Today we are looking at Scatter for the Godot Game Engine. Scatter is a Godot add-on that makes it incredibly easy to instance mesh objects in your game level. This makes level design tasks like placing grass, paths, fences, etc incredibly simple. Additionally Scatter supports instancing multiple meshes (think different tree meshes to make a forest) in the same scatter, excluding splines or points from being scatter targets and more.

Scatter is an open source project with the source code hosted on GitHub under the MIT open source license. The project is implemented as a simple Godot add-on, so simply clone the repository into your projects Addons folder (or create one if you don’t have one already). Next load your project, go to Project Settings, then Plugins and make sure Scatter is enabled.

Once scattered is enabled, you create a Scatter object. This is a spline path that defines the boundaries of the scatter object. You need to add a ScatterItem child to your Scatter, then add a MeshInstance to the ScatterItem. This mesh instance is the 3D model that will be “scattered” around the boundary defined by the Scatter path.

The creator of the Scatter add-on also created Concept Graph for Godot, an excellent procedural generation extension we previously covered here. You can learn more about Scatter for Godot and see it in action in the video below.

Eilon

I’m excited to announce that today we are releasing the Mobile Blazor Bindings Preview 5 update that adds support for sharing UI between web apps and mobile/desktop apps. You can now use a Razor Class Library (RCL) to build your UI and app logic once and use it in a Blazor Web app and in a Mobile Blazor Bindings app. This release also includes many other improvements, such as support for Shell with Blazor @page routing, SkiaSharp for rich graphics, gesture recognizers, and a whole lot more!

You can build one UI using Blazor Web and host it in a Blazor Server or Blazor Web Assembly app and also in a Mobile Blazor Bindings hybrid app to target Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows:

These are the major new features in the 0.5 Preview 5 release:

• Build your UI in a Razor Class Library (RCL) and share the same UI between web app and native app, including static assets such as CSS and images (community contribution from Jan-Willem Spuij)
• Support for Shell with Routing, including the Razor @page directive (community contribution from Lachlan Gordon
• Support for SkiaSharp graphics (community contribution from Lachlan Gordon
• Gesture recognizers (tap, swipe, etc.)
• Dual-screen device support
• Added FontImageSource, DatePicker, TimePicker
• Simplified Grid layout syntax
• Update to Xamarin.Forms 4.8
• Nightly package feed
• OSS docs on GitHub
• And several bug fixes and other small improvements
• The full list of closed issues is here: https://github.com/xamarin/MobileBlazorB...5?closed=1

Get started

To get started building a Blazor Hybrid app with Experimental Mobile Blazor Bindings preview 5, install the .NET Core 3.1 SDK, have Visual Studio with the Mobile development with .NET (Xamarin.Forms) and ASP.NET and web development workloads installed, and then run the following command:

dotnet new -i Microsoft.MobileBlazorBindings.Templates::0.5.50-preview

And then create your first project by running this command:

dotnet new blazorhybrid -o MyHybridApp

Note: For additional information on required software, please check the Getting Started article.

Now open it in Visual Studio and run it on Android, iOS, Windows, or macOS. That’s it! You can find additional docs and tutorials on https://docs.microsoft.com/mobile-blazor-bindings/. We have a new tutorial for building a Razor Class Library and including it in a Blazor Server app as well as targeting Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows platforms.

Upgrade an existing project

To update an existing Mobile Blazor Bindings project please refer to the Migrate Mobile Blazor Bindings From Preview 4 to Preview 5 topic for full details.

Razor Class Library support

Razor Class Libraries are a feature of Razor that enable you to package part of your application’s UI and logic into a reusable library. This library can then be reused in multiple web applications. Now in Mobile Blazor Bindings you can use the same library in a Blazor Hybrid application as part of a mobile or desktop app. The web content is hosted in a Web View, just like any hybrid app content, and it can interact with any native parts of the application, and the reverse is true as well. Previous versions included limited support for RCLs, and this version adds improved support for them, particularly support for serving static assets such as CSS and images, as well as support for JSInterop for interop between JavaScript and .NET code.

Shell navigation

To build a great native experience for your app you can use the Shell control that comes from Xamarin.Forms. Starting with Preview 5 you can author native Blazor pages with the @page "/search/{query}" syntax and integrate them with the Shell’s navigation (such as the Back button) and navigate to them using the new NavigationManager.NavigateToAsync($"/search/{query}") API. Pages can use the navigation manager by injecting it from the DI container as in @inject ShellNavigationManager NavigationManager.

