This Week in GameGuru - 08/12/2019

This article represents solely the opinion of the author and does not reflect the opinions or views of r The Game Creators, it's employees, or subordinates.  It likewise does not reflect the views or opinions of www.tgcstore.net and it's staff.  The author receives no compensation for this work and it is done solely as a service for the GameGuru community at large.

As you can see, this week I've included a disclaimer as I've received feedback that the way this blog is syndicated on www.game-guru.com, www.thegamecreators.com, blogarama, and gamedev.net can lead to some confusion as to the nature of these news releases. I will be including this disclaimer going forward to help clarify for those who are not familiar with my work.

While I realize that some people may disagree with my methodologies, at the same time you are free to do so.  I do reside and live in the United States of America and our rights of free speech are important to me.  I make every effort to ensure that I do not denigrate or diminish anyone's work.  If you take issue with the way I portray YOUR PERSONAL PRODUCTS then please contact me.

Thanks for your time, everyone - I now consider that issue at an end.  Also, a special note at the end so make sure you read all the way through - big news about my book! :)

GameGuru News

Per GitHub the latest information is that there is a trial version being added to GameGuru where you can use it for around 7 days before having to purchase it.  This will likely add a number of new potential buyers to the product so keep a close eye out for those new guys and gals!

Also it appears there is a relatively minor change that will allow standalones to be exported without encryption so as to allow entity sharing?  I'm not sure what that one is for but I'm sure it'll make sense eventually.

I can also soft confirm that ... other interesting things are going on with GG.  That's the most I'll say for the moment!

What's Good in The Store

FredGames77 continues to pump out high quality assets at a record pace.  While we've all likely got a huge stash of boxes, the quality on his recent submission is definitely worth a look:

You get 10 'pack cases' (boxes) for $10 (currently on sale for $5!) - a very reasonable offer.  These are high quality to boot with low poly count and excellent PBR texturing.  Get yours here: https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11145

There's also this interesting grub enemy creature by Gtox:

Get yours here: https://www.tgcstore.net/product/33376

Free Stuff

Honkeyboy added some horns to Character Creator: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220945

Not bad work.  I will admit my book's materials ALSO include some donated Character Creator attachments so keep an eye out for that as well. He's got additional ones here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220945#msg2618825
They include a rice farmer's hat, knight's templar's helm, skeleton warrior, and another set of demon horns.

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

 

This week I caught wind of a pretty interesting blog tutorial on the best mods for Blender 2.8 (which recently dropped).  If you use Blender actively check it out here:   https://cgcookie.com/articles/the-top-10-modeling-addons-for-blender-2-8

The latest official GameGuru tutorial video was posted online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMqPsVpy2Ag

There were actually a number of non-english tutorials being posted.  Some work reasonably well enough with youtube's auto-translate function if you're interested:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEova6DMa5Q

Work continues on the '3d Asset Manager' program for GG - it has come such a long way in such a short period.  The latest info can be found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220822?page=5#msg2618874

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

Bod this week made a really serious Taxicab..which turned into a police car... which turned into this awesome street racer with neon lights and alpha-planed headlights.  https://youtu.be/dw8mi4z7isg

Bonesy also made more forward momentum through steady refinement of his cyber-fi game:

One of the more interesting bits is a new user named "Trollbae" posted one of his friends creations from amateur work in the EBE and it's an impressive manor house:

I have to admit this is quality work for someone who is just trying out the EBE and GameGuru.  It shows a pretty clear ease for new users and I proves a bit to some of us older hats that maybe the EBE is worth using from time to time after all!

Tarkus1971 posted an update to his 'Urban Histories' game that I am personally very interested in seeing - apparently he's reworking it from scratch.  More info here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220589?page=1#msg2619135

Solar is working on a side project called "Zombie Central".  It's a suburban zombie city crawl.
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220974#msg2619073

This is because his other project, Kaboom Foxie is apparently nearly complete.

In My Own Works

And lastly, in my own big news (if you even made it this far to the end of this report) ... is my book is FINALLY released!

https://www.crcpress.com/An-Introduction-to-GameGuru/Messina/p/book/9781138612631

That's right!  The first start to finish guide for making and selling a game in GameGuru is finally here! The book is 426 pages in print with a significant error index, Lua, FPI Guide, 20+ chapters on GameGuru and Game Development in general.

