Microsoft continues to support the Babylon.js development tools for the purpose of making complex web-based games. Today, the company officially announced the next version of the tools, Babylon.js 7.0, which includes quite a few new features and improvements.
In a blog post, Microsoft announced that one of the biggest additions is support for procedural geometry. Microsoft calls its version "Node Geometry," and it should help create complex game worlds without the need for creating huge files for a game"s 3D art. Microsoft says this feature allows a local PC to make that content.
People who try to download and play a web-based game with Node Geometry support can just "download a few KBs worth of Node Geometry data and allow their own machine to create the geometry." Obviously, this means faster loading of a complex web-based game along with improved overall performance.
Another feature in Babylon.js 7.0 is already a common feature in standard PC and console games. The new version adds support for ragdoll physics for body animations. Microsoft says this feature will let "any skeletal rigged asset to collapse and flop around with limp lifelessness at the push of a button."
Yet another improvement in the tools should allow for better lighting and shadow effects in web-based games. Babylon.js 7.0 now supports Global Illumination for web games. The blog says:
This highly desired and advanced feature allows Babylon.js scenes to render even more lifelike experiences by allowing light and shadows to “bounce” around environments in a way that much closer matches reality.
You can find out a lot more about the new Babylon.js 7.0 release at its official support site. It also goes over even more additions to the tools, including support for making games that can run on the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset.