GLFW just saw release 3.3, the first release for this graphics framework in over 2 years. GLFW is a companion framework to graphics libraries like OpenGL and Vulkan, providing the missing features like window management and input handling in a cross platform and open source manner.
Details of the 3.3 release:
It adds gamepad input via SDL_GameControllerDB, support for Vulkan on macOS via MoltenVK, better handling of high-DPI and scaling, changing attributes of existing windows, raw mouse motion input, explicit support for joystick hats/dpads, user attention requests, transparent windows and framebuffers (where possible), query for monitor work area, more run-time configuration, various other features as well as fixes for a large number of bugs.
You can download GLFW here. GLFW is an open source libpng licensed project that is hosted on GitHub available here. GLFW isn’t the only framework or library providing this kind of functionality. If GLFW isn’t right for you, check out the alternatives available here.
GDevelop, the open source 2d game engine I dubbed “the Ultimate Beginner Engine” just had another release, bringing it to version 5.0 beta 66. This release brings several new features including new tweening capabilities, the ability to save your project to multiple projects to be more version control friendly and a new experimental video object.
Add support for saving a project as multiple files, ideal for team work and using version control systems (like git, mercurial, svn, etc…)
In the game properties, choose “Multiples files” and save the project.
Layouts, external events, external layouts and functions will be saved into different json files.
Make sure to make a backup of your game!.
Be sure not to erase any of the multiple files, or GDevelop will be unable to open again your project.
New option: Extract Events to a Function, to automatically create a function from selected event(s).
Select an event, right click and choose Extract Events to a Function in the menu. Parameters will be automatically filled with objects, behaviors and groups.
GB Studio was just released. It’s an open source MIT licensed game engine for creating top down JRPG style games for the Gameboy. Capable of generating ROMs that can be run in an emulator, as well as playable web versions that can be uploaded to Itch.io. Summary details of GB Studio from their website:
Visual game builder with no programming knowledge required.
Design your graphics in any editor that can output PNG files e.g. Photoshop, Tiled, Aseprite.
Example project included to get started right away.
Make top down 2D JRPG style adventure games.
Build real GB Rom files which can be played in an emulator or on device using USB Carts.
Build a HTML5 playable game that also works on mobile and can deployed to any webserver or uploaded to Itch.io.
Built for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Supports both macOS light and dark mode.
Includes the full tools that were used to build Untitled GB Game, free to play on Itch.io.
The source code is available on GitHub. Windows, Linux and MacOS downloads are available here. Check GB Studio out in action in the video below.
The Game Creators are working on a successor to their game framework AppGameKit, previously reviewed here. The new product AppGameKit Studio builds on the existing framework while building a complete all in one IDE for game development. This adds a scene editor, integrated code editor, debugging, online help and more together into a single application. Key features from the website are:
Drag & drop assets to visualise your scenes Code with AppGameKit Script Easily browse app media assets Run live debugging sessions Access online help
AppGameKit Studio is currently in beta, but is available for purchase for a discounted price. You can learn more about AppGameKit Studio here. See Studio in action in the video below.
Hot on the heels of their 2019 GDC presentation, Unity 2019.1 was released today. The 2019.1 release saw several of the key pieces of technology announced back in 2018.1 finally come of age, losing their preview tag and now considered appropriate for use in production environments. These technologies include:
Light Weight Render Pipeline (LWRP)
Burst Compiler
Shader Graph
Unfortunately the HDRP isn’t quite ready for production use, but it did receive several new features in this release as well. Additionally there were several new or improved packaged in both experimental and preview formats including GPU lightmapping, new DOTS based rigging, DOTS based physics, DOTS based audio and much more.
Oh… and the Linux editor is now out of experimental and is now considered preview.
You can learn a great deal more about this release on the Unity Blog, or read the full release notes available here. Or you can watch our hands-on video available below. Unity 2019.1 is available for download right now via the Unity Hub. The Linux preview is available for download here in AppImage format.
Raytracing was one of the stars of GDC 2019 this year, with both Unreal and Unity announcing DXR support. Unreal Engine support was available almost immediately with the release of Unreal Engine 4.22. Unity users on the other hand have to wait quite a bit longer, with the first official release coming in Fall of 2019 or later. Fortunately for the impatient Unity have released a highly experimental Unity build with raytracing support.
You can download the experimental build from Github here with compiled zipped binaries available here. To fully make use of this version you need to have Windows 10 version 1809 or higher installed as well as an RTX card (even with the updated drivers from NVIDIA, this install will not work on 10 series cards, unlike Unreal Engine).
If you are interested in learning how Unity deals with real-time raytracing, you can download the PDF documentation right here.
The Blender Foundation recently released their new animated short Spring, a completely open film that is used to push development of Blender forward. Along side the Spring release, they are also offering a free month when you sign up for the Blender Cloud service. The Blender Cloud is a subscription service that helps support the development of Blender, while offering you several nice features including:
All of the assets used in their open films
Sample blend file to download and learn from
1,500+ textures and dozens of HDR environment maps
Plugin to access the above resources
Dozens of high quality multi-part tutorials
Tools to share and collaborate with others on Blender Cloud
You can sign up here for €9.90 a month. The first month will be free and you will not be billed until the 2nd month begins enabling you to try Blender Cloud for free. To see inside the Blender Cloud service, check out the video below.
