Original reporting by the all-knowing-games-journo Jason Schreier: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-07-31/inside-tencent-s-failed-attempt-to-take-on-grand-theft-auto

Open Source Game Engines

Commercial Game Engines

I am building Neviroth, an independently run persistent multiplayer project built on Minecraft Java rather than a standalone game. I am at the point where I need to test a design choice, not just server stability: should early players be ordinary testers, or should they have enough authority to create the world future players inherit?

The current approach is the second one. Up to three founding testers can establish the first kingdoms, name places, build roads and landmarks, create traditions and rivalries, and give feedback that can directly change claims, economy, progression, events, and community rules. I want their influence to be concrete and persistent instead of the vague promise that players can 'shape development.'

The playtest needs to answer three questions: does founding a kingdom create a compelling long-term goal, which progression or economy decisions need player input first, and does the one-minute application set honest expectations for a small alpha? The world is live now. Players need to own Minecraft Java; access is free, every application is reviewed manually, and testers should expect bugs, balance changes, restarts or rollbacks.

I would value developer feedback on that founder model, and I am also looking for the three players who want to test it from inside the world.

Actual alpha-world map and founder application: https://neviroth.net/community/alpha/apply?src=lemmy_indiegamedev&campaign=alpha-social&ref=53b47278ef52&content=founder-influence-playtest

Written by Henrique L. Alves

This week we have a cool GameMaker interview with tinyBuild, many game engines implementing MCP Servers, an amazing deep dive in Sky Render tech, and much more!

This week:

•Shipping Godot VR and Porting to PSVR2: A Partial Post Mortem

•Advanced Vulkan Compute: The Power of Parallelism

•Gabor Fields: Orientation-Selective Level-of-Detail for Volume Rendering

•And more!

I’m the developer of Realm of Echoes, an early-access fantasy MMORPG that runs in a desktop browser. You can start as a guest, choose Warrior or Mage, and enter a shared world with real-time combat, quests, bosses, loot, and chat.

I’m improving the first session and would value focused feedback: is the first quest clear, does combat remain readable, and what—if anything—gives you a reason to return?

Play: https://realm-of-echoes-auth.realmofechoes.workers.dev/

Transparency: generative tools were used in parts of the project's image and audio asset pipeline.