This Week in Game-Guru - 02/26/2018

So this week I am proud to say that I've signed a book deal for my Game-Guru book (title withheld) with CRC Press.  It's going to be a monster.  450 pages, minimum and it's already well on the way.


Stay tuned to this space for more updates on it.  If you are a content maker for Game-Guru, be aware I'm looking for assets to include with the book.  Namely some weapons, buildings, and clutter objects.  Contact me via this site, email, or PM me on the forums for more details.


Now on with the show :)

ENGINE UPDATE PROGRESS REPORT 

While not necessarily an 'engine progress' report, it's worth noting that some of the freelancers working on the git branch of GameGuru are  looking to get a donation stream started.  There's some contention about where it should go and how it should be disbursed but there's a lively discussion on the matter here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219376

Beyond that we're looking at the newest build being pipelined out as a 'main' build (no longer public preview) very shortly.  I think they're just looking for the results of this latest PP build which I have found personally to be very stable.

NEW PRODUCTS  IN THE STORE

On the store we have a few new interesting items.  Mad lobster workshop is.. STILL ADDING THINGS NEARLY A YEAR LATER TO HIS KIT.  I mean.. it's cool, I appreciate the value but I almost feel like this guy is shooting himself in the foot at this point.  He'd make more and it'd be more appealing to purchasers if he started doing a new pack. Anywho we have a new set of PBR assets from him that look great.  I'm excited to try them out.

Next we have a stogie that looks fantastic by master of clutter himself, Teabone.

And lastly there are some helicopters by AlfredX10.  Not my cup of tea but overall decently done enough.  Alfred's got a lot of skill with modelling so I'm looking forward to see him work more on new models for GameGuru.

FREE STUFF 

Lots of great new stuff this week.  Graphix has made some phenomenal models which are free for use.  They include two new weapons.  Namely a really nasty looking hammer and a barbed-wire baseball bat!

Looks nasty, doesn't it?

Tarkus1971 has added something a little different, namely a creepy basement audio track for free use.  Audio tracks are hard to find, harder still to get for free.  Definitely don't miss it!

THIRD PARTY TOOLS 

Entity welder has received an update.  Per BOTR: (here)  "version 1.7.3 now uploaded and available. Emails sent to all relevant users. Any issues, please let me know."


RANDOM ACTS OF CREATIVITY

This week we see some interesting new projects as well as some updates by the older and more established creators.

The first new project is by 'noahuk '.  It's called 'Evil of Asylym' and actually looks fairly well put together.  You can view a video of it by going here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QayycyzjZ5c

Next we have "schneeky's maze" which I have to say is an impressive departure from the typical first person shooter game we see. 

Definitely not your usual GameGuru game!

This maze game uses a robot navigating VR-style terrain from a top-down view. 

In terms of updates we have an update from the increasingly chatty Dimoxinil who has added more PBR textures to his work.

Looks great!

Lastly Wolf has made a rare appearance, though if only to unlock a thread on one of his ongoing projects.  I'm hoping to see an update there soon.

IN MY OWN WORKS

Gotta keep my cards close to the vest at this point.  I have a lot going on, though a reminder that the Camerakit was recently made available on the store.  Give it a glance, let me know what you think!

As mentioned previously - there's a book coming.  It'll probably be in print middle of next year, but in the meantime I am looking for interested authors to help me provide materials with the book.  If you have something you'd like to donate, please don't hesitate to contact me (use the contact form on the right)!  I also have a very small budget to work with or will trade you free copies of my own products.  You'll also get a mention on the acknowledgements section.  Up to you how you want to try to get in on the ground floor of something unique in the GameGuru world!

This Week in Game-Guru - 02/19/2018

This week's update will be short and brief.

A few major components that are worth mentioning in my area at the end about my own works.

