It’s been about a year since Valve announced the Steam Deck. Back then, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could, then things were quiet for a year. A few days ago I received the availability notice:
I completed the purchase, and it arrived a few days later.
Steam Deck Arrival
I unpacked it, plugged in the charger, and turned it on. The initial setup was effectively just entering my credentials and waiting for it to be ready to use. Using a Steam Deck for the first time was quite interesting.
The hardware side already feels a bit familiar with some similarities to the Steam Controller tech. The Steam Deck’s touchpads use a similar haptic feedback system to make them feel like physical omnidirectional flywheels (flyspheres?).
On the software side, the Steam Deck’s UI seems to not borrow as much from Big Picture mode. It is more of a refined, controller-friendly experience similar to what you get on a computer. I generally don’t play anything with a controller, but with a bit of practice, it is very easy to navigate and move around. Kids will pick this up in seconds.
The next step is getting a Godot game running on it.
Once I found out about the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode, it got even more interesting. Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode vs Desktop Mode You see, the Steam Deck defaults to an analog of Big Picture mode on PC. It runs full screen in “Steam Deck gaming console” mode. But underneath all that is a Linux system …
This release improves weight management. Inventories can now configure an option weight limit, and item stacking and item transfer strategies are weight-aware. The crafting demo and crafting mechanic in the inventory tour have been improved. Auto-crafting is limited to the crafting slide, so that items don’t automatically and unexpectedly get crafted while stepping through the …
This release addresses an issue that arose due to Godot 4.4 changes in how JSON is deserialized. Relevant Godot issues: #103374 and #61464. Makes sense why it was changed, but it might impact anyone unaware who’s consuming a JSON-based API, and wondering why responses may not be as expected. In addition, this release now includes character damage and …
Just a couple of days ago, Godot 4.0 alpha 17 was announced. Today, Godot Engine 4.0 beta 1 was released. Be sure to check out the announcement. There are lots of improvements across the board; rendering, lighting, physics and navigation, animation, and scripting.
My Steam Deck has arrived!
It’s been about a year since Valve announced the Steam Deck. Back then, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could, then things were quiet for a year. A few days ago I received the availability notice:
I completed the purchase, and it arrived a few days later.
Steam Deck Arrival
I unpacked it, plugged in the charger, and turned it on. The initial setup was effectively just entering my credentials and waiting for it to be ready to use. Using a Steam Deck for the first time was quite interesting.
The hardware side already feels a bit familiar with some similarities to the Steam Controller tech. The Steam Deck’s touchpads use a similar haptic feedback system to make them feel like physical omnidirectional flywheels (flyspheres?).
On the software side, the Steam Deck’s UI seems to not borrow as much from Big Picture mode. It is more of a refined, controller-friendly experience similar to what you get on a computer. I generally don’t play anything with a controller, but with a bit of practice, it is very easy to navigate and move around. Kids will pick this up in seconds.
The next step is getting a Godot game running on it.
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Godot Engine on the Steam Deck – Developing games on the go?
Once I found out about the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode, it got even more interesting. Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode vs Desktop Mode You see, the Steam Deck defaults to an analog of Big Picture mode on PC. It runs full screen in “Steam Deck gaming console” mode. But underneath all that is a Linux system …
Inventory System 2 Alpha 3 available
This release improves weight management. Inventories can now configure an option weight limit, and item stacking and item transfer strategies are weight-aware. The crafting demo and crafting mechanic in the inventory tour have been improved. Auto-crafting is limited to the crafting slide, so that items don’t automatically and unexpectedly get crafted while stepping through the …
Inventory System 2 Alpha 5 available
This release addresses an issue that arose due to Godot 4.4 changes in how JSON is deserialized. Relevant Godot issues: #103374 and #61464. Makes sense why it was changed, but it might impact anyone unaware who’s consuming a JSON-based API, and wondering why responses may not be as expected. In addition, this release now includes character damage and …
Godot Engine 4 reaches beta
Just a couple of days ago, Godot 4.0 alpha 17 was announced. Today, Godot Engine 4.0 beta 1 was released. Be sure to check out the announcement. There are lots of improvements across the board; rendering, lighting, physics and navigation, animation, and scripting.