Exactly one month ago to this day Epic Games official launched Fab its new universal game asset marketplace merging the Unreal Engine marketplace, Sketchfab Store and Quixel Megascans. At the same time, they turned off the Quixel website and Quixel Bridge applications. The big problem here is, a number of the features that Quixel and Quixel Bridge provided were not and are not available on Fab.Thankfully today Epic Games and the Quixel team admitted the error of their ways and sent out the following email:Hi,Many of our community members were justifiably frustrated that Bridge was replaced by an alternative that did not meet their needs. We heard your feedback and decided to bring back the option to get Megascans content via Bridge and Quixel.com. This should allow you to build up your own library of Megascans in Bridge and on Quixel.com, so you can later on enjoy it via the Bridge workflows you know and love.Starting today, legacy Megascans library acquisitions are again available through Bridge and Quixel.com until December 31, 2024. Anything that you claim until the end of the year you can use immediately and continue to use after January 1, 2025. You can now claim the legacy Megascans library for free under the Epic Content License and we will offer a one-click solution to claim all the assets at once next week.Check out this forum post to get all the details. All the best,The Quixel TeamThis means that Quixel website and the Quixel Bridge application are now working again and will act as an archive of sorts for existing Quixel content. They will be releasing an updated way to acquire all legacy Quixel assets in a one click process next week. You can learn more about the details of Quixel Megascans and Quixel Bridge returning in the video below.

The Khronos Group, the consortium managing such important projects as OpenGL, WebGPU, OpenAL and Vulkan just announced a major new imitative, the Slang shader language. Khronos Group just made the following tweet:Details from the press release:Beaverton, OR November 21, 2024 The Khronos Group, an open consortium of industry leaders in interoperability standards, has announced the launch of the new Slang Initiative. This initiative will oversee and advance the open-source Slang shading language and compiler, building on 15 years of research, development, and deployment experience. Supported by NVIDIA since 2017, Slang has been widely adopted in production projects across the industry.Slangempowers real-time graphics developers with innovative features that complement existing shading languages, including modular code development, portable deployment to multiple target APIs, and neural computation in graphics shaders. Hosting under multi-company governance at Khronos will enable and foster industry-wide collaboration to drive Slangs continued evolution.Slang is now a significant shading language option for graphics developers everywhere, as all are enabled to directly influence and participate in its ongoing development, saidNeil Trevett, president of The Khronos Group and vice president developer ecosystems, NVIDIA. Khronoss innovative Slang governance structure blends open-source development agility with the patent safeguards of open standards. Slang is freely available for any platform or API to use, including Khronos, which will leverage Slang in the Vulkan ecosystem while ensuring SPIR-V remains responsive to Slangs requirements.NVIDIA will continue its longstanding investment in Slang, which is designed to meet the needs of todays graphics developers while paving the way for the neural graphics revolution, saidNicholas Haemel, vice president of graphics and system software, NVIDIA. With Slang in open governance at Khronos, the graphics community can collaboratively advance and harness the advantages of cross-platform support, scalable graphics systems, reduced compile times, and enhanced modularity.In terms of what Slang brings to the table:Slang is designed to address the evolving needs of real-time graphics developers, especially those working with large-scale shader codebases. By supporting modular development with features like modules, interfaces, and generics, Slang simplifies shader creation and maintenance while significantly reducing compilation times.Many developers must currently rewrite shader code to run on multiple target APIs and platforms or use complex translation or recompilation toolchains. The Slang compiler directly supports multiple backend targets for portable code deployment across diverse APIs and platforms, including SPIR-V for Vulkan, HLSL for Direct3D, GLSL for OpenGL, WGSL for WebGPU, and Metal Shading Language for Apple platforms. For example,Autodeskuses Slang in theAurora path tracing rendererto enable a single-source ray tracing codebase.The Slang compiler enables ingestion of existing HLSL and GLSL shader codebases for developers who wish to incrementally migrate to Slangs modern language features. For example,Valvecompiled the entire productionSource 2HLSL codebase with Slang while modifying only 10 lines of code.Slang supportsautomatic differentiationas a first-class language feature, making it ideal for integrating neural computation into graphics shaders. Slang can automatically generate both forward- and backward-derivative propagation code for complex functions to easily make existing rendering codebases differentiable, or to use Slang as the kernel language in a PyTorch-driven machine learning framework viaslangtorch. For example, Slang is used in theSlang.D Gaussian Splatting Rasterizer, a unified platform for real-time, inverse, and differentiable rendering which can compile to rendering code for diverse platforms.Key LinksPress ReleaseSlang Project HomeSlang GitHub RepositorySlang PlaygroundYou can learn more about the Slang Shader Programming Language and about the Khronos Group announcement in the video below.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, The Ultimate Unreal Engine Sci-Fi Asset Bundle (even though it contains 20+ assets for Unity game engine as well and could easily be exported to Godot, Blender or elsewhere, guides below). The assets are redeemed on the Fab asset store. It is organized into the following tiers:1$ TierPBR DroneAssistant DogElectric TypewritersComputer Sound FX 2.0Suburbs VOL.13 Roof Antennas (Nanite and Low Poly)Modular Pipes and VentsMid TierSci-Fi Character 01 (Shadow)PBR Customized SoldierCyberprisonerSci-Fi Character 04 (Witch)Soldier Future 02Soldier Future 01SCI-FI MERCENARY 01 (MARAUDER)Female Soldier 01 (ANACONDA)Sci-Fi Character 03 (Yakuza)MutantMissile Launcher RobotJust Whoosh 2Just Whoosh 4 1st StrikeBuildings VOL.10 Air Pipes and Vents (Nanite and Low Poly)Industrial VOL.4 Electricity, Hydro, and Water TreatmentBuildings VOL.2 Electric & Air (Nanite and Low Poly)CyberHackerBuildings VOL.6 Electrical Boxes (Nanite and Low Poly)Sci-Fi Computer Station Modular High-Poly Smart Materials30$ TierCustomized Alien SoldierSci-Fi Fruit Market NaniteJust Impacts DesignedScifi Railroad Terminal Facility (Nanite)InquisitorAstronaut SoldierSCI-FI MERCENARY 03 (HEAD-HUNTER)SCI-FI MERCENARY 02 (TITAN)Female Soldier 02 (TARANTULA)Sci-Fi Character 02 (Hunter)Sci-Fi Character 06 (Necromancer)Dystopia Mech and PilotDystopia SoldierModular Sci-Fi Base Indoor Outdoor Moon ThemeModular Sci-Fi Base IndoorSci-Fi Modular WorkStation High Poly Kit Bash Smart MaterialsModular Sci-Fi Base Indoor Outdoor Mars ThemeFlame Thrower RobotRocket Launcher RobotSci-Fi Starter Pack Modular KitBash High-Poly Smart MaterialsElectro-Mechanics ToolKit 2Dark SciFi DronesQuarantine Medical TentCity Subway TunnelIf you are interested in getting these assets into other game engines, check out our various guides available here:You can learn more about The Ultimate Unreal Engine Sci-Fi Asset Bundle and see several of the assets in action in the [VIDEO TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE]. Using my link helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!). If you have trouble with the link opening, please simply paste it into a new browser and it should work fine.

The Unreal Engine monthly giveaways are now bi-monthly giveaways, the second one on the third Tuesday each month. However, the number of assets given away will be lower and each giveaway will only be free for two weeks. If purchased during the free period, the assets are yours to keep forever. On the plus side, assets will be available for more game engines than just Unreal, for example this month assets also includes an asset that can be used directly in the Unity game engine.This Months free assets include:Dragon Temple (Temple, Cathedral, Temple Interior, Cathedral Interior)Ancient Constructions and PlatformsStylized Fantasy Creatures BundleIf you are interested in getting these assets into other game engines, check out our various guides available here:You can learn more about the November 2024 part two asset giveaway and see the assets in action in thevideobelow.

Blender 4.3 Released / News / November 19, 2024 / BlenderThe Blender Foundation just released Blender 4.3. This release is loaded with nice new features, the five best of which (IMHO) are:New windowing system with much improved user experience as well as the ability to drag of panels to new windowsGrease Pencil 3.0. A rewrite of grease pencil, with a new UI tray of all the available brushes as well as a completely new erasing system as well as grease pencil now supporting geometry nodesSculpting improvements. Like Grease Pencil, sculpting got the same UI brush panel that makes it easy to find and sort available brushes. There are also several new brushes added in this releaseNew SLIM algorithm based UV Unwrap algorithm for more even distribution of textures we cover in more detail in this video hereVulkan backend is now available as an experimental featureOf course this just scratches the surface of new features in Blender 4.3. You can read more details in the release notes.Key LinksBlender 4.3 Release NotesBlender HomepageYou can learn more about the top 5 new features mentioned above in the video below.

