Game development stack, looking for World Editor
Hey everybody,
I'm looking for a tool stack that is FOSS as much as possible, running on linux.
Currently:
- 2D Art: Krita / GIMP / InkScape
- 3D Modeling: Blender
- Engine: Godot
- Content creation: Kdenlive
All this works great, but I'm looking for a more general world editor.
I was watching this video from Blizcon 2016 and their editor, WowEdit, is just the dream. No way there is something like that right now.
What I'm mostly looking for is a tool where I can paint terrain, with a pen, like they do in the video. It needs to be able to export heightmaps and splatmaps. Do any of you have a good suggestion for this? I've looked at TerreSculptor, but that is mostly generation of heightmaps, which is cool in it's own right.
It's okay if it isn't FOSS, but being FOSS would be preferable. I try to support such projects anyway, so Free as in Libre, haha.
World of Warcraft: Level Design Panel
I shot this video of the World of Warcraft Level Design Panel after hearing that it wouldn't be streamed on the Virtual Ticket. Wish I had gotten there earli...YouTube
Why I chose 4K 2D graphics over standard 3D for my indie game
I went with crisp 4K 2D instead of standard 3D for Educational Family Games.
Why?
• Nostalgia hits different — reminds parents of the games they grew up with
• Kids don't care about polygons, they care about clarity
• 80 games, all readable at a glance on any screen
• Actually runs on that old laptop your kid uses
Sometimes the retro choice is the smart choice.
Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/317…
Educational Family Games on Steam
Spin the wheel, race across 5 game boards, and compete in 80 educational and fun quick games! A 1-4 player violence-free local multiplayer board game for the whole family.store.steampowered.com
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Exploring MatrixRTC: Real time communication in rooms (Godot & Matrix games)
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/43483174
At FOSDEM 2026, members of Element’s VoIP team - Robin Townsend, Timo Kandra and Valère Fédronic - presented a deep dive into the future of real time communication on Matrix.Their talk gave an update on MatrixRTC, Matrix’s framework for bringing voice, video, and other live, interactive experiences directly into rooms. Their contributions to Matrix enable everything from large-scale calls and collaborative tools to multiplayer games, virtual worlds, and entirely new ways for people to interact in real time.
Watch the whole presentation
Advancing real time communication on MatrixWe’ve been working on MatrixRTC as part of our work at Element, to build the foundations for large-scale, secure VoIP solution into matrix. This work is done by the same team that is behind Element Call. Element Call, the VoIP part of Element, sits on top of MatrixRTC.
Matrix has traditionally focused on persistent, asynchronous messaging. Real time communication (sub 100ms), however, introduces a very different set of requirements. It demands low latency, flexible participation, and should be ephemeral. At the same time, it must preserve Matrix’s core principles of decentralisation, federation, and security.
Historically, Matrix clients only supported 1:1 peer-to-peer WebRTC calls, using Matrix rooms primarily for call-oriented signalling and persisting what was effectively ephemeral state into room history. As calls grew larger and use cases expanded beyond simple voice and video, it became clear that real time communication needed first-class support in the Matrix protocol itself, with the flexibility to support multiple use cases beyond 1:1 calls.
MatrixRTC is our attempt to make real time applications native to Matrix, striking a balance between decentralisation and the practical demands of scalable, low-latency, end-to-end encrypted media and data exchange. Through concrete demos and implementation details, we showed how this approach enables entirely new classes of applications, including calls, games, virtual worlds and collaborative tools.
Introducing slots for interactive roomsMatrixRTC introduces the concept of slots, which allow room administrators to add real time communication features to their rooms. These slots can be anything from voice or video calls to 3D virtual worlds or multiplayer games. Each slot combines an application - which specifies the type of data participants exchange - and an identifier, allowing multiple parallel sessions in the same room.
The first application we’re adding to the specification is m.call, which covers basic voice and video calls. But third-party apps are fully supported, enabling developers to create custom experiences like virtual simulations or collaborative games.
Slots are managed via state events, ensuring that they are persistent, authorised, and can be moderated by room admins. When participants want to join a slot, they connect by sending membership events and publish their media over a chosen transport. A transport in this context is a WebRTC SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit). Currently supported is the LiveKit SFU. FullMesh WebRTC or a websocket solution are also considered while designing with MatrixRTC.
Other features, like delayed events, notifications, and encryption, are also part of the specification. For deeper technical details, past Matrix Conference talks and the Matrix Spec Proposals repository are excellent resources.
Sticky events: reliable, ephemeral data deliveryIt is essential to provide a good experience before joining a session. A client should be informed immediately via sync about any ongoing MatrixRTC session. To avoid polluting room state with this information, sticky events are introduced. These events are ephemeral, low-privilege, and can be encrypted. During a limited lifetime (for example around an hour), their delivery is guaranteed over sync. They are stored in the room timeline rather than in the authoritative room state that is subject to state resolution. Sticky events are ideal for real time session participation, letting clients join ongoing calls or sessions and immediately receive the necessary data, even if they missed some events earlier due to gappy-syncs (more on sticky events here).
Transports: keeping real time communication decentralisedEach participant chooses their transport, which can be a home-server resource or a peer-to-peer connection. For Element Call, we currently use LiveKit media servers, which handle the heavy lifting of fan-out for media streams. This approach allows large calls to scale gracefully while keeping the system federated, decentralised and efficient. For example, in a typical office environment, many users converge on the same homeserver, minimising connections needed to participate in a large call.
