🎮 Game Development News Digest (2026/10/16)｜NISHIWAKI

Here is this week’s summary of game development news. You might find something that interests you!

🎮 Game Development News Digest

Delivered on Friday, October 16, 2026

📌 Today’s Highlights

Godot 4.8 Beta 1 Released

The open-source game engine Godot has released its 4.8 beta version. It includes numerous new features such as Trail3D, multi-bounce AO, and screen-space contact shadows.

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Defold Adds Xbox Support

Defold 1.14.0 adds Microsoft Xbox support. It is provided free of charge to approved developers, achieving support for the three major consoles following PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

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🔧 Game Engines

Godot

Godot 4.8 Beta 1 Released – Entering Feature Freeze Phase

The open-source game engine Godot released the beta version of 4.8 on October 15, 2026. Key new features implemented include native Trail3D rendering, 3D viewport overrides, fuzzy search, dockable main screens, automatic resizing for Label and RichTextLabel, native touch support for TextEdit/CodeEdit, multi-bounce ambient occlusion (AO) approximation, screen-space contact shadows (SSCS), and node grouping for visual shaders. Since the beta version includes breaking changes, it is recommended to check the changelog before upgrading existing projects.

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Defold

Defold 1.14.0 – Microsoft Xbox Support Added

The Defold Foundation released Defold 1.14.0 on October 12, 2026, adding Microsoft Xbox support. It is provided free of charge to approved Xbox developers, completing support for the three major console platforms following PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Other major features include cubemap render targets for custom reflections and environment capture, iOS 27 support and improved safe area handling for iPhone Duo, support for up to 1,048,576 game objects per collection, improved editor text formatting for complex scripts, emojis, and bidirectional text, and making Metal the default on macOS.

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📦 Frameworks & Libraries

MonoGame

MonoGame 3.8.6 Released

The latest version 3.8.6 of the C# game framework MonoGame has been released. MonoGame is used in popular titles such as “Stardew Valley” and “Terraria,” and provides a free, royalty-free development environment. Version 3.8.5, released in July 2026, added two new targets with a new native backend and Vulkan/Metal support, and further improvements have been made in 3.8.6.

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Pyxel

Pyxel – Official VS Code Extension for the Python-based Retro Game Engine

An official Visual Studio Code extension was added in March 2026 for “Pyxel,” which allows you to create retro games in Python. As of October 2026, Pyxel is a popular library with over 17,000 GitHub stars, making it easy to create Famicom-style retro games. The VS Code extension has significantly simplified the development environment setup.

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🖥️ Platforms & Consoles

Steam

Steam Next Fest October 2026 Now Underway

Valve is hosting “Steam Next Fest: October 2026 Edition” from October 19 to 26, 2026. Hundreds of free playable demos, developer livestreams, and Q&A sessions are being held, allowing players to experience unreleased games. For developers, press previews began on October 8, providing opportunities to collect early feedback and build an audience. While the registration deadline was August 31, that date was also the recommended deadline for updating marketing materials to be considered for inclusion in the official trailer.

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Nintendo

Reports Regarding Nintendo Switch 2 Development Kit Distribution

According to reports from Digital Foundry, many developers are in a situation where they cannot obtain Nintendo Switch 2 development kits. Some developers have reported that despite wanting to develop games for the Switch 2, they cannot obtain the hardware and have instead been instructed to release for the Switch 1 and rely on the Switch 2’s backward compatibility. It has been pointed out that there is an imbalance, with some indie developers having already received kits while even major developers are struggling to obtain them.

*This information is based on reports and is not an official announcement from Nintendo.

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🛠️ Development Tools & Others

Capcom

Announcement of the RE ENGINE Evolution Project ‘REX’

On October 2, 2026, Capcom announced the ‘REX’ evolution project for its proprietary game engine, ‘RE ENGINE,’ at the technical conference ‘CAPCOM Open Conference RE:2026’ held in Ariake, Tokyo. REX is an initiative to gradually add new technologies, named ‘RE:XX,’ to the current RE ENGINE to elevate it to next-generation standards. Key technologies include ‘RE:Dox’ for high-speed data processing, ‘RE:UI’ for lightweight UI rendering, ‘RE:Flows’ for visual programming, ‘RE:Runtime’ for optimizing mass character processing, and ‘RE:Log’ for log management. The goal is to create an ‘AI-generation game engine’ that looks toward a future where AI can understand and create programs and perform automated testing.

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AI Tools

2026 Trends in AI Tools for Game Development

In 2026, AI tools have permeated the entire game development process. Key trends include the use of AI across all stages from concept to final testing, significant reduction in manual labor, rapid simulation of gameplay dynamics, seamless integration with existing development environments like Unity and Unreal Engine, standardization of team collaboration features, and multi-modal capabilities (integrated support for coding, art, animation, and audio). Notable tools include Rosebud AI, Ludo AI, Leonardo AI, Midjourney, Promethean AI, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, ElevenLabs, and Suno.

