Godot 4.3 Beta 1 Introduces TileMap Layers As Nodes

The open-source Godot game engine is approaching its first beta release for the 4.3 cycle, marking the start of the feature freeze. It aims to launch 4.3 in around a month, ready for broad testing and encouraging contributors to focus their efforts on fixing regressions and other outstanding bugs.

This release brings several major improvements in areas like pixel stability for pixel art games and 2D physics interpolation, editor theme and UX, interactive music, single-threaded web exports, rendering and shaders, C#, XR, documentation, and core functionality fixes and enhancements.

One of the most interesting features of this release is TileMap layers reworked as individual TileMapLayer nodes, meaning less clutter in the inspector, integration with common Godot design patterns, a simpler API, the ability to select all layers in the currently edited scene, and more. The TileMap node itself remains in the engine but won't get any new features.

Godot 4.3 includes a new node class, SkeletonModifer3D which will serve as the foundation for IK, constraints, XR body tracking, and skeletal physics. Additionally, the new Parallax2D node replaces the current ParallaxLayer/ParallaxBackground nodes and removes many limitations within them.

Also, Godot now supports the Direct3D 12 rendering API as an optional back-end on Windows devices, and finally, after ten years since first requested, it brings out native Wayland support for Linux.

See the official post for more details here and check out the interactive changelog for the complete list of updates since the 4.2 or 4.3-dev6 snapshot. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.