A MatrixRTC SDK for developersWith these protocol improvements, we also refactored our codebase, creating a MatrixRTC SDK that simplifies building real time applications. The SDK handles the complexities of connecting to multiple SFUs, authenticating with Matrix, managing sticky and delayed events, and exchanging media. Developers can now use this SDK to build applications, such as games or collaborative tools, without having to handle the underlying real time infrastructure directly.
For instance, we demonstrated a simple HTML template application using the Godot game engine, leveraging the MatrixRTC SDK. Through this setup, developers can access observable real time data to integrate it into games. The MatrixRTC SDK is used as an abstraction for core capabilities such as user identity and account setup, device verification, encryption (not shown in the demo), media connectivity via an SFU, and the existing Matrix backend infrastructure.
Building on MatrixRTC: live demosTo showcase what’s possible, we built two multiplayer games using MatrixRTC. Players communicate over federated servers, exchange real time events, and interact seamlessly despite network variability. Although live demos sometimes face latency challenges, the system handles rollbacks and syncing to ensure a smooth experience.
We showed Godot-MatrixRTC-FlappyRoyal, a game similar to FlappyBird, and Godot-MatrixRTC-Keyboard-Kart, a racer-like multiplayer game.
Games and other applications can be run as widgets, providing an added layer of security. The trusted Client handles encryption and key management, so users never expose their full Matrix account or keys to external real time apps running inside the Widget.
Currently, the MatrixRTC SDK is available in JavaScript, but the widget architecture allows the low level Matrix responsibilities to be done in other SDK’s. The Matrix Rust SDK, for instance, supports the widget postmessage api. Widgets are based on iFrames. With Wasm becoming more mainstream, this opens the door for real time applications beyond the web stack, from Godot-based games to custom simulations.
MatrixRTC represents a significant step forward for Matrix, enabling decentralised, real time, and interactive experiences in rooms while maintaining the federated, secure principles of the ecosystem.
Exploring MatrixRTC: Real time communication in rooms
Members of Element’s VoIP team shared a deep dive into MatrixRTC, the framework bringing real time communication natively into Matrix rooms.Timo Kandra (Element Blog)
inputlag.science: latency issues and how to tackle them
The reasons behind this rise of the latency is mainly that systems have become more and more complex and developers often don't know or don't understand each part that can impact the latency.This website has been made to help developers and consumers better understand the latency issues and how to tackle them.
inputlag.science |Home
inputlag.science is an aggregation of resources and knowledge about input lag in video gamesinputlag.science
The best family game nights are the ones that end in laughter, not tears
That's why I built my game around fun first, competition second. No crushing defeats. No rage quits. Just good times.
🎮 Wishlist now: store.steampowered.com/app/317…
What makes a family game night memorable for you?
Educational Family Games on Steam
Spin the wheel, race across 5 game boards, and compete in 80 educational and fun quick games! A 1-4 player violence-free local multiplayer board game for the whole family.store.steampowered.com
Pyrite64 - N64 Engine & Editor
Pyrite64 - N64 Engine & Editor [Release]
I'm happy to release "Pyrite64", an N64 game engine and editor.This is a project i have worked on for quite a while now, and most recently used it to create ...YouTube
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After years of work, the Steam page for Educational Family Games is officially live.
After years of work, the Steam page for Educational Family Games is officially live.
store.steampowered.com/app/317…
80 quick-games. 5 game boards. 1–4 players on the same couch. Math, geography, science, logic, drawing, reflexes, and classic games your kids will love - and a few that might stump the adults too.
Every single word is voiced in 19 languages, so even pre-readers can jump in and play on their own.
If this sounds like something your family would enjoy, the single best thing you can do right now is add it to your wishlist. It's free, takes 5 seconds, and Steam will notify you the moment it launches.
Educational Family Games on Steam
Spin the wheel, race across 5 game boards, and compete in 80 educational and fun quick games! A 1-4 player violence-free local multiplayer board game for the whole family.store.steampowered.com
Implemented room voice chat using WebRTC
I have been building a small browser multiplayer project that was text only. Mostly social and party type games.
Recently I added room wide voice chat using WebRTC. Everyone in the room can join the call if they want, or just stay in text.
What surprised me was how different everything felt.
Before voice
Small rooms with 3 or 4 people felt kind of dead
Conversations were slower
Social deduction games felt less intense
After adding voice
Even 3 people feels active
Accusations hit way harder when you can hear hesitation
People stay longer once they join voice
Some users join just to listen
Nobody is forced to join voice, but once one or two people join, others usually follow.
Has anyone else added voice to a text based project? Did it change engagement for you?
I'm quitting my Indie Game after 5 years - Codeer (YouTube)
After working on my weird shooter game for 5 years, I realized I'm never going to be finishing this project. In this video I explain why I've decided to quit my game and what is next.
I'm quitting my Indie Game after 5 years
After working on my weird shooter game for 5 years, I realized I'm never going to be finishing this project. In this video I explain why I've decided to quit...YouTube
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This is extremely relatable for me. My game dev projects are basically just me entertaining myself by implementing difficult or interesting things that I'll never release. I've been in the exact same position as this guy more than a few times, and have basically accepted that I'm probably never going to actually release a game lol. I have a lot of cool prototypes that never turned into a real game, even when I tried scaling down to something smaller. Luckily, I've gotten good at identifying when it's time to move on before dumping years into polishing an incomplete concept (iirc, my longest project was nearly ten years long!)
