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Showing posts with label tgc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tgc. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

This Week in GameGuru - 11/06/2019

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.

GameGuru News


If you haven't seen the newsletter, it bears repeating what was mentioned in there.  Notably TGC is in a bugfixing cycle so it's important you take any bugreports you have and post them over on the issues log on GitHub.

What's Good in The Store


This week's totally subjective analysis of the store reveals not much new.  Fredgames continues to pump out products, so check out his store here: https://www.tgcstore.net/artist/250424

Other than that though there a number of notable sales at the top of the page.  Give it a look!

Third Party Tools and Tutorials


BOTR released the final version of his autowelder FPSC to GG pipelining tool. Grab it while you can! https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/221285

Similarly BOTR released his final version of his Heightmap tool! https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/221100?page=1#msg2622936

Free Stuff 


https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220055?page=2#msg2622953 Amenmoses put together some sound control scripts you can get for free.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219734?page=2#msg2622903 3 Sci-fi animated objects by JPH.
A video can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F93CJmXtgyg

 

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)


Naelurec  got some more interesting updates and custom models.  I'm truly interested in seeing where this one goes.  The latest update shows a toxic-looking planetscape:

A favorite of mine, the Cogwheel Chronicles had it's creator Cybernessence dropping more hints and clues about his current work including a heightmapper tool: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213870?page=7#msg2622957

The old master of lighting, Wolf, put up some powerful looking screenshots of a yet unnamed game.



I'm pretty impressed with how far he's come even given his already somewhat legendary status in the community.

Schn33ky posted a game called Dilly Dally Derby, which is actually a complete work at this time: 
It's a betting game where you choose a horse and it randomly runs them out.  It's interesting to me because this is actually a game very similar to one I made back years ago in school. I used monster trucks myself, but I can appreciate the work that went into this.

The biggest news is that Duchenkuke revealed a secret project he's been working on that is now available for public consumption.


Note the custom interface, impressive lighting, use of a powerful vignette and just overall professional feel of the work.

A perhaps better example is this gem:


The atmosphere is intense and palpable. He put a lot of work into the sound design and environments, it features a variety of enemies and is available to be wishlisted on steam (Which I personally recommend doing!) - https://store.steampowered.com/app/657480/Dark_Skies_The_Nemansk_Incident/?beta=0


In My Own Works

This past week was a flurry of getting people their free products as book purchasers.  If I missed you, please contact me on discord, send me a ticket on tgcstore, or send me a message on the forums if all else fails. 



Tuesday, May 21, 2019

This Week in GameGuru - 5/20/2019

GameGuru News


There's lots of ripples in the water, but nothing breaking the surface yet.  So far, a fairly tame week for news.  Nothing on github.  Nothing on steam.  Nothing on the forums.  Officially, at least.  I'll hold off on rumor-mongering until something more concrete forms.

What's Good in the Store


This week the store was flooded by new products and packs.



Fredgames77 has put out a new 'Pack Modular School' and a 'Futuristic street bike'. While the school is a fairly completely set of models, it's also extremely expensive when compared against the baseline for similar products on the store.  I guess we'll see if that baseline goes up or his price comes down.

Sula continues to add a tremendous amount of old European cars to his portfolio.

Corrosion added several "HD" modeled soldiers if you feel you need more masked gunmen for you game(s): https://www.tgcstore.net/artist/221852

The most exciting stuff this week came from Belidos and Pasquill, respectively. Belidos finally released his very impressive isometric dungeon kit:



Which includes seven sub-packs with a huge pile of items in each one.  The best deal, of course, is to buy the main kit which for $9.99 as a sale price gets you access to the entire kit and caboodle. This pack is well worth the buy price if you're looking for a great entry into the 3D isometric genre.

Next up is one of my perennial favorites - Pasquil.  Pasquil has put out a clutter kit of high quality, well mapped PBR assets that are also low poly.



The price is very reasonable at a scant 7 dollars for what is essentially a full library of great outdoor clutter components.

