The Godot game engine is great for making general use case graphical user interfaces (GUI) for standalone tools and applications, that are not exclusively game user interfaces.
As a proof of concept, in 2020 I created a clone of the Trello interface with Godot – as of today, almost 3 years later, the repository was starred 599 times on GitHub, so it proved to be quite popular and something approved by the community.
A proof of concept is cool, but can it be used to create real applications? Yes! As a matter of fact, some really cool tools and applications are fully made with Godot. Find the list below.
Also, at the end of the article, I talk about my book about the subject, a course about making GUIs and more resources.
The List of Applications
RPG in a Box
Bring your stories and ideas to life! RPG in a Box lets you easily create grid-based, voxel-style games and other interactive experiences!
Did you know that the Godot Editor is made with the Godot engine GUI system? And RPG in a Box is made with the Godot Editor. So RPG in a Box is a Game Engine made with a Game Engine (the Godot Editor), which is made with a Game Engine (the Godot Engine).
Material Maker
Material Maker is a procedural materials authoring and 3D model painting tool, based on the Godot Engine. Materials and brushes are defined as graphs where nodes create or transform textures, and can be exported for the Godot, Unity and Unreal game engines.
It’s like Adobe Substance Designer, but free and open-source made with Godot.
PixelOver
PixelOver is a software to transform your arts to pixel arts as best as possible, animate in realtime with pixel perfect transformations, bones and key animation system.
Union Bytes Painter
Union Bytes Painter allows the creation of 2D sprite and low res textures with color, normal, height, roughness, and metallic maps. Sprites and textures can be edited using multi-channel mode in the 2D or 3D space. It is similar to common applications such as Substance Painter. Basically, it’s a cheap Adobe Substance Painter alternative (around US$ 13), but focused on retro looking textures.
HeavyPaint
HeavyPaint is a simple yet secretly powerful painting app! Focus on pure colors and shapes with a streamlined interface. Ideal for plein air painting, color notes, sketches and studies.
Veles
The free and open source music application. Listen, Organize and Tag all of your favourite songs with this completely free and open source software.
GridlessDB
Use a powerful and intuitive editor with a drag-and-drop interface to design, edit and visualize content for your games, like items, quests, characters, and anything else your project needs. Then export to a text file or Unity’s Scriptable Objects.
Pixelorama
Pixelorama is a free and open source pixel art editor, proudly created with the Godot Engine, by Orama Interactive. Whether you want to make animated pixel art, game graphics, tiles and any kind of pixel art you want, Pixelorama has you covered with its variety of tools and features. Free to use for everyone, forever!
Dialogue Designer
An easy to use but powerful tool for creating branching dialogues for games.
Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft
Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft are brilliant and extensible tools for map making from the same creator – check Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft websites.
Honorable Mentions
- Grider: The Grid Creator. Create, customize and export grids on top of reference images, for drawing guidance, a tool for artists and those learning how to draw. This is my second Godot project ever, from May/2019. It’s very barebones, but it’s when I got in love with Godot for GUI (and it’s open-source).
Resources
Godot Software Development Book
I’m writing a book about developing Business Software, Mobile Apps and Tools with the Godot Engine!
The book will be mostly focused on data-oriented business applications connected to databases, APIs and websockets (assembling GUI, architecture and implementation).
Everything is still very much a work in progress. The most important thing is that if you are interested in joining the book Waiting List and being notified about Updates and Early Access, then join the mailing list!
Godot Complex User Interfaces Course
Do you want to learn how to make complex GUI with Godot right now? I created a 10 hours-long course on this subject: Godot Course: Dynamic Inventory System and User Interfaces!
Godello
My clone of Trello with Godot is open-source. You can play around with it and study the source-code to learn how to make GUI with Godot!
