Hello again, everyone! Producer Morino here to discuss a little bit more about Godot Engine and ACTION GAME MAKER!
About Godot Engine
I expect that most of the people reading this are likely to be aware of Godot Engine, thanks to all the attention and focus it has received over the last few years. The modern UI, tile mapping functions, 2D and sprite animations, collision handling, shaders, sound engine, lighting & shadow system, and wide platform support: it really isn't lacking in any feature one would want from a modern game engine.
However, we musn't loose sight of the fact that, like Linux and so many other projects, Godot Engine is open source software. Without a major corporation behind it, Godot Engine succeeds thanks to the effort of the many contributors and patrons who form such a passionate community. The amount of communication and discussions leading to the high pace of improvements we see every few months is amazing to see!
For those that aren't too familiar with open-source, Godot Engine is made available on the MIT License. This license is one of the most open and unrestricted of the open-source licenses. As long as proper attributions are handled, ACTION GAME MAKER is allowed to the the Godot Engine source code.
So let's switch over and look a bit more at ACTION GAME MAKER.
ACTION GAME MAKER & Godot
Currently ACTION GAME MAKER is under development using version 4.1 of the Godot Editor. But we are moving to Godot 4.3 before release. Generally speaking, the basic structure of Godot projects, as well as the animation and sound systems, will be the basic Godot experience with the addition of the high-level visual scripting system that we created for Pixel Game Maker MV.
Beyond the visual scripting system, some additional functions specifically for the development of side scrolling games are being implemented. One example is an RPG Maker-inspired auto-tile system for easy configuration of collision areas.
Despite all our changes, we will not be heavily updating the UI. It is our intent to be as close to the default Godot UI on release as we can. There are several reasons for this:
- We want to ensure that as many plugins and add-ons designed for Godot are likely to be compatible with ACTION GAME MAKER. Minimizing UI changes is critical here.
- For those already familiar with the Godot node structure/workflow, this should enable easy skill transferrence.
- There should also be good skill transferrence for users that learn Go
dot with ACTION GAME MAKER first but want to access deeper functions beyond what we provide.
3D functionality will not be available at release as our resources will be focused fully on implementing functionality needed for 2D games.This means that accessing 3D functionality will not be possible, but all of Godot's 2D functions will be available.
For the visual scripting side, we are implementing a new type of node called a "Game Object". Our visual scripting will only be available from these nodes, and the visual scripting will not be attachable to default Godot nodes. However, our Game Object nodes can have default nodes as child nodes, and nodes can be accessed via GDScript.
For those who aren't familiar yet with what Godot Engine is capable of, we suggest you check out the Godot Showcase: https://godotengine.org/showcase/
Why focus on 2D?
We've already received a lot of requests from people hoping to make fully 3D games or mixed 2D/3D games commonly referred to as "2.5D", and we love the passion! However, as explained above, ACTION GAME MAKER will not allow access to 3D functions at release. Let me explain why in a bit more detail:
- Creating high-level visual scripting for 3D is very different from 2D, and it requires a lot of work that doesn't overlap with the 2D scripting. While it can be done, the implementation and QA cost added to make sure both the 2D and the 3D functionality is working as expected is too much for us to bear simultaneously, and it was decided that we'd like to get the 2D functionality in your hands as soon as possible.
- Godot has separated the 2D and 3D functionality, which results in hybrid projects requiring that you create and work in a 3D project. This means you lose some of the advantages and convenience of Godot's full 2D pipeline.
- It also increases the complexity of settings and import operations, roughly by a factor of two, decreasing ease of use for people making a pure 2D game.
There are other reasons for our decision, but this outlines the primary reasons for focusing ACTION GAME MAKER on 2D experiences. We do sincerely apologize to users wanting to work on 3D or hybrid projects!
That said, let us provide some hope to users wanting to make hybrid projects: this decision only applies to the initial release. WWe are intending to review the issue again after the initial launch period has ended. We would like to work with the community on figuring out how to implement the additional complexity of 3D production in a tool designed around high-level visual scripting. Your feedback will be critical in making such an update a reality.
Supporting the Godot Community
We've also received several voices of distrust: "how do we know you're going to give back and not just take?" and similar comments. We agree, and think it correct that we should be a positive impact on the Godot community. But what form should that be?
We see our first step towards fulfilling this desire is making sure that we make Godot accessible to everyone with the creative drive but who struggle with programming.
The big transition in 2023 moving from Godot 3 to Godot 4 represented a lot of change. Many, many new features and improvements were added to Godot 4, but some features were lost in the process. While there are some important reasons for doing so, one of the lost features was Godot's visual scripting system. This means that Godot raised the barrier of entry for many people.
While we understand the arguments in favor of programming, the reality is that simply not everyone is going to be able to clear the hurdle programming represents. We would like for everyone with the desire to make the game they have inside their head, and with the current Pixel Game Maker MV, we've had game designers, illustrators, novelists, composers, editors, content creators, and more show off their creativity to excellent results.
We would like for people like that to be able to get started working with Godot, to see what Godot has to offer and become members of the Godot community in their own right.
This goes back to one of the points above. By having the UI for ACTION GAME MAKER be based on the Godot 4 UI, by having our visual scripting system extended by GDScript, by having wide support for existing plugins, we are able to create opportunities for our users to grow and interact with the Godot community.
And of course, we will consider it a job well done if our users decide to switch to making 3D games with Godot and learn GDScript and form teams of their own.
I'll end this 2nd letter here for now. The next update will be in September, so please wait patiently while we continue to work on ACTION GAME MAKER!