I just gave GG a Thumbs-up review on Steam, and continue to be interested in how this system will develop.

I've been at this for about 17 months now (back to Reloaded V003). I began this process with limited knowledge, so to a great extent this time has been a great learning experience. Today I can create and import my own models (even have a few in the GG Store). I've taken the time to learn LUA, which is a great language for GG. However, as I have little interest in FPS games, all I've been able to do is create environments (Mill Town, and Temple of the River Queen), However, with the limitations on script-able features I simply can go no further until at least some of the my underlying needs are met.

Today GG is a Terrain based FPS game maker, IE Terrain based in that the AI characters only work correctly when they are on or very near the terrain. Climbing stairs, ramps, or working on surfaces above the terrain is very very limited. This, along with the lack of script-able control over the movement of the Camera/Player, make things like driving or flying games all but impossible.

Further, player inter-action with the game engine is limited to pressing the "E" key, as no point and click game control yet exists. Thus interaction is limited to movement of the player and the ability to fire a weapon with a LM click. No inventory, and no way to access inventory items except weapons, and again only through pressing a key.

I thought it interesting in today's news that the development team is concentrating on the "Visuals". Funny, since we are so limited in terms of terrain painting textures, as well as the ability to sculpt terrain beyond making perfectly round hills or holes, which (in my opinion) does not match-up well with the basic terrain which appears much more realistic.

OK, so you might read this and say, "Why do I give GG a big thumbs up?"

Look, I'm in for the long haul. I've made the investment (as a gold pledger). I have faith that the GG team will get there, the only question is WHEN? I have also realized that I'm less interested in using GG as a game maker, and more interested in building explorations, simulations, and video content, the tools for which are not yet available.

As such I'm going to direct my attention to improving my modeling skills (maybe even take a 3rd pass at learning Blender), and simply keep an eye on GG in the weeks and months ahead. If and when the features I need come to pass... I'll Be Back!

Sounds like a reasonable thing to do. Hopefully by the time you return the features you want will be implemented. Plus hopefully you can share the fruits of the new skills you learn with other users. It's good to pick a focus and improve on it. Good luck and I hope you achieve the skill set you want.

I hear you on all points. Hope to see you when you get back.

LOL, I'm on pass 20 at least! I do know WAY more than when I started with it back in the early part of this century (thanks, YouTube), but I tend to walk away from things and come back later, so I forget a lot. Use it or lose it, as they say! I've walked away from this many times, and I don't blame anybody who does. I always come back, though (it's an "always open" tab on my browser). I bounce back and forth between UE4 (now) and ReGuru. Don't be a stranger, and it was nice to see somebody local 'round these parts!

I hear you on that one, Blender at least for me is a very long haul to get into and I've used it on and off for years :0

Thanks for the positive review on Steam, every single one helps us right now as we climb out of the pit of undiscoverability Your plan to put GG to one side and hone your abilities is a perfect plan. I would even check out Unity (it's free you know) and UE4 (also free) to get a feel for a professional game development tool suite and brush up on your scripting and programming skills too. Being able to create 3D, textured, animating and formatted models is half the battle when you are one-man band game designer, and these skills will be invaluable as you advance your career into games development.

I'm an old hat now, but it's always nice to hear about the days of DarkBASIC (circa 1999), and how it helped someone start a career in games development, some even creating their own companies and enjoying the challenge. If Game Guru has helped in any way to show you how cool creating games can be, then something good has come from your experience and if you want to pop back in six months to check on our progress and share your experiences of the wider world, the community will be a better place for your return.

Strangely, multi-layer control of characters and LUA based camera controls are imminent features on our radar, so I will not be entirely surprised to find you checking back before the six months are up In the meantime, best of luck out there, and thanks for your honest critique of Game Guru!

Hi GG'ers

I'm not officially back, as I've just begun a new project learning some programming for the iPad, but I wanted to respond just a bit to Lee's comments above.

I took Lee's advice and had myself a short run at Unity. There is no question that Unity is a very very comprehensive 3D system, However in terms of ease of use and ease of the learning curve, Game Guru is miles ahead regarding these two categories.

I first spent a little time looking at Unity's tutorials. It's funny that during the first basic tutorial I kept saying to myself, "Oh I can do that with Game Guru". Anyway, I finally signed -on and downloaded the personal version. I had it on my computer for all of five hours before I uninstalled. I would compare the learning curve for Unity to that of Blender (which I'm still wrestling with ).

I'm not a professional, just an old retired guy who is interested in digital 3D. I don't have a year to spend learning Unity, (and C# Scripting) though for those who do have the time and background, Unity is a great product. So I'm off to a new adventure with my iPad, and I'm working on several new models for the GG store.

In the mean time Lee... I'm keeping my eye on you and GG.

LOL, have you used UE4, though? It has a bit of a learning curve as well, but I think it lies (on the "ease of use" line) somewhere between Unity and GG. I bounce between the two, as UE4 has a lot of the features I want already built-in. (OR support especially) Blueprint has been a bit of a challenge for me, but I think you would pick it up with little trouble, based on what I know about your programming background. I just don't have as much time as I need to hunker down and learn it, as I'm still a working man!

@GoDevils, like you I have zero interest in shooters, and look forward to more features getting into GG. I started off as bronze backer, and was about to go gold when GG went to steam and wasn't able to, but even now if I could I would - GG is agreat product indeed!!

I am more interested in making a find and seek type exploration game.

At the moment, I just make maps for the learning curve. The past few days I decided to play around with making skyboxes, and have a couple of fairly nice ones that I created using a photo I took on my phone! I plan on getting out with my camera to get a few decent panaramic shots when a decent cloud day happens here. When I have some skyboxes that I feel are of decent quality, I think I will put them in the store - probably for free.

I also downloaded blender with intent on trying my hand at modeling, but so far haven't got around to playing with it - although it does sound daunting going on the previous posts.

Since I play with all this as hobby I am happy to just go along for the ride and see where the GG team take us.

Anyhow, have fun with the iPad developing path.

@OldFlak

If you're just starting I suggest you look into MilkShape. It's 100X easier to learn, yet quite comprehensive and has .X export module that works well with GG

Good Luck

We will see new commands for said LUA functions in the future.

Here is the test footage if you didn't get a chance to see it:

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/212442?page=1#msg2522666

@ Teabone

Yes, I saw the video and it is very good. However, what I want is complete script-able control over the camera; Rotation control through all three axis, plus camera movement left/right/up/down. With this I can drive in the 1st person, and script camera movements to capture video from the environment for cut scenes etc. I hope this is what Lee is moving towards.

Yeah I was kind of taken back by the fact that we do not have those commands yet. Even the old kickstarter ad for Reloaded gave mention to them. I've seen requests for them for a couple years now with Reloaded/GG.

Having developed for iPad many moons ago, I wish you well navigating the torrid (and horrid) ocean of Objective-C coding. If you feel you want to return to sanity, be sure to check out AGK2 which allows you to deploy to iOS and keeping using C++ (or BASIC if you like) and has the bonus of deploying the exact same app to Android and the other platforms (blatant sales pitch over). Best of luck with your new adventure!!

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