Clickteam Fusion is an easy to use game engine behind games such as Five Nights at Freddie’s and The Escapists. We previously featured Clickteam in our “Closer Look” series a few years back. Clickteam Fusion 3.0 has been under development for several years now but Clickteam 2 just got a bit of an update to hold developers over until 3.0 ships. The new update shipped as DLC on Steam as the Fusion 2.5+ DLC.
Details of the new DLC:
Clickteam Fusion 2.5+ enhances your existing copy of Clickteam Fusion 2.5 Standard or Developer (for PC or Mac) by providing some very powerful additional features and improving functions in several places.
Access the power of event editor with even more ease using child events in your projects, qualifiers in global events, customizable qualifiers and a global event list editor.
Improve the performances of your applications with new engine optimizations and a new Windows runtime using DirectX 11.
Debugging your application has never been easier with the addition of new features like the built in profiler that allows you to examine the time taken by each event line of your application. The resulting output allows you to detect any bottleneck in your events and optimize your application’s frame rate. Or the new Find All function that searches your entire application for your search criteria and provides a new output window with the results. Find what you are looking for in the list, click it to jump directly there!
You can learn more about the release on Steam here or on the Clickteam homepage available here.
The first bundle, the 8-Bit Pixel bundle is a collection of game development ready graphics from the Game Dev Marketplace, containing 8/16bit style graphics and sounds. You can read the Humble License here and the Game Dev Marketplace license here. I will detail the contents of this bundle by tier below.
The second bundle is described as:
Boss Fight Books publishes nonfiction documentary-style books about classic video games like EarthBound, Metal Gear Solid, and Shadow of the Colossus! Collected here for the first time in one bundle, each ebook takes a critical, historical, and personal look at a single game.
All of the books are available in PDF, MOBI and EPUB formats.
Details of the 8-bit bundle by tier:
1$ Tier
Fantasy Enemy Creatures
Pixelart Game Backgrounds
Super Pixel Objects and Items
Food and Kitchenware Pixel Art Icons
Textures
Golden Coin, Rotate Sequence
World Map Pixel Art Tileset
Game Collectable Pack Pixelart
Will’s Magic Pixel Particle Effects
Deep Forest 16 Colour Tileset
Pixel House Set
8Bit Retro Game SFX
14$ Tier
Arcade Item Pack
Cyber Punk Shooter
Pixel Art Spaceships for SHMUP
Pixel Side-Scroller Spaceships
Pixel Art Bedroom Kit
Pixel Art Tileset Collection
Adenture Package
Pixel Font Pack
Fantasy Platformer Pixelart Props
Zombie Survival
Valiant Knight Pixel Art Character
25$ Tier
Pure 8Bit Magic
Pixel Art Farm Kit
8Bit SFX Pack
Zombie Package
Pixel Game Kit
Pixel Art Game Kit (separate from above)
Customizable Pixel Art Character Kit
Fantasy Medieval
Tiny RPG Dungeon
8Bit Tunes 8pack
Pixel Art Sci-Fi Space Station
Pixel Art Forest Kit
Fantasy Forest Pixel Art Tileset
Music Loops for 8Bit Games
Space Package
Simple Pirate Character
Zombie Characters
Simple Medieval Characters
When purchasing a humble bundle, you are able to decide how your money is allocated, between humble, publisher, charity and if you choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS. Watch the video below for more details of the bundles.
Hot on the heels of their GDC 2019 keynote, Epic Games have released Unreal Engine 4.22 as promised. The star of the show is support for real-time ray and path tracing, the first game engine to offer support for DXR and Nvidia’s new RTX graphics cards. Another major aspect of this release is on the C++ side, with a new license of Live++ to support improved hot-reloading of C++ code, as well as massive improvements to C++ build times. The Niagara particle system continues to improve, a new collaborative scene sharing mode has been added in experimental form and Visual Studio 2019 support was added, just a day after release!
Unreal Engine delivers unbridled power to build realistic worlds with the most accurate real-time lighting and shadowing effects – including dynamic global illumination, pixel perfect reflections and physically accurate refraction – thanks to real-time ray tracing on Nvidia RTX graphics cards. Soft area shadows and ambient occlusion provide the finishing touches to ground your scenes firmly in reality.
Our vast suite of virtual production features enables you to speed up your workflow on set with the ability to capture and record complex live performances and composite them in real-time. Entire teams can work in concert to orchestrate and direct scenes live using the new multi-user editing feature.
Every second spent waiting to see your latest creation come to life has a cost – a cost to you, a cost to your users, a cost to your vision – so we strive to make Unreal Engine easier and faster to go from iteration to iteration with each release so you can spend more time tweaking and polishing the experience for consumers. Live Coding brings Live++ support to Unreal Engine so you can go from idea to reality in seconds while you are running your project. Build times have been optimized across the board making iteration times for incremental builds up to 3x faster and freeing up valuable resources in your pipeline.
Be sure to check the release notes for more in-depth details of this release, or watch the video (coming soon) embedded below.
