Leadwerks Game Engine 5 is an all-new update that makes game development easier than ever. Dive into our video tutorials and learn everything you need to bring your ideas to life. Create with ease using our intuitive visual editor and Lua script. When you're ready to publish, you keep 100% of your profits with our royalty-free license.
Optimized by Default
Our new multithreaded architecture prevents CPU bottlenecks, to provide order-of-magnitude faster performance under heavy rendering loads. Build with the confidence of having an optimized game engine that keeps up with your game as it grows.
Advanced Graphics Capabilities
Achieve AAA-quality visuals with PBR materials, customizable post-processing effects, hardware tessellation, and a clustered forward+ renderer with support for up to 32x MSAA.
Built-in Level Design Tools
Built-in level design tools let you easily sketch out your game level right in the editor, with fine control over subdivision, bevels, and displacement. This makes it easy to build and playtest your game levels quickly, instead of switching back and forth between applications. It's got everything you need to build scenes, all in one place.
Vertex Material Painting
Add intricate details and visual interest by painting materials directly onto your level geometry. Seamless details applied across different surfaces tie the scene together and transform a collection of parts into a cohesive environment, allowing anyone to create beatiful game environments.
Built-in Mesh Reduction Tool
We've added a powerful new mesh reduction tool that decimates complex geometry, for easy model optimization or LOD creation.
Stochastic Vegetation System
Populate your outdoor scenes with dense, realistic foliage using our innovative vegetation system. It dynamically calculates instances each frame, allowing massive, detailed forests with fast performance and minimal memory usage.
Fully Dynamic Pathfinding
Our navigation system supports one or multiple navigation meshes that automatically rebuild when objects in the scene move. This allows navigation agents to dynamically adjust their routes in response to changes in the environment, for smarter enemies and more immersive gameplay possibilities.
Integrated Script Editor
Lua script integration offers rapid prototyping with an easy-to-learn language and hundreds of code examples. The built-in debugger lets you pause your game, step through code, and inspect every variable in real-time. For advanced users, C++ programming is also available with the Leadwerks Pro DLC.
Visual Flowgraph for Advanced Game Mechanics
The flowgraph editor provides high-level control over sequences of events, and lets level designers easily set up in-game sequences of events, without writing code.
Integrated Downloads Manager
Download thousands of ready-to-use PBR materials, 3D models, skyboxes, and other assets directly within the editor. You can use our content in your game, or to just have fun kitbashing a new scene.
Learn from a Pro
Are you stuck in "tutorial hell"? Our lessons are designed to provide the deep foundational knowledge you need to bring any type of game to life, with hours of video tutorials that guide you from total beginner to a capable game developer, one step at a time.
Royalty-Free License
When you get Leadwerks, you can make any number of commercial games with our developer-friendly license. There's no royalties, no install fees, and no third-party licensing strings to worry about, so you get to keep 100% of your profits.
Graphics
Multi-threaded rendering architecture
Clustered forward+ renderer with uniform lighting model and optional depth prepass
Multi-display support
PBR materials
Load 3D models from glTF, OBJ, MDL, and FBX (using glTF converter)
Image loading, saving, processing
Vertex, pixel, geometry, and tessellation shaders
Normal mapping with specular
Customizable post-processing effects stack
Crack-free hardware tessellation
Environment probes
Instanced rendering
Real-time mesh modification
Imposters
Editor
Build-in level design tools using constructive solid geometry
Edit level geometry in 2D and 3D viewports
Carve and hollow boolean operations
Build-in mesh reduction tools to optimize models or generate LODs
Programming
Integrated script editor
Easy-to-code Lua API with over 800 commands
Auto-completion
Hover mouse to show command syntax
Visual flowgraph connects script functions to set up sequences of events
Advanced programmers can use C++ (requires Leadwerks Pro DLC)
Terrain
Dynamically sculpt and paint terrain
Cut holes in terrain
Up to 256 material layers
Terrain foliage system
3D Models
Load and save Khronos glTF files
Load and save Wavefront OBJ files
Convert FBX files to glTF and load
Convert Collada files to glTF and load
Build-in mesh reduction tools for optimizing models or generating LODs
Animation
Animated skinned characters
Share skeletons across multiple characters
Attach objects to bones
Built-in animation transition and update system
Hardware skinning
Blend and transition animations
Physics
Fast and accurate asynchronous rigid body physics
Constraints including hinge, ball, kinematic, plane, and sliding joints
Motorized joints with limits
Generate physics shapes
Swept collision
Raycasting with lines or spheres
Pathfinding
Navmesh pathfinding
Crowd avoidance and steering
Navigation areas visible in editor
Physics-based character controller
Automatic AI following
Sound
3D sound spatialization
Head-related transfer function (HRTF)
Audio filters including distortion, flanging, echo, and EAX reverb effects
Emit a sound from any entity
Automatic channel management
Skip to any time in sound
GUI
Resolution-independent for any DPI
Extensible widgets system
Load SVG vector images
Set widget and item image
Change mouse cursor
Custom color schemes stored in JSON files
Supported File Formats
Model files can be loaded from and saved to glTF and OBJ format, or converted from FBX format.
Textures can be loaded from DDS, PNG, JPG, BMP, TGA, PSD, and other image formats.
Audio can be loaded from WAV, MP3, and OGG formats.
ISPC Fast Texture Compression, including BC7 and BC6h pixel formats
Zip package loading and saving
System
Thread management, with mutexes and semaphores
File I/O
File system watcher
Memory allocation and management
String manipulation (split, search, conversion, etc.)
Message boxes and file / folder requester
VR
SteamVR integration with support for a variety of headsets
Fast stereoscopic rendering
Controller input and display
Attach objects to hand controllers and headset
Translation and rotation view offset
Steamworks Integration
Authenticate application ownership
Get user info
Leaderboards
Stats and achievements
Multiplayer lobbies
Peer-to-peer networking