Maybe some day I'll partner with a designer to help me get over the inevitable design barrier, but honestly I'm pretty happy with the prototypes I have made over the years. Some are very unique, some are technical achievements, and some are even fun. I'm not motivated by the idea of profiting from any of this. They're just arts and crafts projects to me, like old doodles you'd keep in a box somewhere. I'm fortunate to be able to do this without worrying about making a profit from it, and hope other people find a way to get into this for the sake of it too. It is a uniquely rewarding hobby.
I find itch.io to be a great resource not just for games as a "finished product" but for prototypes as well. The regular gamejams contribute to this - a platform of many prototypes. They don't need the polish and coherence you'd want to invest and publish on Steam.
Have you considered publishing your prototypes?
Even as only a player, some prototypes make for very interesting playful exploration, even if it's short. For a technological, creative, and inspiration they can be a treasure trove as well.
Oh yeah, I love game jams and do them all the time! I've done some on itch.io and global game jam, but mostly do ludum dare.
Have you considered publishing your prototypes?
I've considered it before, but most of them are unpolished/not in a state I'd be proud to share, and would require more work. It's also logistically complicated for some, since I also build things without a game engine sometimes, and those don't have a standard build process for clean binary releases. If I release the source code, then I have to do the whole software licensing thing, possibly provide support for people who try to build it, and feel bad about AI scraping my work.
I'm also an unreasonably optimistic person and always feel like I'll be able to finish them some day. My rational brain knows that's not true, but that one's not in the driver's seat.
A project that's never released or monetized is a hobby. We all need hobbies. And it seems like this one was extraordinarily developmental because it taught you a lot about what goes into a game. It also taught you about videos, building in public, and setting expectations.
I hope you don't see it as a negative and instead ask something like going to University on steroids. If you decide to develop a game to completion in the future, you're going to be that much further down the road
GDC's collection of Royalty Free Music and SFX
The link is for Sonniss collection of royalty free music and sound effects that get released with each GDC.
Here's the more important part of the license, tldr you can use it on any number of commercial projects:
RIGHTS GRANTED \
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a) Licensee may use the licensed sound effects on an unlimited number of projects for the entirety of their life time. \
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b) Licensee may use and modify the licensed sound effects for personal and commercial projects without attribution to the original creator. \
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c) Licensee may publicly perform a reproduction of the sound effects over any form of medium. \
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d) Licensee may use the licensed sound effects for the purposes of synchronization with audio and visual projects the Licensee is involved with, which includes but is not limited to: games, films, television & interactive projects.NO AI TRAINING OR USAGE \
\
For clarity and avoidance of doubt, the Licensee is expressly prohibited from using any sound effects licensed under this Agreement for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, technologies capable of generating sound effects or works in a similar style or genre as the licensed sound effects. The Licensee shall not use, reproduce, or otherwise leverage the licensed sound effects in any manner for purposes of developing, training, or enhancing artificial intelligence technologies, nor sublicense these rights to any third party, without the Licensor’s specific and express written permission.
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No online multiplayer was a deliberate choice - Steam page next week
No online multiplayer was a deliberate choice.
Couch co-op only. 4 players max. All in the same room laughing (or yelling at each other).
Steam page drops next week with wishlists open. After 2+ years of development, we're finally ready to share what we've been building.
Launching May 26.
How I Designed Slick Movement for my Indie Game
How I Designed Slick Movement For My Indie Game
In my video game No More Mages, I've worked for several years to develop fast, fluid movement mechanics that are easy to learn but hard to master. I've tried...YouTube
Do you let your kids win, or go full competitive mode?
I realized the best family games don't make you choose. Everyone can compete at their own level—and the youngest player doesn't have to lose for the older ones to have fun.
What's your house rule? 🎮
One answer I heard of from a dad was: He collects tons of coop games to play with his kids, and prefers those, as well as some competitive games that you can play against easy/hard bots, so he can team with the kids.
BUT, if the kids specifically ask to play against him, he’ll take the duel, and play his best. He was okay with letting them view it as a mountain to try to climb. Kids often learn more about games than you’d realize, so after one or two matches of getting creamed they might start to do much better.
Solo indie marketing strategies that actually work?
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gdcvault.com/play/1034535/Inde…
This is a joint talk with Dana Trebella and Derek Lieu about this exact subject from their professional perspectives (indie marketing and trailer editor, respectively). They both have multiple talks over the years where they explain different aspects of their day to day work. Taken as a whole, it's a solid crash course on DIY marketing.
Another talk more focused on finding your messaging:
gdcvault.com/play/1025673/More…
If written articles are more your jam:
gamedeveloper.com/marketing/ho…
How to market a game: an introduction to game marketing
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about game marketing, from targeting your audience to using unconventional tactics.Game Developer
There is no "marketing" strategy that will push a bad game to success.
Do some networking, coordinate with other gamedevs, genuinely be interested in their stuff, they will be genuinely interested in yours, take feedback seriously.
Any game with a good shot at success has historically looked so remarkable, so unique that they will stick out and won't need much more than a few social media posts and one or two influencers to notice it. Most youtubers have business emails. If you send it to 100 people whose job it is to discover and promote the next new hot thing and NOBODY picks it up, your issue is not marketing, you just have a bad product.
Developing and Testing all quick games took 2 years - a breakdown
I've been working on Educational Family Games, a 4-player local co-op for families. The 'quick games' mode has 80 mini-games, and honestly? They took two years from first prototype to final polish.