SkiaSharp graphics

SkiaSharp is a popular cross-platform graphics library based on Google’s Skia graphics library. In Preview 5 you can directly use SkiaSharp’s Canvas APIs to render rich high-performance graphics directly in your Mobile Blazor Bindings app.

Here’s what a simple canvas might look like:

<ContentView> <StackLayout Padding="20"> <SKCanvasView On‌PaintSurface="PaintSurface"/> </StackLayout>

</ContentView> @code

{ void PaintSurface(SKPaintSurfaceEventArgs e) { var canvas = e.Surface.Canvas; canvas.Clear(SKColors.Green); var paint = new SKPaint { Color = SKColors.SkyBlue, }; canvas.DrawLine(0, 0, 200, 200, paint); }

}

And here’s what a more complex canvas might render as:

More information

Thank you to contributors

This release had several major contributions from community contributors:

• Jan-Willem Spuij added support for Razor Class Libraries with static assets. He stayed up late (his time) on calls with me several times and I appreciate his hard work!
• Lachlan Gordon added support for Shell navigation and SkiaSharp. His patience in playing time-zone ping-pong (Australia vs. USA) is most appreciated and resulted in high quality contributions!

Thanks you to Jan-Willem, Lachlan, and everyone else who contributed to this release!

What’s next? Let us know what you want!

This project relies on your feedback to help shape the future of Blazor for native and hybrid scenarios. Please share your thoughts on this blog post or at the GitHub repo so we can keep the discussion going.

Police in Nashville were able to use an AirTag to help track down a stolen vehicle.

Frontline workers represent the face of organizations and make up the lion’s share of the workforce. But new Work Trend Index data reveals that 1 in 2 frontline workers cite being burned out in their jobs. Investing in technology that supports the frontline is key. Notably, 65% of frontline workers are optimistic that AI will help them in their jobs.  
We are excited to highlight new Microsoft solutions and investments in next-generation AI for the frontline workforce across nearly every business. Frontline managers and workers can optimize their time from work order creation to schedule management with Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service and the new Shifts plug-in for Microsoft 365 Copilot. In Viva Connections, frontline workers can stay up-to-date on internal communications. And with shared device mode for Intune, VMware and SOTI, employees can simplify the sign-in experience securely.  
Today’s announcements not only reduce administrative burden and time on spent on manual tasks, but also enable frontline workers to focus on end customer experiences and receive an overall improved employee experience. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/e9Ash_82

Click Here!

At the Fedora Linux 38 release party, the Docs team suggested that we take advantage of a virtual meetup to bring teamwork into documentation writing. Documentation writing shouldn’t be a solitary pursuit.

An interactive session at Flock 2023 helped exchange ideas on a collaborative way to run meetings and invite more contributions for documentation.

After months of waiting for ideas to be finalized, the Docs team is pleased to announce the workshop will begin September 2023.

If you fancy coming along, just let us know your preferred timeslot in the When-is-good scheduler by September 15 2023.

But why and how?

The idea behind a virtual writing session is to combine the power of the Fedora Podcast with advocacy of writing and maintaining excellent user documentation. Here is why.

• Documentation in any free and open source software project provides reasons for users and contributors to stay loyal to the project and software.
• The Docs workshop aims to facilitate individual and collaborative work through a supportive community of documentarians.
• Documentation is more than a fix of visual presentation. We’re writing, reviewing, and deploying docs.
• In accordance with the Fedora project motto “First”, we like to try new things in toolset, automation, and UI improvement.

Building on feedback from each session, the Docs team wants to empower people to learn about templates, issue tickets, review processes, and tool chains to improve documentation for Fedora Linux users and contributors.

Program agenda

A monthly agenda will be posted in Fedocal and Fosstodon (@fedora@fosstodon.org).

Track 1: Introduction and onboarding (odd months)
– What the Docs team is all about. What role will interest you?
– The types of user documentation Fedora Linux publishes
– How you can help improve Fedora Documentation.

Track 2: Skill-based workshop (even months)
– Technical review, Git workshop, AsciiDoc template and attributes
– Use of local build and preview script
– Test documentation quality

Format of Track 2
– Demo
– Try it yourself
– Q&A

If you come along to the Track 2 workshop, all you need is a Fedora account and Pagure account with your computer, preferably with Git and Podman (or Docker) installed.

In the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to drop by our Discussion forum. I’m looking forward to saying hello at our first virtual docs workshop someday in late September (the exact date depends on the when-is-good responses)! Let’s do it!

The fun is just getting started.

The latest changelog for the recently released Beta & Preview 1.19.80.21.

