This Week in GameGuru - 07/08/2019

Well, I'm back, finally.  My life is still absolute chaos from the baby's arrival but I've been able to shore up enough time to put together a GameGuru report for everyone. Deepest apologies for missing anything, but there's a tremendous backlog to work through.

GameGuru News

Obviously the biggest news here is that the big patch dropped.  By the time you see this, the newest patch will likely have trickled from the public preview (a sort of open beta) to the main branch.  This huge, expansive update has a significant number of major bugfixes from numerous community members such as T-Bone, BoredOfTheRings, Defy, Preben and others.  It also has some back end work from Lee.  It purports to provide:

• 41 Major fixes. 
• Lots of water fixes
• Z Depth issues,
• Glass casting shadows
• And many other fixes for long time issues. More info can be found here: https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-publicpreview-released

I am really looking forward to having a chance to test this myself. Of note are the apparently now functional lightmapping system, which has been a MAJOR thorn in the side of the DX11 builds along with some serious memory work.

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

I made a nearly complete guide to the projectile system here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220802

A third party asset management tool is in the works, which I find particularly exciting: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220822

The GameGuru youtube official channel has posted a number of recent updates for usage tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1q1e3Q9IKMk4nDlAGb_5Jg/videos

What's Good in the Store

Mad Lobster put up a really excellent film pack of PBR assets.

This is an exceptionally high quality pack and is definitely a must-buy if you use these types of materials.

Sula finally got around to making his cars into a pack, it's pricey but definitely worth the cost if you need a large number of European vehicles that are PBR enabled.

FredGames has put together an interesting Sci-Fi snap-together kit.

Beyond that T-Bone has put together several interesting script and clutter pieces, check his artist page here: https://www.tgcstore.net/artist/45855

Tarkus1971 has been hard at work at music assets, which are generally speaking great quality for the price: https://www.tgcstore.net/artist/219730

And lastly Graphix has been hard at work on many of his own assets such as fences, graveyards and the more.

Free Stuff

A great number of free assets were released recently.  Wolf, in particular, posted a massive megathread of all of his free stuff.

This is a definite must-visit for anyone who hasn't obtained his high quality DNIS assets.

Tarkus1971 put up a new music track called a retro volca?  I'm not familiar with it but his work up to this point has been really decent.  Get your copy here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213190?page=5#msg2617272

MaiaCombra put together a decayed burlap decal

This should have good utility in a war torn of post apocalyptic environment.

And also several other items such as a mobile interface and a retexture of HarryWever's crane.

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

This section will likely not be as updated as it should be because simply there's too much to pour over.  I will attempt to capture some of the more interesting things I've seen recently.

Far and away I absolutely loved T-bone (Teabone)'s 'garbage cleanup simulator' found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRo_vt1tY60



Duchenkuke posted a kitschy project that might have some potential. It gave me a few laughs, at least, the video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItHmZyKs1rU

Amenmoses has been doing wonderful things with particles: https://vimeo.com/345087887

Solar's project Resist: Revolution is still looking like it's making good forward progress: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/218343/newest

Honkeyboy is back with some interesting work.  While it may need some polish, be aware he does some pretty interesting work with his Lua code so keep an eye on it for that reason if no other strikes your fancy: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220833

Newcomer "J-Dup" put some interesting work into a project called "The Last Dweller". 

More info and a video can be found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220872

Cybernessence has continued his phenomenal work on GameGuru and his project:

The above picture illustrates in the author's words: "Just updated the terrain shader to use combined textures, diffuse with specular in alpha and normal with ao in alpha channel.

This saves texture memory and the results for terrain really pop (the ao really make a big difference), it's now looking a lot like how the basic unity PBR terrain does ..."

A host of new and updated works really flooded my research here and I apologize for those I missed.  Keep writing your updates so I can see the latest and greatest screenshots to help plug your projects with!

In My Own Works

One of the harder tasks I've had over the past few weeks is balancing a demanding publisher's schedule while dealing with a new baby.  I've had numerous revisions, requests, and the like to fix up  my book or change various bits about it.  It's been difficult to find time but I've found a way to stay on schedule, even if that means making the updates at 3AM while holding a screaming infant.