The assets for this (demo maps, character creator addons, custom weapons,  custom static entities, some generously donated other materials, all my scripts, skies and textures...) are all going to be uploaded TONIGHT by 12PM EST.

I will also be giving away some promotional copies for FREE in the coming week.  So keep your eyes peeled on Discord and on the Forums for more details.

For those interested, there is a special 20% off discount code I have through my publisher you can use that is valid until the END OF THE YEAR - AITGG230 

FOR THOSE NOT PURCHASING THE BOOK, THE ASSETS WILL BE POSTED TO THE STORE IN THE COMING WEEK OR SO FOR PURCHASE.  

This Week in GameGuru - 02/04/2019

Official GameGuru News:

Well, another pack got more of a PBR DLC treatment: https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-construction-site-dlc-updated-4

Lee made a minor series of patches on Github centering around some slight code changes. He also made a new branch on Github for alpha releases. https://github.com/TheGameCreators/GameGuruRepo/tree/AlphaSite

On an aside, this week the Facebook GameGuru community group (click here for a link) was recently given a new administrator or three.  As a result it's in the middle of a facelift.  Given this is a community run Facebook page, it's definitely going to start being more active if you're into that kind of thing.

What's Good in The Store:

MStockton put up a new script (well priced) that allows you to display a map when the M Key is pressed.  Campana Productions added a glass wall maze set, which is a fairly interesting system I'd consider taking a look at.

Free Stuff:

Lafette II put up a link to all of his free works as well as a greenhouse.  Check it out here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220474

Third Party Tools and Tutorials:

This week on the store someone added Game Launcher Creator for 24.99 - it's a great utility and it comes highly recommended from some users I interviewed for my book.

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs):

Duchenkuke continues to show his mastery over outdoor environments.  He's added some beautiful screenshots for his first level....

and gave teasers of his second...

I have to say, it's definitely refreshing to see someone with proficiency using the engine to it's fullest.

Bonesy continues work on his unique cyberpunk shooter:

And in other news I found this great gem of a re-texture by Wolf.  He took one of the war-torn buildings and fixed some of the model's polys.  He then cleaned up the texture and... wow.  What a night and day difference!

In other news I got a request to review some games that are being released on steam.  I was given some free DLC keys to review them.  I will probably get to that after my book is with the publisher, but right now I'm simply too crunched to take private requests like this. In the meantime, keep on chugging guys and gals!

In My Own Works:

 

This week I got good news back from my publisher and bad news.  The first bit is I won't have to rewrite all of my content, which is great.  It really shaves time down so I can keep the personalized style I went with for it.
The downside is I need all of my pictures ready when I submit, meaning I spent 4 hours yesterday night making just a spreadsheet to keep track of the 167 pictures going into the book.
That's before I even get the pictures in!
That said if I can have this done by the end of the week we'll be moving to formatting, then submission!

This Week in GameGuru - 12/17/2018

This week has a lot of updates to cover.  Let's get started! First a quick reminder that I am not an employee of TheGameCreators (TGC) and as such this opinion piece does not reflect their views. This is entirely a piece based on my own findings. 

Official GameGuru News

So first off, there's the rather beautiful 'Cold War' pack.
A few weeks ago we were offered a preview of the asset list for this one and I have to say it looked really gorgeous.  The demo picture on the above link is also fairly compelling.  I'd say of the recent DLC releases, this one is my favorite.  That said, there's a few things I've picked up in 'chatter' from various model artist friends of mine as I've been slogging through the forums and discord.  Apparently there's some optimization that may need done on this pack and the author was notified of this.  I'm hoping we see that but in the meantime if you notice any performance issues with it, make sure you bring them to TGC support's attention.

