Godot's awesome past and future!

Adam

Godot has come a long way. Its v4 is in alpha. What are the biggest and the most useful features ever implemented in Godot (according to you)? And what are the features you desperately want in Godot? Also try to predict what major stuff will come with Godot v4 stable release!

duane

The biggest feature of godot: Imagination. What could be bigger?

What do I want from godot? AI that does the artwork for me. 🙂

I predict that there will be a (mostly) functional html5 export in 4 stable, but the developers will caution everyone that they shouldn't rely on it, and will spend more time working on it than anyone anticipated.

I also predict that I'll look about like this on that day.

Megalomaniak

@duane said: I predict that there will be a (mostly) functional html5 export in 4 stable, but the developers will caution everyone that they shouldn't rely on it, and will spend more time working on it than anyone anticipated.

pretty sure it won't for 4.0, but in a point release after that it might yeah.

cybereality

WebGL is coming for Godot 4.1, and this is the biggest missing feature IMO. But it is hard to make any money on the web, so I understand why native export is prioritized.

fire7side

@duane said: The biggest feature of godot: Imagination. What could be bigger?

What do I want from godot? AI that does the artwork for me. :)

I predict that there will be a (mostly) functional html5 export in 4 stable, but the developers will caution everyone that they shouldn't rely on it, and will spend more time working on it than anyone anticipated.

I also predict that I'll look about like this on that day.

It's amazing the mileage you got out of the godot icon, your icon, and some random picture. Reminds me of some of my games and about half of the godot tutorials.

Tomcat

For me, the most important virtue is the ease of mastering it. You can learn to program from GDScript. In my opinion, it would be a good idea to introduce it in schools.

The main drawback is that the main window is not divided (Godot_v4.0-alpha5) — you can not display views from different cameras in different windows or on different monitors, or simultaneously view from the camera and the animation window.

Adam

@cybereality said: WebGL is coming for Godot 4.1, and this is the biggest missing feature IMO. But it is hard to make any money on the web, so I understand why native export is prioritized.

Idk why HTML5 export is necessary. 2d HTML5 games suck and 3d HTML5 games can't run on mobiles and nobody would want to play HTML5 games on their Computer. Also Web games are laggy and sometimes glitchy as hell. Also not to mention the fact that HTML5 games don't earn much money(idt they even DO earn money). If they wouldn't have worked on HTML5 from the start and focused the time on something else important, godot could have another awesome feature instead of HTML5 export!

Adam

What I want in Godot?:

First thing?:

Second thing?:

Last thing?:

duane

@Adam said: Idk why HTML5 export is necessary. 2d HTML5 games suck and 3d HTML5 games can't run on mobiles and nobody would want to play HTML5 games on their Computer. Also Web games are laggy and sometimes glitchy as hell. Also not to mention the fact that HTML5 games don't earn much money(idt they even DO earn money). If they wouldn't have worked on HTML5 from the start and focused the time on something else important, godot could have another awesome feature instead of HTML5 export!

Well, tell the developers -- they value your opinion.

For myself, if I didn't have a way to put my games on the web, I'd move to another design platform. However, I'm not a professional game developer.

Although, I have to say that I'm surprised at hearing that web games don't make money. The few pros I've talked to seemed to think that there was more money being made from bad games with web ads than from good stand-alone games.

Megalomaniak

@duane said:

Although, I have to say that I'm surprised at hearing that web games don't make money. The few pros I've talked to seemed to think that there was more money being made from bad games with web ads than from good stand-alone games.

It's not the ads that make the money. It's the in game purchases and the 'whales' paying for it.

Bimbam

@Tomcat said: ... or simultaneously view from the camera and the animation window.

Points about not being able to have split windows across monitors I agree with somewhat (don't notice it on 4k tbh), but for the above there are plugins where you can setup one (or more) static camera views that remain in the sidebar at all times:

Re. HTML5 stuff, simple counter argument is 'not everything you make in a game engine needs to be a game'. I'd take Godot over having to deal with Three.js/JavaScript any day of the week.

cybereality

@Adam said: Idk why HTML5 export is necessary. 2d HTML5 games suck and 3d HTML5 games can't run on mobiles and nobody would want to play HTML5 games on their Computer. Also Web games are laggy and sometimes glitchy as hell. Also not to mention the fact that HTML5 games don't earn much money(idt they even DO earn money). If they wouldn't have worked on HTML5 from the start and focused the time on something else important, godot could have another awesome feature instead of HTML5 export!