Not because any individual game is complex, but because:
- They need to work for kids (5+) AND adults
- No elimination mechanics (everyone plays every round)
- Has to hold up to 100+ plays without getting stale
- Controller-handling edge cases you wouldn't believe
Full list with descriptions: crazysoft.gr/all/educational_f…
Curious—how long do your 'small' features actually take to get right?
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The classic adage of "The first 90% of the work takes 90% of the time, and the last 10% takes the other 90% of the time" comes to mind.
Its always all those "little touches" that eat up so much time, because you know that your audience will expect them, and you yourself feel that they should be there; a smoothly-moving cursor for menu selections, playing little sounds when selecting or cancelling, a puff of dust that jumps up when the player character lands (but keeps animating in place rather than sticking to the player), text sliding or fading in and out instead of just appearing and disappearing... All the individual "little" things that add up to quite a lot of work.
I also sympathize with you on a lot of the points you raised about "family-friendly" games. I'm a teacher, and when I make activities and games for my students, I face a similar set of constraints (must be enjoyable for the weakest students but still engaging for the most advanced students, little to no player elimination, high replayability/reusability, has to actually reinforce the target knowledge/skill and not just be fun with the material tacked on as an afterthought).
What is The Hideout?
The Hideout is a browser-based place to hang out and play games together.
The Hideout is like House Party by Epic Games, but runs directly in the browser.
You can create public or private rooms and invite friends with a link. Inside a room, you can play games, chat, react with emojis or GIFs, or just hang out.
Right now, the Hideout includes social deduction games like Mafia and Chameleon, a casual Wordle game, and a watch together feature for synced YouTube videos.
There are no downloads and no setup. You just open the link and start playing.
The project is still evolving, and feedback is welcome.
link
Edit: Sorry but on my end it bring a Server Error
Sorry to hear that. People on the internet usually talk to others as if they were the same age, so they might not be so kind to teenagers like they might in real life.
For what is worth, I think it's very cool what you are trying to build. Good luck!
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Toyota Developing A Console-Grade, Open-Source Game Engine - Using Flutter & Dart
Well, here's an unexpected combination... Toyota's Toyota Connected North America unit is developing a console-grade open-source game engine. Making it even more unusual is their engineering choices of building around the Flutter toolkit and in turn the Dart programming language. This new game engine creation is called Fluorite.Toyota Connected North America is Toyota Motor Corporation's subsidiary founded in collaboration with Microsoft for working on in-vehicle software, AI, and related tech initiatives. Toyota Connected developers announced at FOSDEM 2026 their Fluorite game engine as a "console grade" engine built around Flutter and Dart. They were going with Flutter to leverage its rich UI toolkit and for "building stunning interactive experiences." Fluorite also makes use of Google's Filament 3D rendering engine.
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We couldn’t resist… Wordle is now on The Hideout 🟩🟨⬛
Quick update:
I added Wordle to The Hideout 🎉
You can play it alongside Mafia, Chameleon, and Watch Together, all in the same hangout.
It’s nice as a chill break between games or a warm-up before chaos 😅
Curious — what’s your longest Wordle streak? 👀
Small UX improvements to The Hideout (as recommended😁)
Quick update: I added some small but handy improvements to The Hideout:
- More accessible GIF & emoji console – now you can type while browsing emojis or GIFs at the same time
- Game browser console – see all available games in one place without leaving the room
These make hanging out, reacting, and switching games smoother than ever 😎
Thanks Guys for all the support and feedback it really helps💙
Check it out:
joinhideout.vercel.app/
Feedback welcome — curious what people like or want next! 💬
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Added a watch together feature to The Hideout 📺👀
I just added a watch together feature to The Hideout 🎉
You can sync YouTube videos in a room and watch together in real time ⏱️
It works alongside the games, so you can hang out, watch stuff, then jump into Mafia 🕵️ or Chameleon 🦎
Link:
joinhideout.vercel.app
Feedback welcome, this one’s fresh 🔧💬
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Testing something from this alt...
Pasting joinhideout.vercel.app:
joinhideout.vercel.app
Pasting https://joinhideout.vercel.app/:
joinhideout.vercel.app/
Edit: How curious. From the text body in the OP, the link to the current instance's link to the post itself, be it from The Brain Bin, Ani Social, Piefed Social or Lemmy Today. But if I paste without https://*/ on Ani Social, it comes as plain text, while with it, it comes as a proper link.
The Hideout is live (social games, browser-only)
Quick intro for anyone new 👋
The Hideout is a browser-based place to play social deduction games with friends or randoms.
What’s in right now:
🕵️ Mafia roles, night/day, voting, chaos
🦎 Chameleon fast bluffing, one player doesn’t know the word
🌐 Public & private rooms
🚫 No downloads, just click and play
It’s meant for quick games, late-night sessions, and arguing over who’s sus.
👉 joinhideout.vercel.app
Feedback welcome. I’m actively building this.
The link is missing again in the parentheses in this comment, too. Do any of the two below work on your client?
Hyperlink with URL both in label and target-URL:
joinhideout.vercel.app
No hyperlink formatting at all:
joinhideout.vercel.app
Ah nevermind, just saw your comment on your other post xD
Reverse Engineering Star Wars: Yoda Stories
arcade-like game weekend project
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We added Mafia and Chameleon to The Hideout 🕵️🦎
Quick update:
We just added two social deduction games to The Hideout:
Mafia – full roles, night/day cycle, voting, and chaos
Chameleon – fast bluffing game where one player doesn’t know the word
Chameleon is great for quick rounds or warming up a room, Mafia is for longer sessions and big groups.
