Godot now runs natively on Horizon OS, that means you possibly can develop full video games fully standalone on Quest.
Should you’re not aware of 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 improvement takes place within the open.
Again in March, a startup composed of a bunch of Godot veterans announced that Meta was funding it to enhance the engine’s OpenXR and Quest (now Horizon OS) options assist.
Meta Funding Godot Veterans To Improve Its Quest Support
Meta is funding a group of Godot veterans to improve the engine’s OpenXR and Quest SDKs support and build 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 out there to obtain as an early entry launch on the Horizon Store.
It helps the complete set of options out there within the Godot editor on desktop, together with writing and modifying GDScript with a Bluetooth keyboard and constructing and exporting binaries for supported goal platforms. Which means you would technically use it to construct a full recreation, 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.
Should you use it to make a non-VR recreation, clicking play to check will spawn a second window for it, leaving the editor open and usable for iteration, debugging, or profiling.
Or in case you’re utilizing it to make a VR recreation, clicking play to check will transition into immersive mode virtually instantly, considerably decreasing the time and friction concerned in testing VR in comparison with utilizing the editor on desktop.
When you have the Seamless Multitasking experimental function of Horizon OS v69 enabled, you possibly can even maintain the editor open whereas in VR preview mode. This allows you to make modifications to your VR recreation whereas inside it, and you may see these modifications mirrored in real-time.
Whilst you may already use apps like Horizon Worlds and Rec Room to construct VR experiences inside the headset, these experiences are confined to and managed by these firms, in addition to restricted by the restrictions of their creator instruments.
With Godot, you’ve the facility of a full actual recreation 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 big second for Meta’s XR platform, and for spatial computing generally.
