Project Tiny is designed to build small games that can be loaded instantly.

This is immense as games can be made as small as 500 kb. Normally, a Unity build output is around 15 mb. 

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/12/05/project-tiny-preview-package-is-here/

The team behind CRYENGINE have released version 5.5 of the engine which boasts UI/UX improvements, documentation overhaul and more.

The update states it supports automated packaging. If you recall a prior post, I had difficulty deploying the end product so I'm curious of this solves that issue.

Source: https://www.cryengine.com/news/cryengine-55-major-release

Epic has introduced the Unreal Engine Online Learning platform which will house all training series and video tutorials. Learning content is broken into several tracks with on demand videos.

Free education is immense and with the success of Fortnite to lure new users, Epic has positioned itself with a strong counter-attack against Unity. 

Source: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/announcing-unreal-engine-online-learning

Xenko 3.0 has been released with the very permissive MIT license. Silicon Studio is no longer supporting Xenko.

This is Good News and Bad News. Good news in that a powerful engine is now easily accessible to all; Bad News in that the Game Engine competition can be considered too stiff to allow new contenders to thrive. I'm inclined to think that poor adoption meant poor financial viability which led to Silicon Studio letting go of Xenko.

Source: https://xenko.com/blog/xenko-opensource-mit/

Ambiera released a new version of CopperCube and it's now free with two other editions available for purchase. New features include post-processing effect, FBX animation support and a nicer editor interface.

CopperCube has always been interesting because of its web support but it really needs a compelling portfolio.

Source: https://www.ambiera.com/forum.php?t=6240

The Unity engine and editor C# source code has been released under a reference-only license.

It's critical to note the engine itself is not open source. That would be the day.

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/03/26/releasing-the-unity-c-source-code/

Crytek has announced a new 5% royalty-based model for CRYENGINE. There is also a certification program, revamped documentation and editor source code availability. 

Apparently, Crytek has put some resources into making the engine easier to use. This should be interesting to see.

Source: http://www.crytek.com/news/new-cryengine-royalty-based-user-model-including-full-access-to-editor-source-code

Facebook's Instant Games is now available to all instead of just a few select partners. 

What's more fascinating is they have a list of game engines that they recommend.

Link: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games/instant-games/engine-recommendations

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/15/facebook-opens-instant-games-to-all-developers/

Unity has partnered with Magic Leap to integrate the Magic Leap platform with Unity. 

Unity is pretty serious about XR, AR, VR and all the Rs!

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/03/19/take-the-next-leap-unity-and-magic-leap-partner-to-deliver-technical-preview/

Unity has released an interesting asset called 2D Game Kit which aims to reduce the complexity of developing 2D platformer games in Unity. 

Normally this won't warrant a news report on gameengine.win but this asset is quite significant. The barrier to game creation is lowered further since a solid game can be developed by simply manipulating parameters in the editor and not touching a lick of C#. Having given it a spin, I can say it's quite impressive and I'm looking forward to tinkering with it some more. 

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/02/13/introducing-2d-game-kit-learn-unity-with-drag-and-drop/

Godot 3 has been released with a slew of new features including a physically based renderer, new asset workflows, visual scripting, Bullet physics and much more.

In other words, the wait for Godot is over. You can grab it here.

Source: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-3-0-released

Bladecoder is a point-n-click adventure game engine and editor based on LibGDX and it has hit version 2.

Oddly enough, it's version 2 not because of new features but because it was used to release a sequel of the tool developer's game. 

Source: https://github.com/bladecoder/bladecoder-adventure-engine/releases/tag/v2.0.0

Leadwerks 4.5 is out and introduces support for VR headsets including the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and all OSVR-based hardware.

You can learn more about this engine here.

Source: https://www.gamedev.net/news/leadwerks-game-engine-45-released-enables-easy-vr-development-r330/

Verified by a knowledgebase entry, it appears that Autodesk will stop development and sales of Stingray (formerly Bitsquid) bringing an end to its game development solutions. 

It seems like Autodesk has ceded to game engine giants Unity and Unreal. It's interesting to note that Stingray can still be acquired as part of a Maya LT subscription.

Source: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/311825/Autodesk_is_discontinuing_its_Stingray_game_dev_engine.php

A low-cost 12-month licence version of GameMaker Studio 2 has been released. 

While it restricts export options to Windows and Mac, it does gives the user full access to shaders, integrated source control, SWF support, spine support, extensions and other advanced features.

Source: https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/453/new-gamemaker-studio-2-creator-edition

GameMaker Studio 2 now supports Windows UWP export which means developers can easily publish to the Creators Collection section of the Microsoft Store on Xbox.

