I would like the game to check if there is a new version when starting, and notify the player if so in the start menu. How could I handle this?

Checking for updates requires having an HTTP endpoint that reports the project's latest version available. You can also put additional information there, such as its release date, release notes, etc. For this, a JSON file is often used. You can host this JSON file in a GitHub repository and fetch its raw URL using the HTTPRequest node.

Look at this script for inspiration: https://github.com/Calinou/escape-space/blob/v1.2.0/menu/update_checker.gd

The above script uses the GitHub Releases API since the project is developed on GitHub, but this only works if the repository is public and releases are tagged accordingly.

Also, depending on the store where you launch the game, updates may be integrated (for example on Steam or Google Play). And you can just push the updates there.

2 years later