Experimental Features

Armor Trims

• You can now visually customize your armor with a variety of unique trims at the Smithing Table
• Armor Trims are purely visual with no gameplay benefits, and can only be applied to Helmets, Chestplates, Leggings, and Boots
  
  • All trim patterns are visually the same on an armor’s item icon, but the color will still change based on the trim material
  • To check which trim pattern a piece of armor has, you can hover over it in the inventory
• Armor Trim Smithing Templates can be found all throughout the world, and each of the following structures contains its own unique Smithing Template:
  
  • Pillager Outpost
    
    • Sentry Armor Trim
  • Desert Pyramid
    
    • Dune Armor Trim
  • Shipwreck
    
    • Coast Armor Trim
  • Jungle Temple
    
    • Wild Armor Trim
  • Ocean Monument
    
    • Tide Armor Trim
  • Ancient City
    
    • Ward Armor Trim
  • Woodland Mansion
    
    • Vex Armor Trim
  • Nether Fortress
    
    • Rib Armor Trim
  • Bastion Remnant
    
    • Snout Armor Trim
  • Stronghold
    
    • Eye Armor Trim
  • End City
    
    • Spire Armor Trim
  • Smithing Templates are found in Chests in their respective structure, except for the Ocean Monument. Instead of finding it in Chests, Elder Guardians sometimes drop a Smithing Template when defeated
  • Some Armor Trim Smithing Templates are rarer than others, so be on the lookout for them to impress your friends!
  • An Armor Trim has two properties: a pattern and a material
    
    • The pattern is defined by the Smithing Template used to apply the trim and represents the visual pattern of the trim
    • The material is defined by what ingredient you used to apply the trim and represents the color of the trim
  • The viable ingredients you can use to define the color of your Armor Trim are the following:
    
    • Iron
    • Copper
    • Gold
    • Lapis
    • Emerald
    • Diamond
    • Netherite
    • Redstone
    • Amethyst
    • Quartz

Blocks

• The Piglin Head Block’s ears now flap when the wearer is Riding a vehicle
• Cherry Stripped Wood can now be crafted from Cherry Stripped Log (MCPE-168053)
• Updated Cherry Leaves & Cherry Sign textures (MCPE-168059)

Archaeology feature set:

• Added the Suspicious Gravel block

Mobs

• Frogs born in the Cherry Grove biome are now the temperate variant instead of the cold variant (MCPE-168083)

Netherite Equipment

• Netherite equipment crafting now also requires a Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template
• Netherite Upgrade Smithing Templates can be found randomly in all Bastion Remnant chests, and there is a guarantee of 2 in every Treasure Room Bastion Remnant
• This change was made for a variety of reasons:
  
  • Increases the time players utilize Diamond equipment before Netherite
  • Make Netherite equipment a more significant achievement in the game’s progression
  • Adapts Netherite more naturally into the new Smithing Table crafting system

Smithing Templates

• Smithing Tables have been redesigned into a workstation for physical equipment upgrades and modifications
• Alongside slots for combining a piece of equipment and materials, there is now a required slot for an item type called Smithing Templates
• Smithing Templates define what type of upgrade you will be making to the equipment
  
  • It specifies both what type of items you can upgrade, and which ingredients are valid to customize the upgrade
  • There are currently two categories of Smithing Templates: Armor Trim and Netherite Upgrade
• Smithing Templates are consumed when used to upgrade an item in the Smithing Table
• You can craft a copy of a Smithing Template in the Crafting Table with 7 Diamonds + 1 block of material that the template is made out of + 1 Smithing Template, which will output 2 of the same Smithing Template

Features and Bug Fixes

Accessibility Features

• Potions no longer have an enchantment glint due to it obscuring the color of the potion contents
• Potions have had their colors adjusted to make them more distinguishable from each other
• Decreased the default visibility of the glint on enchanted items, which can now be modified in the Accessibility Settings

Blocks

• “fence” block is now split into unique names, “oak_fence”, “acacia_fence”, “birch_fence”, “dark_oak_fence”, “jungle_fence”, and “spruce_fence”
• Commands will still work with “fence”, but only new fence names will be suggested in the command prompt

Gameplay

• Fixed experience orb position desync after teleport (MCPE-59584)
• Going into lava in third person view no longer causes the camera to turn black (MCPE-166861)
• Fixed an issue where players load incorrect data when loading a local game after connecting to a server or Realm (MCPE-164765)
• Fixed an issue where the player camera height was incorrect with or without the sneak toggle (MCPE-167559)

Graphical

• LevelChunks no longer flicker in The End dimension when Clientside Chunk Generation is enabled

User Interface

• Corrected toggle navigation in the Edit World menu while using a gamepad or keyboard that was previously skipped
• Updated designs for sign-in and sign-up screens in the preview