Coming one year after the Raylib 5 release, the Raylib 5.5 release is jam packed with new features including the Raylib Project Creator we discussed earlier. Features of the Raylib 5.5 release:NEWraylib pre-configured Windows package: The new raylibportable and self-contained Windows packageforraylib 5.5, intended for nobel devs that start in programming world, comes with one big addition: support forC code building for Web platform with one-single-mouse-click!For the last 10 years, the pre-configured raylib Windows package allowed to edit simple C projects on Notepad++ and easely compile Windows executables with an automatic script; this new release adds the possibility to compile the same C projects for Web platform with a simple mouse click. This new additiongreatly simplifies C to WebAssembly project building for new users. Theraylib Windows Installerpackage can be downloaded for free fromraylib on itch.io.NEWraylib project creator tool: A brand new tool developed to help raylib users tosetup new projects in a professional way.raylib project creatorgenerates a complete project structure withmultiple build systems ready-to-useandGitHub CI/CD actions pre-configured. It only requires providing some C files and basic project parameters! The tools isfree and open-source, andit can be used online!.NEWPlatform backend supported: RGFW: Thanks to thercoreplatform-split implemented inraylib 5.0,adding new platforms backends has been greatly simplified, new backends can be added using provided template, self-contained in a single C module, completely portable. A new platform backend has been added:RGFW.RGFWis anew single-file header-only portable library(RGFW.h) intended for platform-functionality management (windowing and inputs); in this case fordesktop platforms(Windows, Linux, macOS) but also forWeb platform. It adds a new alternative to the already existingGLFWandSDLplatform backends.NEWPlatform backend version supported: SDL3: Previousraylib 5.0added support forSDL2library, andraylib 5.5not only improves SDL2 functionality, with several issues reviewed, but also adds support for the recently released big SDL update in years:SDL3. Now users canselect at compile time the desired SDL version to use, increasing the number of potential platforms supported in the future!NEWRetro-console platforms supported: Dreamcast, N64, PSP, PSVita, PS4: Thanks to the platform-split onraylib 5.0,supporting new platform backends is easier than ever!Along the raylibrlglmodule support for theOpenGL 1.1graphics API, it opened the door tomultiple homebrew retro-consoles backend implementations!Its amazing to see raylib running on +20 year old consoles likeDreamcast,PSPorPSVita, considering the hardware constraints of those platforms and provesraylib outstanding versability!Those additional platforms can be found in separate repositories and have been created by the amazing programmer Antonio Jose Ramos Marquez (@psxdev).NEWGPU Skinning support: After lots of requests for this feature, it has been finally added to raylib thanks to the contributor Daniel Holden (@orangeduck), probably the developer that has further pushed models animations with raylib, developing two amazing tools to visualize and test animations:GenoViewandBVHView. Adding GPU skinning was a tricky feature, considering it had to beavailable for all raylib supported platforms, including limited ones like Raspberry Pi with OpenGL ES 2.0, where some advance OpenGL features are not available (UBO, SSBO, Transform Feedback) but a multi-platform solution was found to make it possible. A new example,models_gpu_skinninghas been added to illustrate this new functionality. As an extra, previous existing CPU animation system has been greatly improved, multiplying performance by a factor (simplifiying required maths).NEWraymathC++ operators: After several requested for this feature, C++ math operators forVector2,Vector3,Vector4,QuaternionandMatrixhas been added toraymathas an extension to current implementation. Despite being only available for C++ because C does not support it, these operatorssimplify C++ code when doing math operations.Key LinksRaylib HomepageRayLib GithubRaylib 5.5 Release NotesRaylib Discord ServerYou can learn more about the Raylib 5.5 release in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You canlearn more about Camtasia hereand use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.

Xogot is a new project from Miguel de Icaza (the creator of Mono among other projects) building upon his work on bringing Swift to the Godot game engine. Xogot is now available for testing via TestFlight and its a VERY good implementation of the Godot game engine on iPad devices, with a user interface optimized toward mobile usage.Details from the official blog:We are now ready for folks interested in testing it and finding places where we fall short of the expectations of iPadOS users and aspiring game developers to take it for a spin and help us identify the bumps in the road.It has been almost a year since we started to explore what it would take to bring Godot to the iPad as a bonafide iPadOS application. We are now ready for folks interested in testing it and finding places where we fall short of the expectations of iPadOS users and aspiring game developers to take it for a spin and help us identify the bumps in the road.We have prepared some documents for you:Goals for the TestFlight preview and signup form.Known Issues in this ReleaseGetting Started Guide: covers how to start new projects or bring existing projects into the iPadOnce you have signed up, you can chat with us in theXogot Discord Server.You will need to have an iPad up to date with the most current version of iOS (currently iPad OS 18) to install the preview release. You can check out Xogot, Godot on iPad in action in the video below.

GIMP 3 Release Candidate is Here / News / November 14, 2024 / Applications, GraphicsGIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program first released Gimp v2 back in 2004. Now, 20 years later GIMP 3 is almost here with the official release candidate of GIMP 3 going live last week. GIMP is a free and open-source raster graphics application similar to Photoshop, released under the GPL v3 license. So what are the highlight new features in GIMP 3?Port to GTK3Port away from intltoolPort to meson buildRedesign API for scripts/plug-ins (API Frozen Now)Wayland support [In Progress]Space invasion non-sRGB Colors [In Progress]Multi-layer selectionLess floating selectionAutomatic layer boundary managementSupport SwatchBooker file format for palettes and gradientsLayer effects (Non-destructive)Layer effects on layer groupsUI improvementsKey LinksGIMP HomepageGIMP 3 Release CandidateGIMP Development RoadmapYou can learn more about the GIMP 3 release candidate and see it in action in the video below.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, specifically Unity developers, the Award Winning Assets Bundle The Crown Collection. This bundle is a collection of up to 27 Unity Assets from Infinity PBR and Nature Manufacture that are redeemed on the Unity Asset Store. It is organized into the following tiers:1$ TierBatsCobra SnakeIce WorldWinter Ground PackLandscape Ground PackLandscape Ground Pack 2Mid TierWorld Streamer 2Park Photo Scanned AssetsR.A.M 2019 River Auto Material 2019L.V.E 2019 Lava & Volcano Environment 2019Advanced Foliage Pack 2.0Advanced Rock PackFire & Smoke Dynamic NatureGround Terrain MaterialsDesert Terrain MaterialsGolems Cave Monster30$ TierL.V.E 2023 Lava & Volcano Environment 2023Mountain Environment Dynamic NatureMountain Trees Dynamic NaturePBR Graveyard and Nature Set 2.0River Valley LevelWeapons & Armor Pack #2Armor Pack 2Metal Ghost KnightMedusaDemonsNorthstar Navigation & Tracking SystemUsing links on this page pays GFS a commission (and thanks so much if you do!). If you have trouble opening the bundle link please paste it into a new browser tab and it should work just fine. You can learn more about the Award Winning Asset Bundle for Unity and see some of the assets in action in the video below.

A mere 5 weeks after the launch of Unreal Engine 5.5 preview and Seattle Unrealfest Epic Games have released Unreal Engine 5.5. Jam packed with new features including vastly improved animation tools, the marquee feature of Unreal Engine 5.5 is the new experimental MegaLights, which has been called the nanite for lighting.MegaLights is a whole new direct lighting path in Unreal Engine 5 enabling artists to place orders of magnitudes more dynamic and shadowed area lights than they could ever before.MegaLights is designed to support current generation consoles and leverages ray tracing to enable realistic soft shadows from various types of area lights.MegaLights not only reduces the cost of dynamic shadowing, it also reduces the cost of unshadowed light evaluation, making it possible to use expensive light sources, such as textured area lights, on consoles.MegaLights is considered an experimental feature and should not be used in a production project.Other features of Unreal Engine 5.5 include:Improved animation toolingModular control rig is now betaMetaHuman animator now has the ability to generation facial animations from just an audio performanceMutable character customization(beta)Lumen can now run at 60hz on supported platformsPath Tracer is now production readySubstrate material system now betaMobile rendering improvements and previewerMuch, much moreKey LinksUnreal Engine 5.5 BlogUnreal Engine 5.5 Full Release NotesYou can learn more about the Unreal Engine 5.5 release in the video below. Also note, this is the first version of Unreal Engine under the new pricing structure and you will need to approve of an updated EULA before you can update to UE 5.5.

The Mirror, an open-source effort to create an open Roblox or Fortnite alternative that we first covered in 2022 has just announced a massive change. They are no longer going to be building on top of the free and open-source Godot game engine. Details of the changes from the Mirror blog:Weve made the extremely difficult decision to transition The Mirror from Godot.First, Id like to give a massive thank you to everyone in the community for putting in so much time to create amazing software for free. The next generation of software wouldnt be possible without the often-unsung heroic work of open-source contributors donating their time to give everyone software free. Its truly incredible and I cant thank them enough.There isnt a single why, rather a combination of factors. For the technically-inclined, Ive created avideoreflecting on the past nearly 3 years (!) of development. I hope this can be helpful to anyone looking to build a multiplayer 3D game with evaluating key topics from a conceptual perspective, such as key architectural decisions and paradigms we made judgment calls on.Key topics:Choosing the best tool for the jobTooling in various ecosystemsTeam size: How many cooks in the kitchen?Ecosystem crossover: Tooling of shared protocols, such as HTTP in ecosystem A vs. ecosystem BCertainties vs uncertainties, Godot 3 vs. Godot 4Should you choose Godot?Whats next for The Mirror?Our V2 alpha is on its way. Join us onDiscordwhere well announce things first.Weve updated our social handles to@TheMirrorEngine. Mirror GDP (game development platform) was a bit wordy and confusing.Real-time developmentis what were most excited about, and so weve updated our tagline to Real-Time Engine a fundamentally better developer experience than todays engine workflows. Reflections are in real-time.Hint: After our previous Infinity release, the next release will start with J.Key LinksThe Mirror HomepageThe Mirror Leaving Godot BlogThe Mirror Discord ServerThe Mirror GitHub RepositoryYou can learn more about The Mirror and the move away from the Godot game engine in the video below.

