Today we are pleased to announce the release of Leadwerks Game Engine 4.5.

Version 4.5 introduces support for VR headsets including the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and all OSVR-based hardware, allowing developers to create both room-scale and seated VR experiences. The Leadwerks virtual reality command set is robust yet incredibly simple allowing you to easily convert your existing 3D games into VR titles. To help get you started the source code for our Asteroids3D game has been updated for VR and is now freely available in the Leadwerks Games Showcase.

Leadwerks Game Engine is uniquely well-suited for VR because of its fast performance, ease of use, and the availability of C++ programming for demanding VR games. Several optimizations for VR have been made including combining the rendering of both eyes into a single culling step. The stability and accuracy of Newton Game Dynamics means we can have in-depth physics interactions in VR.

A new VR game template has been added to provide common VR features including teleportation locomotion and the ability to pick up and interact with objects in the environment.

Visual Studio 2017

We've also upgraded Leadwerks Professional Edition to build with Visual Studio 2017 so you can take advantage of the very latest Visual Studio features. Instructions for upgrading C++ projects from version 4.4 to 4.5 are available here.

Other Improvements

• Added fog settings in editor and into map file format.
• New joint scripts and enhancements.
• Updated to Steamworks 1.41

You can pick up Leadwerks Game Engine with a discount during the Steam Winter Sale.

About Leadwerks Software

Leadwerks Software was founded in 2006 to make game development easy and fun. The company launched Leadwerks Game Engine on Steam in January 2014 and has experienced steady growth, now with over 20,000 paid users.  Leadwerks Game Launcher was released as an early access title in September 2015, allowing developers to publish games to Steam Workshop with no submission fee.