Both are live now.
Jump in, break things, and tell me what sucks or what should be added next 👀
joinhideout.vercel.app
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Ubisoft Gamedev unions in France call for international strike
'We are shutting it down:' Ubisoft unions call for international strike
Five unions in France have proposed a mass walkout in February in response to widespread cost-cutting and a return-to-office mandate.Chris Kerr (Game Developer)
Spent more time looking for a game than actually playing one? Help me test Gamescovery, a recommendation engine built for your actual taste.
Hey everyone,
Like many of you, I've spent more time hunting for my next game than actually playing. I'm frustrated with recommenders that just push popular titles, ignoring what makes my taste unique.
That's why I've been building Gamescovery (games discovery!).
What is it?
Gamescovery is a new recommendation system designed specifically for games. The goal is simple: use your ratings from the games you've played to find hidden gems and perfect matches you'd otherwise miss.
Why it's different:
- It's not a generic engine. It's being built from the ground up to understand what you love about games.
- Future updates will let you fine-tune recommendations based on what matters most to you (genre, mood, developer, etc.).
- We start by focusing on the incredible world of itch.io indie games to help you uncover amazing projects that big algorithms overlook.
This is where you come in.
The alpha is now live, and it's very much an early build. I'm not a big company, I'm a solo developer who wants to build something the community actually finds useful. That's why your feedback is crucial.
As an alpha tester, you'll get:
- Early access to a tool designed to beat the "recommendation paradox."
- A direct line to the developer to shape project's future.
- The chance to help build a non-biased, community-driven platform.
Ready to try it out?
👉 Sign up for the alpha and start getting recommendations here: gamescovery.com/
Want to chat, suggest features, or report bugs?
🎮 Join our Discord community: discord.gg/brr7aYezMc
This project has and will always have a free tier. The dream is to support all major platforms, but we're starting with itch.io to prove the concept.
Thanks for your time, and I'm excited to hear what you think!
Download the latest indie games
itch.io is a simple way to find, download and distribute indie games online. Whether you're a developer looking to upload your game or just someone looking for something new to play itch.io has you covered.itch.io
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Hi, good to hear, hopefully you will find Gamescovery useful.
Unfortunately, for now, I received a bunch of feedback, and I am implementing the needed stuff for the beta. For now, Gamescovery servers are disabled. I will let you know once the beta is online so you can test things by yourself.
- Matrix -> matrix.to/#/#gamescovery:games…
- Lemmy -> lemmy.org/c/Gamescovery
Matrix - Decentralised and secure communication
You're invited to talk on Matrix. If you don't already have a client this link will help you pick one, and join the conversation. If you already have one, this link will help you join the conversationmatrix.to
Made a 3d model -> voxel SDF translator
Getting some acceptable performances, 6minutes for 300³ voxels and 16k triangle.
Had to put an end to this project for uni but the end goal is to make each model a single fourier series which can be quickly evaluayed in an SDF renderer.
Everything was coded in C with raylib for rendering
How to avoid losing your Minecraft server due to dangerous mods
How to avoid losing your Minecraft server due to dangerous mods
I′m sure many Minecraft server owners have experienced players trying to hack into their server and give themselves administrator privileges. Of course, such behavior isn′t limited to gaming, so I...PVS-Studio
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They replicated the CVE themselves with pictures, so it's not total slop, but I think most articles now are AI-assisted.
Regardless, it's a thinly-veiled ad for PVS-Studio. I'm also questioning the relevance to gamedev.
CtrlAssist v0.4.0: Controller Assist for gaming on Linux 🎮🤝
CtrlAssist v0.4.0 introduces demultiplexing functionality along with enhancements to the system tray and rumble targeting. The updated README now features FAQ and Cookbook sections with practical examples, such as the "Double Agent Tag Team" scenario, where a single assist controller uses a demux to help multiple primary players across separate mux instances, and the "Couch Co-Op Swap" scenario, in which two players take turns assisting each other using toggle mode, with force feedback following the currently active controller by default.
While controller demultiplexing was a requested feature from a prior release, I didn't have a concrete use case until I found myself helping a pair of youngsters play couch co-op multiplayer games with each other. Instead of needing separate assist controllers for each player, otherwise charging/pairing four controllers in total, being able to unicast between mux instances with a single assist controller made juggling both inputs much simpler. Then after being roped into the "It Takes Two" session myself, I found being able to swap primary and assist players outright much simpler when both helping and playing, allowing the Helpee to also aid the Helper when it really does take two.
New Features
Demux Operation Mode
CtrlAssist now supports demultiplexing (demux), allowing a single physical controller to be split into multiple virtual gamepads. This complements the existing multiplexing (mux) functionality and enables more advanced input routing scenarios.
Demux Modes:
- Unicast (default): Routes primary controller input to the currently active virtual gamepad. Cycle between virtual gamepads using the reserved Mode button.
- Assist multiple players across separate mux instances
- Multicast: Broadcasts primary controller input to all virtual gamepads simultaneously.
