Meet Gozen: The Godot-Powered Video Editor 🎬

Overview

Gozen is presented as a free, open-source video editor built on the Godot engine. The reviewer notes it’s very new—“just launched in beta”—and suggests several problems may stem from beta immaturity and missing documentation.

Key Concepts & Product Features

Godot .pck Integration (Cool, but Broken in Practice)

Gozen aims to let users load Godot .pck scene/package files directly into the editing timeline, enabling workflows for Godot-driven animations, titles, and effects.

However, the reviewer reports:

• No documentation exists for this workflow.
• Importing .pck files consistently fails.
• The UI/download process appears to freeze around ~10%.
• Errors mention missing module files (e.g., module.tres / module.out...), implying the module packaging/requirements or import pipeline is incomplete.

Simplified Non-Linear Editor Workflow

The editor supports a straightforward timeline approach:

• Project creation includes options like:
  • 1080p or 4K
  • Portrait / vertical orientation
  • A default 1080p portrait project is created quickly in the demo
• Users import media (e.g., MP4 clips) and drag assets onto the timeline.
• Overlay/layer behavior is demonstrated:
  • Dragging a clip/image on top makes it play “over” the underlying content.

Transitions & Visual Effects

Timeline editing includes controls for:

• Transitions / fade-outs over time

Effects and related tooling include:

• Transform controls (e.g., adjusting alpha)
• Keyframes for effects over time
• Prebuilt effects such as:
  • Shadow / glow
  • Glitch (with parameters like frequency)
• An effects panel that can be shown/hidden, with previews in the editor

Audio Handling (Major Missing Requirement)

The reviewer highlights a critical limitation:

• Audio cannot be separated from video into independent tracks, which they describe as crucial.
• While audio effects exist, the lack of audio/video track separation is considered a blocker.
• There’s also a reported limitation involving clip-track-like muting (at least in the way the reviewer expects it to work).

Clips, Splitting, and Timeline Editing Limitations

• Split functionality exists for montage-style editing.
• The reviewer observes splits may occur not exactly where clicked.

Audio Effects Showcased

Examples mentioned include:

• Volume normalization over time
• Pitch shifting
• Grain/noise filtering

Export/Rendering

Rendering supports:

• Presets (e.g., YouTube / high-quality YouTube)
• Selecting codecs (MP4 noted)

Performance and UI behavior:

• Export/render is described as fairly fast in testing (about 5 seconds for a ~22-second clip)
• Preview/export controls appear stable

The reviewer also notes:

• Exports and documentation are unclear—they can’t confirm correctness without guidance.

Installation / Build Notes (Technical)

Gozen is compiled from source by default:

• Hosted on Codeberg; the reviewer finds access awkward due to speed limits.
• It previously appeared on GitHub (they suggest it may still be clonable there).
• No binaries are provided, so compiling requires setting up a toolchain and running a Python build command.
• After building, a Godot-based GUI workflow is used by opening the packaged Godot project/editor.

If avoiding the build:

• The reviewer mentions a paid option (~$12) to support/get binaries.

Overall Evaluation (Reviewer)

Strengths

• Promising concept
• Editing basics are stable enough to work
• Decent rendering performance
• Built-in transitions/effects
• Godot-based direction

Main Blockers

1. .pck import fails (potentially freezing + missing module errors)
2. No separate audio/video track control, which the reviewer considers essential
3. Some editing precision issues (e.g., split alignment)
4. Lack of documentation, especially around .pck usage and export correctness

Main Speakers / Sources

• Mike from Game From Scratch (reviewer/primary speaker)