Also of note I made a private Discord server with many of the heavy hitters of GameGuru, specifically to help facilitate changes faster in our community.  That went into play shortly before my daughter's arrival so I'd like to think it helped a bit with getting this latest update out into the world.

This Week in GameGuru - 5/13/2019

GameGuru News

A wild Lee Bamber appeared in the forums and made a few quotes:

"Looks like the cat escaped the bag, but yes, I have been putting much time and coding into a non-Steam multiplayer system that improves on what you have right now. I am using Photon which means you can set up your own free server for your games, and then as your user base grows you can subscribe to Photon paid tiers if you need more than 100CCU (https://www.photonengine.com/en/server/pricing).

It should also support host migration and rejoins, so you could effectively keep your game running on your PC and users can come and go from your level as you please (not quite MMORPG but a nice start to a possible persistent world). Naturally, the non-Steam option was to allow you to save out multiplayer games and allow friends to play your multiplayer games without needing GameGuru, but all these details will come in time.

Just posted quickly here to assure you that no donations for this feature are required, it's happening as part of our primary feature development We are also planning to put an expert freelancer on the case with the issues board too so watch this space for an assault on your bug reports as we finally put your donations to good use."

This can be found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220661?page=1#msg2615407


He also made some comments with respect to MegaPack3's changes you can find here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220751

Lastly, I don't know how long this has been in play, but there's been a change where you can put bug reports in on steam. If you're tracking the issues log on Github, here's another point of interest for you: https://steamcommunity.com/app/266310/discussions/1/

What's Good in the Store

This week I added my 4K Space Skies to the All skies and Time of Day system pack, along with increasing it's price significantly to reflect the addition.  Current owners will be able to find the new 4k skies upon checking for store downloads.

Beyond that we have some excellent work from Valentin321 who has put together several packs this week:

He's added a Fire equipment pack, an electrical measuring equipment pack, and a village pack.  Most are well priced and include reasonably good assets for the price point.

Nomis3d has a huge repository of mid-priced, higher tier assets that he's putting a kit together for an exceptionally low price - 9.95 (on sale).  I highly recommend you grab this kit if you're into military or soviet gear.

Looks like Sula continues to put PBR cars up at $2 a piece, however I'd really like to see these fine automobiles made into a pack for extra value.  That and pressing purchase 30 times in a row isn't fun for anyone.

Pasquil has thirteen traffic objects bundled into a single download pack that look well worth the investment as well if you are building a city scene.

Free Stuff

A free cartoon farm was posted for download: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220746

Lafette put together an impressive robotic arm for download...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS78pd1zKng

You can get yours here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220474?page=2#msg2615507

Dagored put together some free skyscrapers: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/210761?page=6#msg2615455

Graphix made some very decent paving slabs for those interested: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217932?page=14#msg2615432

Some great stuff is going on in the realm of Lua code as well.
SmallG posted a way to swap between third and first person: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220747?page=1#msg2615389

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

Corno_1 has removed access to the EBE V2 editor. It's unlikely to return.

A significant quantity of updates were posted onto BOTR's thread of his various third party tools.  One interesting note is he did answer my question about integration of these tools into GG's source and it looks like he is going to pursue that in the future. For a full list of what's going on with his software, check here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219806?page=4#msg2615531

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

Protascope is furthering it's development (via Synchromesh).  This excellent title I think will really demonstrate some out of the box thinking for other GameGuru gamedevs and should be looked at as our engine's 'portal-style' frontrunner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXz37EsJJdQ

Nice work, synchromesh!

I'm particularly impressed with his ability to build a unique environment in a challenging engine that looks engaging and fun.

The Cogwheel Chronicles, another frontrunning GG project, is coming along very well.  I spoke at length with Cybernessence about his upcoming changes that he plans on adding to GameGuru and he's very interested in implementing a dynamic lighting solution.  I'd love to see some extra focus on this as others would as well and I'm sure TheGameCreators would likely sweeten the pot with some donation funds. He's also posted some updates here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213870?page=6#msg2615288

Make no mistake - Cogwheel Chronicles is an important project to watch because it essentially will act as a techdemo for upcoming third party changes to GameGuru's github codebase.

