Godot 4 is the newest major update for the Godot game engine. In January 2018, Godot 3 was released which introduced many new features such as a new rendering engine and improved asset pipelines. With the official release of Godot 4 in 2023, similar major advancements have come about that are sure to improve game development for users!
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the newest features for Godot 4 – and then show you where you can start learning!
Let’s dive in!
Vulkan Rendering Engine
One of the major features for Godot 4 is the Vulkan rendering engine. It was introduced to the master branch of the engine back in February 2020, although OpenGL ES 3.0 is still supported. Godot 4 features full implementation of the Vulkan engine. So why make the change? Godot 3 is using OpenGL – which is supported on many platforms. But, as tech is moving forward, compatibility becomes much less of an issue using the Vulkain engine. Vulkan is also much more “lower-level” than OpenGL, allowing it to perform better and faster.
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Core Engine Improvements
Godot 4 also features some major updates to the core of the engine. With an update like this, it’s given the developers an opportunity to make these much-needed changes. Here’s a few things that were changed:
- Support for multiple windows
- General cleanup of the API
- Renaming of nodes and servers
Already convinced Godot 4 is for you? Try out the Godot 4 Game Development Mini-Degree to start learning how to make Godot games now.
New Lightmapper
Godot’s new lightmapper for 4 is so much of an improvement, that the devs are going to back-port it to Godot 3 as well. Lightmapping is pre-calculating the light for a game scene. This provides the benefit of having realistic lighting at a low computational cost. Here’s how the new lightmapper improves upon the older one while also making the experience easier for you as a developer.
- GPU based – allowing for faster bake times
- Easy to use – minimal number of parameters
- Lightprobes
- Automatic UV unwrapping
Other Improvement
While the three mentioned above are our favorite improvements, there have been a lot of other features and improvements added to the platform. These include:
- Improved 2D tools and rendering
- Shader and visual effects enhancements
- Tweaks to both GDScript and C# for Godot
- Overhauled physics
- Stabilized networking for multiplayer games
- Better animation tools and performance
Godot’s video below will help summarize everything with the release for your convenience as well (if you want to hear it from the horse’s own mouth, so to speak.
Summary of Godot 4’s Release
To sum it all up, the aim of Godot 4 is not necessarily to introduce a large number of new features, but to improve upon the rendering and engine performance in order to bring it up to the same level as other game engines out there.
However, the importance of a performant engine cannot be overstated – and puts Godot well in the arena to compete with engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine. Regardless, we hope this has excited you for this new release. Now is a fantastic time to learn a new tool if you’re in the market for one, or to re-familiarize yourself with Godot if you thought you knew everything about the engine already!
Without further ado, below we’ve put out our favorite tutorials for Godot 4 (along with some extra resources to speed up your learning process! Good luck, and we can’t wait to see your future Godot game projects!
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Best Tutorials and Resources for Godot 4
Important Links
Demos & Key News
- Real time GI and reflections demo in upcoming Godot 4 by Juan Linietsky
- Porting Godot to Vulkan by Godot Engine
Premium Godot Tutorials
- Godot 4 Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
- Free Godot 101 Course by Zenva
General Tutorials
- COMPLETE COURSE – Learn GODOT 4 in 90 MINUTES by Zenva
- Learn GODOT 4’s PHYSICS in under 15 Minutes by Zenva
- GODOT 4 TUTORIAL – Setting up a 2D Player Controller by Zenva
- GODOT 4 COURSE – Collision Detection in 10 Minutes by Zenva
- Godot 4 Crash Course for Beginners by Chris’ Tutorials
- Godot 4 for Beginners Playlist by A Dev Named Josh
- 2D Tower Defense in Godot 4.0 Playlist by NULL Game Dev
- Godot 4 Colony Sim Tutorial Series Playlist by Mantequilla
- Godot 4 – Online Multiplayer FPS From Scratch by DevLogLogan
- How to Use the New TileMap in Godot 4 by PlayWithFurcifer
- Make a Vampire Survivors Clone in Godot 4 Playlist by Branno
- Action RPG in Godot 4 tutorial series Playlist by Maker Tech
- Creating a 3D Character Controller With Animations with Godot 4! by FinePointCGI
- How To Code a Realistic Water Shader in Godot Engine 4 by StayAtHomeDev
- Easy Swing Animations You Can Swap Out by Chris’ Tutorials