C++ Scripting in Godot with J.E.N.O.V.A / News / November 11, 2024 / There is a new GDExtension for the Godot game engine called Projekt J.E.N.O.V.A (no idea what the acronym is). This extension brings C++ scripting inside the Godot game engine, just as you currently can with GDScript or C#. It is also a very WIP extension with very little documentation so buyer beware.Features of Projeck JENOVA include:Super Lightweight (6MB)Very Fast & ReliableMulti-Threaded Compilation & Source CachingDebug Information SupportBuilt-in Package Manager (Compilers, SDKs, Tools, Plugins etc.)C++ Scripts can be used exactly like GDScriptsSupports Script Templates (Pre-Defined/User-Defined)Supports Built-in Script Mode (Embedded)Supports C++ Tool Script Mode (In-Editor Execution)Supports Exporting Properties from C++ ScriptsMultiple Interpreter Backends (NitroJIT, Meteora, A.K.I.R.A etc.)Next-Gen Hot-Reloading Both at Runtime & EditorReal-Time GDExtension DevelopmentOperating System Emulation (Unix/WinNT)Visual Studio Side-by-Side Deep-IntegrationVisual Studio Exporter & Build System (2017-2022)Auto Detection of Installed Visual StudiosSupports External Libraries and .NET InvokeWatchdog System (Reload-On-Build)Built-in Terminal Logging System (Customizable)Asset Monitor System API (File/Directory Tracking)On-Demand Reload Per Script ChangeLambda Signal CallbacksAdvanced Menu OptionsSupports Additional/External Headers & LibrariesBuild And Run Mode (Build Before Play/Play After Build)Code Compression/Encryption (External/Built-in)Direct GetNode & GetTree APIUser Defined Preprocessor DefinitionsSupports In-Editor C++ HeadersModule Boot/Shutdown EventsSupports C++ Headers Directly Inside EditorSupports Scene Node ReferencingSupports Source Control using GitAnd Much More!The source code is available under the MIT license and is hosted on GitHub.Key LinksJ.E.N.O.V.A GitHubDiscord ServerYou can learn more about the GDExtension Projekt J.E.N.O.V.A that brings C++ scripting to the Godot game engine in the video below.

Since the Unity run-time fiasco which caused a massive developer backlash, that lead to most of the leadership team being removed from the company. In May Unity hired a new CEO, ex-Zynga executive Mathew Bromberg, who promised extensive changes to the way the company would operate. Most recently that effort has borne fruit with the removal of the Unity Run-Time Fee. A few days back, Unity made their first earnings call under the new CEO and there were several interesting revelations about the direction at Unity.Details from the Unity Q3 2024 Shareholder letter:To Our Shareholders: Its a privilege to address you once again on behalf of my colleagues around the world. We are at the beginning of a period of meaningful and productive change at Unity. The enthusiasm and excitement generated thus far, both inside and outside the Company, has been enormously encouraging. We saw real progress on our plan during the third quarter, and are looking forward to the transformational work ahead.Unity is the only company we know of that can deliver value to developers of games and interactive experiences across the entire lifecycle, from prototyping to live service operation right through user acquisition and monetization. That capability, and its connection to the 3B monthly downloads of applications created with Unity, positions us well to become the global platform of choice. As we continue to improve our ability to leverage data to provide measurable increases in stability, speed, efficiency, innovation, and ROI to our customers, we believe Unity will continue to prosper.Last quarter, we told you wed focus on fostering a culture of execution and discipline, accelerating the pace of product innovation, and strengthening the bond with our customers and community. And thats just what we did. The cancellation of the Runtime Fee for gaming customers, the reversion to a subscription-based model, and the introduction of price increases that customers could embrace has unblocked renewals and accelerated new relationships. Then we delivered Unity 6, the best performing, most stable version of Unity weve ever shipped, and outlined a new upgrade philosophy which is designed to enable customers to upgrade to new features without sacrificing stability. The combination of a new approach, new pricing, and new software has begun to change the decision calculus. When developers choose Unity, theyre potentially building a business on top of our platform for decades and were dedicated to making that choice easier every day.We also told you that adding world class talent to the team was going to be critical. In October we announced the hiring of a new Chief Technology Officer, Steve Collins, who brings decades of experience in game development (he was CTO at King, the studio behind hits like Candy Crush); engines (he was the co founder and CTO of Havok, the pioneering physics engine that helped define modern gaming); and marketing technology (he was the CTO of Swrve, a real time marketing automation cloud for mobile apps). Today, were equally excited to announce that weve hired a new Chief Financial Officer, Jarrod Yahes, who begins full time with us on January 1. Jarrod joins Unity from Shutterstock, where he has served as CFO for the past five years, helping to drive the companys portfolio expansion into 3D content, data monetization, and digital advertising while emphasizing revenue growth and profitability. Steve and Jarrod join a new management team that has the quality and depth of experience to carry us through the exciting work ahead.Finally, we talked last quarter about embarking on a fundamental rebuild of our machine learning stack and data infrastructure designed to enhance the return on investment were able to deliver to our advertising customers. Were happy to report great progress on that work, which is already in testing on live data. Were very encouraged by the early results were seeing. We believe that our new data platform will not only drive performance improvements in user acquisition and monetization, but also surface insights critical to game production and live service management, where understanding consumer behavior is core to being able to build and operate great games. These investments are core to our vision of a unified platform that can deliver for our customers across the full lifecycle of game developmentKey LinksUnity Shareholder Letter (PDF)Unity Investor Call Transcript on Motley FoolYou can learn more about Unity development priorities and future direction in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You canlearn more about Camtasia hereand use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.

Modo Is Being Shutdown / News / November 8, 2024 / GraphicsFoundry, the makers of computer graphics software like the NUKE family, MARI, KATANA and more have announced they are shutting down Modo with the upcoming release of Modo 17.1. Modo is a long running 3D modelling application that was first formed in 2001 by several senior Lightwave developers.Foundary made the announcement Thursday with the following Tweet:Further details of the Modo shutdown:London, November 7 2024 Foundry, a leading developer of creative software for the media and entertainment industries, today announced its decision to wind down development of 3D modeling tool, Modo, after the release of Modo 17.1 later this year. This strategic decision will allow Foundry to focus on its core offerings and invest in new solutions that meet the evolving needs of the media and entertainment community.Active customers will continue to receive support until the end of their current contract, and can obtain an extended 10-year license so that they can continue to use Modo in the future.FAQWhat support will be provided for customers?Customers on maintenance or subscription will receive support until their current contract term expires. We will continue to investigate and provide solutions and workarounds for issues, however we do not anticipate any further product releases (either feature releases or maintenance releases).Will Modo still work on future operating system updates after wind-down?Modo may continue to function on future operating systems, but since we will not be issuing patches or updates to address potential conflicts, we cannot guarantee compatibility with future operating system updates. We therefore recommend that customers migrate to alternative 3D workflows as soon as possible.Will Modo downloads, documentation, forums, and support channels continue to operate?Can a Modo license be transferred to another machine?Yes. All customers on active maintenance or subscription will have received an email explaining how to obtain an extended license which can be moved between machines as needed. Inactive customers, or those who did not receive this email, can contact [emailprotected] to request a license transferKey LinksModo Closure AnnouncementModo HomepageYou can learn more about the shutdown of Modo in the video below.

Esenthel Titan Engine / News / November 7, 2024 / C++, EngineToday we are checking out the Esenthel Titan Engine, that bills itself as The Most Powerful Game Engine in the World. This to put it mildly, is a very bold claim. The Titan Engine is a free download with a 5% commercial royalty if you sell your game. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux with the source code available for supporters. One of the major selling features of the Titan Engine is the ability to script your game logic easily with the C++ programming language. Key features of the Esenthel Titan Engine include:Very Easy to UseAdvanced Graphics and PhysicsHigh PerformanceLow Memory UsageHuge Sized WorldsCollaborative DevelopmentAuto Publishing100+ Tutorials and 90+ Documentation Pages IncludedEsenthel Store to sell your own ItemsFrequent UpdatesRock Solid Zero Bug ToleranceYou can target the following platforms:Windows, XboxMac, iOSAndroidNintendo SwitchLinuxWebKey LinksEsenthel Titan Engine HomepageDiscord ServerYou can learn more about the Esenthel Titan Engine and see it in action in the video below.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, the Learn Unity Game Development 2024 Bundle is a collection of Unity game engine courses by the folks at GameDev.Tv.The Bundle consists of the following tiers:1$ TierUnity Game Feel CourseProgramming Design Patterns For Unity CourseMid TierUnity Cutscenes: Master Cinematics, Animation and Trailers CourseUnity 2.5D Turn-Based RPG Course25$ TierComplete Unity 3D C# Developer CourseUnity Multiplayer Coding & Networking NGO CourseUnity Turn Based Strategy CourseUnity Shader Graph CourseUnity 2D RPG: Complete Combat System CourseUnity VR/XR Developer CourseUnity Mobile C# Developer CourseUsing links on this page helps support GFS (and thanks if you do!). If you have trouble opening the link, please copy and paste it into a new tab and it should work just fine. You can learn more about the Learn Unity Game Development 2024 Bundle in the video below.

