Open Source Game Engines See Major Updates
July brought releases from several prominent open source game engines. Godot shipped its first release under a new, faster cadence. Godot 4.1 introduces static variables in GDScript, the ability to detach editor windows onto separate screens, and foundational work supporting future features, alongside a substantial number of bug fixes.
Bevy Engine 0.11, built in Rust, also landed with significant rendering upgrades, including screen space ambient occlusion and temporal anti-aliasing. The release adds WebGPU support and a new UI layout system that adopts a CSS Grid-like syntax. For Java developers, LibGDX 1.12.0 brings a new audio switching API for handling device changes, haptics support on iOS and Android, and a MetalANGLE graphics backend that translates OpenGL calls to Apple's Metal. All LibGDX backends now support OpenGL ES 3.0.
GDevelop, the no-code game-making platform, continues to evolve with recent updates focused on new assets, bug fixes, and improvements to its built-in lessons and examples. Notably, 3D game support has become the default for new projects in the tool, which can target smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
From Dungeon Crawlers to Space Traders
The community edition of classic roguelike Brogue is seeing strong, ongoing development more than a decade after the original release. The project maintains an active pull request queue, and recent releases offer a polished entry point for exploring the dungeon-crawling genre. Thrive, an evolution simulator inspired by Spore, added prototypes for later game stages in its latest release. Players can now experience the transition from unicellular life to macroscopic organisms, and eventually to planetary civilizations and space exploration.
Factory management game Mindustry mixes tower defense and real-time strategy elements into a single-player campaign or multiplayer battles. Recent releases have focused on bug fixes, improved modding support, and user interface enhancements. The project is available on GitHub, Steam, and itch.io.
Two Takes on Space Trading
This month highlights two 2D space trading games. Endless Sky, built in the spirit of classics like Escape Velocity, sees its latest stable release expand the storyline, add new alien factions, and include a host of bug fixes. Naikari: Eye of Chaos 0.8.0 also received recent updates, introducing new NPC behaviors, a smoother introduction for new players, and interface quality-of-life improvements.
Finally, Unearthed is a newly open-sourced sandbox game where players take on the role of a miner. Starting as a seven-day distraction, the project is now a fully-featured, moddable 2D multiplayer world.
Tools and Plugins for Game Development
Dialogic 2.0, a plugin for building conversations in Godot, is in active development as a rewrite for Godot 4. The project is available for those who want a preview of the work in progress. For Unity developers, the Icons Finder tool, part of the unity-tailwindcss plugin, streamlines importing open source icons into a project using the react-icon library. The plugin also includes a font finder and the ability to style UI elements with a Tailwind CSS-style syntax.
Game Jams and a Challenge of Self
Several game jams are on the horizon. GDevelop's Game Jam #4 runs from August 4 to 13 and asks participants to build a browser-based game. JS13KGames, running August 13 to September 13, challenges developers to create a game in 13 kilobytes or less. GitHub's own Game Off 2023 returns from November 1 to December 1, requiring participants to build a game around a theme and share the source in a GitHub repository.
The featured jam game is Slay Yourself, an entry in last month's GMTK Game Jam 2023. The game offers turn-based RPG combat against your own clone, but with a twist: each turn, you swap roles with your opponent, forcing you to plan moves that will backfire when your clone is forced to make them.