- Replicate controller input for advanced input multiplexing pipelines
Active Rumble Targeting
A new "Active" rumble target has been added as the default option for mux operations. This routes force feedback to whichever controllers are currently active according to the selected mode:
- Toggle Mode: Rumble follows the currently active controller
- Priority/Average Modes: Rumble sent to both controllers, same as before
Expanded Documentation
The README has been significantly expanded with:
- FAQ Section: Addresses common questions about who CtrlAssist is for, why it was developed, game compatibility, supported controllers, and running multiple instances
- Cookbook Section: Provides practical examples demonstrating complex multi-instance setups:
- Couch Co-Op Swap: Two players alternating assistance
- Double Agent Tag Team: One assist controller helping multiple primary players
Breaking Changes
- The rumble target enum options now defaults to "Active" instead of "Both"
- Configuration file format has been extended to accommodate separate mux and demux settings
Installation
CtrlAssist v0.4.0 can be installed via:
- Cargo:
cargo install ctrlassist --force - Flatpak: Download the bundle from the releases page and install with
flatpak install
Release v0.4.0 · ruffsl/CtrlAssist
CtrlAssist v0.4.0 introduces demultiplexing functionality along with enhancements to the system tray and rumble targeting. The updated README now features FAQ and Cookbook sections with practical e...GitHub
What′s C++ like in gamedev?
What′s C++ like in gamedev?
We invite you to read an article on how C++ is used in modern game development and why the industry is still not ready to move away from it. The author explores how C++ works at different levels of...PVS-Studio
Making a game revolves around doing the hackiest shit and making something cool work. Every function has side effects and variables will need to be modified in multiple places in the same frame.
Don't get me wrong I like Rust but I need a language I can abuse, not the other way around, when I am making a game.
RwLock<T> and RefCell<T> for example. I'm not saying everyone should drop whatever they prefer to instead use rust. It's ok to stick with what you know or enjoy. Good games are agnostic to the tools used to make them. I just don’t think Rust deserves to be dismissed the way your statement does.
Every function has side effects and variables will need to be modified in multiple places in the same frame
We try to avoid exactly that, because it is what caused us man-years of bug-hunting and bug-fixing over our past projects. Our end-goal (that is still very far away...) would be to have the state from the previous frame and the user inputs, do only pure computations based on this data, and write out a new state before rendering the current frame.
We do use C++ though (because Unreal, and console platforms), what makes this extra hard, because C++ is a language for writing bugs, not for writing software.
As said, we try to. Not that we managed to reach this ideal in any existing project yet. We did manage to get Auto-Save implemented without affecting the "purity" of computations, but as you said, achievements and analytics are a PITA. I think those are possible with pure computations too, but we did not yet manage to build the game architecture in a way that makes that work. Yet.
I'm currently on a research project to investigate how much of a game we can move into pure Embedded Domain Specific Languages. So, basically a set of gameplay scripting languages that enforce the "everything that happens during the frame is pure" constraint. Buuut, again, this project is still at its early stages, and under very strict budget constraints, so I cannot say yet if the outcome will be a feasible architecture or not...
Ghost of Yotei, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead 2026 DICE Awards
Ghost of Yotei and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 headline 2026 DICE Awards nominations
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 29th annual DICE Awards, with Clair Obscur and Ghost of Yotei at the helm.Diego Argüello (Game Developer)
Steam adds official support for game version-specific Workshop mods
A single subscribed mod can now provide multiple builds targeting different game versions. This is tied to the existing branch system originally used for betas. Subscribers will be automatically given the mod build that matches their installed game version.
This means that when a player downgrades their game to an old version, they'll automatically be switched to the last version of all subscribed mods that supported that version of the game.
This should save developers, mod authors, and players a huge headache due to not needing to worry about updates breaking everything (provided the developer has enabled and set up the relevant feature sets, which TBH looks a little fiddly).
Steamworks Development - New! Version Control For Steam Workshop Mods - Steam News
New Steam APIs and Workshop item options work together for better control as games and mods get updatedstore.steampowered.com
[Video] Chris Wilson | Protecting Your Online RPG’s Economic Integrity
Economic integrity is what makes progression in online RPGs mean something: a level playing field where items and advancement are earned through gameplay and skill, not purchased, botted, exploited, or obtained by socially engineering a studio's customer support department.
References:
pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs…
Protecting Your Online RPG’s Economic Integrity
Economic integrity is what makes progression in online RPGs mean something: a level playing field where items and advancement are earned through gameplay and...YouTube
Elder Scrolls 6
What do you think is most likely to be taking them so long?
Hardware/software/other technical aspects:
* keeping their software in sync with new hardware - obviously (?) it's going to be a 64-bit game, but maybe there are other aspects to it, for instance, adapting the maximum quality of textures, meshes, shaders, animations and what have you to be appropriate for today's computing power (CPU, GPU, new PCIe standards, etc), considering how long ago the game's development began.
* game engine - are they making something from scratch, reusing older assets or "borrow" for instance UE5?
* other?
World building aspects:
* there are tons of loose ends to tie up or to build upon from previous games - did they not have plans for a sixth game when Skyrim released and thus were left clueless on how to develope the story? Most unlikely...
* are they taking time trying to incorporate fan theories and stories?
* resolving contradictions from previous games?
* other?
Political aspects:
* the acquisition by Microsoft?
* internal strife?
* budget?
* other?
Other aspects:
* "simply" fine tuning to achieve perfection?
* all of the above?
* none of the above?
Context: I have never ever participated in game development ✌️
mögen das
The fact that they're still making money off of Elder Scrolls online.
