We just published Xogot 1.6.2, a quick follow-up release to our launch of Xogot 1.6, powered by Godot 4.6. With performance improvements, a redesigned MultiMeshInstance3D populate workflow, a much more usable GridMap editor, and early access to the Godot 4.7 shader previewer.

Performance

We put Apple’s Instruments profiler to work and found several opportunities to improve project launch time. On an iPhone 17 Pro, opening Kenney’s Racing Starter Kit dropped from 4.0 seconds to 3.3 seconds, a 17.5% improvement. On an M5 iPad, the same project went from 3.5 seconds to 2.5 seconds, a 28.6% improvement. We also improved the settings pages throughout Xogot, so they should feel snappier as well.

MultiMeshInstance3D

Godot has a node that offers a mechanism to populate a MultiMeshInstance3D - it is one of those UIs that was still based on the Godot UI:

The existing dialog was hard to use and did not encourage experimentation - every attempt to use the dialog would reset and you would need to start from zero. So when we rewrote this dialog in SwiftUI, we invited experimentation with a live preview, so you can tune the results.

Shader Previewer

While this feature is going to debut in Godot 4.7 we brought it to Xogot right away - as there are no dependencies on a new Godot runtime. You can now tap in the editor gutter next to a shader assignment, much like setting a breakpoint, and see a visual preview of what that line computes.

In this example, I used a ColorRect node, then created a ShaderMaterial as its material, then set the shader property to a new shader file, and set a shader parameter "tex" to point to the icon.svg file that is part of every new Godot project. Then all you have to do is set breakpoints at the lines that contain an assignment to get a preview at that line. The original idea is from Cashew Olddeww's Godot Shader Previewer. We had to rewrite it, as we had to bring this capability both to iOS and link it to the Runestone editor that we are using there, and to Mac using the Monaco editor.

GridMap Editor

We also reworked the GridMap editor to provide a better touch experience on iPad and iPhone, and to bring that same native experience to the GridMap editor in Xogot on Mac. Functionally, it works the same as the GridMap editor in Godot on the desktop, but the new UI has been adapted to be more native and touch-friendly: refreshed icons, clearer buttons, and a layout that makes MeshLibrary-based level editing usable with touch, even on smaller screens.

Marco Paoletta just released a new YouTube video showing how you can take level design on the road with Xogot on your iPhone where he showcases the new GridMap editor creating a few new levels for his 3D obstacle course platformer.

Get Xogot 1.6.2

You can try out these updates in the latest Xogot App Store release on iPad and iPhone.

Or, if you are on Mac, try out our Xogot for Mac Beta.