loved the rive app integration, but would like to know if this is mature enough to build my game though. Any thoughts?
I also like Rive.app.
I recently asked about raster image support on the forum (Does extension-rive support raster image animation?) and got a response that it will be implemented soon, so I am looking forward to that.
I don’t know what use case you have in mind, so anyway, I suggest you actually try it yourself and report any problems you encounter on the forum or discord. Defold devs and community are very enthusiastic and active, so you will get an answer soon.
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Sounds fair, I will try to convert a game already have done in gamemaker, changing all assets to use rive animation.
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Hi, I am currently working on a game using Rive so I would say it is possible at least in an extent since at least one person is doing it!
However there are some constraints that I am accepting that might not be suitable for everyone :
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I only use one .riv file in my game, for my player, because trying to use one for multiple entities made the performances very low. Therefore I create enemy’s animations in Rive and export them as sprite sheets
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Last time I tried, I had huge problems with state machines, making them unusable. It was only when I created my own custom riv file, the built-in demo actually worked, so I recommend testing by yourself before committing to an entire project
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You have to draw your objects either in front or behind Rive surfaces, and you have to use separate materials. Maybe you could use a skeleton-only file and attach sprites to it to circumvent the problem, but that means not makig shapes and colors in Rive.
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Custom shaders might cause problems since the Rive rendering process is complicated for now but I’m no expert so I recommend you check that out if you want to make lighting of stuff like that in your game.
Overall despite all of this Rive made me gain a lot of time and opens a number of possibilities I am very glad for. It really depends on the game you want to make so think ahead about what you will and will not need!
Edit: typos
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@JCash is working on an updated version of the Rive extension which will bring with it an updated runtime and faster rendering. This should be released real soon (famous last words!)
Next step is to add texture support.
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WOw! Thanks for so valuable info. I have a bunch of unfinished game on unity and gamemaker, I chose one where I have one character animated. Looking forward to see the results
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There is a forum thread where we can track it?
Would also love to see updated Rive support! I played around with it a while back and ran into a couple of issues with it. I really like Rive as an animation tool and would love to use it more once the extension becomes more production ready.
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The work is done in one of the branches of the Rive extension:
The branch in question is jni-refactor if I’m not mistaken. @JCash will know.
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(disclaimer: i just started playing with defold)
rev files look great to me for static background images especially with gradients. less kb than a texture and less color banding. the main problem for me at the moment is the absence of anti-aliasing which greatly reduces the image quality
I’m seeing different results when using Rive in Defold compared to the web version of the Rive runtime. In this sample image below the curves aren’t smooth, but are drawn using straight lines/polygons (most noticeable in the example provided below in the tail and back), and there is no anti-aliasing present (I’m using rive.render in my Bootstrap render setting). There also appears to be some colour shift happening and/or transparency and blend modes aren’t fully supported yet (at least in the editor preview depicted below).
One thing that I wasn’t able to capture was how the white line highlights are semi-transparent and as they animate you get polygons overlapping which creates variations in the transparency that read as rendering errors. Essentially, if you layer two or more semi-transparent polygons you lose any consistency in the transparency and get differing opacity results where they overlap.[1]
Am I doing something wrong, or is this the expected rendering quality in the current (latest) extension?
I’m using this file for reference:
[1] I’ve uploaded a runtime screenshot of the transparency overlap problem is noticeable in the highlights on the horns, stomach, and legs, although the colour issues (above) seem to be resolved in the runtime rendering.
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is there any news on the Rive renderer which should solve antialiasing problems and reduce the number of drawCalls? Rive’s devs are constantly releasing versions and features, but the silence on the defold side worries me a bit.
Yes, we are starting work on that this week as a matter of fact. Can’t really say anything else at this time other than we are working on the new renderer 
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great! this is reassuring, thanks