In My Own Works

This last week I got hit with all 23 chapters of the book needing edited by the 20th.  That's a lot of work in not a lot of time.  This final push for editing is to make the August 19th deadline. I also have been working with one of the artists, specifically the man making the weapons.  We've gotten pretty far with some of the equipment, notably this SMG that is designed as a panic-fire weapon:

Please note none of this is final, but the basic concept is like 95% close to the final product.
Beyond that I'm working on trying to figure out why my projectiles system isn't working for one of the weapons, but so far everything is coming along really well.
I plan on doing a detailed write-up of everything afterwards on how to really own the custom projectiles system.

This Week in GameGuru - 02/25/2019

Official GameGuru News

This week we have some information from the man himself - apparently Lee is hard at work at working on a new beta version that will be dropping shortly for beta testers.  This will eventually trickle down as a PP build, then a public build. 

Here's to hoping for a big pile of those issues getting cleared and some GUI functionality added!

Also, if you missed it the weapons DLC is on sale.

What's good in the store 

This week in the store it looks like a user named CryneX put some games up.  Nice to see the store expanding it's function.  There's been some back-chatter of opening it up even more to help boost sales further.

Beyond that there's some candles by MStockton and a HUGE destructible buildings kit by 3com (100 buildings or more!)

Free Stuff

Tarkus1971 provided more free music to the cause: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213190?page=5#msg2612185

Osiem80 posted some free boxes here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220539#msg2612139

Wolf made another fantastic bar set to complement his old freebie: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220550

Lafette II has been putting out an astonishing amount of quality free work: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220474#msg2612222

The generosity of some in the community never ceases to amaze me.  Remember to say thank you to all of the people willing to dedicate their time and efforts to your projects!

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

Cybernessence summed up how to use an FPP file to smooth your standalone's creation (I'll admit, I already covered this in my book but if you want to see how to do this before it comes out - here you go!)

PirateMyke hit us with some big knowledge on the gunspec file: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220536

Graphix put about 5 threads up on the forum about a wide range of topics.  Check them out here:
https://forum.game-guru.com/board/37

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs) 

3com has gone from breaking buildings to burning foliage.  Really interesting stuff.  You can find the video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEUyWQ4X1w4

PirateMyke has been making leaps and bounds with Mega Pack 3's update.  He posted a video on it earlier this week but check out this screenshot of some of the updates:

Gorgeous.  You should see it side by side with one of the old DNIS buildings.  It's night and day. The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYugCOgPqkU

In My Own Works

I spoke with my publisher this morning and while I'm a little behind on my book due to the sheer volume of pictures and it's corresponding level of work, I have committed to wrapping up my submission by middle of next week. I'm very, VERY close now.  The editing process is mostly done.  I'm finishing up the formatting and typesetting which is extremely specific. Truly though, I'm looking forward to being finished.  This great endeavor has proven exhausting and I'll be happy to be completed.

This Week in GameGuru - 02/18/2019

Official GameGuru News

Aside from the occasional random PBR update, there really hasn't been much from TheGameCreators in terms of what's going on with GameGuru and this has caused some level of concern within the community.  Hopefully we'll hear something new soon. 

What's Good In The Store

Nothing new the past few weeks.  It's a little disappointing to see but at the moment there's nothing GameGuru specific that really struck my fancy.

Free Stuff
Lafette II has been dropping some extremely high quality models for free in this thread for several weeks now: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220474?page=1#msg2611649

Like this greenhouse:

 

 

Along with many others.
Graphix has been doing great things with model updates for PBR but in his spare time a few weeks back he found time to put together some fantastic racks for a warehouse:
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217932?page=14#msg2611394

Ironically for my book last night I was putting together a warehouse using these types of models, though I had to fudge it with scaffolding instead.  This would have been extremely helpful!

Lastly Superclark has been putting up lots of FPSC Classic items that are reupholstered in PBR textures:  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220478?page=2#msg2611945

And because I missed it - belidos made a 'simple quest chain system' - https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220443

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

Arteria3D is having a "GameGuru special" this month:
https://arteria3d.myshopify.com/products/gameguru-special

Also Game Launch Creator is running a 25% off sale for February: https://gamelaunchercreator.com/

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

Gtox put up an interesting video of him breaking walls :)


The past two weeks have had an influx of projects and updates.  Here's a short list:
Cold Cable finally has an english release - he's looking for testers: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/218905#msg2612071

DJPulsion's unnamed game, says he has over a year into development.  Looks decent as far as first attempts go:

 
Bonesy's Sci-Fi Shooter:

Note the angled text, courtesy of AmenMoses

Duchenkuke's newest level in his own game:

To me, the use of color and foliage is second to none right now.

