Category: Game Development

The Defold game engine is a free cross platform 2D focused game engine from King, we previously covered here and here as well as a video tutorial here.  The Defold team recently released an update on the future roadmap of the Defold game engine.

You can learn more about the Defold Game engine roadmap in the video below.  The tutorial mentioned in the video is open source and available here on Github.

Raylib 3.0 was released today.  Raylib is an open source, cross platform C based framework of tools and libraries for making games.  Components of raylib can be used on their own, however you can also download a preconfigured development environment making it among the easiest ways to get started doing C or C++ game programming. 

Details of the 3.0 release:

• All global variables from the multiple raylib modules have been moved to a global context state, it has several benefits, first, better code readability with more comprehensive variables naming and categorization (organized by types, i.e. CORE.Window.display.width, CORE.Input.Keyboard.currentKeyState or RLGL.State.modelview). Second, it allows better memory management to load global context state dynamically when required (not at the moment), making it easy to implement a hot-reloading mechanism if desired.

• All memory allocations on raylib and its dependencies now use RL_MALLOC, RL_FREE and similar macros. Now users can easely hook their own memory allocations mechanism if desired, having more control on how memory is allocated internally by the library. Additionally, it makes it easier to port the library to embedded devices where memory control is critical. For more info check raylib issue #1074.

• All I/O file accesses from raylib are being moved to memory data access, now all I/O file access is centralized into just four functions: LoadFileData(), SaveFileData(), LoadFileText(), SaveFileText(). Users can just update those functions to any I/O file system. This change makes it easier to integrate raylib with Virtual File Systems or custom I/O file implementations.

• All raylib data structures have been reviewed and optimized for pass-by-value usage. One of raylib distinctive design decisions is that most of its functions receive and return data by value. This design makes raylib really simple for newcomers, avoiding pointers and allowing complete access to all structures data in a simple way. The downside is that data is copied on stack every function call and that copy could be costly so, all raylib data structures have been optimized to stay under 64 bytes for fast copy and retrieve.

• All raylib tracelog messages have been reviewed and categorized for a more comprehensive output information when developing raylib applications, now all display, input, timer, platform, auxiliar libraries, file-accesses, data loading/unloading issues are properly reported with more detailed and visual messages.

• raudio module has been internally reviewed to accomodate the new Music structure (converted from previous pointer format) and the module has been adapted to the highly improved miniaudio v0.10.

• text module reviewed to improve fonts generation and text management functions, Font structure has been redesigned to better accomodate characters data, decoupling individual characters as Image glyphs from the font atlas parameters. Several improvements have been made to better support Unicode strings with UTF-8 encoding.

• Multiple new examples added (most of them contributed by raylib users) and all examples reviewed for correct execution on most of the supported platforms, specially Web and Raspberry Pi. A detailed categorized table has been created on github for easy examples navigation and code access.

• New GitHub Actions CI system has been implemented for Windows, Linux and macOS code and examples compilation on every new commit or PR to make sure library keeps stable and usable with no breaking bugs.

Raylib is available on https://www.raylib.com/, with the source code hosted on GitHub under the liberal ZLib license.  The raylib cheatsheet is a one stop shop for learning the commands from the various libraries.  Raylib is also well documented on the Wiki.

Learn more about raylib in the video below.

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GameDev News CPP

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Buildbox, the recently made free no-code game engine, just released Buildbox 3.2 beta.  This beta takes a huge step forward in 3D usefulness with the abity to import and use animated FBX 3D models.  This is of course a beta release, so expect bugs and do not use in a production environment.

Details of the release from the Buildbox forums:

3D Animation Support

• FBX files containing 3D model skeletons and animations are now supported in Buildbox.
• New Brainboxes available for 3D animated assets:
  • Animated Platformer
  • Keyboard Controls
  • Mobile Controls
  • Keyboard Camera Controls
• New Content Nodes available for 3D animated assets:
  • Sub Scene
  • Keyframe Animation

Worlds

• 2D Worlds
  • To rotate an object 45 degrees, select the rotate tool, hold shift and drag an axis handle.
• 3D Worlds
  • Ground object that covers an entire scene and provides a solid platform for dynamic assets.

Textures

• Unused textures are removed when Buildbox opens a project.
• Alpha channel support
  • Enabled transparency in textures
  • The texture area without the transparency can cast shadows onto other objects.

UI Changes

• Color coded axis fields
• Tabs and home button in the Navigation bar, along with navigation control arrows.

Nodes

• Health node now contains Starting Health and Max Health attributes.
• Script nodes now have a purple self reference output, and each input and output can now be color coded.
• Move and Rotate nodes now contain a set of range attribute fields.
• The following nodes are now available in the asset Node Map.
  • Sub Scene
  • Keyframe Animation
  • Rotate Towards
  • Speedometer
  • Self Attribute

Ad Monetization

• Facebook Analytics in the SDK tab of the Project Settings window.

The Mac and Windows binaries are available at this link, however you need to have a registered Buildbox account and serial number to install the 3.2 beta.  You can learn more about the beta in the video below.

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GameDev News Engine

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In addition to the recently released NVIDIA Texture Tool, NVIDIA have released a pair of SDKs of interest to game developers.  The first is RTXGI, a global illumination solution for DXR compatible hardware, the second is DLSS 2.0 or Deep Learning Super Sampling.

