Hi again,

This is the second, and last, post summarizing the GodotFest conference in Munich. The first post got too long to include both days, and so I’ve decided to split it into two. The conference was packed full of good talks!

As for the day 1, I will briefly summarize and link the talks I’ve attented in the second day. All recordings are available at the GodotFest subpage on the Chaos Computer Club here.

Day 2

• Shipping Godot: From Build to Player with Ben Vehling (host), Paul Lawitzki, Pablo Navarro, Dom Harris and Joseph Hill
  • Four different successful game studios/developers, releasing on *either* Steam, Nintendo Switch, iPhone or iPad and Web.
  • Sometimes totally opposite monetization (web/mobile must include it in design; Steam or console would cause rage for ads in-game)
  • Rough time to release a profitable game? Steam: 1.5 years, Web: a month!
  • Might be reasonable to release on Steam, and then hire someone to release on Console/mobile

• Art Direction Crash Course (for non-artits) by Simone Mandl
  • Top2 presentation in the conference in my opinion, or top1 for non-engineering/business ones.
  • “I cannot make you an art director in 30 minutes”. But close!
  • Contrast (screenshot, grayscale, check contrast).
  • Colours (never use 100% saturation, really).
  • Shapes (there’s only just 3).
  • Day: further is whither; night: further is darked. Obvious?

(Simone’s secret slide – not sure if I understood it, it seemed to hint towards taking inspiritation from the real world and really describing the style we want with words)

• Tilemaps by Jackie Codes
  • A brief introduction to using Tilemaps in Godot, mostly for 2D
  • Remarks what to look for (terrain is slow)
  • Shared info on how she uses them in various game jams in an unusual way – for mapping doors between rooms (might be more flexible than they appear)
  • Presenter has a Twitch channel, might be willing to answer Godot (or Tilemap) questions

(Tilemaps presentation included tile maps)

• Keeper to Keepers: Adding Multiplayer to Dome Keeper by Chris Ridenour
  • Dome Keeper multiplayer, done by a company different from the original (they’ve got a pass to modify the entire code base)
  • Explains the architecture (peer to peer, mostly in C++ for speed, some things hard sync, some OK to be inaccurate)
  • First play-test in an internet cafe with folks playing from overseas.
  • Quite a practical presentation, mentioning what to look for when designing for multiplayer (even simple things as sound location)
• Beyond the Loop: A Primer on Interactive Music in Godot by Paul Bittmann
  • Introduction to making music interactive in Godot, including the right nodes for the job
  • Can be seen as a crash course to making music manipulate emotions (“this is what composers do”)
  • Info on how to work with composers (“grab one!”), very cool presentation, and easily usable in every project! (stinger!!!)

(Paul’s guide to working with composers, K.E.P.T, 24:50, Know your game, Emotions First, Playlist&Docs, Trust!)

• Unlocking Godot’s Superpower: Productivity by Luca Andre Martinelli
  • Cool practical presentation about how Godot might be better at times than Unity
  • Focused on productivity: hot reload of scripts (no need to restart), fast project start (compared to hourly loads in Unreal!), no compilation (in the easy case)
  • It’s quick!

(Andre’s Godot’s Triforce – why is so blazingly fast to work with; and the “mythical 10x developer” being bound by the slow tooling)

• Fireside Chat – Godot’s Next Milestones with Ben Behling, Matt Ellis and Rémi Verschelde
  • Rémi from the Godot Core Team, and Matt from JetBrains were answering questions about the Godot’s future posed by Ben
  • Most questions would for Remi, as that’s more Godot-like
  • Shared insights on how the foundation works, what are the key problems, what would need to happen for a AAA studio to maybe work in Godot

• Closing Remarks by Johannes Ebner
  • Thanked again everyone involved, including the Opening Keynotes presenter (he missed his own thanks in his Opening!)
  • Plans for the future, maybe see you next year?

Aftermath

The organizers expressed hope this will be a yearly event. Fingers crossed, I hope that’s the case!

Bonus

This time, Hollow Knight: Silksong was included!