Mookai's 'Welcome to Manchester' looks well put together:

Psalm of Salem has a fairly solid design structure to it:

I dig the atmosphere. Looks just spooky enough.

Cybernessence's 'Cogwheel Chronicles' is looking more epic by the day:

Yes, that's a flyable seaplane!

And I think that's about it - what a monster list.  Keep up the great work guys!

In My Own Works

The book nears completion.  I mean it, truly, at least as a work of my own.  I'm at around 110 pictures of a required 125. It's a grind putting together graphics, images, info, and the like.  I've obtained a few last second pieces of info from Lee as well.

It's a huge amount of work and I'm genuinely thankful to all who have assisted me with it.  On that note, expect some messaging on that front as I will need some papers signed so I have your official permission (later this week).

This Week in GameGuru - 01/21/2019

Apologies for the short weekly review here, I am in crunch mode for the book for the next few weeks.

Official GameGuru News:

https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-mega-pack-2-dlc-updated-4
Looks like more updates are happening with the PBR quality improvement passes. 
Unfortunately the issues log continues to grow.  Here's to hoping Lee and team can get some of those big ticket items knocked off the list.

What's Good in the Store: 

Looks like Graphix put up a nice looking radio and BSP added his first new weapon pack in a while.  I love the Pancor Jackhammer, aesthetically so I'm looking forward to picking this pack up myself and testing it out!

Free Stuff:

Graphix put out an amazing looking light-sword (cough not a saber, more like a rapier, honest).  Make sure you get a copy here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217932?page=13#msg2610448

Third Party Tutorials and Tools:

Nothing new here, sorry kids.

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPS):

I'm getting absolutely bombarded with everyone's post-new years works - so apologies if I missed anything pertinent.

Current the big news is Synchromesh put out a new copy of Protascope and it looks great!

I'm really looking forward to this one, as it presents interesting game mechanics for the GameGuru genre of games.  The menu alone looks much better than previous iterations so definitely keep your eyes open!

I'm also happy to report Bonesy is still working on his yet unnamed project.

Ramiro put a new demo video up for Psalm of Salem.  Here's a link for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCXLuRBUK9c

It looks pretty nice and doesn't appear to be having framerate issues so that's a huge boon for a Forest map.  He's definitely gotten my attention, at least.

Guns of Solo got a demo video uploaded as well.  Check out the information on the post here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219402?page=3#msg2610773

3com is putting up a new project. His take is different but the texturing is definitely going to hold him back unless he can find a way to improve the graphical fidelity.  Still, it's a solid effort in a new direction.  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/218230?page=1#msg2610719

In My Own Works:

I've gotten a TREMENDOUS amount of work done over the past week.  I literally added another 5000 words to the book by simply updating the appendixes that I have added.  I have to say if you had no other reason to buy the book - this would do it.  I've torn apart code, read internal documentation, tested, verified with others and a host of other things just to answer questions that simply are assumed by most of the coders involved.  My personal editor continues his trek into my book and while there's been some very large cleanups overall feedback has been really positive.
I'm looking forward to being done with this phase, though this week it's all about taking pictures for the book.

This Week in Game-Guru - 09/04/2018

Welcome back after a nice long month hiatus from Game-Guru Reporting.  Unfortunately life's call was pretty strong (and remains so) but at the same time I do need to make sure this report is brought up to speed on what's new and exciting in Game-Guru.

From a real world standpoint I had to do a migration of Redhat Satellite 5.6 to 5.8 for my day job for a very large company.  This was a big part of my time sink along with yearly pentesting, etc.  So again, apologies and without further wait here we go!

Official Game-Guru News

Over the past month steady progress has been made with respect to the engine and it's secondary DLC packs.  Additional PBR assets (to the chagrin of some - some feel that the engine would be better served due to memory constraints with non PBR though I disagree personally). 