Details about RTXGI:

• Full Source Code. We are providing full source code so you can easily integrate RTXGI into your tools and customize it to your specific needs.
• No Baking, No Leaks. Dramatically speed up your iteration time with real-time ray traced lighting. No more waiting for bakes. No more obsessing over light probe positioning either; no light or shadow leaking.
• Any DXR GPU. RTXGI runs on a broad range of hardware. All DXR-enabled GPUs are supported, including GeForce RTX 20 Series, GTX 1660 Series, and GTX 10 series.
• Tuned & Optimized. Easy to integrate and fast to provide results, right out of the box. Performance optimized to fit in 60Hz frame budgets.

Details about DLSS:

• Superior Image Quality – DLSS 2.0 offers image quality comparable to native resolution while rendering only one quarter to one half of the pixels. It employs new temporal feedback techniques for sharper image details and improved stability from frame to frame.
• Great Scaling Across All GeForce RTX GPUs and Resolutions – A new AI network more efficiently uses Tensor Cores to execute 2X faster than the original. This improves frame rates and eliminates previous limitations on which GPUs, settings, and resolutions could be enabled.
• One Network For All Games – The original DLSS required training the AI network for each new game. DLSS 2.0 trains using non-game-specific content, delivering a generalized network that works across games. This means faster game integrations, and ultimately more DLSS games.
• Customizable Options – DLSS 2.0 offers users 3 image quality modes – Quality, Balanced, Performance – that control the game’s internal rendering resolution, with Performance mode enabling up to 4X super resolution (i.e. 1080p → 4K). This means more user choice, and even bigger performance boosts.

DLSS 2.0 is currently only available for Unreal Engine developers and you need to request access to both SDKs.  To request access to the DLSS SDK click here, while the RTXGI application is available here.  You can learn more about both SDKs in the video below.

GameDev News

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Humble have just released a bundle targeted as musicians.  The Humble Music Producer Bundle is a collection of sound banks and VSTs.  As with all Humble Bundles it is organized into tiers:

1$ Tier

• Angelicals
• Frontier
• AAS Player (Note, this is available free)

15$ Tier

• Analog Essentials
• UltraFX
• Kitnetix
• Journeys

20$ Tier

• Strum Sessions
• Lounge Lizard Sessions
• Ultra Analog Session

This bundle gives you a key that you redeem as a single download from https://www.applied-acoustics.com/.  As with all Humble Bundles you can decide how your money is allocated, between charity, the publisher, Humble and if you choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS if purchased using this link.  You can learn more about this bundle including briefly seeing the 20$ Tier items in action in the video below.

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GameDev News Sale

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Serif, the makers of Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo are currently offering all of their products at a 50% discount.  Additionally they are now offering a completely functional 3 month demo download.

Full details from the Affinity announcement:

With all that’s going on right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the many stories we’re hearing from the creative community about how they’re being severely impacted, we felt it was our responsibility to try to offer as much support as possible during this incredibly difficult time.

That’s why we’ve put in place three new measures which we hope will help at least some of you out there. These are:

• + A new 90-day free trial of the Mac and Windows versions of the whole Affinity suite
• + A 50% discount for those who would rather buy and keep the apps on Mac, Windows PC and iPad
• + A pledge to engage more than 100 freelance creatives for work, spending the equivalent of our annual commissioning budget in the next three months (more details of this will be announced soon).

The introduction of the 90-day free trial and deeply discounted pricing is done in the hope that this will make life a little easier for people who rely on creative software to make a living, but may be stuck at home without their usual tools, or for students who might not have access to their Affinity apps on their personal devices.

In addition, by increasing our spend on commissioning work from freelancers we can also put some extra money into a part of the industry which will be particularly affected.

We plan to make the free trial and additional discount available until 20 April, but we’ll continue to review the situation as time goes on.

We know we’re not saving the world, but we hope these measures can at least provide some form of relief to those who need it. We’ll pull through this together…

You can learn more about the deal and promo in the video below.  If you want to learn more about Affinity products check out our hands on video available here.

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GameDev News Tools

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Epic Games have just announced a massive giveaway of asset packs from Project Nature.  This is a collection of trees, bushes, grasses and controlling blueprints for creating nature scenes in your Unreal Engine games.

Details from the Unreal Engine blog:

In collaboration with Project Nature, Epic Games has released over 20 environment and vegetation products for free on the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

The collection includes over 75 varieties of plant species, many of which were photoscanned from real-world vegetation, ranging from towering trees to the smallest of ground plants and flowers. Create a refreshing oasis retreat, escape to a serene meadow, or adorn a warm desert landscape for your audience to explore; with more than 550 optimized models, the sky, or the ground, is the limit on what you can grow!

The pack consists of:

• Hundreds of optimized plant models and materials
• The shader-based Project Nature Wind System 2.0
• The Project Nature Interaction System 2.0, including replicated animations
• A dynamic low-poly grass system
• A dynamic ivy creation pack
• And more!

You can download the assets using the Epic Game Launcher or via the website available here.  There is no time limit on this giveaway, all 21 packs are available free forever.  If you want to learn how to export from Unreal Engine to another engine or tool (such as Blender) you can learn more here.  Learn more about the asset giveaway in the video below.

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GameDev News Unreal

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