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3D Tools

YoluPainter – Open Source 3D Painting Tool

The open-source, free 3D painting tool ‘YoluPainter’ has been released. It supports AO baking, decal generation, and synchronization with Unity, making it designed for easy integration into game development workflows.

Source: Game Makers, October 11, 2026

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Construct 3

Construct 3 – 3D Lighting and Model Updates

The browser-based game development tool Construct 3 released stable and LTS versions in October 2026, including 3D lighting features and 3D model updates. The September update added support for FBX/OBJ 3D models, 3D light attenuation, PBR lighting, and transparency, continuing its evolution from a 2D game development tool to one that supports 3D.

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🎪 Events & Community

Game Jam

Defold Game Jam 2026 Results Announced

The results of the Defold Game Jam 2026 were announced on October 11, 2026. The theme was ‘CHAIN REACTION,’ with 229 participants and 78 entries submitted. The winning entry was ‘Ash Islands’ (by Estel), which won luxurious prizes including a €100 Steam Gift Card, one year of CraftPix Ultimate Access, $350 in Ovani credits, the Kenney All-in-1 Bundle, and a Poki fast-track publishing review. Second place went to ‘Chreeaktor!’ (Aragast Games), and third place went to ‘Power Line Tycoon’ (Maks Bumazhkin).

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Game Jam

GameDev.tv Halloween Jam 2026 Now Underway

The Halloween Jam 2026, hosted by GameDev.tv, is taking place from October 2nd to 19th, 2026. The theme is “Uninvited,” and participants will create games in 10 days, either solo or in teams of up to six. It is a community event with over 2 million students from more than 150 countries, sponsored by Anokolisa, Cyberwave Orchestra, and Just Create. The voting period lasts one week, and entries are evaluated in seven categories: Fun, Theme, Aesthetics, Music, Sound, Mechanics, and Story.

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Game Jam

Pixel Forge MEGA Jam – Over $30,000 in Total Prizes

The Pixel Forge MEGA Jam will be held from November 28th to December 15th, 2026. It is a 10-day game jam with a total prize pool of over $30,000. Defold is participating as a Gold Tier sponsor and is offering special prizes for entries created using Defold (1st place: $100, 2nd place: $50, 3rd place: $25, and 4th-10th place: $10 Steam gift cards each). Other sponsors include Spine, Houdini, Kenney, Ovani Sound, and CraftPix.

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Conference

Unite Tokyo 2026 – First Tokyo Event in 7 Years

The annual conference for Unity developers, “Unite Tokyo 2026,” will be held on Tuesday, November 17th, 2026. This marks the first time Unite has been held in Tokyo in seven years, since 2019. Further details will be announced as the event date approaches.

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Conference

GDC 2026 – To Be Held March 9-13, 2026

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2026 will take place from March 9th to 13th, 2026, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. As the industry’s largest B2B game event, it brings together developers, publishers, investors, and technology providers. Registration is already open, with five days of unlimited content and networking opportunities starting at $649.

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Hackathon

Hacktoberfest 2026 – Focusing on Open Source AI

Hacktoberfest 2026 is taking place throughout October. This year, the focus is on open source AI and open-weight models, providing developers with opportunities to contribute to AI projects, learn, experiment, and build. The Defold community is also calling for participation, and contributions to Defold projects are encouraged.

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Japan

Indie Developers Conference 2026 – To be held on November 28

The “Indie Developers Conference 2026” for indie game developers will be held on November 28, 2026. As an event supporting the Japanese indie game developer community, it is scheduled to provide opportunities for sharing development know-how and networking.

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Japan

SQUARE ENIX GAME CONTEST 2026 – Individual developers welcome

Square Enix Co., Ltd. is planning to hold the “SQUARE ENIX GAME CONTEST 2026.” It began with the simple desire to “bring back the excitement of the contest from 44 years ago” and has grown into a 1 billion yen scale event. Individual developers are also very welcome, and it is expected to have a major impact on the Japanese indie game development scene.

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About the sources

This news digest is created based on information collected from the official websites of various game engines and frameworks, developer forums, and industry news sites.

Main sources: Unreal Engine official, Godot Engine official, Defold official, Unity official, GameMaker official, Phaser official, Steam Partner, Game Developer, IndieGamesJp.dev, Game Makers, and others

* The information in this article is current as of October 16, 2026. Please check each official website for the latest information.

* Some information is based on reports or rumors and may not be an official announcement. Notes are provided for the relevant sections.