Dev snapshot: Godot 4.8 dev 6

Godot 4.8 dev 6 arrives on an accelerated cadence because the previous snapshot exposed two release-blocking problems: startup crashes on macOS and a failed Google Play Store upload. Both issues have been fixed, so this build is back on track for broader testing across desktop, web, XR, and Android editor targets.

The biggest rendering addition is screen-space contact shadows for directional lights. The new option lives on the environment resource and directional light node, generates an R8 shadow texture per light, and blends that data with existing shadow maps to preserve detail without the usual cost spike. For teams pushing stylized or high-density lighting, that’s a practical quality/perf knob worth evaluating early.

On the editor side, the 3D toolbar has been simplified and visually cleaned up, continuing the broader UI overhaul work that’s been landing across Godot’s toolbars. The snapshot also includes GDScript syntax highlighting performance improvements, touch and scrolling fixes on Linux and macOS, a long_press property for screen touch events, an SDL update, and a multi-layer projection camera implementation for XR.

This build is based on commit 8898c2b3d and includes 56 fixes from 28 contributors. As with any pre-release snapshot, it’s meant for testing rather than production deployment, and the maintainers are still calling out known issues in the OpenXR path.