Godot Engine on the Steam Deck – Developing games on the go?
Once I found out about the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode, it got even more interesting.
Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode vs Desktop Mode
You see, the Steam Deck defaults to an analog of Big Picture mode on PC. It runs full screen in “Steam Deck gaming console” mode. But underneath all that is a Linux system (runs Arch, btw), and it comes with a desktop environment as well. To access it, hold down the Steam Deck Power button, and it will give you the Power menu:
A tap on Switch to Desktop, and Steam shuts down, and a more Linux-y window manager pops up:
At this point, only Steam Deck’s touchpads work. The right touchpad controls the mouse pointer and the left button, and the left touchpad acts as the right mouse button when pressed. There doesn’t seem to be any way to enter characters with the Steam Deck alone. Well, there may be, but it’ll probably require installing packages from the Linux distribution ecosystem.
Desktop Mode needs a keyboard and mouse
If you really want to interact with this thing, you need a keyboard, and ideally a mouse. And since the Steam Deck only has a USB-C connector, you’ll need to find a way to connect your (probably) USB Type A keyboard and mouse to that.
In my case, I’m using a USB-C male to USB Type A female adapter that came with a Nexus or Pixel phone, and I’m plugging in a Logitech Touch TV Keyboard.
I used to use these to control Media Center PCs, but those have all been replaced by Chromecasts.
Let’s get Godot running. First, we’ll need to download and extract it:
Launch the extracted Godot executable:
And look, it’s running.
With this, it’s possible to create games directly on the Steam Deck. It’s not the most practical thing, but it could work in a pinch.
The main issue is powering/charging the Steam Deck while using it. It probably needs a powered USB-C hub, so it can deliver power along with supporting additional peripherals.
The Terrain3D addon for Godot lets you create and manage 3D terrains within Godot. It looks quite promising for making landscapes, hills, valleys, and other natural environments. The addon provides tools for sculpting the terrain, and you can paint different textures like grass, dirt, or rock, and blend them smoothly. It also supports features like …
Development snapshot #4 of Godot Engine 4.1 is here. Among many other changes, it fixes a lighting issue related to using Light-only mode in CanvasItemMaterial (#44559). Unfortunately, it also introduced a UX issue with gradient color pickers (#77745), which makes it quite difficult to work with gradients at all. If you use gradients, I recommend …
It’s been about a year since Valve announced the Steam Deck. Back then, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could, then things were quiet for a year. A few days ago I received the availability notice: I completed the purchase, and it arrived a few days later. Steam Deck Arrival I unpacked it, plugged …
Are you using @onready to reference nodes? There’s a better way! Here’s a simple example of how many tutorials use @onready to reference nodes: That script is attached to a CanvasLayer node with a ProgressBar called HealthBar. And yet, when running the scene, it will throw an error: This is because there’s actually a spelling …
Godot Engine on the Steam Deck – Developing games on the go?
Once I found out about the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode, it got even more interesting.
Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode vs Desktop Mode
You see, the Steam Deck defaults to an analog of Big Picture mode on PC. It runs full screen in “Steam Deck gaming console” mode. But underneath all that is a Linux system (runs Arch, btw), and it comes with a desktop environment as well. To access it, hold down the Steam Deck Power button, and it will give you the Power menu:
A tap on Switch to Desktop, and Steam shuts down, and a more Linux-y window manager pops up:
At this point, only Steam Deck’s touchpads work. The right touchpad controls the mouse pointer and the left button, and the left touchpad acts as the right mouse button when pressed. There doesn’t seem to be any way to enter characters with the Steam Deck alone. Well, there may be, but it’ll probably require installing packages from the Linux distribution ecosystem.
Desktop Mode needs a keyboard and mouse
If you really want to interact with this thing, you need a keyboard, and ideally a mouse. And since the Steam Deck only has a USB-C connector, you’ll need to find a way to connect your (probably) USB Type A keyboard and mouse to that.
In my case, I’m using a USB-C male to USB Type A female adapter that came with a Nexus or Pixel phone, and I’m plugging in a Logitech Touch TV Keyboard.
I used to use these to control Media Center PCs, but those have all been replaced by Chromecasts.
Let’s get Godot running. First, we’ll need to download and extract it:
Launch the extracted Godot executable:
And look, it’s running.
With this, it’s possible to create games directly on the Steam Deck. It’s not the most practical thing, but it could work in a pinch.
The main issue is powering/charging the Steam Deck while using it. It probably needs a powered USB-C hub, so it can deliver power along with supporting additional peripherals.
It would be more useful to interact with it remotely.
Related Posts
Terrain3D for Godot has been released
The Terrain3D addon for Godot lets you create and manage 3D terrains within Godot. It looks quite promising for making landscapes, hills, valleys, and other natural environments. The addon provides tools for sculpting the terrain, and you can paint different textures like grass, dirt, or rock, and blend them smoothly. It also supports features like …
Godot Engine 4.1.dev4 is available
Development snapshot #4 of Godot Engine 4.1 is here. Among many other changes, it fixes a lighting issue related to using Light-only mode in CanvasItemMaterial (#44559). Unfortunately, it also introduced a UX issue with gradient color pickers (#77745), which makes it quite difficult to work with gradients at all. If you use gradients, I recommend …
My Steam Deck has arrived!
It’s been about a year since Valve announced the Steam Deck. Back then, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could, then things were quiet for a year. A few days ago I received the availability notice: I completed the purchase, and it arrived a few days later. Steam Deck Arrival I unpacked it, plugged …
Ditch @onready, use @export instead
Are you using @onready to reference nodes? There’s a better way! Here’s a simple example of how many tutorials use @onready to reference nodes: That script is attached to a CanvasLayer node with a ProgressBar called HealthBar. And yet, when running the scene, it will throw an error: This is because there’s actually a spelling …