Free Stuff


Tarkus1971 provided a free music track: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213190?page=5#msg2615615

Harrywever (AKA Dagored) provided two new free skyscrapers:



You can get your version here - https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/210761?page=6#msg2615542


Third Party Tools and Tutorials


BOTR added some more dev notes, he is apparently working on an HM2GG 4.0 - https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219806?page=4#msg2615685

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)


Cybernessence posted some new pictures of his water shader.  I truly hope his changes get integrated into the GG core ASAP.  It's great seeing some fresh development, even if it's not by TGC directly.



https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/213870?page=6#msg2615674


In My Own Works


This week I released my final batch of edits to the publisher (due 5/20) along with some minor changes to art and wording.  This however, marks the final bit of changes I can do easily without 'major costs' before the Aug 19th print date.
I also got a picture of my book cover. Looks good. The cover art is what I discussed with my publisher and the format looks good.  Mostly minor issues.

For those interested in the custom assets, I'm currently working on a flamethrower, which is 90% functional using the particle system.  It's fun to use :) 

I've also been on the hunt for some issues with my projectile weapons and other weapons I intend to release with the book. One turned out to be my own personal install - a complete reinstall resolved it. So one down, many to go.  I'm really looking forward to release some of these excellent assets!

Monday, April 8, 2019

This Week in GameGuru - 04/08/2019

GameGuru News


The attic pack is on sale.
Also, apparently (from the monthly newsletter):
"In the background, we have also received a new version of the GLTF importer code from a freelancer who helped create it, and although it only does static textured models at this stage, we are considering adding this new file format to the Model Importer in a future update.
We are also looking closely at a new multiplayer technology too, which will finally allow non-Steam non-owners of GameGuru to play multiplayer sessions with their friends, so watch out for official news on that in the next few months."

That's kind of neat, I guess?  I'm still anxious to hear about the bugfixes purportedly in the pipeline though.

Free Stuff

Grobyken put together a really good looking war-torn building model:




Third Party Tools and Tutorials


Some interesting info here in this AI thread: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220670

A user named 'Nevin' has been making several video tutorials on GameGuru including some basic scripting topics. You can find them here:

What's Good in the Store


This week there's been a lot of updates.  Lots of subjectively good things.


Dagored's got a great looking Apache chopper, Wolf's made some interesting Sci-Fi containers, Mad Lobster continues his film/photo set work, and Graphix put together some excellent looking PBR assets.

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)


Wolf's been working more on Acythian and fine-tuning his scenery:

A new project called "Sereos" (Serious?) made it's rounds with some decent looking screenshots:
Synchromesh added some new pieces to protascope and I have to say I'm super excited to see more work being done on this:

And I'm happy to report that Len the Man has been continuing his cowboy shooter, fine tuning his lighting and level design to produce some really nice looking results:

Keep doing the good work everyone! So far, it seems to be a very productive year for the community.

In My Own Works

The book's secondary materials are grinding along. I've also got edits to make on a very strict timeline to make the August 19th production deadline.

I've finally settled on my 'pack freebie' space sky for the new 4k kit. Owners of the 'Bonus Sampler' will get this included, as well as those who own the 4k HD Space Skies set will also receive this.
A teaser is included below and this should be added within the week!


Have a great week, everyone!




Monday, March 18, 2019

This Week in GameGuru - 03/18/2019

Official GameGuru News:

This week there was an impromptu free weekend for GameGuru.  Unfortunately by the time you read this it'll have been closed. This infusion of fresh blood will likely give us a great deal more new users. 
Work continues on updating older packs to PBR.  I've seen some of the newer results and it's looking pretty good thus far!

Lastly on Github there are a significant amount of changes in motion.  It appears some multiplayer codefixes and menu changes are in the works among other things. We'll know more as we approach release.

What's Good in the Store: 




This week in the store we have some really excellent weapons by Mstockton - it's refreshing to see a modeller make the foray into weapons as they are such a tricky element to implement in GameGuru.

I'm particularly fond of how good the bottles look.

So far he's made a melee-based series of a broken bottle (reskinned into four variants) and a night-stick baton (also with 4 different weapon skins).  The animations are decent and for the price ($3 USD!), you can't go wrong. 

This is just a fraction of the assets you receive!

Also Mad Lobster is working on his first new pack in a long time, his film and photo pack continues his impressive use of PBR and modelling. It's well priced for the quality level you receive, and if his other pack is any indication it will easily be a top shelf item that will receive consistent updates and additions.

