Bevy 0.16 released with GPU-driven rendering, procedural atmospheric scattering, and more

The release of Bevy 0.16 marks a significant update for this open source data-driven game engine built with Rust. This version enhances rendering performance by offloading more tasks to the GPU, optimizing the handling of complex scenes. A new feature allows for realistic physically-based Earth-like sky simulations at any time of day with minimal performance impact.

Decals, a new addition, enable dynamic layering of textures on existing meshes, adapting to their geometry. Occlusion culling is now included, improving performance by not rendering obscured objects. Entity-entity connections, a highly anticipated ECS feature, are now supported, facilitating robust modeling and interaction.

The process of spawning entity hierarchies has been simplified, and first-class error handling support has been introduced, enhancing flexibility and debugging capabilities. Bevy 0.16 also supports no_std targets, broadening its platform compatibility.

Performance improvements extend to transform propagation, especially for static objects. Bevy 0.16 also includes enhancements like improved specular tints and maps, experimental WESL shader support, virtual geometry advancements, and much more.