Next up with respect to the other PBR updates that have been rolling out regularly, there have been some complaints about how they have come about on the models.  In many cases, people are finding that it's just not sufficient to add PBR to a very old model.  GraphiX demonstrated this on a forum post:

The left is the improved model while the right is the post-PBR update model. Apparently model smoothing groups needed changed, though I'll admit that's a bit above my head from a modelling standpoint. 
Regardless, even a casual user can see a substantial difference. So substantial that lee went and replied on the matter in a way that I can honestly say was very refreshing.  I'd love to see more communication and direct interaction with the community like this:

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220318#msg2609579

Take some time to take a look at this post and really process it, because it means a lot.  First he acknowledges the problems and then says he's going to create a new donation bucket and dump the remaining ones to pay for Graphix's fixes.  The new donation bucket will be for updates.  Make sure you re-update your donations to help support the non-TGC members!


So there we have it.  Definitely some steps in the right direction.  I know a few people are perpetual pessimists in this community and I really can't blame them - but I will personally say I've seen more change this year than I've seen in the last five.

What's Good in The Store

Well let's start with something pretty fantastic  - a release by Slaur3n called 'Santa and the Evil Snowmen'.  It's a really impressive minigame (single level) designed completely in GameGuru.  You don't need GameGuru to purchase it, just a TGCstore account.  It's available for a reasonable price on the store ($2.50).

You can get your copy here: https://www.tgcstore.net/product/32204

Also we've got even more work by Lotgd (aka Friskon) .. I have to say this one is probably one of his better ones and it's criminally cheap - animated maggots for corpses.  This is one you need to watch the video to get the full effect.  The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3v6xWSYyo

Now available for 30 cents in USD: https://www.tgcstore.net/product/32211

M2Design has put together a background set of ruined buildings which are fairly efficient poly-wise but still have high end textures if you want to showcase them up close.  You can find the entire pack available for a reasonable price here: https://www.tgcstore.net/product/32210

Third Party Tutorials and Tools

Cybernessence made a modification to the core PBR shader that allows you to completely disable the sun for indoor scenes.  I tested it among many others and it seemed to work brilliantly in that regard.  Instructions on installation and usage can be found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220297?page=2#msg2609391

M2Design put together some really fantastic instruction on fixing his transparencies for glass which has always been a sticking point for modellers with GameGuru.  Instructions are found here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220333#msg2609551

There's a pretty good discussion going on about importing MakeHuman characters into GameGuru.
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220299

Free Stuff

This week in Free Stuff we have: 

Lotgd (the maggot maker from above) made a free Christmas set.  Should be fun to play around with and hey, you don't have to pay for it so that's always nice :)   Get your copy here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220313#msg2609322

There's a glowing sphere here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220314

Graphix and Amenmoses have brought back the Piano: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217932?page=12#msg2609296

And I have to say my favorite of the Free Stuff this week was from Lafette II with his Chinese Christmas object pack.

You can get your copy here:
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220328

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

Bonesy has been doing more work with his CyberFi game - I noticed one of the skies looked familiar, turns out it's one of my old HD Space Skies :)

Looks like he added a face to the HUD as well.  While the palette hurts me a bit, I have to say his dedication to plodding forward on his project is exactly how things get done.  He just keeps chipping away at it and it's coming along great. 

Duchenkuke continues to wow with his Metro-style game that I am personally very interested in seeing come to completion - keep cracking man - you're doing fantastic! Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By13-y6bFwk


Defy put out some pretty impressive NPC behavior.  He's gotten pretty good with making the characters in GameGuru perform specific tasks and it shows:

There's a video available, of course, it appears to be related to 3rd person over the shoulder game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1NCzsUa7f4

Last up we have some screenshots from PirateMyke's work.  This latest stuff is pretty sweet looking and he is really dialing in his lighting:

I have to say, some of these projects are looking like they are really firming up.  The work going on here is fairly inspirational and I'm looking forward to be able to work on something myself (once the book is done).

In My Own Works

So obviously I had this huge update to do, but I've also been having a blast in my weekly tabletop game campaign.  I used to update the blogger page for it but I simply ran out of time.  Regardless, the players absolutely trounced me this round but that only makes the GM (me) want to make it tougher for them :) 

Beyond that the book is coming along, despite the difficult subject matter.  Big special thanks to AmenMoses for being available for my incessant questioning.  He's been extremely helpful for me to get a solid understanding of Physics and Particles as they are implemented by GameGuru.  After this I have the unenviable task of reading through this immense tome and fixing all the minor errors, then reorganizing the book more logically.