ENGINE UPDATE PROGRESS REPORT

This week was a HUGE week for Game-Guru.  Lee dropped a new public preview update onto our heads and aside from a minor issue with one of my levels loading a strange view (due to something wonky with the AI waypoint system causing my camera to screw up) it is a MASSIVE improvement.  Speeds are way up.  Weird stutter and lag is gone.  Crashes caused by decals are gone.  Other associated fixes are still on the way.  Impressively, Preben (a forum member who does a lot of code fixes for us) has been getting increasingly involved and it shows.  Updates to the update came in quick succession with minor bugfixes deployed often times in several same-day hotfixes.  It's a huge jump.  Expect a little delay before the next major release as they transition this PP to an actual Game-Guru release around April.  For now, it's a great gift and seems to really run well on my system.

Full notes and information can be found both here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219024
And on the news update here: https://www.game-guru.com/news-post/gameguru-new-public-preview

NEW PRODUCTS IN THE STORE

This week on the store we have several new items.

You're not dreaming, my name is actually up there for once.

Mstockton has put in a low-priced 'burn pile' for junkyards.  I like it though I do wish the texturing was a little better.  That said it's impressively low priced so it could definitely find a home in your inventory.  https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11005

Also we have several updates - Teabone has added a 'gain health by drinking water' script.  It's expressly listed as being similar to the ones in Skyrim and Fallout.  https://www.tgcstore.net/product/31049

Graphix has also included something eerily reminiscent of fallout - a 'mech hangar'.  This is a nice piece though I do wish he'd have done a little more to differentiate it from Fallout 4's power armor station.  I worry that one might run into some snags legally if they used it in a product for sale.
https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11006

AlexGCC has put together a DAMN fine building called the 'derelict building'.  This building unfortunately has a slightly ajar door but the overwhelmingly high quality output of the model makes up for that little misgiving I have.  It's priced to sell.  https://www.tgcstore.net/product/31046

Lastly my own product - the Camerakit (aka camkit) is on the store.  This product is expressly designed to make camera work for security monitors, cutscenes, etc much easier for the average user.  More on how and why down below but for now, check out this video:

It can be picked up from the store here:  https://www.tgcstore.net/product/31048  (NOTE - IT'S on sale until 2/25!)

FREE STUFF

The realm of free stuff has really slowed down a lot. 

This is all I could find this week - an updated copy of the sandstone building that comes with the base Game-Guru system: https://forum.game-guru.com/attachment/18255

THIRD PARTY TOOLS

Looks like OldPman is still improving the normalizator utility which I understand will have full PBR support if not now, then soon.  Latest update is as follows:

Hey. Pirate Myke and Earthling45 , thanks for the feedback.
I'm working on expanding the toolkit at the moment and there will be many opportunities added. A square brush, applying text, stamps is the first on my desktop. Adding the color of the texture and several other filters are now also in development. If you had in mind the choice of the color of the brush, then to the left of the alpha under the paint button, there is a rectangle clicking on which you open the colorpicker.
- OldPMan

This is a really good utility I need to get my mitts on when I get some free time.

RANDOM ACTS OF CREATIVITY

There's a lot of stuff on youtube.  I found a new project with a purported '239 hours' of development.  That's quite a lot for a single project!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4I-Xq1auA

There's also this great lighting tutorial by DuchenKuke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6-7m6QLQMA

He also made a pretty good mountain-making tutorial showcasing an interesting method of using the flattener tool to create realistic shapes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlLS7Kts9mI

And a totally Russian (I think?) tutorial.  Feel free to watch it if you dare, though I recommend using auto-translate to read it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1zCS8kPxw

Lastly Teabone (a generally awesome forum-bro) has been doing some really great scripting work of his own: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjoOoSRzwg

IN MY OWN WORKS

So I just wanted to bring up a few things, things which are going on in my world here.  Foremost, I have my Camera Kit (shown above!) on the store.  This project has been a while in the making and has some really cool features such as tracking, re-use, multi-camera setups, cutscene style location triggers and more.  I may add a trigger zone in the future but for now I have more than enough to get people started.  This kit came from my work with the Notepad++ API I made.   I realized camera controls in this game engine could be fairly complex.  I wondered if maybe it'd be easier to have a camera that had a place you could easily point to instead of calculating Euler angles and rotations.  I mean who really wants to use a rotation matrix just to figure out where to place a camera?!  So I created a very simple camera system which sort of blossomed from there into an easy to use kit for the 'everyman'. 

Simply place an object, attach the camera initiator, then choose it's target.  Easy!

The multi-cam system works the same, except the camera and initiator are separated so you can multiple cameras. 

Next, I submitted my proposal to a publisher.
What, you ask?

Let me say that again - I submitted my Game-Guru book proposal to a publisher.  I've been in contact with several prominent forum members,  Lee, Rick V, and a publishing house (CRC Press).  I am currently working on a very lengthy print-on-paper book which will be a start to finish guide to Game-Guru.  I'm looking forward to working on that over the next year.  It will be eating a lot of my spare cycles but I don't mind even in the slightest.

The book is probably going to be on the order of 430 pages, tons of pictures, tutorials, a complete walkthrough of how to build a high quality game, and more.  Keep an eye out for more details as I complete the work on it.

This Week in Game-Guru - 02/12/2018

Sorry for the delayed update this week.  Family's been sick and I'm not feeling that great myself.

ENGINE UPDATE PROGRESS REPORT

Currently the engine appears to have a PP version brewing for mid-February which should resolve many of the issues we've seen with a quick followup (hopefully) to a regular release.  That'll put us on track for Lee's usual 6 month release cycle for major changes.  

Beyond that it appears there's ongoing work on previous download content and add-ons for Game-Guru getting the 'PBR treatment'.  This includes now the Mega Pack 1 DLC as mentioned here.

NEW PRODUCTS IN THE STORE

Mad lobster keeps adding more and more to his laboratory kit.  I'm astonished he'd continue to give current owners extra value on what was ALREADY a good value.  The price of the kit HAS gone up to reflect that, but if you're a current owner make sure you download the latest goodies for the laboratory kit. 

It looks like the venerable (and somewhat wacky) Colosso has increased his proficiency at modeling considerably and his newer objects continue to add quality and value to his portfolio.  His newest pack and objects are proof of that.

Teabone has added some fine clutter objects, including the best looking food object I've seen in a long time.  Not sure how he does it, but definitely worth a purchase for that low of a price.

Also, as a side note, purchasers of my Advanced Time of Day and Weather kit will have an update available to them.  It's a fairly major bugfix and update.  You can see the details below in the 'in my own works' section.

FREE STUFF

The big news here is that Lafette has given away a very major piece of work for free out of what seems to be boredom with the project.  It's an extremely high quality science fiction kit that can be found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219315

THIRD PARTY TOOLS

Heightmap import (HIMP) tool is on hold due to BOTR having a newborn son.  Congrats!
Entity welder is also on hold for the same reason.

RANDOM ACTS OF CREATIVITY

Looks like Dimoxiland is doing some more work on his project "Space Losers" for GG.  These updates are always exciting because he's pretty much the cream of the crop for Game-Guru developers.  Check out this screenshot!

That's what I'm talking about. All custom code, graphics, etc. It's impressive beyond any reason and if he finishes it will probably put Game-Guru on the map.

IN MY OWN WORKS

As mentioned my Advanced Time of Day and Weather kit has had some fairly major updates.

 02/12/2018    

• Added specular effect for snow to give it whitish appearance for terrain objects on highest values.  I basically changed specularity to 50x for white.  This can be commented out if it's not desirable but overall I think it works well enough considering the engine itself.
• Repaired broken build with files specifically from PP dev build of mine cross-pollinating live non-pp (DX9) build. 
• updated test map file
• Fixed/repaired time function(s), they sync to states now and also rollover seamlessly day to day 
• Fixed broken cycleloopcounter pointers which were still working in old code (singleuse/singlestate/etc). 
• Fixed bag_w_indoors script, huzzah!
• Added 'pp' versions of the weather effects.  If they don't work, let me know the error you get. 

So to sum up I basically had a non-pp build get mixed with a pp build that accidentally got uploaded. I basically made separate FPE files at this point for the PP weather effect decals which can be used in place.  The script remains the same for both as it will function on both.  I'm also including both .fx files for the effectbank folder which should resolve any conflict between the two versions.  The biggest fix is the resolution of the w_indoors script, which now functions seamlessly.

Camerakit is almost ready to be bundled up and posted to the store, expect that very shortly!

This Week In Game-Guru - 2/5/2018

ENGINE UPDATE PROGRESS REPORT

If you keep an eye on https://github.com/TheGameCreators/GameGuruRepo/issues you can get an interesting sense of what is being looked at and what isn't. Currently there isn't a huge amount of 'buy in' for the github repo but it is coming along and in 6-10 months I expect it to be trucking along fairly well.  There's a good body of issues being brought to the attention of Lee and company.  So we'll see but for now, mum's the word.

NEW PRODUCTS IN THE STORE

What you see above is the whole of it.  Gtox is adding new weapons (this knife apparently has an alt-attack, which is pretty cool!) and M Stockton has done some great work making a skate parka nd some parking blocks.  High quality models are always good thing!

FREE STUFF

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219294 - DuchenKuke has offered a really great variety of free music from his old fallout work.  I love this type of thing and highly encourage people to use it to help differentiate their product from stock offerings.
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/215012?page=15 - Bod has given us a great deal of things over the years and he continues to deliver.  This time it's a Mallard train, carriage, and a really fantastic looking train station (check out the picture below!).  Make sure you tell him how much you appreciate his work - I think he's getting fatigued a bit and it always helps to hear some encouraging words. 

This is a really brilliant new piece, in my opinion!

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219211 - In HonkeyBoy's thread about his survival system, there's a new Lathe that's been added by GraphiX which is pretty impressive and definitely worth a download.

THIRD PARTY TOOLS

Nothing really new and exciting here.  Preben did make an interesting change to GG Loader which apparently improved framerates significantly by reducing draw-calls.  Hopefully this will have some future implementation in Game-Guru.  I have more to do for my notepad API but it's going to be a bit.  I simply have too much on my plate at the moment..

RANDOM ACTS OF CREATIVITY

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219296 - DuchenKuke's new project looks promising. 

I love post-apocalyptic games and this one looks like a solid piece.  It's interesting, I've asked him what his method is and he mostly just wings it.  I guess some do have a natural talent for level-building.  Lucky bastard was apparently gifted with it more than I was, apparently. 


https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217908?page=3#msg2595102 - Dimoxiland has done some major reworking to his "Space Losers" game and I think it's really going places. 

Check out the above video for details.  Very cool stuff.  Check out how clean the scripting and game play is!  Definitely one to keep an eye on.


https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219258 - Honkeyboy's latest creation - Death by Daylight shows a remarkable increase in level design and proficiency for Game-Guru's most prolific author.  He's got rapid development down to a science at this point and it's really starting to make strides.


https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219277 - Teabone has done some... very curious...  things with scripting and automobiles in Game-Guru.  Definitely worth a look.

IN MY OWN WORKS

I've made some progress on the Camera system I'm working on.  I have 3 out of 4 of the major pieces I want before I release it.  Once I get the last piece in play, I will build a demo level, zip it up, and sell it (for about $4).  It'll start off on sale at 3.50.  The camera kit will have some very interesting components which I believe most will appreciate.  I may add some niceties to it but that's not required at this point so it may get added down the road. 

After that I have to finish my other two kits.  So keep an eye out for some interesting news there.