some interesting crates from bevy's ecosystem this month (#1540)

Co-authored-by: Jan Hohenheim <[email protected]>

Author: ChristopherBiscardi

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ jobs:
           --exclude 'https://(www\.|old\.)?reddit\.com'
           --exclude 'https://www.patreon.com'
           --exclude 'https://gamedev.social'
+          --exclude 'dev.epicgames.com'
           ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.changed_files }}
     - name: Install Zola
       run: |

content/news/052/berdicles.jpg

@@ -299,7 +299,8 @@ educational software at a startup with no issues so far.
 
 ### [FMOD-oxide][fmod-oxide]
 
-Safe rust bindings to the FMOD sound engine. This crate tries to be as rusty and low-cost as possible, without comprimising on any APIs. 
+FMOD-oxide brings safe rust bindings to the FMOD sound engine. 
+This crate tries to be as rusty and low-cost as possible, without comprimising on any APIs. 
 Certain APIs, such as loading banks from a pointer, are marked as unsafe, but are still available for use.
 
 [fmod-oxide]: https://crates.io/crates/fmod-oxide
@@ -337,13 +338,61 @@ its core abstraction can be used to manage signals-powered reactivity for any en
 
 [haalka]: https://github.com/databasedav/haalka
 
+### [bevy_light_2d][bevy_light_2d]
+
+![A candle shining 2D light](bevy_light_2d.gif)  
+_A candle shining 2D light_
+
+bevy_light_2d is a new general purpose 2D lighting for the Bevy game engine. 
+Designed to be simple to use, yet expressive enough to fit a variety of needs. Features include
+
+- Component driven design
+- Configurable point lights
+- Camera specific ambient light
+- Single camera rendering
+
+[bevy_light_2d]: https://github.com/jgayfer/bevy_light_2d
+
+### [bevy_hanabi][bevy_hanabi] 0.11
+
+![Trails in Hanabi](bevy_hanabi_trails.gif)  
+_Trails in Hanabi_
+
+Hanabi is a GPU particle system plugin for the Bevy game engine. 
+The most notable new feature in [bevy_hanabi 0.11][bevy_hanabi] is support for trails and ribbons.
+
+[bevy_hanabi]: https://github.com/djeedai/bevy_hanabi
+
+### [berdicles][berdicles]
+
+![A fountain of particles](berdicles.jpg)  
+_A fountain of particles_
+
+berdicles is an expressive CPU particle system for the Bevy engine. Features include:
+
+- Instancing based CPU particles.
+- Expressive non-physics based particle traits.
+- Familiar setup with Bevy's native Material and Mesh.
+- Particles as emitters.
+- Mesh based particle trails.
+- Particle events that spawn other particles.
+- Billboard particles.
+
+[berdicles]: https://github.com/mintlu8/berdicles
 
 ### Other Library Updates and Releases
 
-- [gdext-coroutines](https://github.com/Houtamelo/gdext_coroutines): Run Rust coroutines in Godot 4.2+ (through GDExtension), inspired on Unity's Coroutines design.
-- [FunDSP 0.18](https://github.com/SamiPerttu/fundsp): FunDSP is an audio DSP ([digital signal processing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal_processing))
+- [glam 0.28]: `glam` is a foundational crate when it comes to math in general in Rust.
+    For example, its types are directly visible in the `Vec` types Bevy consumes and re-exports, like `Vec3`.
+    v0.28 brings AArch64 NEON SIMD support as well as a couple smaller breaking changes.
+- [gdext-coroutines]: Run Rust coroutines in Godot 4.2+ (through GDExtension), inspired on Unity's Coroutines design.
+- [FunDSP 0.18]: FunDSP is an audio DSP ([digital signal processing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal_processing))
     library for audio processing and synthesis. This release is a rewrite that adds no_std and SIMD support. 
 
+[glam 0.28]: https://github.com/bitshifter/glam-rs
+[gdext-coroutines]: https://github.com/Houtamelo/gdext_coroutines
+[FunDSP 0.18]: https://github.com/SamiPerttu/fundsp
+
 ## Interviews
 
 ### [Metalmancy @ OpenSauce][metalmancy_interview]
@@ -397,6 +446,21 @@ _Discussions: [lobste.rs](https://lobste.rs/s/dsqumn/dioxus_labs_high_level_rust
 [dioxus-labs]: https://dioxuslabs.com/
 [leaving-post]: https://loglog.games/blog/leaving-rust-gamedev/
 
+### Virtual Geometry in Bevy 0.14
+
+![The Stanford bunny split into meshlets](meshlets.jpg)  
+_The Stanford bunny split into meshlets_
+
+Ever wondered how [Unreal 5's Nanite][nanite] works under the hood? 
+Jasmine, who reimplemented the virtual geometry technology for Bevy's upcoming 0.14 release,
+wrote a [post][meshlets-post] explaining the concepts and the nitty-gritty details of the implementation.
+The post is very technical in nature, so if you've never heard of this technology before, 
+they recommend you first watch Brian Karis' SIGGRAPH 2021 lecture [A Deep Dive into Nanite Virtualized Geometry][nanite-talk] ([slides][nanite-slides]).
+
+[nanite]: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/nanite-virtualized-geometry-in-unreal-engine
+[meshlets-post]: https://jms55.github.io/posts/2024-06-09-virtual-geometry-bevy-0-14/
+[nanite-talk]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eviSykqSUUw
+[nanite-slides]: https://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2021/Karis_Nanite_SIGGRAPH_Advances_2021_final.pdf
 
 ## Jobs