Vanilla Parity

• Search bar in Creative inventory screen is now automatically selected while using a keyboard

Villagers

• Villagers will now wake up in a valid position and will not phase through blocks (MCPE-142544)

Technical Updates

AI Goals

• Added “cooldown” field to target descriptors in “minecraft:behavior.nearest_attackable_target” goal

Blocks

• Sponges no longer emit water drop particles underwater (MCPE-122138)

Commands

• For worlds using game version 1.19.80 and above, acquiring a custom spawn egg through a command can only succeed with their full name rather than with an aux value, eg. “/give @s namespace:actor_spawn_egg”
• Removed requirement for blockState argument(s) when using other optional args in /fill /setblock and /clone (MCPE-167959)
• Implemented the “inputpermission” command, which allows for setting the player’s camera or movement as enabled or disabled
  
  • Syntax: /inputpermission set <target: player> <permission: camera | movement> <state: enabled | disabled>
• Implemented the “haspermission” target selector, which allows for selection based on player permission levels

General

• For behavior packs using version 1.19.80 and above, recipes no longer accept a Molang query for the item’s data field, instead use the item’s full name, eg. use { “item”: “namespace:actor_spawn_egg” } instead of { “item”: “spawn_egg”, “data”: “query.get_actor_info_id(‘namespace:actor’)” }

Experimental Technical Features

Editor

The Editor is in early development, and available for keyboard/mouse on Windows PC Bedrock Preview builds. Join our Discussion forum, post bugs, view more detailed release notes, and share your creations on GitHub.

• Custom blocks are now listed in the block selector
• Fixed z-fighting on paste preview over selection volume

 Scripting

• Form promises are now rejected using typed errors, vs. strings as used previously

ItemStack

• Added function getTags(): string[]– Returns all tags for the item
• Added function hasTag(tag: string): boolean– Returns true if the item has the specified tag

EntityEquipmentInventoryComponent

• This component is used to manipulate the equipment of mobs and players. To use it, call getComponent(‘equipment_inventory’)
• Added function getEquipment(equipmentSlot: EquipmentSlot): ItemStack | undefined– Returns the item in the given equipment slot
• Added function getEquipmentSlot(equipmentSlot: EquipmentSlot): ContainerSlot– Returns the container slot for the given equipment slot
• Added function setEquipment(equipmentSlot: EquipmentSlot, itemStack?: ItemStack): void– Sets the item in the given equipment slot

ItemDurabilityComponent

• The ItemDurabilityComponent now works with all damageable items, not just custom items
• Removed property damageRange
• Setting damage will now throw an exception if it is outside of the range [0, maxDurability]

GameTest Framework

• Update specific GameTest exceptions to be thrown as GameTestError error objects

Good Company is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*

Good Company is an in-depth management sim about building a trail-blazing tech corporation. Assemble complex production lines, manage employee logistics, and sell high-quality products on the market to become the best company in the whole county!

*Offer ends June 28 at 10AM Pacific Time

Soedesco is adding to the horrors of Halloween on Switch as it’s announced a 27th October release date for Superlumen’s Lovecraftian point-and-click Desolatium.

Originally announced back in June 2023, Desolatium is a surreal, psychological graphic adventure where you’ll come face-to-face with many of Lovecraft’s iconic creatures — many of which “defy conventional description”.

Desolatium has already been highly praised for its innovative structure and sound design, so don’t go in expecting this to be your typical Lovecraftian horror experience. For more on the game, watch the release date trailer up top and check out some details from publisher Soedesco:

Based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft
As many horror fans know, H.P. Lovecraft is the famed author who pioneered cosmic horror, exploring humanity’s vulnerability against ancient malevolent forces. His eerie, psychological tales are embedded in DESOLATIUM, as you encounter otherworldly beings, mysterious cults, and horrifying truths.

Discover otherworldly beings
These monstrous entities often defy conventional descriptions, combining alien features and unsettling forms. They are ancient and powerful beings exist beyond human understanding. These monsters embody a sense of insignificance and dread, showcasing humanity’s vulnerability in the face of incomprehensible forces. Will you have what it takes to stop them?

An award-winning Graphic Adventure
Awarded the “Most Innovative Game” award by PlayStation and the “Best Sound” award by Gamepolis, DESOLATIUM is a never-before-seen horror experience that encapsulates the eerie dread that Lovecraft is known for, filled with exciting mysteries to solve.

Desolatium launches on Switch on 27th October, making it the perfect game to play this Halloween. Will you be checking this one out? Let us know in the comments.