It's the same reason we don't have gta6 and why we'll probably never get another KotOR. Why would they make a new game when they're still making money off subscriptions?
CtrlAssist v0.3.0: Controller Assist for gaming on Linux
Announcing the release of CtrlAssist v0.3.0, which introduces significant new features and usability improvements. CtrlAssist brings "controller assist" functionality to Linux gaming by allowing multiple physical controllers to operate as a single virtual input device. This enables collaborative play and customizable gamepad setups, making it easier for players of all ages and abilities to enjoy games together.
Major Features
System Tray Interface
This release introduces a graphical system tray application that provides desktop integration for managing controller multiplexing. Users can now:
- Configure primary and assist controller assignments via dropdown menus
- Start and stop the mux without using the command line
- Adjust settings through a context menu interface
- Receive desktop notifications for status changes
- Persist configuration across sessions
The tray interface supports live reconfiguration of device-invariant settings (mux mode and rumble target) while the mux is running.
Multiple Hiding Strategies
Controller hiding now supports three distinct strategies:
- None: No hiding, manual configuration required
- Steam: Automatically manages Steam's controller blacklist via config.vdf modification
- System: Restricts device permissions system-wide (requires root access)
The Steam hiding strategy enables proper functionality in sandboxed environments without requiring elevated privileges, addressing a key limitation for Flatpak users.
Live Runtime Updates
The mux runtime now supports dynamic reconfiguration without restart for:
- Mux mode changes (Priority, Average, Toggle)
- Rumble target adjustments (Primary, Assist, Both, None)
This functionality is available through both the system tray and programmatic (D-BUS) interfaces, allowing users to adapt behavior during gameplay sessions.
Flatpak Distribution
CtrlAssist is now packaged as a Flatpak application with:
- Automated GitHub Actions workflow for release builds
- Desktop entry and metainfo for application catalogs
- Proper sandbox permissions for device access
- Support for Steam configuration modifications within the sandbox
Flatpak bundles are automatically built and attached to GitHub releases.
Additional Improvements
- Configuration persistence to
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ctrlassist/config.toml - Controller selection by name with best-effort matching across sessions
- Enhanced documentation with installation instructions for both Cargo and Flatpak
- New pixel art banner and application icon (via Aseprite)
- Improved force feedback device recovery after disconnection
- Better error handling and user feedback throughout the application
Installation
CtrlAssist v0.3.0 can be installed via:
- Cargo:
cargo install ctrlassist --force - Flatpak: Download the bundle from the releases page and install with
flatpak install
Full installation instructions are available in the README.
Breaking Changes
The --hide flag now requires an enum value (none, steam, system) instead of being a boolean flag. Users upgrading from v0.2.x should update their scripts accordingly:
- Previous:
ctrlassist mux --hide - Current:
ctrlassist mux --hide system
Release v0.3.0 · ruffsl/CtrlAssist
Announcing the release of CtrlAssist v0.3.0, which introduces significant new features and usability improvements. Major Features System Tray Interface This release introduces a graphical system tr...GitHub
Tidewrath - Roguelike MMORPG
Solo dev here, over the calm holidays I built myself a small roguelike MMORP cozy (but permadeath) free to play browser game (mvp) called Tidewrath.
Every 5 minutes a tsunami wipes the surface. Get underground or lose everything. World regenerates, you start fresh.
Isometric pixel art, click-to-move combat, fishing, building stuff, player shops.
This is the first early access version. It should also work on iphone (fullscreen if you add to home screen and sound if you unmute phone).
No accounts yet, so if you want, you can just hop in and see how long you survive.
Would love some feedback if anyone gives it a try.
Tidewrath - Roguelike MMORPG
Survive the tide in this isometric roguelike MMORPG. Explore an alien tidal planet, fight creatures, and escape the tsunami.Tidewrath
mögen das
Anyone want to help make a game with me?
Hi all, I'm currently working on a hobby project currently titled "Prometheus and the Gods" (but will be changed at a later date to reference the duck), where you are tasked by Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods, to infiltrate in the worlds of the twelve (Greek) Olympian gods and steal their power for the humans (e.g. mastery of the seas from Poseidon). In addition, the player is a duck, which is kind of fun.
The game will mostly be about solving puzzles and going through obstacle courses, rather than real-time combat. The player can interact with "totems" to use the powers of what Wikipedia calls "nature deities": Helios, the all-seeing Sun god, Achelous, the river god of the largest river in Athens I think, and the four Anemoi, the winds (N/S/E/W)
I've got the basic movement down, and I think I have done a decent job at making pixel art for the player, character sprites, and the world. However, I'm not very good at level design at all, and the levels that I have added (tutorial + meeting the four winds) aren't all that fun to play, they all are either a) too easy b) way too difficult or c) just boring/uninteresting.
I am looking for someone who has any skill in level design, and ideally some experience with Godot as well. (two programmers are better than one!) This is a hobby project that won't be making any money though, so this isn't a job or anything, just a bit of fun. No set schedule or anything.
the project's repo if you want to look at what I have so far: codeberg.org/sbird/prometheus-…
Previous posts on the game for reference:
lemmyverse.link/sopuli.xyz/pos…
lemmyverse.link/sopuli.xyz/pos… (older post, player is not a duck)
~~Note: there does appear to be a "find a team" community, but there's only four posts, and it looks like it died a year or so ago...~~ cross-posted in the "I Need a Team" community
How to flesh out a idea in a simple manner?
