Engine Watch

Godot 4.0 ships after major rewrite

Godot 4.0, the open source cross-platform engine for 2D and 3D games, is now available. The release represents a major rewrite of the engine, bundling substantial upgrades in internationalization and editor interface improvements alongside revamped 3D rendering. Expanded platform support means Godot games now target Android as well.

Full details are in the release notes, Godot 4.0 sets sail: All aboard for new horizons. The GDC 2023 Godot Meetup at GitHub HQ also featured a talk by Juan Linietsky on the state of Godot as an open ecosystem.

PSX-style shaders for Godot

MenacingMecha has published a collection of shaders and materials that reproduce the visual flavor of mid-90's PlayStation games. Billboard sprites, shiny metallic textures, and heavy fog effects suit low-poly models, low-resolution textures, and simple lighting—everything needed for a nostalgia-fueled project.

Game News

Fly Dangerous Early Access Update 2

Fly Dangerous is an open source multiplayer flight sim racing game where you pilot a spaceship through narrow canyons, orbital racecourses, or scenic open environments, including optional VR support. The Early Access 2 update adds new biomes, courses above and below ground, and new collision mechanics that demand both accuracy and speed.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead lands on Steam

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (C:DDA), the roguelike exploration and survival RPG that has been in development for over five years, is now on Steam. The game will remain free and open source, but Steam purchases support the developers.

Starship Olympics alpha

Starship Olympics, a 2D arcade combat game built in Godot, has a new alpha. Version v0.11 brings more minigames for steering a starship with friends, plus more capable AI opponents when you fly solo. See the release announcement for details.

OpenRA 20230225

OpenRA, the open source revival of classic Westwood Studios real-time strategy games including Command & Conquer, Red Alert, and Dune 2000, has dropped its first stable release in two years. The new version improves pathfinding performance, multiplayer netcode, and balance in Dune 2000—the latter aided by renewed interest following the 2021 film. Read the release announcement for the full rundown.

OpenHV

OpenHV is both a revival and a new game: it resurrects Hard Vacuum, an unreleased real-time strategy from 1993, as a standalone title built atop the OpenRA engine. The latest release, based on OpenRA's recent stable, adds new units, maps, and assets while rebalancing gameplay and fixing bugs. See the release on GitHub for what's changed.

Tabletop Club hits first release candidate

Tabletop Club, a free-form multiplayer tabletop game simulator, is approaching 0.1.0 with its first release candidate. The open source simulator aims for an easy-to-use asset system for simulating any board game, plus the physics for a satisfying post-defeat table flip—minus the cleanup. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Barotrauma 1.0

Barotrauma, a sci-fi horror game set beneath Europa's surface where you defend your submarine from crushing depths, alien creatures, and hostile humans, reached 1.0 in March. The milestone version introduces revised faction and reputation mechanics and a dream-inspired campaign endgame. More in the official announcement.

Tools

PixiEditor 1.0

PixiEditor, the open source pixel art editor, has celebrated its 1.0 release. New in this version: a symmetry tool that works "like having four hands drawing simultaneously," layer blend modes, alpha locking, clipping to adjacent layers, plus command search and remappable keyboard shortcuts. Read the release blog post for more.

Game jams

Starting in April

  • Games for Blind Gamers 2 (April 1-30) — Create a game that uses sound, audio description, screen readers, and other accessibility features for blind players.
  • GameDev.js (April 13-26) — Build a browser-playable game, with a bonus open source challenge.
  • Godot Wild Jam #56 (April 14-23) — Monthly jam for Godot developers; join early for community theme nominations.
  • Ludum Dare #53 (April 28-30) — The venerable weekend challenge for solo developers.

Jam entry of the month: LiDAR Dungeon

From the long-running 7DRL Challenge comes LiDAR Dungeon, a retro-style roguelike built for the TIC-80 fantasy console. You play a robot exploring a mysterious spaceship, but can only see what's briefly revealed by scanner flashes before they fade to darkness. The README explains the thoughtful, not punishing, design philosophy. The game is playable or downloadable on itch.io.