This is extremely misinformed. HTML5 works fine on mobile (well, at least WebGL 1.0). You can do 3D on the web that is probably PS3 quality, or maybe a little better. Of course, you have to take into account that not everyone has great computers or laptops, but simple indie 3D games are totally possible, even with gamepad controllers. I do agree that it is harder to make money.

cybereality

@Megalomaniak said: It's not the ads that make the money. It's the in game purchases and the 'whales' paying for it.

One of the studios I worked at, we made this virtual pet game and some "whale" spent $1,200 USD on dog bones in one weekend. The game was free.

Tomcat

@Bimbam said:

@Tomcat said: ... or simultaneously view from the camera and the animation window.

Points about not being able to have split windows across monitors I agree with somewhat (don't notice it on 4k tbh) What if there are two 4K monitors? but for the above there are plugins where you can setup one (or more) static camera views that remain in the sidebar at all times: What is this plugin? But it's probably better to have this in the standard features, plugins may not be compatible with new versions of the engine.

In the screenshot, the script window and the animation player are not separated, and are located vertically one above the other. It is more convenient to place them, at least horizontally — is this possible?

This may be the Camera Monitor. Thanks for the hint.

Very limited possibilities.

Bimbam

What is this plugin? I can't recall off the top of my head but if you search 'Camera' in the asset store it will be one of them.

In the screenshot, the script window and the animation player are not separated, and are located vertically one above the other. It is more convenient to place them, at least horizontally — is this possible?

'Separated' into separate windows is I think, not a thing. I think the logic behind this being games by their nature are almost exclusively single window, and as the Godot Editor is written in the Godot Engine it's probably considered an unnecessary feature to maintain. Fairly sure there would be a ticket for this on GitHub so would recommend weighing in or helping out if it's really needed, as if enough people wanted it I'm sure it would get some traction.

As for moving the animation tab to one of the docks, if this isn't already available, writing your own plugin to-do it should be fairly trivial. Personally I find the interface already intuitive/suits me well and Godot allows or even promotes the idea of smaller extensions like this through plugins to keep the Core lightweight. That said, you probably 'should' be able to just drag the bottom tabs to one of the side docks as this would be expected behavior in many apps.... is this not a thing and I just never noticed?

Very limited possibilities. Feel free to extend it. All asset store plugins are MIT (I think)

Tomcat

@Bimbam said:
I think the logic behind this being games by their nature are almost exclusively single window, and as the Godot Editor is written in the Godot Engine it's probably considered an unnecessary feature to maintain.

An exception to this rule — RTS: very convenient when one monitor is a strategic map, and on the other - the battlefield. But the split screen can be used in other games. And even if the second monitor is not used in the game, it is useful to be able to use it to work. This is what I conclude from my practice.

Fairly sure there would be a ticket for this on GitHub so would recommend weighing in or helping out if it's really needed, as if enough people wanted it I'm sure it would get some traction.

Unfortunately I grew up and live in a savage barbaric country, which did not welcome the study of foreign languages. Therefore, I have serious difficulties with communicating and stating my proposals in English.

As for moving the animation tab to one of the docks, if this isn't already available, writing your own plugin to-do it should be fairly trivial.

My qualifications do not yet allow me to write plugins. But maybe I'll figure it out in time.

That said, you probably 'should' be able to just drag the bottom tabs to one of the side docks as this would be expected behavior in many apps.... is this not a thing and I just never noticed?

I haven't noticed that either.

Bimbam

What are the biggest and the most useful features ever implemented in Godot (according to you)? GDScript for sure. having a friendly/approachable language makes all the difference. It's not that I can't write C#, but I sure as hell enjoy it less.

And what are the features you desperately want in Godot? Besides basically everything that comes with the new Vulkan renderer? ... Multi-core/threaded 3D Physics engine probably.

duane

Gdscript is a huge factor in my enjoyment of godot. I still like some features of lua better, but I like python's basic structure better than any other language's.

cybereality

I love GDScript. One of the best reasons to use Godot. It just works.

Calinou

and nobody would want to play HTML5 games on their Computer

I certainly liked playing QuakeJS a few years back :)