The first Tuesday of every month, Epic Games have been giving away several free Unreal Engine assets for the past few years. With the recent launch of the Fab Marketplace it was feared that this program would go away. Fortunately, that is not the case, but it is changing substantially. First off, the monthly giveaways are now bi-monthly giveaways, with one on the first Tuesday then on the third Tuesday each month. However, the number of assets given away will be lower and each giveaway will only be free for two weeks. If purchased during the free period, the assets are yours to keep forever. Another (possibly negative) change in the giveaways is that some assets will be under the Personal License, which limits its usefulness to the broader community, now adding revenue restrictions. On the plus side, assets will be available for more game engines than just Unreal, for example this month assets also includes an asset that can be used directly in the Unity game engine.Speak of this months free assets:You have two weeks to redeem these assets and once purchased they are yours to keep forever. For details on how the monthly/bi-weekly giveaways have changed for asset developers, check out the contents of this forum post:The UE Marketplaces Sponsored Content Program was an important and much-loved feature of the marketplace. If youre not familiar with the Sponsored Content Program, it was the initiative where we were partnering with sellers on UE Marketplace to offer free content to the community for a period of time.The program allowed sellers to boost their revenue and reach new audiences and buyers to acquire a lot of awesome products for free.Were happy to share that this program continues on Fab in a similar format. Heres whats changing from how things worked on UE Marketplace:More frequent releases: New sponsored content will be released every two weeks and featured for two weeks so publishers have more opportunities to be featured and Fabs community of creators has more great content to choose fromGreater variety of file formats: Sponsored listings may now include more file formats, including Unreal Engine, Unity, and an assortment of 3D file formats.New payout structure: Payout for participation is a one-time payment of up to $5,000 USD. The payout amount will depend on various factors including but not limited to a selected products complexity, level of detail, quantity of file formats on offer, and product category.Interested in participating as a seller? Pleaseclick here81to submit your listings.If you are interested in getting these assets into other game engines, check out our various guides available here:You can learn more about the November 2024 part one asset giveaway and see the assets in action in the video below.

The Gamedev Market: Best of 2024 Bundle is currently available on Humble Bundle. This is a collection of game ready 2D sprites, tiles, effects, sound effects and music for creating games. It is organized into the following tiers:1$ TierEnemy Sprites Pack 1 Rogue AdventureCharacter Sprites Pack 1 Rogue AdventureRPG UI PackArtemis Space Ranks2D Space Shooter Gui Pack2D Space Shooter Ship Pack2D Space Shooter Enemy PackWooden UIFight Body Hits SFX Pack 1Mini Moves Pack 1 Casual Comical SFXSuper Pixel Sci Fi UI Futura MaxSuper Pixel Blood FX Pack 1Sci-Fi Card TemplatesGameDev Market Coupon 15% off orders $10 or moreMid TierPixel Art Space StationFactory of Shadows150 Sci Fi Flat Icons100 Top Down Cars & Boats2200 UI Pack25 Spaceships25 Top Down Tanks ArtilleryItem Icons 1616 Pixelart Rogue AdventureCrypt 1616 Pixelart Tileset Rogue AdventurePyramid 1616 Pixelart Tileset Rogue AdventureAtlantis 1616 Pixelart Tileset Rogue AdventureGraveyard 1616 Pixelart Tileset Rogue AdventureJungle 1616 Pixelart Tileset Rogue AdventureMonsters Time Fantasy RPG PackFaction Expansion Woodland FolkRPG Asset Pack2D Space Shooter Pack 2.02D Space Shooter PackGUI Dark GeoTabletop BadgesSkill Icon PackSci Fi Flat SkillsGuns IconsExplosion Blast Pack 2Super Pixel Effects Pack 3Super Pixel Projectiles Pack 2Sentinel FPS GUIMagic Spell And Ability IconsSkill And Ability IconsWeapon Armor And Equipment IconsCrafting Material and Component IconsRPG Character PortraitsCharacter Portraits20$ Tier50 Pixel Art TexturesPixel Art Cyberpunk CityIsometric DungeonMassive Game Music CollectionBig Multi Genre Music CollectionAnime Character VocalizationsMobile GameMedieval Fantasy SFX PackWestern SFX PackSpace SFX PackInventory SFX BundleOver 80 RPG CharactersFantasy RPG Tileset PackOld School Modern RPG Asset PackTactical RPG Overworld PackFantasy RPG Monster Pack2000 Game Sound EffectsPro Sound CollectionRPG MMO 2Fargo Mobile Game Interface GUIMinimalist GUI2D Space Shooter 3.0 Complete PackGUI Pro Fantasy RPG2D Isometric Tile Pack2D Topdown Tile Set2D Fantasy CharactersDreamy Mystery Sound Effects PackHahaha Laughters Funny Voices PackCasual Games Music PackWild Music PackOld Cartoon Music PackIndustrial Metal Music PackPro SciFi GUIPro Dark SciFi GUIAdvanced Cyberpunk GUIPro Cyberpunk GUISuper Pixel Explosion FX Pack 1Super Pixel Fantasy FX Pack 2Citadel RPG GUIAramechUsing any of the links on this page to purchase this bundle will help support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!). You can learn more about the Gamedev Market: Best of 2024 Humble Bundle in the video below.

The OGRE 3D graphics/game framework is a cross platform open-source C++ game framework and rendering engine that has been in development since 2001! Over the last two + decades, OGRE has been used to power several successful games, such as the Torchlight Series, Rogue Galaxy and even provided the original rendering engine for Roblox. OGRE Next is a branch of Ogre that is focused on modernizing the OGRE renderer. Ogre-Next 3.0.0 Eris was recently released, which included a move to C++ 11. Details of the Ogre Next 3 (and a bit about 4):Its been 2 years since 2.3.0 and almost a year since the last 2.3.x release. Its about time for 3.0.0!Ogre to OgreNext name migrationWere trying to make OgreNext and Ogre able to be installed side-by-side. The details can be foundin the manual.But the short version is that were moving forward to have Ogre.dll and OgreNext.dll as different DLLs so thatOgre and OgreNext can coexist for projects who want to support both, and for Linux distros that want to supportboth without getting into name clashes.Given that this requires changes in client projects (e.g. CMakeLists.txt and *.sln, etc) that depend on OgreNext,the old naming can be selected using the CMake variableOGRE_USE_NEW_PROJECT_NAMEwhich defaults to OFF for 3.0, but will default to ON for 4.0; and will be scheduled for removal in OgreNext 5.0.Dealing with ABI mismatches: AbiCookieA common problem in our community are crashes that were caused by simple mistakes such as mixing OgreNext.dll (Release) with OgreNext.dll (Debug). Or upgrading to a newer version of OgreNext but a lingering old DLL got loaded instead.This can cause quite cryptic errors and crashes our users were having trouble to deal with.AbiCookie is here to fix most of this issues, as it validates on load that the DLL being loaded matches the one it is supposed to be linked against.The ABI cookie is used like this during Ogre::Root creation:const Ogre::AbiCookie abiCookie = Ogre::generateAbiCookie();mRoot = OGRE_NEW Ogre::Root( &abiCookie, pluginsPath, cfgPath, mWriteAccessFolder + "Ogre.log", windowTitle );While the AbiCookie may not catch all sort of ABI mismatches, it should catch the most common mistakes.Plugins are also always validated by the AbiCookie.ABI SemverStarting 3.0.0; OgreNext will follow amodifiedsemver versioning, where 3.0.x increments must absolutely not break the ABI, but 3.x.0 MIGHT be allowed to break the ABI in subtle changes. See thisticket commentfor an explanation.For this reason, most development will focus on 4.x.x; with 3.0.x for small fixes. Changes that would involve a 3.x.0 change will mostly be considered upon contract request.Move to C++11 and general cleanupThe biggest focus of Ogre-Next 3.0.0 was easier maintenance and porting to newer versions; rather than new features.We started aggressively using C++11soverridekeyword, which makes much easier to catch derived classes whose functions have changed slightly in signature at compile-time.We are also enforcing clang-format through CI to ensure code formatting stays consistent across the project and contributors.Another important factor is that we fixed all warnings (or most, depending on your compiler version) in OgreNext.Now compiling OgreNext results in a clean log. This results in a more robust codebase.Furthermore, including headers no longer generates warnings in client applications, which is unacceptable.This is not to say all changes were coding-style and C++ version related.Particularly there have beenPBR/PBS changesto better match what other engines are doing, with compatibility functions to restore the old look.Towards the future: Ogre-Next 4.0Actually Ogre-Next 4.0 is far more exciting! Development started a year ago as 3.0.0 stabilized and 4.0 has already interesting features:Multithreaded Shader Compilation and PSO generation: This greatly speeds up shader compilation, app loading and greatly reduces stutter. Available for Vulkan and Metal.ParticleFX2 plugin: An alternate plugin for ParticleFX2 with a focus on performance (parallel CPU simulation + vertex-shader-based geometry generation). The original ParticleFX plugin willnotbe deprecated as it serves different means. Certain FXs are easier to perform with the original PFX, while PFX2 focus on performance for large amount of particles and special rendering features.Alpha Hashing and Alpha Hashing with A2C (Alpha to Coverage): A very decent trick that gets impressive results to perform transparency with depth writes enabled, which means itsOrder Independent(unlike traditional alpha blending).Key LinksOgre HomepageOgre-Next 3.0.0 Release BlogRelease NotesWhich Version to Choose GuideYou can learn more about the OGRE game/graphics/rendering framework and the Ogre-Next 3.0 release in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You canlearn more about Camtasia hereand use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, the Super Game Asset Bundle by Leartes Studio. This bundle is a huge collection of 7000+ game ready assets for Unreal Engine, Unity and now the Godot Game Engine.It is organized into the following tiers:1$ TierFantasy IconsLeartes Office Environment (Office Equipments, Office Interior )Stylized Greek Island (Stylized, Island, Greek)Object Distribution Tool (Unreal Engine Tool Plugin)Cosmos 50% Discount CouponMedian TierSiege Of Ponthus EnvironmentRestaurant Crime Scene Environment ( Police Scene Environment )Desert Temple Environment / Ancient Environment ( Desert / Ancient )Cyberpunk LabatoryAbandoned Horror MansionStylized House InteriorHaunted VillageRoman Swimming Pool EnvironmentOld Workers VillageStylized Ancient TempleMaterial Assignment Tool (Unreal Engine Tool Plugin)1950s Businessman / Mafia Character / NPC / Rigged1950s Mafia Character / NPC / RiggedSFX 3 Police Station (SFX)Driveable / Animated Excavator (Material Variations)30$ TierDark Fantasy Castle MegapackStylized Pirate Port City Modular (Pirate , Port , City )Viking Village Environment Megapack ( Viking Modular Village Viking )Cosmos 1 Month SubscriptionMedieval Castle / Medieval Village EnvironmentFire Watch Tower Environment ( Nature , Mountains , Landscape )The Great Tree Environment ( Fantasy, Soulslike )Old Cathedral Environment (Interior + Exterior , Ancient , Fantasy )Unreal Engine 5, Blender Creating a Classroom EnvironmentDark Fantasy ChurchUltimate Lighting and Camera Tool ( ULCT )Command Center InteriorAbandoned Chemistry ClassroomWills RoomOffice CorridorCyberpunk RooftopFantasy DungeonNeptune Bath EnvironmentFighting Stage EnvironmentAsian Fishing Village EnvironmentThe Aftermath Environment (Medieval, Village)English Cottage InteriorGarage Warehouse Environment (Unreal Engine)Baroque Cathedral EnvironmentUltimate Level Art ToolStylized Halloween Village ( Modular, Village, Stylized, Halloween )Stylized Lost RuinsStylized Pirate Tavern (Modular) ( Pirate , Pirate , Tavern , Stylised )Stylized Windmill Valley UE5 ( Stylized , Valley , Windmill , Stylized )Stylized Greek Island II UE5 ( Island , Greek , Stylised )Stylized Christmas Amusement ParkCyberpunk HandgunsDriveable / Animated Construction TruckPolice Character / NPC(5) FPS 4K Custom Modern Shotguns VOL.1SFX 1 Warzone (SFX)SFX 2 Soulslike (SFX)VFX 1 Warzone (VFX)VFX 2 Explosion (VFX)Character / Rigged / NPC(5) FPS 4K Custom Modern Handguns VOL.1Converting Unity and Unreal Engine Assets Guides:Humble no longer offers the ability to adjust the slider to support GFS, but dont worry if you use my link (and thank you so much if you do!) it automatically helps GameFromScratch. You can learn more about the Super Game Asset Bundle by Leartes Studio as well as see one environment in each Unreal Engine, Unity and the Godot Game Engine in the video below.

