Moving to Vulkan (and ES 2.0) instead of OpenGL ES 3.0
The rationale for the OpenGL ES 3 renderer was having a single codebase for targeting all platforms. This sounds really good in theory and we could say it *almost* works, but...
The rationale for the OpenGL ES 3 renderer was having a single codebase for targeting all platforms. This sounds really good in theory and we could say it *almost* works, but...
So far we have been a few months on Patreon and the net result has been overwhelmingly positive, as we get enough funds each month to hire our lead developer and an intern! Still, it's time to start thinking about our next hire to continue speeding up Godot's development as well as its visibility and relevance in the gamedev industry.
Maybe you have already seen an AdPod around. They are three-sided giant multitouch capable screens. The company behind them customizes them for very important customers for promotion campaings for things like movies (Disney, Universal). They "skin" the device cosmetically for the targeted product and develop interactive apps that run on them. People walking by can interact with them, something which creates great product awareness and also entertains. Now they have decided to use Godot for such development work! The switch from the well-known non-free engine they were using formerly has been a wise decision.
We are all working hard on fixing the remaining issues for delivering a stable Godot 3.0 as soon as possible, but we definitely need a hand to speed up the work!
Godot keeps growing steadily in both users and contributors, and 3.0 will be our best release yet. As our community keeps expanding, the development process also reshapes to accommodate new contributions. While our process is completely transparent, it is not obvious for a large part of the community how new features, fixes and improvements are added. This short article will attempt to shed some light on it.
Godot just got its first platinum sponsor, and we're thrilled to announce that it's Enjin Coin, a smart cryptocurrency designed for virtual goods in games! They are working on a module to integrate their open source framework in Godot 3.
Our campaign for the initial Patreon goal (hiring Juan full time) has been a huge success thanks to our community's support. Thanks to this, Juan is able to spend a lot more time working on Godot and helping other contributors. However, many areas remain where more dedicated developer time would be highly beneficial to advance the project faster.
As we are nearing the 3.0 release, it's the right time to contribute to the localisation effort and make sure that your native language has an accurate and complete translation of the Godot editor upon release.
Godot 3.0 is in it's final march towards a stable release, hopefully before year's end. The first Beta will be releases shortly and then candidates and stable... you can help and be a hero!
Godot is a community developed game engine. The development process is becoming tighter and more efficient every day. As the amount of contributors keep growing exponentially, it's a big challenge for us to keep this process efficient and yet improve it.
A little bit over a month ago we launched a Patreon campaign to improve our funding. The first goal, which is allowing our lead developer Juan Linietsky to work full time on the project, has been just met, which is amazing!! Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed!
Godot has grown a lot and, nowadays, and new users expect us to have quality documentation comparable to commercial offerings. For this, the documentation system we currently have needs tweaks and improvements. As we, game engine developers, are not experienced in the web side of the programming world, everything seems daunting to us (please don't laugh), so any help with the following items would be hugely appreciated!
The first two weeks of our new Patreon campaign have been astounding, with more than $2,400/month pledged by the community to enable us to hire Juan full-time to work on Godot's development. We are 80% of the way up to that goal, and with your help to spread the news we might be able to reach our target $3,000 within a few days! To celebrate this huge progress, we upgraded our Patreon rewards to make them more accessible. We also took this opportunity to satisfy some legal requirements of being a non-profit charity, ensuring that no reward could be interpreted as a taxable business income.
This is a short article clarifying some on my views of why I believe glTF to be a great asset pipeline format, contrarily to the claims of Eric Lengyel's feature comparison of OpenGEX and glTF.
Many devs asked me to write about this for a long time, so sharing my experience for this process.
We are launching a Patreon site (https://www.patreon.com/godotengine) to help fund Godot development. Help us develop Godot better and faster by becoming our Patron!
Khronos, with glTF 2.0, has given us a fantastic open standard for asset exchange format between 3D modelling software and game engines. Here's why we must make it succeed...
Emmanuel Leblond (touilleMan) just released the first beta of his Python for Godot interface, which will allow developers to use Python 3 and its complete ecosystem as a scripting language in Godot 3.0.
There are but a few days left on the Kickstarter campaign. It's been an enormous success, with over 4 times the initial goal! The backers unlocked every stretch goal, including 4 contributions to the official documentation. Here's what will improve in the coming year.
Do you want to become a better game developer with Godot? GDquest, who makes game creation tutorials with open source tools, is on Kickstarter, with our full support!
GDquest, content creator and gamedev teacher of Krita and Godot fame, will soon start a Kickstarter campaign for a professional quality game creation course targeting the upcoming Godot 3! Among Godot developers, we are all thrilled about the project and want it to be a huge success, so mark the date and be sure to support the campaign!
Godot's Dec 2016 - Jan 2017 Community Game Jam ended with 41 entries, including some very interesting games! Check the jam winners in this post: Astrid - The Meow Night Shadow, 2 and 3, Two Taps Racer!
Starting now, and only for the upcoming 3.0 release, HEAD will break compatibility completely. Projects from Godot 1.x and 2.x **will not work** and this is expected.
After several months of development, the web frontend to Godot's Asset Library finally reached the beta status!