UE MeshBlend 2.0 🚀, Godot on iPhone 📱, LLM CS bots 🤖, 100x crowds 👥
Unreal Engine Highlights 🎮✨
UE5 MeshBlend 2.0: Faster, Simpler, Production-Proven Blending
MeshBlend 2.0 for Unreal Engine 5 lands with simpler setup, stronger performance, and production credit from Subnautica 2. It enables seamless mesh-to-mesh and mesh-to-landscape blending—including multiple overlapping landscapes—working with opaque materials, Nanite displacement, and POM. The update removes the Activator actor, adds a process budget cvar, fixes editor/packaging issues, and brings WP FastGeo support in UE 5.6. Check the docs, buy it, and join the community for updates.
Unreal Fest Stockholm: UE 5.7, Fortnite Tools, and Epic’s AI Boost
Unreal Fest Stockholm opened with a sneak peek at Unreal Engine 5.7, fresh features for Fortnite creators, and a broader rollout of the Epic Developer Assistant. The session spotlights Epic’s focus on faster iteration, creator-first workflows, and AI-assisted development. If you build in UE or UEFN, these reveals set clear expectations for the near-term roadmap. Catch this to preview where Epic’s tools are headed next.
Scale Multiplayer & Crowds in UE5 👥⚡
TerraCrowds x Unreal: 100x Faster Crowds with ECM Pathfinding
Roland Geraerts (uCrowds) unpacks TerraCrowds’ memory-oriented crowd engine and its tight Unreal integration with MetaHumans and MassAI. Learn how the Explicit Corridor Map drives efficient, accurate navigation and obstacle avoidance, and how a multi-level planning architecture keeps NPCs natural. The session shares performance best practices and live Unreal plugin demos for simulations and digital twins.
Ship Multiplayer Faster: Supercharge UE’s Collaborative Viewer Template
Alex Coulombe (Agile Lens) reveals how Unreal’s Collaborative Viewer Template can jumpstart cross-platform multiplayer on desktop and VR. Customize modular menus, navigation modes, and design review features, then scale to worldwide multiplayer and pixel streaming. Originally built for enterprise, this underused template adapts cleanly to games—letting teams prototype and ship faster across platforms.
Mobile & Rendering Tooling 📱🌅
Godot in Your Pocket: Xogot Launches on iPhone
Xibbon’s Xogot now brings Godot development from iPad to iPhone, reimagining the editor in SwiftUI for a touch-first, Apple-friendly workflow. It supports the latest 2D/3D features, includes a native code editor and input options, and taps into Godot’s Asset Library. A free Lite tier covers small projects, while Pro plans unlock advanced features and larger projects—plus limited-time free access for students and game jam participants.
Vulkan Cubemaps: Build a Skybox Step by Step
Learn to render a skybox in Vulkan using cubemapping—from creating the cubemap texture and sampler to configuring descriptor sets and the graphics pipeline. The tutorial covers command buffer recording, uniform updates, and the vertex/fragment shaders that drive the effect. Finish with app integration and follow along with the exact source code (tag VULKAN_25). A practical, beginner-friendly addition to your Vulkan rendering toolkit.
AI and Game Dev Strategy 🤖🎯
Tiny Transformer, Big Tactics: Humanlike CS Bots on CPU
MLMove trains a tiny transformer (5.4M params, ~21MB) to predict “keyboard states” and coordinate Counter-Strike movement like the pros. Using a curated Dust 2 retakes dataset, it outputs direction, speed, and jump decisions at 0/125/250ms for smooth, team-aware positioning. A user study rated it the most humanlike versus navmesh and default bots. With <0.5ms CPU inference and desktop training in ~90 minutes, it’s genuinely shippable.
From Curiosity to Career: Matt Hackett’s Sustainable Indie Dev Playbook
Indie veteran Matt Hackett (Valadria) unpacks how curiosity powered his long-term creative career—from shipping games like Pixel Washer to writing “How to Make a Video Game All by Yourself.” He shares hard-won lessons on pitching publishers, navigating deals, and marketing across mediums. The chat digs into balancing art and business while avoiding burnout. Practical, candid insights for solo devs aiming for sustainability without sacrificing creativity.