Tarkus added a new music pack with that 'abandoned city vibe' - https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11098

If you ever want to build an aquarium, now's the time.

Gtox added a boatload (pun intended) more fish - Tropical Reef Pack

And lastly, I'm sure you had to guess if you know me - my first new works in nearly two years have been added to the store.  I've gone and gotten fairly proficient with my new tools.  Being bottled up creatively while writing a book for 10 months meant I had to run out and create something powerful - and I think I've done a fair job of that!  I wanted to create the definitively highest quality space skies available for GameGuru.




What do you think ... did I hit the mark?  I'll be putting the pack on sale by the time this post goes live for This week only. After that it'll go back up to it's normal price.
Also, I am yet to include the 'pack exclusive sky'.  That should be added later this week so people who already purchased it - you'll see that in your inventory soon!


You can pick up your copy of the 4k HD Space Skies pack here!

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

Weapon and segment autowelder received some updates here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219806

Please note there are a lot of good links just past that for BOTR's 3rd party utils - make sure you grab them while you can!


Free Stuff

I gave out a handful of my 'throwaway' 4k space skies.  This is specifically for the ones I didn't feel met the level of quality I felt were worth selling.  They still far exceed much of what's out there, in my opinion.  Get your free copies here:

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220603

Lafette updated his free trees:  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220474?page=2#msg2613161

Grobyken added a 'simple rusty ladder': https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/217711?page=5#msg2613343

And sadly it's official - Bod's mods are no longer available.  Thanks again Bod for all the hard work and good luck in your future endeavors!

Random Acts of Creativity (WIPs)

So right out - Wolf is continuing his work on his latest project and I have to say I'm optimistic to see it possibly reach it's conclusion in the future.  What's shocking is finding out he's only using a DNIS workflow for these screenshots!


Bonesy is working on his shooter some more.  I've gotten additional screenshots but the reality is I'm limited on size so I'm running out of runway on this blog post. Likewise maiacombra has also started some work on a sci-fi Robinson Crusoe style game.



Lastly Tarkus is working on a great looking game called 'Urban Histories' which has a real interesting feel to it.   Looks like he's widely using readily available models with good placement and the cartoon shader to give it a good look and feel.

In My Own Works

So you may not have heard but the book is officially in the hands of the publisher, woo freaking hoo! I cannot tell you how weird it feels not having that as an ever-present companion to my work-week.  I'm happy it's on it's way.

I picked out the cover art this weekend and worked on some other various side aspects of it such as the back cover text for the publisher.

I have 3-6 months to prep all of the game-specific assets that will go with it and I want to thank everyone who helped me with it.  It's been a long ride and I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing in print!


Monday, November 19, 2018

This Week In GameGuru - 11/19/2018

As you can see, I'll now be cross posted not only at gamedev.net and blogarama but also here on the GameGuru site itself, which is pretty awesome!

So for those of you who are not aware, I've been writing these reports for a very long time at my blog, spanning several years - all the way back to the FPSC Reloaded days.  There's a ton of extra content there such as my tutorial list: http://gamegurureport.blogspot.com/p/my-tutorialstechnique-evaluations.html

and the reference list of everything from FPE errors to light values: http://gamegurureport.blogspot.com/p/reference-list-for-gameguru.html
 
This is a relatively quiet week, so if you missed last week's update (Which is not listed on the GameGuru site as I needed to skip it to get caught up for future content) you can find it here: http://gamegurureport.blogspot.com/2018/11/this-week-in-game-guru-11122018.html

Official GameGuru News


This week was a huge update from the standpoint of actual Game-Guru news as you can see on the front page.  This week we got our third public preview update, which represents a sort of 'last beta' before it actually is released as a final release.  This public preview allows us to test thoroughly all the upcoming changes in the next major release.


https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-public-preview-update-3

The list of changes is substantial and ranges from a better physics shapes, new model changes for better animating and physics responses, better importing, improved particles (a massive update), a HUGE AI update done by smallg & Lee, and of course the usual smattering of minor bugfixes.  It's completely worth taking a few minutes to review the huge list of updates on the actual news link above.