Visual Studio Code 1.95 October Update / News / October 30, 2024 / The Visual Studio Code October update was just released. Visual Studio Code is an incredibly popular open-source cross platform highly modular code editor lead by Microsoft. The highlight features of this 1.95 October release include:Copilot Edits Iterate quickly on large changes across multiple filesCopilot Chat in Secondary Side Bar Keep Copilot Chat open and ready to-go while you workMultiple GitHub accounts Log in to multiple GitHub accounts in VS Code simultaneouslyCopilot code reviews Get a quick review pass or a deeper review of uncommitted changesDocstrings with Pylance Generate docstring templates for classes or methodsPreview settings indicator View experimental and preview settings in the Settings editorCopilot extensibility Showcasing Copilot extensibility in VS CodeNotice a trend? Four of the seven major features in this update are for Microsofts CoPilot integration, while the fifth is a GitHub integration feature, which is of course another Microsoft product. Given the heavily modular nature of Visual Studio Code, that all of this isnt being implemented as extensions is disappointing. There are some other minor additions in the Visual Studio Code update that you can read about in the full release notes below.Key LinksVisual Studio Code HomepageVisual Studio Code 1.95 October Update Release NotesYou can learn more about (and mostly hear me rant about) the October 1.95 release of Visual Studio Code in the video below.

JetBrains Announce Subscription Pricing Changes / News / October 30, 2024 / Applications, ProgrammingJetBrains, the makers of several popular cross platform developer tools and IDEs, hot on the heels of their WebStorm and Rider free for non-commercial use announcement, have just announced upcoming changing to their subscription pricing. Right now if you purchase a JetBrains tool, you can get 2nd and 3rd year loyalty discounts upon subscription renewal:On January 2nd, 2025, this program is going to be going away. It does seem to only apply to organizations and existing subscriptions started before January 2nd, 2025 will still be eligible for the discount scheme. All purchases made after January 2nd will not, which is effectively a 20% then 40% increase in costs.JetBrains have announced details in the following post:We would like to inform you aboutan important update to our discount policy.Starting onJanuary 2, 2025,continuity discountswill no longer apply to new organizational subscriptions. This change affects all JetBrains IDEs, .NET tools, the All Products Pack, the dotUltimate bundle, and JetBrains plugins.This update only impacts new licenses purchased after this date. Your existing licenses and packages will retain their current discount rates.For example, if you currently hold 100 IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate licenses with no active discount, you will still receive the 20% continuity discount on your first renewal of these licenses and 40% on all subsequent renewals. Similarly, if you have already qualified for a 20% or 40% continuity discount, you will still receive a 40% discount on all future renewals thereafter. However, any new license bought after January 2, 2025, will not be eligible for a continuity discount, as we are sunsetting this benefit.You can learn more about the changes to JetBrain products pricing in the video below.

Defold Druid UI Framework / News / October 28, 2024 / Defold, FrameworkThe DrUId framework for the Defold game engine just turned 1.0. DrUId, as the capitalization suggests, is a UI framework for the defold game engine. The project is open source and released under the MIT license.Defold Druid is described as:Druid powerfulDefoldcomponent UI framework that empowers developers to create stunning and customizable GUIs by leveraging a wide range of embedded components or effortlessly designing their own game-specific components.Druid comes with several examples to get you started. Here is an example of Druid source code, setting up Druid and creating a Button:local druid = require("druid.druid")-- All component callbacks pass "self" as first argument-- This "self" is a context data passed in `druid.new(context)`local function on_button_callback(self) print("The button clicked!")endfunction init(self) self.druid = druid.new(self) self.button = self.druid:new_button("button_node_name", on_button_callback)end-- "final" is a required function for the correct Druid workflowfunction final(self) self.druid:final()end-- "update" is used in progress bar, scroll, and timer basic componentsfunction update(self, dt) self.druid:update(dt)end-- "on_message" is used for specific Druid events, like language change or layout changefunction on_message(self, message_id, message, sender) self.druid:on_message(message_id, message, sender)end-- "on_input" is used in almost all Druid components-- The return value from `druid:on_input` is required!function on_input(self, action_id, action) return self.druid:on_input(action_id, action)endKey LinksDruid GitHubDefold Game EngineYou can learn more about the excellent Defold Game Engine and the Druid UI framework in the video below.

JetBrains, the makers of the popular cross platform commercial IDEs such as IntelliJ and Resharper just announced free versions of two of their IDEs, Rider and WebStorm. Rider started life as a .NET focused IDE but over time morphed into being a game development focused product with native support for Unity, Godot and Unreal Engine programming. WebStorm is a web focused IDE for JavaScript and TypeScript development.Details for the JetBrains announcement:Whats happening?Earlier this year, we implemented a new licensing model for our recently introduced IDEs,RustRoverandAqua, making them free for non-commercial use. Were now extending this model to WebStorm and Rider. If youre using these IDEs for non-commercial purposes, such aslearning,open-source project development,content creation, orhobby development, you can now do so for free.For commercial projects, nothing will change our existing licensing remains in place. Other JetBrains IDEs are not affected by this update, either. Well evaluate the outcomes of this free non-commercial licensing initiative to see if it can be expanded.Why are we doing this?In making non-commercial development free, we aim to make JetBrains IDEs more accessible to a broader audience. We hope the new licensing model will further lower the barrier to using our IDEs, helping you learn, grow, and stay creative.Weve explored various ways to achieve this goal. As many of you have asked for more community editions, this was one of the possible options that we considered. However, JetBrains IDEs often have monolithic functionality, with all features deeply integrated and essential for productive work. Creating additional community editions would risk offering a feature set that doesnt meet the needs of the many different types of users we have.If you want to check out the new free version of JetBrains Rider you need to download Rider 2024.2.7 which was also released today.Key LinksRider HomepageRider & WebStorm Free Version AnnouncementYou can learn more about the new free versions of WebStorm and Rider and the limitations involved in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You canlearn more about Camtasia hereand use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, the poorly named Design with Corel Finish With AI Software Bundle contains a collection of art applications. The foremost among the included applications is the newest version of Corel Draw 2024 Standard Edition, which isnt a subscription but a perpetual license version! There are also several brushes and other assets and some AI focused locally run art tools as well.As with most Humble Bundles this one is organized into tiers:1$ TierPaintShop Pro 2023HDR FXMedian TierCorel Painter 2023Vision FX1889 Post-ImpressionismAbstractAnimal SpotsAnimationBold StrokesChunky PaintCreepersDesertExpressiveFantasyLoveMagicalMosaicPerfect PetsPhoto PortraitRainStainThick Paint EncausticWeddingWizard30$ TierCorelDRAW Standard 2024Vector FXYou can learn more about the Design with Corel Finish With AI Software Bundle in the video below. Using any of the links on this page pays GFS a commission (and thanks so much if you do!). If you have trouble with the links, please try pasting them into a new browser tab, as Humbles new links now fight with someone adblock software.

