Godot just released the first development snapshot for version 4.7

The Godot Engine team has officially released the first development snapshot for version 4.7 (4.7 dev 1), marking the start of the next major feature cycle for the open-source engine. This release opens the floodgates for pull requests that were previously locked out of the version 4.6 feature freeze, bringing a mix of new rendering capabilities and quality-of-life improvements to the table.

For those new to Godot's release cadence, these development snapshots are essentially alpha builds. They contain the bleeding-edge features that are too experimental for the stable branch. According to the official announcement, this snapshot clears a significant backlog of features that were deemed "too risky" for the upcoming 4.6 release.

Groundwork for raytracing

The most technically significant addition in this snapshot is the initial groundwork for Vulkan raytracing. While Godot has supported various high-end rendering features since the massive 4.0 update, native raytracing support has been a highly requested feature to bring the engine closer to parity with proprietary competitors like Unreal Engine 5. This initial implementation lays the foundation for hardware-accelerated lighting and reflections in future builds.

On the Windows side of things, the engine is also implementing support for HDR output. This is becoming increasingly standard for modern PC releases, especially as OLED monitors become more common among enthusiasts.

Better mobile controls

Mobile developers are getting a dedicated VirtualJoystick node. Historically, implementing on-screen touch controls in Godot required either writing custom input handling scripts or relying on third-party plugins. The new node aims to standardize this, offering a built-in solution for the dual-stick setups common in mobile action games.

There is also a new DrawableTexture resource. This feature simplifies the process of drawing directly onto textures at runtime, which is useful for mechanics like in-game painting, dynamic splat maps, or custom UI elements that need to update frequently.

Debugging gets less cryptic

One of the more subtle but impactful changes affects the GDScript Remote Tree Inspector. In previous versions, inspecting a running game would often display enum values as raw integers. If you have ever stared at a debugger trying to remember if "State: 1" meant "Idle" or "Run," you know the pain. The updated inspector now retains metadata for non-exported members, meaning it will display the actual human-readable names of your enums instead of just numbers.

3D workflow updates

Level designers working in 3D will notice that Path3D now supports collider snapping. This should make laying out patrol routes or camera tracks significantly less tedious, as points will naturally adhere to the geometry of the level rather than floating slightly above or clipping through the floor.

As is standard with development snapshots, the Godot team warns that this build is not production-ready. There is a non-zero risk of data corruption when migrating projects, so backups are mandatory. The cover art for this release features TR-49, a story-rich puzzle game that utilizes the engine's 3D capabilities.

You can download the snapshot directly from the Godot website.