Godot Digest 15
Godot 4.4 is finally out, and it's not the only release. We also have a new Godot Meta Toolkit plugin for the XR folks.
We are all excited about the new Godot version. Check the official news to learn more about it.
Game Dev News
EA has released the source code of several Command & Conquer titles under the GNU General Public License. The titles included are Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour expansion, Command & Conquer: Renegade, and a remastered collection of the first two games. This is an excellent opportunity for the community of those games since they will also release mod support for those games. It also probably means they are not planning on releasing new titles for the franchise. But the modding community is already working on delivering more mods and maps to keep these games alive.
https://venturebeat.com/games/ea-releases-source-code-for-command-conquer-to-modders/
Official News
Godot 4.4 is out! If we need to define this release in one sentence, I would say: QOL release. There are a lot of QOL improvements in this release, from minor fixes and changes to huge requested features like the embedded game window. Let’s look at this release's highlights: Jolt physics, embedded game window, typed dictionaries, universal UID support, 3D object snapping, camera 3D preview, GDScript tooltips, and many more.
For the full list of changes, check the official blog post:
https://godotengine.org/releases/4.4/
As usual, some creators made their videos about this release. So, if you like the video format better, check these:
Gamefromscratch called this one the best release ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q46A_UaY_4
MrElipteach lists his favorite features in this release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvb7r7ENlcA
Octodemy did a highlight video on all the new features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3thRbXSXcxk
Another big release was the Godot Meta Toolkit. This new plugin provides access to the Meta SDK, accelerating and simplifying development on Meta’s platform.
For all the XR users, this is a fairly important milestone. This plugin was created through W4 Games and was sponsored by Meta. There are also some other improvements to Godot XR with this release, so check the full announcement here:
https://godotengine.org/article/godot-xr-update-feb-2025/
Also, W4 Games made their post on this release:
https://www.w4games.com/blog/w4-games-news-1/announcing-the-godot-meta-toolkit-79
If you like the video format, Gamefromscratch has got you covered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLBVVI2byo
From the Community
Here are some of the latest tutorials and resources from the Godot community.
Custom footstep audio using TileSets & custom data layers — Michael Games
There are not many tutorials like this around that include tilemap and sound. This video aims to show how to set up custom data layers in a Tilemap layer’s TileSet and create dynamically updated sound effects for the player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrhzPlfm0zY
Behavior trees using Beehave — Gamefromscratch
Mike explained how to use the Beehave Godot plugin to create behavior trees. One cool thing about this plugin is that it allows you to visualize and debug behavior trees all inside the engine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egutKInUfko
Here is the link to the plugin:
How and why use VS Code with Godot — Queble
If you don’t like the embedded IDE in the engine, Queble explains how you can set up Godot with an external editor. In this case, Visual Studio Code is the chosen editor for GDScript files. He also discusses why this is better than the Godot IDE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcMI9QBD6Go
Color palette filter — FencerDevLog
This tutorial focuses on creating an algorithm to remap a scene's color to a predefined palette. One use case for this effect is simulating a screen that supports 256 colors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_GEf_nGMNE
Custom tile data — Octodemy
How to add custom tile data using the TileMapLayer introduced in 4.3. The idea behind this is to alter the gameplay based on the different tiles in your game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UyODbU8N-Q
Make an auto-runner | Part 9 — Heartbeast
This may be the last tutorial in this series, and it is all about particles. In particular, snow particles for the player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoOFNSgtjiI
Using grayscale sprites — CyberPotato
Quick tutorial about how to use grayscale sprites and the annotation tool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7aVcLvCnZ4
Level select screen — Heartbeast
In this video, you can learn how to create a level selection screen where the items in the menu are populated from the levels in a folder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2iYUFYu_kE
Drag & drop inventory items — Michael Games
This is part of a series of tutorials on Michael’s approach to building an inventory system. In this video, he adds the functionality to drag and drop items from the inventory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU0pFIFauFw
Use the audio bus layout — Rapid Vectors
This tutorial explains in detail how to use the audio bus layout to play music and sound effects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o50oCrSwNg
How to make Battle City | Part 1 — CyberPotato
This is the first part of a series on recreating the classic NES Battle City game. In the first part, CyberPotato will focus on setting up the TileMap and creating the Game Manager.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIJd06KVSsQ
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