Epic Games have finally launched Fab, their new online marketplace for Unreal Engine, but also Unity and other game engines as well as various DCC tools like Max, Maya and Blender. Fab was first announced at GDC 2023 and is a unified market of various markets Epic already control including the Unreal Engine Marketplace as well as companies they acquired such as SketchFab and Quixel.It is very important to point out that Quixel Megascans assets are available for free for all game engines but you need to claim them before the end of 2024. Go and claim the assets for free right here.Details of the Fab launch:Fab is a one-stop destination where you can discover, buy, sell, and share digital assets, and its now live!Fab is the successor to the Unreal Engine Marketplace and Sketchfab Store, and the new home for Quixel Megascans. This new open marketplace supports all types of creators with content for use across Unreal Engine, Unity 3D, Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and other digital content creation tools. Unreal Engine developers will be able to access Fab directly in the Unreal Engine 5 Editor, and Fornite creators can discover Fortnite ready assets through Fab in UEFN.The Fab integration in UEFN is undergoing maintenance and will be back online shortly, and the Fab integration in the Unreal Engine 5 Editor is coming soon.Head over toFab.comtoday to discover an enormous offering of high quality, real-time-ready game assets, environments, VFX, audio, animations, characters, plug-ins, and more.Epic Games are also offering 6 month subscription of Substance Painter and Modeler for free for anyone that publishes to the Fab store or spends $25USD or more.Key LinksFab HomepageQuixel MegaScans Claim PageFab Release NotesFab Substance Painter/Modeler PromoYou can learn more about the new Fab marketplace for game developers in the video below.

Huge Blender Add-On Giveaway & New QRemeshify Plugin / News / October 21, 2024 / Blender, FreeA ton of free add-ons for Blender were just made available for free from developer Blenderesse. Most of the add-ons are implemented using Geometry Nodes and they include:Cottage Generator Setup for Geometrynodes/ Blender 3.0Offroad Rig Generator Setup for Geometrynodes/ Blender 3.2Smudge Mask Generator for Geometrynodes/ Blender 4.0Castle Generator Setup for Geometrynodes Fields / Blender 3.0Bird Generator Setup for Geometrynodes/ Blender 3.6Geometrynodes Setup Electric Line Generator Blender 3.3Tree Generator Setup(with wind) for Geometrynodes Fields / Blender 3.0Ivy Generator Setup for Geometrynodes Fields / Blender 3.0Freeze Generator Setup for Geometrynodes Fields / Blender 3.0Xmas Tree Generator for Geometrynodes Blender 3.0Car Paint Shader for blender 4.0Melt Generator Setup for Geometrynodes/ Blender 3.5 Simulation Nodes BranchUntilify textures (with normalmap correction) for blender 4.0Rain Droplets Simulator for blender 4.1Weld Shader for blender 4.0In addition to the Blenderesse giveaway, there is a new completely free add-on QRemeshify which enables you to convert triangle meshes to clean quad meshes. Features of QRemeshify include:Good-quality quad topology even with basic usageSupports symmetryGuide edge flow with edges marked seams/sharpOptions for advanced fine-tuning availableNo external programs to download or runKey LinksBlenderesse Gumroad PageQRemeshify Gumroad PageYou can learn more about the free assets from Blenderesse as well as seeing the new QRemeshify plugin in action in the video below.

Flax Engine 1.9 Released / News / October 19, 2024 / C++, Engine, ReleaseThe Flax game engine just released Flax 1.9. Highlights of the Flax Engine 1.9 release include:Video playback of MP4s using the VideoPlayer actorSeveral rendering performance improvementsLumberyard Bistro sample scene ported to FlaxImprovements to DDGI, dynamic diffuse global illumatinationShadow Map improvements including shared atlas supportGPU based mesh SDF generationMissing references debug improvementsNew editor gridAbility to reorder lists and other various editor improvementsNew RadialMenu controlKey LinksFlax Engine HomepageFlax Engine 1.9 Release NotesFlax DiscordLumberyard Bistro Sample Ported to FlaxYou can learn more about the Flax Engine 1.9 release in the video below.

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, the somewhat oddly named Learn Squared Presents: Concept Art in Unreal Engine bundle. This is a collection of video training courses on concept art, but also VFX, Unreal Engine, Filmmaking, Substance Designer and more.As with most Humble Bundles it is organized into tiers:5$ TierUnreal Engine 5 BasicsMid TierVFX in UnrealQuick Concepts in UnrealSubstance Designer Essentials20$ TierConcept Art in Unreal Engine 5Unreal EnvironmentsStylized Environments in UnrealCGI FilmmakingIf you use the links on this page it helps to support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!). Humble recently changed the way their links work and sometimes they are blocked by popup blockers. If this happens please try this link instead and if that still doesnt work, please try pasting the link into a new tab. Sorry for the inconvenience and hopefully we can get this bug fixed soon.You can learn more about the Learn Squared : Concept Art in Unreal Engine bundle in the video below.

Unity 6, first announced at Unite 2023 and released in preview form in May of this year was just released today. Unity 6 was going to be a milestone release for one very dark reason, it was going to be the first release with the much maligned Unity Run-Time Fee. Thankfully, after a massive shakeup at Unity after the run-time fee fallout, new management have announced the scrapping of the Unity run-time fee.The removal of the fee has made Unity 6 just another release, with no major encumbrances to its adoption. That said, with the announcement of the game changing Unity 7 release on the horizon, Unity 6 is going to be with us for a very long time indeed. This has lead Unity to taking a new approach to releases:A new approach to UpdatesWere also introducing a new approach to Update releases, one that lets us keep improving the Engines performance and stability while making it easier and less disruptive for you to upgrade. Going forward, well maintain three release types: 1) Major releases (like Unity 6); 2) Patch releases that deliver bug fixes and workflow improvements but not new functionality; and 3) A new type of release called Updates that will follow the 6.X nomenclature.Updates will deliver new functionality that will be optional and additive but will not break compatibility with your current version of the Engine. Theyll enable us to continue to enhance performance of the Editor and Runtime and accelerate access to new features with significantly reduced risk of breaking changes, because each Update will go through the rigorous regression testing of a major release. Were already working on the first Unity 6 Update, Unity 6.1,, coming in April 2025.As to the Unity 6 release itself:Built, tested, and refined in partnership with developers from all over the world, Unity 6 is fully production-ready, and is the best-performing and most stable version of Unity weve ever shipped.There are many exciting new tools and features in Unity 6: end-to-end multiplayer workflows will speed development of connected games; tools that enable developers to target mobile web; and new graphics features that move workloads from the CPU to the GPU, like the GPU Resident Drawer and Render Graph for Universal Render Pipeline (URP), have improved CPU performance by up to 4X in internal and customer testing.Crucially, weve been able to deliver all of this while also increasing stability of the platform.The key to this achievement has been a fundamental change in how we approach the development cycle. Weve spent more than a year in full production mode with scaled, global developers rigorously testing each new feature. Its our intention to expand this process going forward, creating a continuous feedback loop that will enable Unity to make a more positive impact on the work you do every day.In addition to the Unity 6 release, several assets were also released today including assets from Time Ghost, the Synty powered Fantasy Kingdoms example and more:Time Ghost:The latest Unity Originals real-time cinematic demo showcases what can be achieved with Unity 6, including advancements in environments and character design.Fantasy Kingdomin Unity 6: Discover a stylized game environment featuring advanced rendering performance, cutting-edge lighting capabilities, and strong mobile optimization in URP.Megacity Metro: Check out this competitive, 100+ player cross-platform demo to learn multiplayer mechanics, implement gaming services, and experiment with all-new Unity 6 features.Key LinksUnity 6 AnnouncementUnity 6 Release DetailsYou can learn more about the Unity 6 release in the video below.