As always I recommend making a copy of your stable version of Game-Guru before downloading the PP update via steam so as to ensure you are secure in case of serious issues with the PP release.

What's Good In The Store


So this week we have some really excellent cartoon cars by Reliquia:

These should be part of a pack!


A very well priced (underpriced, even) monster by LOTGD(80 cents!)


Teabone's been steadily producing scripts for you to purchase now available as a reasonably priced pack:



And lastly, by 'Moshroom' - probably the coolest thing I've seen in a while - a full JRPG script kit!  It's on sale now for 13.00 which is a VERY reasonable price for such a complete script setup.


Get it here at: https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11059

Free Stuff


Not much going on here this week but Maiacoimbra did do several colorings of the medieval weapons and the futuretek shotgun

Third party Tools and Tutorials


This week we have a tutorial on how to reduce polygons you can find here:
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/219982
And some interesting image compression software I have yet to test out, might produce better results for DDS files:   https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220248

Random Acts of Creativity(WIPs)


Graphix has been working on his particle weather effects and recently showed off his fog effects.  I'd love to integrate support for these into my weather system!
You can check out a video of it here:  https://youtu.be/IC__yQpDPp8

We also have an update by Vincent Hendricks on his medieval game which is coming together rather well:


Now for my personal favorite of the week.  Teabone made one of the coolest 'monster/trap' entities I've seen in a while, something I've loved for a long time since my early years playing DND:  The Gelatinous cube!


I absolutely love the gelatinous cubes.  They were always some of the most interesting and difficult monsters to fight; nothing worse than a giant living blob of acid to ruin your day!


In My Own Works


Well, I finally hit 120,000 words (122k, to be precise).  This does not mean the book is done, far from it.  I have two major sections to write:  The model importer and the advanced Lua code section.  Once those are done, I'll be sitting around 130,000 words, which I will probably trim down to 125-122k after editing.

After editing (should be wrapped up by mid-December) I'll then start taking the 150+ pictures I need for the book!

Then I get the joy of formatting it and typesetting it for the publisher, sending it to my editor for one last review, then sending it to the PUBLISHER's editor, then so on and so forth until it is finally accepted by the publisher (CRCPress) in February or so.

Still, I'm very happy with how this has come along recently and it's great to finally be making REAL progress on this.



Monday, November 12, 2018

This Week in Game-Guru - 11/12/2018

This week's update may actually make it to the Game-Guru news page, woohoo!

We'll see.  I've been in communication with TGC's marketing person and it's moving forward, albeit a bit slowly.

Official Game-Guru News

Well, it doesn't appear they have added anything new as of this writing, though typically news releases seem to be done later today or tomorrow.  In the interim I can say I found this site:
https://www.game-guru.com/news-posts?post_type=guest-authors
Which currently only has one post but hopefully yours truly will see the light of day there soon.

What's Good in the Store

This week we've got two entries.  One is a timely turkey, as it were, just in time for the grand American holiday of Thanksgiving were we gorge ourselves on copious amounts of food and then fall into a comatose state.
A little small, by 'murican standards.


Campana productions put this one together and you can find it here: https://www.tgcstore.net/product/32155

Next we have a really nicely done pack of snow-themed assets.



It's got everything from buildings to vehicles.  I'm also happy to see he included a few free models for you to trial as well.  It's well priced at $8.00 which is a bargain by any standards.

You can get your copy here: https://www.tgcstore.net/pack/11058

Free Stuff


In the realm of free stuff we're getting into the giving time of year and it shows!
Lafette, as mentioned, has a few free things on that pack you should grab.  He also made a train station too though.

You can get your copy of the 'Free old German train station' here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220209

It appears GraphiX is making headway on his new kit, though I'm not sure if it will be free (though he keeps posting updates to the free forum so.. maybe?).  You can watch a video on this interesting sci-fi pack here: https://youtu.be/CToyFLW70d0

Mstockton released some free music over at his site.  Definitely head on over and make sure to like the page for him! https://michaelstockton.net/cartoon-casual-game-tracks-volume-1

Honkeyboy released some Lua code for Game-Guru that allows you to setup chatting NPCs relatively easily.  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220225#msg2608076
It's mostly to control the animations though so you'll still need to manage all the other elements such as sound and text. 

