Godot 4.6 🚀, GameDev Bundles 🎁, Steam Stats 📊
🧰 Tools & Freebies for Game Devs
New GameDev Bundles, Epic Fab Freebies, and How to Use Them Anywhere
GameFromScratch spotlights three fresh Humble Bundles aimed at game devs, from battlefield‑themed Unreal packs to a broad survival asset kit. At the same time, Epic’s Fab marketplace is giving away three premium environment and tool assets that you can claim permanently. The article also surfaces Fab’s 2025 Year in Review and a suite of tutorials on moving assets between major engines like Unity, Unreal, and Godot.
RapidPipeline Brings One-Click CAD Optimization to Unreal Engine
RapidPipeline for Unreal Engine is a new plugin that automates CAD and 3D data prep directly inside the Unreal Editor. It offers one-click operations for cleanup, decimation, invisible-geometry removal, small-part culling, remeshing, texture atlas baking, and imposter cloud generation. Supporting major CAD formats like CATIA, Solidworks, Rhino, and PTC Creo, it complements Datasmith by focusing on optimization rather than just import. A free 14-day trial and education plans make it easy to test in real-time and VR workflows.
🕹 Engine & Tech Updates
Godot 4.6 Lands: Jolt Physics, New IK, Faster SSR
Godot 4.6 is here, kicking off a polish-focused era with quality-of-life and performance upgrades across the editor and engine. Jolt Physics graduates to the default 3D physics backend, while a revamped IK system delivers multiple new 3D solvers for animators and gameplay programmers. Screen Space Reflections have been completely overhauled for sharper, more stable, and faster visuals. The release also debuts LibGodot, letting you embed the engine directly into your own applications.
Self-Serve Difficulty: Inside Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s Smart Encounter Design
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound manages to feel brutally challenging without becoming unfair, and this article breaks down how. Deterministic encounters, readable enemy archetypes, and rank-driven replay help players learn rather than just suffer. A generous assist mode and a clever Talisman system let you smooth out friction or strip away safety nets for higher ranks. Finish normal and a re-tuned hard mode plus S++ rankings turn the game into a “self-serve” mastery gauntlet that players can dial up or down to stay in the flow.
📊 Strategy & Market Insights
Which Small-Scale Game Should You Make in 2026?
Two devs dissect 10 popular genres to answer a brutal question: if you only have 1–6 months, what should you actually make? They compare programmer-friendly options like incrementals and anomaly horror with art-heavy environment builders and risky small open worlds, constantly weighing marketing, scope creep, and revenue ceilings. Along the way they call 2D puzzle platformers an F-tier commercial choice and explain why multiplayer rage games punch above their weight thanks to streamers. Ideal if you’re picking a 2026 indie project and want fewer regrets.
Steam 2025 by the Numbers: Winning Genres for Indie Devs
If you’re planning your next Steam game, this 2025 breakdown shows where players actually spend money. Out of 20k+ releases, only 608 hit 1,000 reviews, but genres like Roguelike deckbuilder, Open World Survival Craft, Management, Simulation, and Horror had notably better odds. Narrative games climbed to #1, boosted by a wave of melodramatic Chinese FMV titles localized for English audiences. The kicker: despite the panic, 9 of the top 10 genres barely changed from previous years.