Godot Awakens in an Unusual Way

Battlefield 6 uses Godot

Recently, the world was stunned by an almost fantastical piece of news: "Battlefield 6 uses Godot!" What?! How? Has Godot become powerful enough to find application in AAA titles?

Of course, it quickly became clear that Battlefield 6 isn't using Godot for core gameplay, but rather as a level editor, while the game itself still runs on Frostbite. Nevertheless, this remains extremely interesting news.

So what exactly is Godot? A game development tool. An engine so thoroughly game-oriented that its creators introduced their own GDScript instead of adopting existing scripting languages like Lua or Python, specially adapted for this purpose.

From the beginning, games were the priority. Yet despite this, Godot has found applications in surprisingly diverse fields, such as:

Godot in Tesla

The lifestyle app "Tesla," enabling direct communication with vehicles from this brand, with over 5.5 million (!) downloads, incorporates Godot Engine elements.

4D Visualization of Aircraft Wake

In 2023, researchers used Godot to create a "4D Visualization of Aircraft Wake" system (3D + time), helping analyze air traffic and optimize routes.

Godot generally appears to be an attractive solution for scientific research and creating gamified simulators. However, its better-known applications are game development tools like:

Other Tools in Godot

Pixelorama

Pixelorama is a powerful and accessible open-source pixel art multitool.

PixelOver

An advanced program for pixel art conversion and animation.

Cozy Blanket

A tool facilitating 3D asset optimization through drawing and gestures.

Material Maker

A procedural material creation tool.

Today

And now, Godot is being used as the foundation for Battlefield 6's level editor.

What does this show us? Godot is incredibly flexible. It can support game development not only when used as a main game engine but also as a supplementary tool or foundation for other tools built upon it.

This might be why Godot received funding from Unreal's creators through the Epic MegaGrant program. As an open-source project, Godot isn't anyone's adversary. It already serves as the industry's "support system" – not just as a standalone engine but as a platform for creating development tools. Projects like Cozyblanket (3D model optimization) and Material Maker (procedural textures) are used by creators regardless of their target engine.

And as Battlefield demonstrates, the collaboration potential might be even greater.

The engine is gradually awakening. It's being noticed by major corporations and regular gamers alike.

Despite its immense popularity among indie developers, Godot remains caught in a risk perception cycle. The lack of high-budget games using Godot leads to it being viewed as risky, and because it's seen as risky, major studios hesitate to adopt it. With Battlefield 6, this might finally begin to change.

Another success story is Blender Studio using Godot for their latest project "DOGWALK." This short recreational story with charming visuals has already received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.

Blender Studio has spent years promoting Blender through visually stunning projects. Until now, their only game was "YoFrankie," entirely powered by Blender. The fact that they've now chosen Godot after abandoning attempts to make Blender a game engine speaks volumes about Godot's market position.

Blender Studio – 3D graphics professionals – and Godot – a small game engine still perceived as lagging behind its commercial competitors in 3D capabilities. How do these fit together?

"DOGWALK," as a brief tech demo, proves that Godot can deliver polished, charming, and fascinating 3D visuals.

Taken together, all this points toward bright times ahead for Godot.

Sources

https://gamefromscratch.com/battlefield-6-using-godot-game-engine/
https://x.com/AlexGuichet/status/1714848803474526379
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/larskamp_what-makes-godot-engine-great-for-advance-activity-6864647644556480512-ExJp
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30627087
https://www.appbrain.com/app/tesla/com.teslamotors.tesla
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10266414
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389896293_USING_GODOT_TO_CREATE_GAMIFIED_SIMULATORS
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387381910_Exploring_Flexible_Scenario_Generation_in_Godot_Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3775050/DOGWALK/
https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epic-megagrant/
https://orama-interactive.itch.io/pixelorama
https://pixelover.io/
https://sparseal.com/cozyblanket/
https://www.materialmaker.org/