Third Party Tools and Tutorials

I found this ENORMOUS tutorial playlist on Game-Guru related topics on youtube over the weekend while doing book research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjSBCevTnYI&list=PLot9BTdhKKd4KV91P7WkIKVsybktHu1Za

Random Acts of Creativity(WIPs)

This has been an absolutely crazy week for updates so if I missed you, apologies.  I *THINK* I got them all.  So in no particular order....

Schneeky has a fairly well done Medieval project put together.  I'm curious how this will bear out.  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220228

Honkeyboy started a new project.  Not so sure about this one, but if he polishes it, maybe it'll take roots for him.  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220201#msg2607752

A new user "OPENLOAD" made an italian title that looks very promising "Il mio primo lavoro "Memory of the Hedolan": https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220223

Of particular note is DVader, who crawled out of the woodwork to deliver a holiday-themed project.  Why this is noteworthy is DVader is actually a fairly competent coder so you can expect some interesting work from a technical standpoint in this project.  https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220214

Ertlov released a slice of his game 'Into the Ice' for testing - check it out here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/206985?page=3#msg2608009

Bonesy continues to update Cyberfi and it's actually starting to look like a real game.  This is a great example of what happens when you focus, buckle down and actually WORK on your projects!


Granada's been working on some guns in Game-Guru and I have to say I love the exaggerated look!


In My Own Works


I'm drawing closer and closer to completing my book, now within striking range of my target for completion.  I'm at 110,000 words and counting.  Once I pass 120k I'll probably keep going to 125/130k and then remove about 3-5k for editing.

This week was all about advanced AI control, sales, marketing, and piracy.  Very preliminary editing work began with chapter reorgs and other things.

Further this week will be mostly Lua oriented as I wrap up the 'intro' chapter to Lua, then do a complete Lua command reference for Game-Guru, and if I have time work on the Advanced Lua chapter (which I will admit I am somewhat dreading).

See you next week!


Monday, October 22, 2018

This Week in Game-Guru - 10/22/2018

So I'm back from my business trip and there's a lot of catching up to do.  Let's get started!

Official Game-Guru News:

Every once in a while TheGameCreators, makers of Game-Guru, release two press releases inside of a week. Makes it a little difficult for me as a weekly updater but in case you missed them there are two new updates to cover:

https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-buildings-pack-update-released Finally, with all the PBR retexturing done they got to the buildings and... they look... ok-ish?  I guess?  I don't know.  They seem to lack the really high quality finish some of the other PBR redos have.  I use these models regularly as stand-ins or as actual elements and it's just a little disappointing to see that the textures seem marginally better as a result of the PBR treatment.  I'll have to play with it to see if I can improve it, but judge for yourself:


In better news, however, there's a new pack out - the "Medical Pack".  This pack is really ripe with tons of goodies like really well textured models of x-ray machines, gurneys, doors, desks, curtains, etc.  I'd put this in a 'must buy' category.  It's currently on sale for 20% off.



These materials can find a home in a great many different projects so definitely consider picking it up!

Free Stuff:

Animated Wooden Crate by Lafette II: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220151
This crate is unusual in that it performs the function of being "a wooden box that opens when you approach it and let all the objects you can pick up in the two rooms float first and then slide into the box after a short while. It can be used excellently in fantasy games, but it also looks great in modern shooter games." ... will need to try this one out myself later.

Third Party Tutorials and Tools

Information on how to make an animated TV monitor: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220149

Random Acts of Creativity

Now in this particular area I have a lot of updates to go over so bear with me as  I cover them all.

New assets are on the way!


First and foremost there are a significant amount of new assets in the pipeline for store users.  If you're interested in purchasing these and want to see what's coming soon - check this subforum and just look at all the big names in there - Lafette, Graphix, Wizard of Id, etc.  Tons of really good stuff is on the way! 

Bellidos meanwhile has been hard at work on something he calls 'mastaba':

It's an interesting recessed temple model.  Not much more to go on but it showed up in the discord while I was out of town and I like the way it looks.  Expect it on the store soon!

