Topic

Game Development

ZibraVDB - A real-time VFX compression tool now with a free personal license

ZibraVDB is a compression solution developed by Zibra AI to make film-quality volumetric visual effects practical for games. Released last year, it allows large OpenVDB-based effects to be integrated into game projects without major sacrifices in quality or performance. Although OpenVDB effects are common, they are rarely used in games because of their large file sizes, poor real-time performance, and the need for time-consuming conversions. To render effects in real time, artists typically simulate volumetric effects in tools such as Houdini or Blender, then export them as flipbooks, which are 2D texture sequences that approximate a 3D effect.

Published: 1. Sep. 2025

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Cascadeur 2025.2 is now available

Cascadeur, the AI-assisted character animation software, has rolled out a new update that further refines the animation workflow. Building on the Inbetweening functionality introduced in the previous release, this update improves its capabilities while adding a diverse range of other enhancements. The upgraded Inbetweening feature now uses a faster, more advanced algorithm capable of generating motion between poses for up to 120 frames.

Published: 11. Aug. 2025

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IlluGen - A new purpose-built tool for creating visual effects for games

JangaFX, creators of real-time visual effects tools for games and film, has released IlluGen, a brand-new addition to their existing suite of applications, which already includes EmberGen, GeoGen, and LiquiGen. Together, these tools form the Elemental Suite, representing fire, earth, and water. IlluGen expands the lineup by introducing the ability to generate 2D and 3D assets for real-time game VFX. Designed specifically for video games, it streamlines workflows by eliminating the need to juggle multiple applications just to produce a single effect. It brings together the capabilities of Photoshop, Houdini, Substance Designer, After Effects, and other tools into one purpose-built, artist-friendly package.

Published: 4. Aug. 2025

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InstaMAT 2025 has officially launched

InstaMAT by Abstract is a new suite of 3D texture painting and material authoring tools, comparable in scope to Adobe's Substance 3D line of tools. It offers a unified platform for 3D texturing, material creation, and asset development, combining layer-based painting with node-based authoring workflows. The core application also supports generative content creation and includes AI-assisted features similar to those in Substance 3D Sampler.

Published: 28. Jul. 2025

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Blender 4.5 has been released

Blender, the popular free and open-source 3D creation suite, has received a significant new update. This is a Long Term Support (LTS) release, making it ideal for long-term projects by providing two years of updates and bug fixes. Maintaining the previous release's focus on stability, this version delivers nearly 500 bug fixes alongside a broad range of new features and enhancements.

Published: 21. Jul. 2025

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The luxe game engine is finally available

The luxe game engine has been in development since at least 2016. Over the years, progress has continued steadily, with development updates shared from time to time through dev logs. Now, it's finally accessible to the public, allowing developers to dive in and start creating. This is a preview version, so users should expect possible bugs, workflow issues, and an overall lack of polish while the engine continues to evolve toward an official release.

Published: 30. Jun. 2025

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The O3DE game engine has been updated (25.05)

O3DE, the free and open-source game engine under the Linux Foundation and capable of delivering AAA-quality experiences, has received a new update. Arriving roughly eight months after the previous major release, this update doesn't introduce groundbreaking features but streamlines the development process with better performance, stability, and over 250 bug fixes.

Published: 23. Jun. 2025

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ReSprytile - A free add-on to create retro tile-based scenes in Blender

ReSprytile is a Blender add-on that enables the creation of tile-based scenes directly within the software. It is a fork of the original add-on Sprytile, which was developed before Blender 2.8 and updated over time by various contributors to remain compatible with newer versions. This new fork by IonTheDev has been tested with Blender 4.1 and is expected to work across the 4.x releases.

Published: 26. May. 2025

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Flax Engine 1.10 has been released

The Flax game engine has received another significant update, further improving its feature set and strengthening its position as a compelling alternative to other game engines. Flax offers a range of unique features and a component-based architecture similar to Unity. Highlights include responsive editor actions, seamless support for C#, C++, and visual scripting, broad platform compatibility and more, all under a simple, developer-friendly license.

Published: 5. May. 2025

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Chroma - A new tool to improve game accessibility for colourblind players

Ubisoft has launched Chroma, a free and open-source tool designed as an all-in-one solution for identifying color blindness-related issues in games. It allows developers to simulate how their games appear to players with three major types of color vision deficiency: Protanopia, Deuteranopia, and Tritanopia. Chroma works by applying filters that replicate these conditions over running games on screen, helping developers flag accessibility concerns in real time.

Published: 21. Apr. 2025

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Cascadeur 2025.1 released with innovative animation interpolation

The first update of 2025 for Cascadeur has been released. Designed to accelerate and simplify the animation process, Cascadeur continues to deliver on this promise with features that make the lives of animators easier and the creative workflow more enjoyable. One such feature, and the major highlight of this release, is the new Inbetweening functionality, which automatically generates smooth and natural motion between two poses. It is based on a dataset created by the Cascadeur team, consisting of hundreds of recorded animations, primarily focused on locomotion.

Published: 14. Apr. 2025

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GIMP 3.0 released - A major update seven years in the making

GIMP, the widely known free and open-source image editing software, has received its next major iteration. GIMP is one of the oldest, most enduring open-source projects and has been in development since the late 90s. It has long served as an alternative to proprietary software such as Adobe Photoshop, offering a solid feature set for graphic design, photo retouching, digital painting, and image manipulation.

Published: 24. Mar. 2025