There's also been a free weekend, which just ended today, to my knowledge.  Nice to see TGC taking additional steps to bring in a bigger crowd as Game-Guru becomes more feature packed.  I'd suggest a relaunch in media (magazines, online blogs, etc) at a good time, say next year when things are much more solidly done.

What's New in the Store

Teabone's "HUD Stance Script" is in the realm of 'cheap and must have'.
Pasquill did some really fantastic and extremely well priced shipping containers.

The above kind of illustrates what a deal 4 dollars can buy you (6 of these beauties!).
This is an amazing deal.  I've already covered Pasquill's stuff in the past; for this price though I honestly feel like you're shooting yourself in the foot if you choose the old-out-of date freebie containers from FPSC.  Spend the $4 and buy something professional, like these!

There's other stuff on sale, such as EAI's products which I highly recommend. Beyond that, not much new on the store that really caught my eye.  As always if you are a store content creator and want me to check out your stuff in detail with a coupon/reviewer copy, let me know. 

3rd Party Programs and Tutorials

Graphix is working on a simple web script to take 6 pictures and make a cubemap out of them.  No link yet, but he says it should be on his website soon.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219916 Bugsy put up a great little 'displaying pictures in sequence' help script thread which is a good utility script if you have nothing else like it.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220000?page=1 Argent Arts (a new user) put up a pretty nice discussion on the current lighting system.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220018 Which lead to Bugsy putting up a pretty thorough lighting test.  Looks like dynamic 'specularity' is offline again.  There's also a really good discussion on PBR here too.

Random Acts of Creativity

There is a significant body of new work to cover.  I'll do my best, but if I miss you please send me a message and I'll include yours next time!

A nice framework but needs refinement (lighting, in particular)

The above are some very VERY preliminary screenies from VincentHendriks.  Looks like a city slog, which GameGuru is surprisingly good at creating, so should turn out well.  No title that I'm aware of yet.

CodeName:Protoscope by Synchromesh

This project is a solid piece by a very old hat in the Game-Guru community.  Synchro's actually a mod over at the forums and it's got some nice interactivity pieces to it. 

And now of very important note: Acythian is coming along! 
Check out this thread for all the juicy details by one of Game-Guru's premier artists (Wolf).

Above are a few of the many gorgeous screenshots he's put together.  I mean it's totally worth a trip over to the forums, this project is masterfully done (assuming he can keep framerate above 10!)

DuchenKuke is also working on some interesting stuff - he's another 'premier' builder, IMO.  He's got a new project here:  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219956

It's... unusual, right?  Reminds me of the art for Hotline: Miami or some kind of retro-new wave album.

Work continues on the 'cogwheel chronicles' but one really amazing thing showcased was this 'dissolve fade' work.  I mean .. WOW.  It's something - definitely click the link and check it out!

In My Own Works

I've been furiously writing for lost time, to get ahead of the curve on my book's publication.  I have a lot of really good stuff, I think though could probably use a proofreader or two soon.  If you are interested in assisting, contact me via the form on the right or leave a comment below!

These Weeks in Game Guru - 06-05-2018

Ok, I'll admit, I've been busy.  Too busy.  Lots of nickel and dime stuff with life and it's held me up, significantly with this type of work. I will neither confirm nor deny my Battletech pen and paper RPG campaign has also eaten up many hours of my life more than I thought it would.

Regardless I'm here to give you some interesting news on the Game-Guru front.  I may switch this to a bi-weekly publication.  What are your thoughts on this?  Anyone have any preference?  It's a lot of work for me to do weekly, so bi-weekly might be just the ticket.

OFFICIAL GAME GURU NEWS:

There's an update which was pushed out, today, specifically addressing some changes to the fantasy DLC pack as more PBR assets got updated.   It appears Lee's FINALLY getting around to the long-standing issue of updating the weaponry to allow more than just a simple fireball attack.  He wants to add ice and poison attacks!

https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-fantasy-pack-dlc-update

Why this is important is because the Game Engine specifically is limited with respect to projectile weapons and decals (both of which are used for the fireball effect in the fantasy pack).  And by limited, I mean one.  You can only have that ONE simple object and any further modification requires a complete redo of the files involved.  I know, I've done it.  It's a pain.  So adding functionality will mean adding the ability to have more than one simple hardcoded weapon (which was a cheap hack, IMO) and is a big deal. I for one am looking forward to it!

WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORE:

Lots of stuff,seriously.  Too much for me to cover.  I will go quickly though:
Pasquill has made a set of what looks like 1980'sish ford bronco's in many different colors, shapes, sizes, etc.  It's a good kit but a little overpriced, by my estimate.  I mean in some cases it's literally a recolor and I can't justify spending the same price on one as I do on the other.  Thankfully he's got a pack put to it in a much better spot financially.
Good times.

There's also a new kit by Tazman who is slowly sharpening up his products with the new PBR materials.  I for one think he's come a long way and really hope he continues to grow as his kits have always held a lot of potential.

There's some other stuff in there.  Most interesting, in my opinion is the stuff by M Stockton who continues to deliver new and interesting items.  I particularly like the reloader's bench (reminds me of many musty days in my father and stepfather's respective basements making bullets for competition or hunting) model.  Very nice work indeed!

FREE STUFF:

THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS:

RANDOM ACTS OF CREATIVITY:

This one is one that is a good 'must look at' - it highlights some new work by MooKai on the unique title 'Welcome to Manchester'.  What's impressive is the use of PBR assets in a functional way along with a good lighting setup.  See the video for below:


 A user on discord named PEK put up some really solid looking screenshots as well from a Game Guru game that I have no name for:

We're in a good time, where people can actually start putting together really solid projects right out of the gate with minimum experience - just like was originally intended.  There's still some major faults that hopefully some donations and the github crew can solve (such as the AI system needing some serious reworking).

IN MY OWN WORKS:

I have a significant amount of catching up to do this month to meet my targets.  Thankfully I'm setting my word count very aggressively to help keep myself on track for my writing and I know I can bust out 15-20k words this month if I really buckle down and do it.  The game itself which will sidecar will need some additional love as well since there's a significant amount of assets that still are outstanding.

This Week in Game-Guru - 05/14/2018

Official Game-Guru News:

Nothing new here.  Just some AppGameKit Game-Guru Loader updates. I don't personally use either products so it's not particularly relevant to me.

New Products On The Store:

There's not a lot this week after last week's frenzy.

As you can see, not much.  Some new animals, skies, and buildings.  Unfortunately none of this is particularly stand-out to me.

Free Stuff:

HonkeyBoy has given some nice looking free bamboo models: CLICK HERE
JPH Games made a tunnel PBR pack - I don't really know if I like the texturing on it but some might find some use:  CLICK HERE
Some cool little Cacti by Lafette II:  CLICK HERE
Some free textures (always useful, IMO) here: CLICK HERE
A really excellent liquor/beer bottle from GraPhiX: CLICK HERE

Third Party Tools:

There's a free HUD generator WIP worth looking at: CLICK HERE

Random Acts of Creativity:

So Bugsy has updated Direct Action II's screenshots in his WIP thread and WOW, looks great. 

Here's one to whet your appetite:

I'd show a few but there's like 12 or so so just check it out with this link instead: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219234?page=1#msg2597438

Next up we have an update video from DuchenKuke which really shows the extent of his game's state.  It's fairly impressive and worth a look!

In My Own Works:

Book progress is slow, but that's ok.  I simply have a lot of obligations around this time of year.  As the summer heats up, my book writing will too :)

Picked up a few gems to add though so I'm eager to dump some time into getting that book pounded out, hopefully another 30k words in the next two months.  As it stands, I'm sitting at 55k words, which is no small accomplishment, considering the end goal is around 120k

My Lua Notepad++ API needs an update too.  Maybe I'll get to that in the next few weeks.

I'll admit I've been dumping most of my creative energies into designing my Battletech: A Time of War RPG campaign.  We're prepping for Session 0 (Character Creation) and Session 1 (first play through my custom campaign) and it's been invigorating.  It's interesting to bring my video game design philosophies to the pen and paper rpg domain.

Lastly my Advanced Time of Day and Weather system and all Skies pack is on sale this week for 17.99 (normal price 24.99!)