A lot of work was done on particles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLebdDTJgis Preben's at it again with some GG Loader particles that produce excellent weather effects.

https://youtu.be/Tm_u6HsI7Lg  Graphix and Amenmoses have been working on some interesting particle stuff in this video link given as well.

Game-Guru users have been hard at work as well...

Len the man has been hard at work at his cowboy shooter and while I think some may complain about the graphics what he HAS shown limit on talent with are his creation and use of cutscenes.  Check out this gif and just try to figure for yourself how it was accomplished, because I can't manage it shy of frame-by-frame video editing:






Yeah, I wish I could do that.  I've asked him for info on how, so I can maybe write it up in my book but dang.  Good work Len!

New user 'Bonesy' has continued his work on 'cyberfi' and it's starting to look more and more like a real game.  Admittedly it's a bit too spartan and the colors are very polarizing by my standards but it's always good to see people steadily improving their product.  He's even added some mech with custom AI to it, so it's definitely going places though it still needs a LOT of polish.


I'm looking forward to see where it goes from here.

A frequent favorite on here, Duchenkuke won the most recent contest (I was not a participant this time, due to work - though I don't think I'd have beaten this entry) on a ghost town theme with this beauty:



However little did you know he also makes music as well - check out some of his most recent stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbM5ph8VeU

Oh and lastly, in case you're interested in how NOT to act as a Game-Guru user you can check out some juicy controversy here: https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/220157

In My Own Works

I have my work cut out for me, I knew this already but this last week really set me back a LOT.  I now have an additional 5k words I need to write this week meaning I'll be lucky if I can make it to 8k words.  That means long days and longer nights as I try to get caught up.

I have some really great ideas for projects and products for Game-Guru but can't get the time to work on them.  Such is life.  Once the book is clear I have to do the sidecar game to go with it so I'm probably going to be running 100% until next June.  Lovely!

Monday, August 6, 2018

This Week in Game-Guru - 8/6/2018


Lots to cover this week!

Official Game-Guru News:

Things are really making a lot of progress.

For a long time, the Game-Guru market was fairly stable.  Fairly calm.  We had a crappy boat on fair waters, so to speak.  Sure, the thing had a five horsepower engine, but the seas were as easy as could be.  The past year has been a rocketship to the moon, by comparison.

Each week I'd write up my little report and think "well, that was easy".  I'd hunt down the 1-2 lines of detail about what is going on, put up some stuff from the store and cover the bases.

Then TGC went to github and we never came back.

There have been a whirlwind of changes done over the past year and honestly if you HAD Game-Guru at one point and dismissed it, we're now safely at a point where I can say you should give it another look over.  Literally EVERYTHING is different.

We have dynamic lighting (up to 38 simultaneously, up from 3!).
We have functional PBR.
We have memory issues fixed.
We have modifiable projectiles.
We have quality of life fixes, like needing to press shift-f1/2/3/4 to go to the lightmapper.
We have better weapons systems code.
Almost every single DLC pack has been overhauled.

Seriously, it's a lot to take in.  I highly recommend you give it another go, if you have the time.

Full details on the update can be found here: https://www.thegamecreators.com/post/gameguru-launches-monster-update

The big takeaway here is this isn't the first major update in the past year.  It's more like the third.  Seriously.  There's been a lot of changes and appear to be more in store.

What's New In The Store

Recently there was a new kit released, specifically a weapons package.
There's very few times when I have to list something as a 'must buy' but you're insane if you don't pick up this kit.  This ultra-high quality kit is as good as I've seen for Game-Guru and really amplifies your options for game-making.  Some minor changes to the textures and you'll have more than enough to change the game to your liking.  Even if you don't, these are superb weapons.  Check out the demo reel here:


So yeah, that's pretty much the first 'must buy' thing I've seen in a while and frankly I'm not surprised.  I've long maintained that EAI (Errant AI) is the best artist in the Game-Guru community.  This new pack sort of underscores that point.

Not that other artists aren't any good - it's just if you are looking for the absolute best of the best in terms of item/set quality items - he has no real equal (especially since his only real competition has moved on).



Speaking of must buys, there are some other really great items this week on the store.
Notably we have another top shelf artist (BSP) who created some fantastic PBR trees.  If you absolutely must have the best looking trees possible, accept no substitutes!