Skip to contentUnity 6 Toolkit Bundle + Synty Asset Giveaway / News / October 17, 2024 / Bundle, Free, UnityTo go along with the launched of Unity 6 earlier today, the Unity Asset Store has launched the Unity 6 Toolkit Bundle which joins the existing Quick Start Asset pack bundle. This new Unity bundle contains several different assets organized into two tiers $15 and $30 with savings of up to 97% off MSRP.Additionally, from October 17th to October 24th, you can get the Synty Construction Low Polygon Pack completely free. Simply use the code SYNTY2024 at checkout to bring the price to zero.The Unity 6 Toolkit consists of:15$ Tier30$ TierThe above links contain an affiliate code that gives GFS a small commission if used (and thanks so much if you do!). You can learn more about both Unity bundles and the Synty giveaway in the video below.Post navigation Previous Post GameDev Archives GameDev ArchivesSelect Month October 2024 (16) September 2024 (22) August 2024 (14) July 2024 (20) June 2024 (20) May 2024 (21) April 2024 (23) March 2024 (30) February 2024 (23) January 2024 (17) December 2023 (18) November 2023 (17) October 2023 (30) September 2023 (30) August 2023 (13) July 2023 (17) June 2023 (20) May 2023 (24) April 2023 (20) March 2023 (25) February 2023 (22) January 2023 (19) December 2022 (15) November 2022 (25) October 2022 (18) September 2022 (19) August 2022 (18) July 2022 (13) June 2022 (22) May 2022 (23) April 2022 (28) March 2022 (29) February 2022 (21) January 2022 (21) December 2021 (18) November 2021 (26) October 2021 (22) September 2021 (21) August 2021 (23) July 2021 (24) June 2021 (23) May 2021 (24) April 2021 (28) March 2021 (35) February 2021 (26) January 2021 (28) December 2020 (33) November 2020 (38) October 2020 (34) September 2020 (38) August 2020 (30) July 2020 (33) June 2020 (34) May 2020 (27) April 2020 (34) March 2020 (31) February 2020 (26) January 2020 (22) December 2019 (20) November 2019 (23) October 2019 (34) September 2019 (30) August 2019 (17) July 2019 (25) June 2019 (22) May 2019 (26) April 2019 (21) March 2019 (28) February 2019 (24) January 2019 (27) December 2018 (14) November 2018 (19) October 2018 (22) September 2018 (23) August 2018 (23) July 2018 (30) June 2018 (32) May 2018 (33) April 2018 (21) March 2018 (29) February 2018 (16) January 2018 (18) December 2017 (15) November 2017 (15) October 2017 (15) September 2017 (20) August 2017 (12) July 2017 (15) June 2017 (25) May 2017 (20) April 2017 (16) March 2017 (30) February 2017 (31) January 2017 (24) December 2016 (32) November 2016 (42) October 2016 (27) September 2016 (34) August 2016 (32) July 2016 (35) June 2016 (37) May 2016 (48) April 2016 (83) March 2016 (56) February 2016 (43) January 2016 (54) December 2015 (44) November 2015 (49) October 2015 (17) September 2015 (13) August 2015 (13) July 2015 (17) June 2015 (27) May 2015 (20) April 2015 (15) March 2015 (18) February 2015 (9) January 2015 (11) December 2014 (17) November 2014 (22) October 2014 (47) September 2014 (9) August 2014 (5) July 2014 (14) June 2014 (17) May 2014 (12) April 2014 (13) March 2014 (18) February 2014 (13) January 2014 (15) December 2013 (6) November 2013 (8) October 2013 (8) September 2013 (21) August 2013 (13) July 2013 (16) June 2013 (17) May 2013 (13) April 2013 (21) March 2013 (18) February 2013 (13) January 2013 (13) December 2012 (15) November 2012 (22) October 2012 (24) September 2012 (24) August 2012 (41) July 2012 (16) June 2012 (32) May 2012 (28) April 2012 (19) March 2012 (12) February 2012 (18) January 2012 (11) December 2011 (12) November 2011 (13) October 2011 (22) September 2011 (7) August 2011 (11) July 2011 (5) June 2011 (7) May 2011 (16) April 2011 (10) January 1970 (1)

Unity 6, first announced at Unite 2023 and released in preview form in May of this year was just released today. Unity 6 was going to be a milestone release for one very dark reason, it was going to be the first release with the much maligned Unity Run-Time Fee. Thankfully, after a massive shakeup at Unity after the run-time fee fallout, new management have announced the scrapping of the Unity run-time fee.The removal of the fee has made Unity 6 just another release, with no major encumbrances to its adoption. That said, with the announcement of the game changing Unity 7 release on the horizon, Unity 6 is going to be with us for a very long time indeed. This has lead Unity to taking a new approach to releases:A new approach to UpdatesWere also introducing a new approach to Update releases, one that lets us keep improving the Engines performance and stability while making it easier and less disruptive for you to upgrade. Going forward, well maintain three release types: 1) Major releases (like Unity 6); 2) Patch releases that deliver bug fixes and workflow improvements but not new functionality; and 3) A new type of release called Updates that will follow the 6.X nomenclature.Updates will deliver new functionality that will be optional and additive but will not break compatibility with your current version of the Engine. Theyll enable us to continue to enhance performance of the Editor and Runtime and accelerate access to new features with significantly reduced risk of breaking changes, because each Update will go through the rigorous regression testing of a major release. Were already working on the first Unity 6 Update, Unity 6.1,, coming in April 2025.As to the Unity 6 release itself:Built, tested, and refined in partnership with developers from all over the world, Unity 6 is fully production-ready, and is the best-performing and most stable version of Unity weve ever shipped.There are many exciting new tools and features in Unity 6: end-to-end multiplayer workflows will speed development of connected games; tools that enable developers to target mobile web; and new graphics features that move workloads from the CPU to the GPU, like the GPU Resident Drawer and Render Graph for Universal Render Pipeline (URP), have improved CPU performance by up to 4X in internal and customer testing.Crucially, weve been able to deliver all of this while also increasing stability of the platform.The key to this achievement has been a fundamental change in how we approach the development cycle. Weve spent more than a year in full production mode with scaled, global developers rigorously testing each new feature. Its our intention to expand this process going forward, creating a continuous feedback loop that will enable Unity to make a more positive impact on the work you do every day.In addition to the Unity 6 release, several assets were also released today including assets from Time Ghost, the Synty powered Fantasy Kingdoms example and more:Time Ghost:The latest Unity Originals real-time cinematic demo showcases what can be achieved with Unity 6, including advancements in environments and character design.Fantasy Kingdomin Unity 6: Discover a stylized game environment featuring advanced rendering performance, cutting-edge lighting capabilities, and strong mobile optimization in URP.Megacity Metro: Check out this competitive, 100+ player cross-platform demo to learn multiplayer mechanics, implement gaming services, and experiment with all-new Unity 6 features.Key LinksUnity 6 AnnouncementUnity 6 Release DetailsYou can learn more about the Unity 6 release in the video below.

Skip to contentUnity 6 Toolkit Bundle + Synty Asset Giveaway / News / October 17, 2024 / Bundle, Free, UnityTo go along with the launched of Unity 6 earlier today, the Unity Asset Store has launched the Unity 6 Toolkit Bundle which joins the existing Quick Start Asset pack bundle. This new Unity bundle contains several different assets organized into two tiers $15 and $30 with savings of up to 97% off MSRP.Additionally, from October 17th to October 24th, you can get the Synty Construction Low Polygon Pack completely free. Simply use the code SYNTY2024 at checkout to bring the price to zero.The Unity 6 Toolkit consists of:15$ Tier30$ TierThe above links contain an affiliate code that gives GFS a small commission if used (and thanks so much if you do!). You can learn more about both Unity bundles and the Synty giveaway in the video below.Post navigation Previous Post GameDev Archives GameDev ArchivesSelect Month October 2024 (16) September 2024 (22) August 2024 (14) July 2024 (20) June 2024 (20) May 2024 (21) April 2024 (23) March 2024 (30) February 2024 (23) January 2024 (17) December 2023 (18) November 2023 (17) October 2023 (30) September 2023 (30) August 2023 (13) July 2023 (17) June 2023 (20) May 2023 (24) April 2023 (20) March 2023 (25) February 2023 (22) January 2023 (19) December 2022 (15) November 2022 (25) October 2022 (18) September 2022 (19) August 2022 (18) July 2022 (13) June 2022 (22) May 2022 (23) April 2022 (28) March 2022 (29) February 2022 (21) January 2022 (21) December 2021 (18) November 2021 (26) October 2021 (22) September 2021 (21) August 2021 (23) July 2021 (24) June 2021 (23) May 2021 (24) April 2021 (28) March 2021 (35) February 2021 (26) January 2021 (28) December 2020 (33) November 2020 (38) October 2020 (34) September 2020 (38) August 2020 (30) July 2020 (33) June 2020 (34) May 2020 (27) April 2020 (34) March 2020 (31) February 2020 (26) January 2020 (22) December 2019 (20) November 2019 (23) October 2019 (34) September 2019 (30) August 2019 (17) July 2019 (25) June 2019 (22) May 2019 (26) April 2019 (21) March 2019 (28) February 2019 (24) January 2019 (27) December 2018 (14) November 2018 (19) October 2018 (22) September 2018 (23) August 2018 (23) July 2018 (30) June 2018 (32) May 2018 (33) April 2018 (21) March 2018 (29) February 2018 (16) January 2018 (18) December 2017 (15) November 2017 (15) October 2017 (15) September 2017 (20) August 2017 (12) July 2017 (15) June 2017 (25) May 2017 (20) April 2017 (16) March 2017 (30) February 2017 (31) January 2017 (24) December 2016 (32) November 2016 (42) October 2016 (27) September 2016 (34) August 2016 (32) July 2016 (35) June 2016 (37) May 2016 (48) April 2016 (83) March 2016 (56) February 2016 (43) January 2016 (54) December 2015 (44) November 2015 (49) October 2015 (17) September 2015 (13) August 2015 (13) July 2015 (17) June 2015 (27) May 2015 (20) April 2015 (15) March 2015 (18) February 2015 (9) January 2015 (11) December 2014 (17) November 2014 (22) October 2014 (47) September 2014 (9) August 2014 (5) July 2014 (14) June 2014 (17) May 2014 (12) April 2014 (13) March 2014 (18) February 2014 (13) January 2014 (15) December 2013 (6) November 2013 (8) October 2013 (8) September 2013 (21) August 2013 (13) July 2013 (16) June 2013 (17) May 2013 (13) April 2013 (21) March 2013 (18) February 2013 (13) January 2013 (13) December 2012 (15) November 2012 (22) October 2012 (24) September 2012 (24) August 2012 (41) July 2012 (16) June 2012 (32) May 2012 (28) April 2012 (19) March 2012 (12) February 2012 (18) January 2012 (11) December 2011 (12) November 2011 (13) October 2011 (22) September 2011 (7) August 2011 (11) July 2011 (5) June 2011 (7) May 2011 (16) April 2011 (10) January 1970 (1)

