Juan Linietsky and Godot game engine

[Dovyski]

Hey guys!

I would like to suggest Juan Linietsky (twitter, github) as a guest for the Changelog podcast. He is one of the creators (and currently lead developer) of the popular open-source Godot game engine.

Why would he be an awesome guest?

• He created a successful, powerful, free, 2D/3D, open-source game engine which is comparable to commercial alternatives, e.g. Unity. Gamedev is a fierce world, that's quite an achievement.
• Godot's patreon collects ~$8,215/month, which fully funds Juan's work. He is living off of open-source work (he was not at the beginning of the project).
• Godot has grown from a single lone contributor to a significant community. There is no boss, it's a community consensus that makes things happen. Great open-source principles right there!
• Juan has 20 years of experience with game technologies and is approached by companies with job offers (which I assume are not offering pennies but some decent money). Still, he chooses to work on and be paid by Godot!
• It's not about gamedev per se, it's about a person (and a community now) creating a great and successful open-source project despite all the odds against it (as I said, gamedev is a fierce world).

That's all, thank you! P.S. here is a video showing a 3D demo made in Godot to help back my comments ;)

[jerodsanto]

This is an excellent pitch! We just tweeted him to see if he'd be interested in coming on the show. ✊