We've also got a great city pack from Lafette (whose work has been growing leaps and bounds lately) and a very non-ninja oriented set of NPC turtles.  While I can't imagine Gtox is going to see a lot of demand for the turtles, I have no doubt they will be of the same high quality as most of his creatures are.

Random Acts of Creativity

I want you all to know that what follows here is.. unusual for me.  I go out of my way to not ever be derisive or condescending but seriously, this can't be helped.




In literally one of the most baffling things I've ever seen, there's something for sale on the TGC store that.. I don't know what it is.
Seriously.
It's called 'Data Bafticomputer'.  It's by a 'Drstewart8klar' though if you google around you'll find he goes by drstewart2klar, 4klar, etc etc.. there's a million aliases.  You also find two books on smashwords.com which are of .. questionable english usage.  I mean I found a read-along on youtube and I literally lost all understanding of what the hell was going on.  My inner Gordon Ramsey is standing around asking "What the $@%! is this pile of *** ****?"

So yeah.  I think this qualifies, probably, as an act of creativity.  I guess.  I mean it's got some pretty fantastic ms paint art... it's marked as 'adult content' but there's nothing even indicating why or what this is... and yeah.  I mean this is a train wreck spaghetti-plate disaster.  It's worth looking at, if only as a cautionary tale as to how not to release a game.

So in a more meaningful set of reviews - Bugsy appears that he's done with Direct Action 2!  Looks great.  His minimalist "high speed low drag" approach to game design is worth taking a peek at - he is a ruthlessly efficient developer and while it's not for everyone it has some serious purpose behind it.  Moreover the cutscene work is pretty impressive, considering the limitations of the engine.

Youtube video of his work can be found here (Don't want to bog down the page with more than one video, sorry!)

Another super interesting one (to me, at least) is Bod (you know, the super prolific free-stuff guy) is making a game and model pack.  It's a different style but honestly I'm ok with that - I like seeing the variety in people's artistic visions.  This medieval style game has promise.  As it is refined it should really clean up well. 

A very Bod-style game, interesting to see it all put together!
Lastly we have Len the Man's 'Cowboy Shooter'.  I feel like this is a really good example of what a really concerted new game developer can do with the Game-Guru engine.  His patient and steady improvement of his levels is really showing some promise and I truly hope he keeps at it!.


Tutorials and Third Party Programs


With a lot of third party programs being integrated into the core build due to it being accessible via Github, we have a lot of potential loss for this particular section.  There was a great article a few weeks back that if you map over Game-Guru's development, it takes a very similar tract.

https://medium.com/@eigenbom/how-to-take-7-years-to-ship-a-beta-4fcfc2428d88

Of course, that's all mute now because we're seeing real progress now that the engine's been opened up.

In My Own Works


<REDACTED>

There's a lot going on right now.  Keep your eyes peeled for an old project I never released to make the light of day.  Some interesting code, for sure.  A while ago I uncovered/developed a really impressive algorithm for creating certain randomization within Lua. 

I think it's about time I showcase them!  Also, as an aside my complete time day and weather kit, along with all skies package is on sale at 14.95 this week!



Friday, October 14, 2016

Protogenic Subculture, a private pack design by Wolf!

Wolf remains one of my favorite artists on the store, as well as off the store.  You'll find a link on the right to his personal page as a result.

He's got a good eye for creating interesting and unique shapes.  His designs are among the most daring shapes you can find available for Game Guru.  Also important to me is that he shares a passion for Sci-Fi; specifically cyberpunk.

Purchase Protgenic Subculture HERE!

Cyberpunk, for those who don't know, is a specific sub-set of Sci-Fi which revolves around neon textures, rusty pipes, gears, a sort of grungy technomancer look that really looks great in games.  Deus Ex, for example, could be considered Cyberpunk.

Or, according to a '94 issue of Mondo 2000, meet the above criteria.

This kit is not available on the TGC store.  It's privately sold.  It's also well priced (currently costing $10, get it while you can!)

Some of these clutter objects are very large, like the satellite array, which is EEENNOOORMOUS

It features a whopping 79 total entities.  Most of them are clutter objects, but brilliant ones that are low poly enough to be used in many, many projects.  Further, a great many are illumination mapped so you can get illumination effects when you add lighting.