I tend to overthink alot and im not sure if my ideas are good enough for a game, most of them are incomplete ideas with plot holes and such in them.
I just want to know how to get a idea and expand upon it in a simple stress-free manner?
Mind Mapping Books — Mind Map Nation
What if you could approach life’s chaos confidently, knowing that you have the tools necessary to face any challenge, break down any complexity, and craft a clear plan towards your dreams?Mind Map Nation
A Quick way to test ideas to see if they would be fun is by making a pen and paper prototype or making a MVP (minimum viable product) prototype in a game engine.
If you use a game engine to build your prototype - make it very simple, only basic shapes and focus on implementing your gameplay. (DO NOT fall into the pit of polishing it or ADDING NEW features).
Either way write a throughline/goal for your project (what you want to tell or achieve with your project) and prototype(draw it on paper first) a core gameplay loop that you think is fun and one that validates your goals. (Choose from an idea that excites you)
Then test it (however you can) and iterate based on your own input or others input.
And importantly DO IT, make whatever little shitty prototype you think of and share it with people! Get their feedback!! Your prototype will suck so hard in the beginning! (Mostly) But the feedback you get will help you make it awesome!
I can't help with making it stress free, I myself struggle with that. Just do it for fun, I suppose. If you start thinking about how to make money off of it or how it will revolutionize the world, then you'll never get to making the damn thing.
Hope this helps.
Edit:
Okay, so it just struck me. I think you have to focus on what excites you, because if the idea doesn't excite you, you are going to have a lot of trouble expanding upon it. It will also make it less stressful. So keep that in mind.
Edit 2:
A good way to build ideas is to copy others. See what you liked about someone else's game and think about how you would improve upon it in a way that would interest YOU. This way you have some boilerplate and an example to help guide you.
CtrlAssist v0.2.0: Controller Assist for gaming on Linux 🎮🤝
Excited to announce release v0.2.0 for CtrlAssist, adding rumble pass-through support and significant improvements to controller multiplexing! CtrlAssist brings "controller assist" functionality to Linux gaming by allowing multiple physical controllers to operate as a single virtual input device. This enables collaborative play and customizable gamepad setups, making it easier for players of all ages and abilities to enjoy games together.
🎯 What's New
Rumble Pass-Through
Force feedback can now be forwarded to paired physical controllers! Configure which controller(s) receive rumble effects—route them to Primary, Assist, both, or neither. Share every haptic encounter from turbulence, engine failure, and hard landings with your co-pilot. Even better: if a controller disconnects mid-game (swapping batteries, USB cords, etc.), CtrlAssist automatically recovers and restores all force feedback effects when it reconnects.
Smoother Input Transitions
All assist modes now feature improved synchronization for more natural gameplay:
- Joysticks snap cleanly: When assistance begins or ends, both X and Y axes update together—no more jarring diagonal-to-cardinal transitions
- Toggle mode syncs instantly: Switching between Primary and Assist now mirrors the active controller's complete current state, eliminating phantom inputs from buttons or sticks that were held during the switch
Better Device Discovery
Controllers device trees are now discovered more reliably, preventing edge cases where multiple similar devices could cause conflicts. This also improves device hiding and rumble pass-through selection.
🛠️ Under the Hood
- Refactored input handling for consistency across all three modes
- Fixed button mapping quirks across physical and virtual device boundaries
- Improved error handling and logging for edge cases and issue reporting
- More graceful shutdown on Ctrl+C with robust cleanup
📦 Install and Upgrade
cargo install ctrlassist --forceFull changelog available at the GitHub release page.
Note: If you have experience with Arch or modding SteamOS, I could use also some help in fixing/documenting SteamDeck support, as I've not the hardware on hand and most of my Linux development has been on NixOS and Ubuntu thus far:
- Investigate and Support SteamDeck / SteamOS Compatibility #13
- Investigate Dynamic Device Permissions for Virtual Devices (udev, ACLs) #19
Investigate Dynamic Device Permissions for Virtual Devices (udev, ACLs)
Summary: Modern Linux systems use udev and systemd-logind to dynamically manage device permissions (ACLs) for input devices, granting access to the active user. However, virtual devices created by ...ruffsl (GitHub)
Björn
Als Antwort auf kcweller • • •entwine
Als Antwort auf kcweller • • •I don't see anything particularly unique about that WoW editor, as pretty much every terrain editor used to look like that. Nowadays, the focus is more on procedural generation for higher realism and fidelity, but I'm sure there are still plenty of tools and/or plugins for hand painting them.
Some links:
There are also a ton of different ways to do it in blender. You can set it up yourself, or find one of many plugins that can streamline the process.
A convoluted, impractical, legally dubious, but maximally cool alternative is to hijack a commercial game's level editor. I know at least Far Cry 2 has a level editor with a terrain system. If you can reverse engineer the level format, you can write a script that'll convert them to whatever format you need... Just make sure you don't keep the meshes and textures from the game.
GitHub - SonyWWS/LevelEditor: The ATF LevelEditor is a powerful tool for constructing and assembling game levels. It provides a WYSIWYG interface and allows you to place objects, edit properties, edit terrain, and build game levels.
GitHubjosephc
Als Antwort auf kcweller • • •GitHub - ToumaKamijou/Yugens-Terrain-Authoring-Toolkit: The public version of the Marching Squares Terrain plugin for godot.
GitHubkcweller
Als Antwort auf josephc • • •