Dev Snapshot: Godot 3.7 Dev 1 – A Sneak Peek at Upcoming Improvements

Dev Snapshot: Godot 3.7 Dev 1

By: lawnjelly

November 13, 2025

Pre-release

While the majority of contributors are focused on Godot 4, a dedicated group continues to enhance Godot 3. Following the Godot 3.6 release in September 2024, significant effort has been poured into the new 3.7 feature branch.

Although several features are still under development, numerous improvements have already been made since version 3.6. This snapshot offers a sneak peek at some of the exciting advancements coming soon.

Please consider supporting the project financially, if you are able. Godot thrives on the efforts of volunteers and a small team of paid contributors. Your donations directly support their work, allowing them to dedicate their full attention to the project's needs.

You can jump to the Downloads section to try it out right away, or continue reading for more details on the improvements in this release. You can also experiment with the Web editor for this version.

The cover illustration is from "Soul Dier - Part 1," a turn-based JRPG that invites players on a story-driven journey through a mysterious, hand-crafted world. You can buy the game or try the demo on Steam and follow the developers on their website, YouTube, or Discord.

Highlights

Core Optimizations

Thanks to the exceptional work by lawnjelly and Lukas Tenbrink, much of Godot's core has been heavily optimized. This includes faster access to ProjectSettings, quicker object casting, improved move semantics, and the adoption of more efficient data structures, benefiting both 2D and 3D development.

3D Physics Interpolation Rewrite

In parallel with ongoing work on Godot 4.5, the 3D physics interpolation system has been completely rewritten from scratch (GH-103685). This significant overhaul has allowed us to resolve numerous long-standing bugs and usability issues, particularly those affecting non-interpolated tree branches. It also provides a more accurate representation of pivot relationships, resulting in smoother visual outcomes.

Fortunately, many related bugs have already been addressed during the Godot 4.5 beta phase, but please report any new issues you encounter!

Blob Shadows

As an alternative to traditional shadow mapping, Godot 3.7 introduces support for analytical sphere and capsule soft shadows. While this feature requires some setup of dedicated blob shadow caster nodes, it can produce visually stunning results and often outperforms shadow mapping in various scenarios, making it an especially attractive option for mobile platforms.

Blob shadows are typically utilized for moving objects (due to a limited number of blobs usable concurrently) and are ideally combined with lightmaps for static geometry. See (GH-84804) for comprehensive details.

Mutable Audio Drivers

While most game developers work with constant audio, those creating applications (as well as users of the Editor itself) can now leverage experimental "mutable audio" through hot-swapping the audio driver (GH-63458). This can drastically reduce CPU usage. Surprisingly, audio is one of the editor's most CPU-intensive components, even when no sounds are playing!

This improvement is particularly beneficial for users with low-power PCs or those developing on battery-powered devices.

Note: We anticipate potential regressions on some platforms/systems if hot-swapping isn't fully supported. This release is experimental, designed to help us identify problematic platforms. You can assist by testing this feature in the editor, verifying that sound effects play correctly. If you encounter issues, please report them on GitHub so we can investigate, and temporarily clear the muting flags in the editor under editor_settings/interface/audio/ until a fix is implemented.

Bug Fixes and Backports

As always, in addition to new features, this release includes numerous bug fixes and backports from Godot 4.x. These are detailed in the notes below. The flow of improvements is, of course, two-way: Godot 4.x has also benefited from several new features forward-ported from 3.x.

And More!

There are too many exciting changes to list exhaustively, but here's a curated selection of notable improvements:

• 2D: Make selected tile in TileSet more visible through red outline (GH-105439).
• 3D: FTI - global_transform_interpolated() on demand for invisible nodes (GH-107307).
• 3D: Pre-calculate is_visible_in_tree() (GH-107324).
• Audio: Add ability to mute AudioServer (GH-63458).
• Codestyle: Simplify ObjectDB::get_instance() casting (GH-100603).
• Core: Allow constructing Quat from two Vector3s (GH-90464).
• Core: Object::call() prevent debug lock accessing dangling pointer (GH-96862).
• Core: Add move semantics to core containers (GH-100995).
• Core: Add GLOBAL_GET cached macros (GH-103763).
• Editor: Cancel tooltips when the mouse leaves the window (GH-95978).
• Editor: Improve Class display in Create dialog (GH-105459).
• Editor: Add an editor option to copy system info to clipboard (GH-105674).
• GDScript: Backport "Cleanup function state connections when destroying instance" for Godot 3 (GH-97464).
• GUI: Expose some helper methods on Viewport (GH-92573).
• Input: Fix Xbox Controller on Android (GH-106021).
• Physics: Fix physics platform behaviour regression (GH-97316).
• Plugin: Backport "[Editor] Add EditorPlugin::scene_saved signal" (GH-99857).
• Rendering: Implement glow map effect (GH-93133).
• Rendering: Physics Interpolation - Move 3D FTI to SceneTree (GH-103685).
• Rendering: FTI - Add custom interpolation for wheels (GH-105816).
• Rendering: Blob shadows (GH-84804).
• VisualScript: Bind Array and Pool*Array get and set functions (GH-96135).

Changelog

A total of 44 contributors have submitted 130 fixes for this release. For a complete list of changes since 3.6-stable, please refer to our interactive changelog. This release is built from commit a117d512b.

Downloads

Download Godot 3.7 dev1

• Linux
  • Standard
  • .NET
• macOS
  • Standard
  • .NET
• Windows
  • Standard
  • .NET

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• The Standard build includes support for GDScript, GDNative, and VisualScript.
• The .NET build (also known as mono) includes support for C#, in addition to GDScript, GDNative, and VisualScript.

While engine maintainers strive to ensure the stability of each preview snapshot and release candidate, please remember that this is, by definition, a pre-release piece of software. We strongly recommend frequent backups or using a version control system like Git to safeguard your projects against potential corruption or data loss.

Known Issues

Currently, no new issues have been specifically introduced by this release. However, with every release, certain previously reported bugs may still be present. Please consult the GitHub issue tracker for a complete list of known bugs.

Bug Reports

As a tester, we encourage you to open bug reports if you encounter any issues with this release. Before reporting, please use the search function with relevant keywords to check existing issues on GitHub to ensure your bug isn't already known.

It's particularly important to report any changes that cause a regression in your projects (e.g., if something that worked correctly in previous 3.x releases no longer functions in this snapshot).

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Godot is a non-profit, open-source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors in their free time, alongside a small team of part-time and full-time developers hired thanks to the generous donations from the Godot community. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed their time or financial support to the project!

If you'd like to support the project financially and help secure future hires, you can do so through the Godot Development Fund platform, managed by the Godot Foundation. There are also several alternative ways to donate that you might find more suitable.

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