Godot 3.7 Dev 1 released
The first development release of Godot 3.7 has hit the testing stage, despite a significant portion of contributors focusing on Godot 4. A small team of developers remains committed to pushing forward with improvements for Godot 3, which they've been working on since the release of Godot 3.6 in September.
This early peek showcases several advancements. For instance, a rewrite of the 3D physics interpolation system (GH-103685) has resolved some long-running problems with tree branches. This change improves the accuracy of pivot relationships, contributing to a smoother overall experience.
New rendering features include support for analytical sphere and capsule soft shadows, also known as blob shadows. These can sometimes replace traditional shadow mapping, particularly on mobile devices, acting as an alternative method. The caveat is they're mainly suited for moving objects because there are limits on how many you can handle at once; for anything static, pairing them with lightmaps works better.
Experimental audio enhancements have been added too through hotswapping (GH-63458). This could mean less CPU load, a definite plus, especially for games running on lower-power PCs or battery devices. Remember, though, it's still experimental and might not work perfectly everywhere just yet.
The update also brings along some bug fixes from Godot 4.x, which is now seeing bidirectional development too, meaning features flow both ways between the major versions as they progress. Specific changes like giving tile selections a red outline for visibility (GH-105439), accessing interpolated global_transform on demand even for invisible nodes in 3D physics (GH-107307), and pre-calculating is_visible_in_tree() are examples of the kind of quality-of-life improvements being implemented. There's also simpler casting with ObjectDB::get_instance() (GH-100603) and core container upgrades via move semantics (GH-100995). The editor receives a boost itself with tooltips now vanishing when you click away, and class info displayed in a clearer format (GHs: 95978, 105459).
So Godot is evolving from multiple angles. Feel free to give the current development release a try if things feel stable for your needs; it might reveal some bugs or compatibility quirks, especially on specific platforms, which helps everyone involved get ready for that final polished version later down the line.
Dev snapshot: Godot 3.7 dev 1
Since Godot 3.6's release in September 2024, we have been working hard on the new feature branch: 3.7.