Creators Collection evokes memories of XBLIG on the 360. It's great that anyone can publish but eventually such storefronts devolve into chaos. 

Source: https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/447/ship-to-xbox-one-with-gamemaker-studio-2-uwp

GameCredits has signed a deal with Unity Technologies to bring the benefits of blockchain distribution to users and developers everywhere. Unity developers will be able to publish their games directly GPlay where the big wins include more revenue for the developers and quicker payment processing.

This sounds good on paper but Gplay or the G Store or whatever its name may be still needs to gain traction among gamers. It also remains to be seen whether GameCredits' storefront allows you to publish whatever you want. 

Source: https://unity3d.com/company/public-relations/news/gamecredits-signs-deal-unity-technologies-bring-blockchain-game

Improbable's Unreal SDK Open Beta is available allowing users to combine the power of Unreal and SpatialOS. 

Unreal integration with SpatialOS may be stable but it's not clear which products are using it and how.  

Source: https://improbable.io/company/news/2017/10/17/improbable-announces-that-the-spatialos-unreal-engine-integration-is-now-in-open-beta

The source code for Amazon's Lumberyard is now available on Github, allowing you to forego the use of its bulky installer.

It's nice to see the user feedback being addressed by the Lumberyard dev team. You can find the source here

Source: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amazons-lumberyard-engine-source-code-is-now-available-on-github/

Unity has announced support for the Xbox One X and claims it should be as easy as changing some quality settings. 

At this point, both Unity and Unreal support the Xbox One X. For a nice curated list of titles that support the console variant, check out this link.

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/08/14/unity-for-xbox-one-x/

UrhoSharp based on Urho3D now supports both HoloLens and ARKit.

I've been very curious about this engine. Maybe someday.

Source: https://mspoweruser.com/new-3d-game-engine-makes-peace-hololens-arkit/

As of July 12th 2017, Autodesk's middleware software suite usable in various game engines is no longer available. 

Stingray (originally Bitsquid) is however still available and is probably the intended replacement for the above products.  

Source: https://www.autodesk.com/content/autodesk-game-middleware

A new release of Bladecoder Adventure Engine was made available recently with some test projects and Spine support. 

I've only recently discovered Bladecoder which focuses mainly on composing point and click games. Having tried a couple of Android games made with this suite, I can affirm this can help create competent end results.

Source: https://github.com/bladecoder/bladecoder-adventure-engine/releases/tag/v1.2.7

Unity 2017.1 has been released marking the debut of a new release cycle for the game engine.

The big new addition is Timeline where cinematic content can be created by orchestrating game objects, audio, animation, etc. 

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/07/11/introducing-unity-2017/

Leadwerks Software has released an update that features a new GUI system, IK support and enhanced visuals.

The on-going Steam Summer Sale brings the price of this engine down significantly. You can get it here.

Source: https://www.leadwerks.com/community/blogs/entry/1973-leadwerks-game-engine-44-released/

Corona Enterprise is now combined with the standard Corona product to make Corona completely free. 

The snag is that there is a Corona splash screen in the native builds now and you can pay $99/year for a special plugin to remove or customize it.

Source: https://coronalabs.com/blog/2017/06/21/welcome-to-the-new-corona/

In a huge leap forward,  Leap Motion has released an upgrade to their Interaction Engine, which is a layer that exists between Unity and real-world hand physics.

This should be make it easier to build virtual user interfaces as it does a lot of the calculations for precise hand-based interactions. 

Source: http://blog.leapmotion.com/interaction-engine/

Unity Analytics has introduced Remote Settings to enable Unity Developers to update games on-the-fly. It's native to Unity and employs an API similar to PlayerPrefs. 

This is very promising because published games can be tweaked and modified without jumping through many hurdles. The package can be downloaded here.

Source: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/06/02/introducing-remote-settings-update-your-game-in-an-instant/

SpeedTree® 8 for Lumberyard has been released under a free license provided by Amazon to all Lumberyard developers. 

SpeedTree is a procedural 3D modeling tool that is primarily used for generating forests. Once in a while, someone gets creative and uses it for underwater vegetation but for now...expect more Amazon forests. 

Source: http://store.speedtree.com/speedtree-for-lumberyard/

John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity Technologies and previous CEO of Electronic Arts, announced that private equity firm Silver Lake has agreed to a $400 million investment.

On one hand, this means Unity's future is financially secure but on the other, one could speculate that since investors want money back, it means less for the game developers. 

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-24/silver-lake-invests-400-million-in-video-game-toolmaker-unity