Please note, actual pieces are shown above from the kit.
Basically the concept here is you take a city scene and modify it to make it more cyberpunk style.  This can be done very rapidly by simply building a standard city (use my instructions, if you need help!) and simply adding the pieces of flair, as it were.

Here's a quick example:
Literally the barest minimum here, two objects added to a building.
You can do a lot with these pieces.  The mazes of wires, the advertisements make for a rich setting.

They also go well with his other pieces by following the same trend; you can use pieces from the Mega Pack 01's future set if you are looking for another good bargain to mix with these.

Overall, I'm exceptionally pleased with this.  It's been a great investment and will do much to improve my levels as they move forward.

For the money this is a fantastic value.  These set pieces will give you a lot of mileage.  My only complaint is that they look better in his editor than they do in Game-Guru.  But honestly, that's really par for the course at least until Game Guru's renderer improves.  Regardless, they still prove to be quite capable and worth the pickup.



IN THE INTEREST OF DISCLOSURE I RECEIVED THIS PACK AS A REVIEWER'S KIT. IT DID NOT IMPACT MY ANALYSIS OF THIS AT ALL.  I RECEIVE NOTHING FOR PROVIDING POSITIVE REVIEWS.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

TGC's 'Sci-Fi DLC'

So it's been a while since my last post.
I know, I know.  But to my credit - most of that time was spent shovelling.

York PA got dumped on - we got as much snow in one day as we get on average for a WHOLE WINTER.   So I've literally spent every night shoveling, every day shoveling.  It's left little time for creative pursuits.

On top of that I've had my hands full with life stuff such as my second son's upcoming birth.  That means Dr's appts, calling around, finding sitters, etc.

I never expected the level of traffic my little post to John Romero would generate and I'm happy for it.  No more excuses.  Time to knuckle down and get to work.

I've waited a long time for the vaunted "Sci-Fi DLC" by 'The Game Creators'.  I have several of their other packs (having been a FPS Creator Reloaded gold backer) and much of the content is unfortunately redundant or kind of amateurish.

That's not the case here.

The kit comes with a whole slew of useful items:
  • 23 Building parts
  • 7 Characters (alien, space marines and a spaceman)
  • 11 Collectables
  • 73 Decals
  • 34 Interior sections
  • 21 Rocks
  • 43 Scenery items
  • 3 Martian terrains
  • 3 Martian skies 
Now given my store entries are purely of skies, the skies are minimally useful to me.

I don't care about the custom level they made aside from the bits of script I can rip out and repurpose.

So let's talk price.  Currently it's on sale as a promo - 14.99 USD.  That's a really good deal for a ton of very high quality assets.  Take a look:

 One of the many characters included - looks similar to a custom one I made!

A little note on the characters - all of their component parts are included in the character creator!  Which while not a fantastic builder by any stretch (the base parts are just dreadfully bad) the new heads/bodies breath lots of life into the system and further diversify user-created products.

Lots of the interior elements look really good too as set pieces:

 Like this little guy in his glass womb.  This is perfect for any sci-fi horror game.


I've spent a long time looking for various parts that go together as a whole and while this was originally designed for ground-based games - it works really well for a number of sci-fi pieces.

The outdoor pieces look way better than the preview shots did, final post-work looks great!

The indoor pieces in my opinion though are where this set really shines.

 
In particular there's a ton of decals and graphics which allow a lot of flexibility for stick-on neon lighting or displays to add flair for each room.

This console is modular and can be built with additional monitors and displays, for instance.

All in all I'm very surprised and pleased with the level of quality they brought to the table and ten out of ten times would buy this again, especially considering the pittance they are asking for.

Another important point to consider is that they regularly add pieces to the DLCs.  I know for a fact a drone set is coming soon after they put finishing touches on it.  The fantasy DLC is also getting stuff despite being in the wild now for around a year or so.

The bottom line on this is that it's a quality piece to own especially if you're into the genre, like I am.  Give it a look!

Thanks to TGC for the pictures which I took from their DLC store page.  I'll try to add some of my own graphics later or give a few sample shots as time goes on.