Compute Shaders

After weeks of personal struggle, I have finally got the compute shader demo up and running in Godot 4 Beginners!

In the shaders demo, there is a new area with a button to enter the compute shader control panel where you can control its parameters in real time.

This shows off using compute shaders for processing a Boids simulation, where the flock of bodies use each other's position and direction to orient themselves. This kind of processing is very difficult in script and access to compute shaders massively increases the number of entities developers can simulate.

Godot 4 Beta 2

As of the 29th of September, Godot 4 has a new beta version you can start experimenting with now: https://godotengine.org/article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-0-beta-2

I have updated the course to target this new beta version which is a great help as there were some errors in Beta 1 that no longer clog up the console in Beta 2.

Additionally, Beta 2 adds some terrific improvements such as custom resource exports, extra icons showing when functions inherit from another, and new static directory handling functions.

Settings

A long overdue feature in Godot 4 Beginners has been a dedicated settings menu, and I have now added the groundwork for one. At present the only change is users get windowed and full screen modes as well as dedicated sliders for audio and music volume. These are built on top of a persistent resource system and should lead to me adding more comprehensive graphical controls in the future. 

What's next

Now I finally have compute shaders up and running I am going to be working on an introduction video for YouTube.

As for the course I am going to be focusing entirely on written guides over the coming weeks. I was hoping to get the Vulkan document into this update but was not able to.

Additionally, this weekend (30th September - 3rd October) its Ludum Dare so I am going to be taking the opportunity to make something with Beta 2 and experiment with some of the new toys I have not had an opportunity to yet.