It's going to be a massive undertaking that will probably go on through at least the first few weeks of the year.  I'm also going to need to take approximately 130 pictures for the book, which is... also fairly daunting.  Thankfully most of it is fairly straightforward stuff like GUI icons and what not. 

Still, writing a technical walk through book like this is not for the faint of heart.  I'm looking forward to it's impending completion and subsequent release!

This Week in GameGuru - 12/10/2018

Welcome back to another busy week in the GameGuru community.  Let's dive right in!

Official GameGuru News

This week saw another model kit update - specifically PBR getting added to some of the collectibles and minor doodads of  the Sci-Fi kit. I did notice, however, they are still using the Red Cross on the collectible for the heathkit.  This is considered a no-no in the GameDev community since it violates the Geneva Convention for using the international symbol of the Red Cross.  I brought this to TGC's attention and while no comment has been given thus far on it I'm certain they will take quick and decisive action to remedy this.

As we enter the traditional holiday cycle, don't be surprised to not see any major code releases or updates done for a while.  I've noticed we tend to get 3-4 major releases a year and the most recent one will probably hold us for a while, likely until March or so. In the interim, it appears they are content to continue pushing Add On content and updates.  It can be frustrating for users who want to see steady and complete refinement of the core product.  Well hey, at least it's consistent, right?

What's New in the Store

Recently a TGCStore seller's discord was added.  If you need access, contact 'TheNext' on the regular GameGuru discord.

Not a lot of brand new stuff, though it seems the cartoon-style assets are really taking off.  I like how they look though I worry it's going to saturate the market a bit.  Still, Reliquia and Belidos both are providing really quality stuff you can find right off the main store page.

There's also a creepy Nun and an 'abomination' by Gtox.  
 

Free Stuff

In 2016 , there was a great bit of 'Christmas Giving' done at Wolf's signalling.  I have to say, it was a nice sentiment and I would love to see more of that.

In the meantime, enjoy this 'free little alien'.

If you're looking for Wolf's Christmas Advent Calendar of free stuff from 2016, check it out at this link here! 

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

Well foremost it appears that Epic games is positioning themselves as an indie gamedev marketplace.  This is huge news and deserves some praise.  Steam is a great platform in a lot of respects but the 30% right off the top is pretty brutal for many involved.  Epic is offering a digital platform with 12% costs, but get this - if you use the Unreal engine then the traditional 5% for using that engine will be deducted from the 12% they take.  So you in reality are saving money by using their engine on their platform.  Pretty brilliant marketing though they'll need more than that to defeat a monster as big as Steam.

Also it appears that SegmentAutoWelder (an FPSC conversion tool for GG) is repaired.  You can get your updated copy here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220102

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs) 

Well, interestingly enough as work slows down on the engine, work picks up on people's projects!  Lots of interesting screenies for this week for you.  I hope I caught them all!

Mstockton's in development PBR Assets

Bonesy continues work on his Sci-Fi Shooter

DuchenKuke is putting out some fantastic Metro:2033 style screenshots

Len the man continues to show us how simple methods produce great results for cutscenes

VincentHendricks made this great scene using some dynamic lights set at the right coloration!

Friskon - Lotgd made this bizarre gif which sort of boggles and fascinates simultaneously!

As you can see, there's a lot going in in the community. I'm still waiting for a serious game to show up, something that can really knock the socks off other communities out there.  I think if guys like Duchenkuke can keep working at it, they'll eventually release something incredible.  It just takes perseverance, some tolerance for GameGuru's nuances, and a steady hand.

Beyond that we're seeing some amazing work by the other devs who contribute code wise.  Check out some of the latest works of Graphix and Amenmoses - their particle system now has physics effects!

T-bone is working on stealth mechanics similar to what you find in the old Thief games: Video Here

Amenmoses has made some huge advances to his 'pickuppable' scripts.  Notably now you can actually use them to throw and injure enemies.  Check out the video of it here: https://vimeo.com/305258044

In My Own Works

This week I didn't get as much done as I'd like. The last mile here is proving somewhat difficult as I saved all the more dangerous or difficult tasks to cover for last.  This means particles, physics, advanced engine tricks like camera control - all of that is a bit daunting to write and a lot to research and test.  It'll get there though.  The trick is to just keep plodding inexorably forward.