Developer: Wolf

Foreword: Game Guru, huh? Oh what a dysfunctional relationship we have but I just can't quit you. Been here from the start, even earlier when you where still FPSCreator Reloaded. I had high hopes for you, that you'd stop drinking, lose some weight and maybe we can have a really good game of our own some day... but now I suppose I can only ask for so much. By now a flock other guys are messing around in your insides, maybe they can fix you if your daddy couldn't.
Alright, this tired analogy aside, I have indeed been following game guru since its inception, had 2 large projects and 2 small ones. The small ones are released and the big ones have transitioned so much and have grown a lot during development however, both are a tad too large for myself and game guru. There is of course, Shavra, which was supposed to be my magnum opus I intended to release some day and then quit making video games. It had many different iterations, starting out as "Relict" all the way back in 2010. However, its just too large for me and the core gameplay in GG would be so flawed (dialogues, combat, inventory) that it'd just not be what I wanted to do. Then there is Acythian, a game that is by its core a pure shooter and Game Guru just doesn't have the necessary horse power in what I want to do visually, physics and especially AI wise.
There is also the fact that I wanted to return to my roots of making games and deliver story, characters and atmosphere rather than corridor shooters. I'm done making games out of necessity rather than the ones I really want to make and I lost that through the years. A wonderful german game I look up to is "Unterwegs in Düsterburg" which delivers a captivating fantasy story and lovely characters all running on a non-coder engine. Thats the route I wanna go down too.
So, I took a good look at Game Guru's current state, took an optimistic guess of what will be to come for the engine and write a GG that will both be doable and yet combine better parts of Shavra and Acythian and make a slightly reduced game. There will be shooting in the game rather than GG's extraordinary melee game but still very much rooted in fantasy.

Storyline A mutated agent, part of a secretive order, investigates an obscure crime related to the cataclysm that spiraled humanity to the brink of existance is drawn into a conspiracy that might end the remaining humans, who thought shelter in well guarded enclaves.

Plotline is still in flux but this is going to have a strong dark fairy tale vibe.



Background: In an alternate world and timeline, a world war had humanity in turmoil. New technological advantages caused a war humanity was unable to imagine prior. Nobody knows where they came from, the demons, the blight that took the world by storm and united mankind as one on the very brink of extinction. Most assume gods hands to punish humanity for its sins, others assume a new weapon by their respective former enemies to be the cause. Few enclaves have prevailed, cities, towns, farms and fortresses guarded and surviving for decades. Outside of these last remnants of humanity, vast zones stretch over the land populated by them.

Genre: Skrye is an action adventure set in an anachronistic mixture of diesel- and steampunk.

Development: I have been working on this game for this year and have not yet made all too large strides. I originally wanted to hold off publishing this until there is more polish and better stuff to show but I figure that this will still take quite some time...so here is some rather early work. I will upgrade the first post with newer stuff in the future and kind off try to make it a bit more eloquent in the future

(early) screenshots























The game will have a lot of modified and handmade models and media. I will also upgrade and remake a lot of classic media from my collection. I'm sure that a lot of you will recognize old media in this despite looking rather different.



[center]

Bolt action carbine rifle. A rig of the classic MAS36 from FPSCreator (2005)



Drunken Lobster Pub. Retexture from the classics collection (example)



Pocketwatch. Handmade.[/center]

The first level of the game is the harbour of the enclave city "Grevem". It includes a lot of models that will be retextured later on and will be continously improved until the game is done.

Early Screenshot 1

Early Screenshot 2

Early Screenshot 3

Last but not least some artists without whom I couldn't have made what I have done so far: (in no particular order)

Rolfy
Lafette
Wizard of Id
Errant AI
BSP
Rosstradamus
Cosmic Prophet

There are of course a lot more, but this work is highly shaped by the work of these fine people.

Please let me know what you think and feel free to ask me anything.



-Wolf

Wow! I'm speechless. The church with the machinery inside reminds me of the Church of the Hammerites in Thief 3.

Well done good sir!

So - it looks really great. I'd expect nothing less given the creator. Your witty banter at the start is pretty spot on to boot.
So I'll give you more meaningful criticism then

I'm glad to see you've realigned your expectations on what you should go for within the confines of the engine. I know all too well the hazards of grandiosity in a confined system like Game-Guru. My own projects have suffered immensely as a result. It's part of the reason my book has a section on working within the limits of the engine. One of these, of course, is that it's primarily an outdoor engine. I do wonder if that's not going to bite you in a bad place later on. Levels look phenomenal and that's a big part of the atmosphere. I just want to see one of your projects through to the end so I can actually play one!

Stick with it and try to find some innovative solutions to the problems you are having. Don't let the let-downs of a limited engine ruin your attempt at creating meaningful art for yourself. Improvisation is 90% of game development, IMO. Don't be afraid to leverage other people via discord/PM/etc if you have something that's keeping you from moving forward (looking at you, AI).

Also, nice rifle and keep up the good work

Hello!!

@Landman: Ha! Interesting. Thief and particularly Thief 3 had a big creative influence in the way I model and my art style in general. Nice to hear.

@Bolt Action Gaming: Thank you! I agree with all of your points but I believe recognizing that something will be substandard no matter what you do is also important. I think a healthy middle ground of being able to improvise and knowing when to quit is preferable.

Really looking forward to that book of ya!



Well you can try this.



-Wolf

wolf , the models and scenes is very very nice. wow

Nice to see you have the brain in gear again Wolf,looking good .

Dave

dude i cried

ah good to see some great work going on i enjoy your inspirational imagery, i have come out of my shell this month and have stopped my moaning and hoping to see great strides with gg this year, and this alone has had me in the background doing a dungeon prison and more dungeon work and polishings etc. been good to take time out, altho a lot of my skills are rusty.

Thanks guys!



With all that has been going on recently truely anything is possible. I started this whole project with some faith that a few glaring issues will be fixed by the time this is ready to be released.



-Wolf

Yey! My favourite genres

You already have big rusty pipes, gas masked people, retro weapons and the usual brilliant scene setting - great stuff !

Looking forward to more ...

Cheers.

I'm glad you like it cybernescence! I was looking forward to your opinion.
The lore of the game is also purposefully designed to avoid clashes with yours. Similarities in setting, style and so forth.



-Wolf

Hello old friend, always a pleasure to see your key style that everyone knows you for.
I always have said that your fpsc work, with this style of medium were scenes to get lost in and beautiful lighting.
As Bugsy recently quoted the prop heaven, always little things to look at in your scenes.

Anyway, I hope this project plays in your favour. Great work as always

That is awesome, as always your atmosphere is incredible. If that's early work then I can't wait to see this progress. Great Stuff.

This thread is epic, really loving the screenshots. I would very much like to review this game on my Twitch channel. I have seen your other work in progress games and they all look fantastic. Keep up the good work!