Blender 4.3 Beta Is a HUGE Step Forward / News / October 16, 2024 / BlenderThe Blender Foundation recently released Blender 4.3 Beta and its jammed packed with new features. Blender 4.3 will remain in beta for a few weeks, with the full release hopefully coming on November 12, 2024.There are several new features in the Blender 4.3 release, but in the video below we highlight the following new changes:Massive UI/UX improvements, especially around the windowing systemGrease Pencil 3.0, new brushes, improved UI/UX, eraser system and support for geometry nodes3D sculpting improvements, new UI/UX, new brushes and moreNew centralized library asset system for sculpting, grease pencil, hair and moreExperimental Vulkan renderingNew BSDF Metallic shaderTons of Geometry Node improvements including the above mentioned Grease Pencil support, For Loops and moreKey LinksBlender HomepageBlender 4.3 Beta DownloadBlender 4.3 Beta Release NotesBlender 4.3 is shaping up to be one of those release that once you get used to it, going back to a previous version without the upgrades is going to be painful! You can learn more about Blender 4.3 beta and all of the above new features in the video below.

Rogue Legacy Source Code Released / News / October 16, 2024 / Source CodeCellar Door Games have just released the source code for their popular indie smash hit Roguelite Rogue Legacy. Note this is not an open source project, the source code is released under a non OSI certified license and the release does not include the assets from the game. It does however enable the community to continue game development as well as provides and opportunity for developers to see behind the curtains of a successful C#/XNA/FNA/MonoGame style game. In fact the creator of the FNA framework is going to be the one maintaining the source code going forward.Details were released on Twitter:As well as the following tweet by FNA lead developer (and future Rogue Legacy maintainer) Ethan Lee:Key LinksRogue Legacy GitHubCode LicenseYou can learn more about the open sourcing of Rogue Legacy in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You can learn more about Camtasia here and use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.

Marmoset Toolbag 5 Released / News / October 15, 2024 / Applications, GraphicsComing 4 years after the previous release Marmoset have just released Marmoset Toolbag 5. This is a Swiss army tool for 3D artists for baking, texturing and rendering. Marmoset is available for Windows and MacOS with a 30 day fully functional trial available (email address required).New features of Marmoset Toolbag 5 include:BakingBaking UDIM TexturesInteractive BakingBevel Shader BakingTexturing & PaintingUDIM & Multiple Texture Set SupportVector LayersSync PointsGenerate Missing Input MapsCarve GroupsClone ToolAnisotropic Direction PaintingRecolor Adjustment LayersImproved Fill Color RecoloringColor Selection (Mat ID) ImprovementsRenderingUDIM Material SetupHybrid RenderingMaterial LayeringBevel ShaderGroom Hair RenderingTriplanar MaterialsProcedural SkiesRevamped Rendering Up to 10x FasterAgX Tone MappingUI & MiscUpdated User Interface StyleProgress Bar ImprovementsNative Apple Silicon SupportKey LinksMarmoset HomepageMarmoset Toolbag 5 Release NotesYou can learn more about the Marmoset Toolbag 5 release in the video below.

Inkscape 1.4 Released / News / October 14, 2024 / The popular open source Adobe Illustrator/Affinity Designer alternative Inkscape, just released Inkscape 1.4. The vector graphics application, available on Windows, Mac and Linux, just received several new features.Highlight new features of the Inkscape 1.4 release include:New Filter Gallery dialogModular Grids added, as well as axiomatic grid improvementsNew color Swatch dialogsExperimental Unified Font Browser and SVG Font editorCustomizable node editor handlesShape Builder able to extract raster graphics regionsObject attributes and properties dialogs mergedAbility to open Affinity Designer documentsNew Dash icon packKey LinksInkscape HomepageInkscape 1.4 BlogInkscape 1.4 Release NotesYou can learn more about the Inkscape 1.4 release in the video below.

The folks over at KitBash3D are having another giveaway, following the Mission to Minerva giveaway a few years back. This giveaway and contest is called Secrets of Luminara. The assets are all hosted on their Cargo application and can be used in any game engine or DCC tool, with integration for popular tools like Unity, Unreal, Blender, Max and Maya.** EDIT!! ** A quick note about FREE-ness and this gets a bit confusing, sorry I should have focused this fact earlier in the video. These assets are free for non-commercial usage (normally require a 20$ a month personal subscription for personal), or require the professional subscription for usage in a commercial setting. Sorry for the confusion.Secrets of Luminara is described in 3 steps:Step 1Get Your Free KitTo begin your expedition, download Cargo and access your free Secrets of the Luminara Kit. Alongside ancient wonders, your Kit includes a rugged off-roader, a cargo plane to deliver supplies, and an airship that can ferry your explorers via air or sea.Cargo is now available for both PC and Mac!Step 2Build Your WorldCreate your own captivating tale with the Kit and bring the Secrets of the Luminara to life. Choose from Concept Art, In-Motion Animation, or Game Submission to showcase your vision, impress industry expert judges, and win treasured prizes.Step 3Submit Your WorkSubmit your creation for any of the three categories through the link below. Your creation will weave into the grand tapestry of this extraordinary narrative, and together, we will reveal to the world the Secrets of the Luminara!You can learn more about the free assets, the contest as well as KitBash3D and their cargo application in the video below.

O3DE 24.09 Released / News / October 10, 2024 / LumberyardThe O3DE game engine, previously Lumberyard which itself was a fork of CryEngine, just released O3DE 24.09. This release is a massive step forward in making O3DE usable to the masses. O3DE is a completely free and open source game engine sponsored by Amazon and several other large companies and this release takes large strides towards making O3DE easier to get up and running, previously a major pain point of the engine.Highlights of O3DE 24.09 include:Quick-Start Script Only Projects Can build projects using Script Canvas and Lua, without needing a C++ compiler, using the O3DE installer version.Many optimizations for memory usage on mobile and AR/VR devicesMobile performance up to 400% improvement across iOS, Android and AR/VR/XR devicesSplit PhysX 4 and 5 into separate gems, enabling users to switch between the PhysX versions easily, even when using installer builds.Added a Project Export UI along wth full export support for iOS, Android, Linux, and Windows. Users are no longer required to use a command line.Added options to reduce size of headless server up to 90%, dependent on assets used.Added a mobile specific rendering pipeline, allowing users to easily enable/disable features as needed.Added ability to control quality settings per device. There is a default of 3 performance levels (low, medium, high) based on device specifications for CPU, GPU, and memory.Added shader variants. When setup, this allows the renderer to automatically utilize the most performant shader for a given rendering need.Added Entity Silhouette FeatureAdded framework allowing users to interface with the LLM (AI model) of their choice.Network heartbeat packets are sent during high CPU usage; avoids network disconnection due to timeout.There are several other improvements details in the full release notes linked below.Key LinksO3DE HomepageO3DE 24.09 Release NotesO3DE DiscordYou can learn more about O3DE 24.09 and the massive strides forward they have made with this release in the video below.

Let me start this by saying, there are no best game development frameworks. The value and use of a framework varies massively from project to project and developer to developer. That said, according to YouTube Best Game Development Framework is one of the most common questions and its not being answered. So today we are going to look at some of the best or at least, some of the most popular game development frameworks out there. We will look at both 2D and 3D and for a variety of programming languages.2D FrameworksSDL Simple Direct MediaLayer C + Many LanguagesSFML Simple and Fast Multimedia Library C/C++ + Many LanguagesAllegro C + Many Languages Via 3rd Party BindingsRayLib C + Many LanguagesCocos2d-x C/C++LVE LuaLibGDX Java/KotlinPhaser JavaScript/TypeScriptHaxeFlixel HaxeMonoGame C#/.NETFNA C#/.NET3D FrameworksBabylonJS JavaScript/TypeScriptThreeJS JavaScript/TypeScriptOGRE C/C++ + 3rd Party BindingsPanda 3D Python/ C/C++BGFX C/C++ + Many BindingsBevy RustCheck out the video below on the Best Game Development Frameworks to learn more about all of the above frameworks. There are dozens of other frameworks that could have made this list and the lack of inclusion here is not an inditement on that quality of those frameworks! These are some of the most popular options out there, all have been vetted making complete games and if a good fit for your needs, each of these frameworks could be an excellent choice for your next game programming. The creation of this video was sponsored by (and created using)Camtasia who are currently running a 48 hour 20% off flash sale. If you miss the sale and are interested in picking up Camtasia you can still use the code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.