Leadwerks’s Kickstarter for their development tools to be made available for Linux has knocked its initial goal out of the park. The campaign was asking for backers to pledge $20,000, but that goal has been thoroughly demolished by those excited to see a completely Linux-based 3D game development environment. Currently the total stands at $31,581, with plenty of time left at time of writing (47 hours to go).
Two of the kickstarter’s stretch goals have now been reached. At $26,000, Leadwerks added Android and OUYA support, meaning it’s possible to develop games for Android-based smartphones on Linux. At $30,000, they have now met the goal for integration with Blender, the free open-source 3D modelling program, which includes an exporter straight from Blender into the engine.
Simultaneously, the Steam Greenlight campaign for the software was also successful, making it the first 3D game engine approved for Steam, which is also now available on Linux-based operating systems.
Linux-based game development seems to be gaining momentum, and with this latest development it appears that it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Let us know what you think in the comments below.