guys no video yet…but disc (player) is jumping…I need polish player control :slight_smile:


The 2018 GDC report

In short, Godot is spreading fast throughout the industry and is becoming a favored choice among schools and the gambling industry. There are also mid-sized game studios abandoning Unity and Unreal in favor of Godot (due to giving them more flexibility without bringing back the costs associated with custom technology). They are also abandoning Unity because they hate the EULA and the expansive data collection the company foists upon their users.

The only area where it’s not growing as much as hoped is among indie studios and small teams (they seem to be pretty content with Unity and Unreal, despite their EULA’s and their reputation as buggy software). There’s no word yet on how it’s being received in the AAA arena, but what they have heard so far is pretty encouraging and giving them confidence as to just how far the engine can go in features and quality.

The paid developer count for Godot rises to 3

Akien is officially the full-time project coordinator and project representative (being the one responsible for Godot’s stellar record in getting code contributions in master).

The next goal will not add a 4th position, but provide cushioning for the current expenses the team has such as plane tickets (for promoting Godot worldwide).

Godot’s 2018 official game reel

As you notice, the games range from retro to realistic, 2D and 3D (and there’s a few more of the latter this year).

Looks good. How do you guys think about me creating & releasing a Godot Game with complete project + assets???

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Does anyone have the issue with MOUSE_MODE_CAPTURED? Its not easy to build fps or tps with such a bug.

If you’re sure its a bug, report it on their github with a sample project (as the developers don’t read the comments here).

Now there are certain functions in GDscript that only work when used under a certain top-level function (ie. _integrate_forces(body)). There’s a top-level function named _input that is required for some mouse functions to work.

Well the issue is here; https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/17288 But its very interesting, that the same problem is in 2.1x too.

Really cool games made. Best of all when they sell the games they won’t have to pay any royalties.

If anyone is wondering where Godot 3.1 is, it is waiting on a certain key feature which is the return of GLES2 support.

The good news is, the developer posts monthly reports to the official website and here is his report on month 4 of the work.

As the article mentions, he has had some difficulty in trying to produce a proper implementation with the modernized 3D rendering in mind, but has also mentioned that he has gained a lot of knowledge on how things will work and hopes to see a better rate of progress from now on. He is a paid developer by the way (so there’s little chance of the project being abandoned before it’s complete).

Yeah good progress. im more interested in the gles2 pbr. :slight_smile: Now lets see if the node shaders will be added or will wait for 3.2 with Vulkan.

Axis handling for controllers will be much improved for version 3.1 (it appears to me this will make it much easier for devs. to take full advantage of the thumbsticks).

This, once again, also showcases the community-driven development of the Godot engine, a major reason for this feature is because many users were requesting it.

Godot is now an official recipient of the GSoC program (5 projects).

The projects include API support for certain multiplayer, video, and VR functions and the ability to play midi files. There’s also going to be a student working on the new .tscn exporter between Blender and Godot (which promises to greatly improve the asset pipeline for us Blender users).

Why?! Why not to use glTF?

Because it allows the exporter features to be tailored specific to Godot (design, node types, materials, ect…). It potentially could allow you to set 2.8’s engine to Godot and get use the UI to to tell Godot how the scene will look and (as opposed to the current method of using name suffixes and empty types). Other things could potentially be possible too (placing your level’s scene instances in Blender instead of Godot or having a two-way interlink (instead of just Blender going into Godot).

Disclaimer, I don’t know what it will ultimately have as features, but a custom exporter usually allows things that one using a generic format does not.

glTF was designed from the ground up to be runtime and exchange format for real-time apps. It’s standardized and backed up by industry leaders. Perhaps Godot should adopt that, now that the format is ver 2.0. This way you can get any 3D app to export into glTF and not worry about updates and compatibility issues for .tscn

glTF export is being worked on too (it will likely be needed anyway for plugging with Maya and friends).

Blender, I believe, is generally seen as a good target for greater support because the majority of its users have it as their primary 3D app. Then you have the fact that new contributors are making their debut quite often (far more so than in the Blender dev. scene).

Anyway, the Blender exporter is not going to take a lot of time away for the core team, as the work will be done by the student and much of the development now is being done by a former BGE user.

the .tscn is the default file format for scene(s) saving within Godot and its in it since ~2016.

When you save a scene, you can save it as *.tscn, *.scn, *.res
*.tscn is in an easy to edit/readable fileformat.

http://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.0/development/file_formats/tscn.html