Godot now runs natively on Horizon OS, which means you’ll be able to develop full video games utterly standalone on Quest.
For those who’re not conversant in it, Godot is a free and open-source different to Unity and Unreal. It is technically managed by the non-profit Godot Basis, however all growth takes place within the open.
Again in March, a startup composed of a gaggle of Godot veterans introduced that Meta was funding it to enhance the engine’s OpenXR and Quest (now Horizon OS) options help.
Meta Funding Godot Veterans To Enhance Its Quest Assist
Meta is funding a gaggle of Godot veterans to enhance the engine’s OpenXR and Quest SDKs help and construct high-quality samples and documentation.
And now, leveraging these core OpenXR enhancements, Meta engineer Fredia Huya-Kouadio has ported the Godot editor itself to Horizon OS. It is accessible to obtain as an early entry launch on the Horizon Retailer.
It helps the complete set of options accessible within the Godot editor on desktop, together with writing and enhancing GDScript with a Bluetooth keyboard and constructing and exporting binaries for supported goal platforms. Meaning you can technically use it to construct a full sport, flatscreen or VR, with out touching a PC.
The Horizon OS port of Godot is a hybrid app (like Steam Hyperlink and YouTube), constructing upon the flatscreen Android port that Huya-Kouadio additionally spearheaded.
For those who use it to make a non-VR sport, clicking play to check will spawn a second window for it, leaving the editor open and usable for iteration, debugging, or profiling.
Or in the event you’re utilizing it to make a VR sport, clicking play to check will transition into immersive mode nearly instantly, considerably decreasing the time and friction concerned in testing VR in comparison with utilizing the editor on desktop.
In case you have the Seamless Multitasking experimental function of Horizon OS v69 enabled, you’ll be able to even maintain the editor open whereas in VR preview mode. This allows you to make adjustments to your VR sport whereas inside it, and you may see these adjustments mirrored in real-time.
Whilst you might already use apps like Horizon Worlds and Rec Room to construct VR experiences throughout the headset, these experiences are confined to and managed by these corporations, in addition to restricted by the restrictions of their creator instruments.
With Godot, you might have the facility of a full actual sport engine, supplying you with the power to construct no matter you need, compile it to a binary, and share it freely or add it to an app retailer just like the Horizon Retailer. Its arrival on Horizon OS is a major second for Meta’s XR platform, and for spatial computing typically.