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Godot Engine editor running in a web browser is now a thing

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Godot Engine just keeps on advancing in new and interesting ways. This free and open source game engine can now be run in a web browser - yes really.

Writing on the official blog, developer Fabio Alessandrelli mentioned that thanks to a sponsorship from Mozilla they've been able to make Godot Engine available as a HTML5 application. Currently, it needs either Firefox Nightly or a very recent Chromium based browser, due to the features it needs like Shared Array Buffer.

Yup, that's Godot Engine on Linux in Chromium alright.

It's not finished yet and they're clear that Godot Engine will not be transitioning fully to the web, this is just an extra option to bring down some barriers and enable even more people to use it. Godot itself can export games to HTML5 but it wasn't done for the game engine due to past browser limitations that are gradually being added thanks to things like WebAssembly, WebAssembly threads, Javascript SharedArrayBuffer and more. Work on this, can also then help games made from Godot work even better in the browser too.

Amazing what you can do in a browser window now.

Great work by Alessandrelli there for Godot Engine. Try it yourself here and see the full info here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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10 comments

Nagezahn May 29, 2020
Maybe the title is a bit misleading. You can export your games to HTML5 for a while already. New is indeed the editor can also be run in a browser.
Liam Dawe May 29, 2020
Quoting: NagezahnMaybe the title is a bit misleading. You can export your games to HTML5 for a while already. New is indeed the editor can also be run in a browser.
How is it in any way misleading? It's talking about Godot Engine, not exported games, which as you clearly see and commented yourself is new. I've added the word "editor" to the title to make it explicitly clear in any case.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 29 May 2020 at 2:29 pm UTC
2fastHunter May 29, 2020
Quoting: NagezahnMaybe the title is a bit misleading. You can export your games to HTML5 for a while already. New is indeed the editor can also be run in a browser.
But the editor is a Godot app too. The Godot editor is basically a Godot game. So if games run in webbrowser, the editor will maybe aswell ;)
Nagezahn May 29, 2020
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: NagezahnMaybe the title is a bit misleading. You can export your games to HTML5 for a while already. New is indeed the editor can also be run in a browser.
How is it in any way misleading? It's talking about Godot Engine, not exported games, which as you clearly see and commented yourself is new. Nothing about calling it misleading makes sense. I've added the word "editor" to the title to make it explicitly clear in any case.
Well, the engine is running the games (and yes, the editor, too). To be able to run a game in the browser it must be able to run the engine (which comes as JS and webassembly). There are some restrictions, though, what is supported when exporting to HTML5. So the news is, for me, that the HTML5-export of the engine is now capable of running the editor.

The title of the linked blog post explicitly speaks of the editor as well:
QuoteGODOT EDITOR RUNNING IN A WEB BROWSER

Anyway, maybe others don't find the title misleading, but for me it was, because I though "Huh? The engine is running for a while now in a browser, I've done HTML5 games last year already."
Liam Dawe May 29, 2020
Quoting: NagezahnAnyway, maybe others don't find the title misleading, but for me it was, because I though "Huh? The engine is running for a while now in a browser, I've done HTML5 games last year already."
Thanks for the feedback. The title was adjusted as noted in my edited comment. Always our intention to be as clear as possible.
Lanz May 29, 2020
It's a little bit snarky for you to post a screenshot of it running in Chromium after Mozilla made the donation that made it possible, Liam!
appetrosyan May 29, 2020
Quoting: LanzIt's a little bit snarky for you to post a screenshot of it running in Chromium after Mozilla made the donation that made it possible, Liam!

Liam use what Liam please. It's openSource!
Liam Dawe May 29, 2020
Quoting: LanzIt's a little bit snarky for you to post a screenshot of it running in Chromium after Mozilla made the donation that made it possible, Liam!
No it just so happens that it runs in current Chromium but not current Firefox (needs Nightly), since I didn't have Nightly Firefox installed I just used what I had available for a timely shot. I'm not clever enough to be that snarky.
Kimyrielle May 30, 2020
Since the editor is super lightweight anyway, running it in a browser is probably not THAT much a needed feature, but hey, I can appreciate it as a cool tech demo! :D
Doc Angelo May 31, 2020
The Godot editor is just one single file, and just a few Megabytes, runs on Linux, MacOs and Windows. The web editor is a fun feature, but really not needed to get working with it.
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