GG needs to keep maturing in order to attract experienced artists.
1. The rendering system, shaders, lighting, etc is still evolving. Artists don't like to continually update their work as engine specifications evolve. So, all of that stuff really needs to be locked in. If I had to guess, I'd say we're maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way there as far as DX11 reaching its potential.
2. The user base needs to expand considerably as well. This may be a sort of chicken/egg thing but unless experienced artists (from outside the community) can expect a high volume of sales, it's not worth it to port to GG. The user-expected price points are well below average here. An asset that would sell for $15 would be expected to be had for $5 or less by the GG community. And since GG media is portable to other engines (increasingly so with fbx and pbr), they would be slitting their own throats to sell to the GG community at discounted prices. It should also be considered that for things like Steam DLC, there is relatively little meat left on the bone for artists after Valve and TGC take their cuts.
3. For the
active (read: asset purchasing) user base to expand, GG has to be better at retaining users.
SteamSpy has the following estimate:
Owners: 100,000 .. 200,000
Followers: 13,126
Peak concurrent players yesterday: 26
That is not so good. Yes, the number of concurrent users is probably a good amount higher because many (including myself) use it with Steam in offline mode. At best, on peak days, the active users are
maybe 1% of the followers.
How does it retain more active users?
I think the answer is in staying the course and continuing to improve the engine, filling out the skeletal framework and polishing/completing existent features while keeping close pulse on the hangups that experienced GG users are encountering which are keeping them from completing and publishing their projects. When tepid users can see many completed examples of what the engine can produce (as opposed to simple asset flips), they may be inspired to invest more time with the product. Speaking for myself, I never really took Unity seriously until I had played about a dozen games made with it which I thought were "good". Not "good for a Unity game but simply
good. I think that same scenario could be applied to Game Guru. My hope is that in maybe a year from now, as long as there are no major derailments and things continue with github and the great freelancers, we could be seeing that point where things are good enough for the community and user base to begin growing in earnest.
4. The greatest strength of any TGC product has always been the community.
I hope that people think twice before openly disparaging the quality of assets available for GG either from the forums or the asset store. The plain truth is that a lot of these artists are still learning and they are contributing to the pool of available, GG-ready assets because they enjoy the community and the engine. They are not doing it to get rich. Some assets may be given away for free and others may be sold cheaply on the store but regardless of what a person may think of their quality, they are worth the asking price and more. Many are lucky if they break even on time and tool investments.
Never take that for granted.
One of the greatest joys, as a longtime user, is watching how different artists improve and evolve throughout the years. It's something that I feel is relatively unique and special. When GG/Reloaded launched, there was very little on the store that I would personally consider using. However, when I browse the store now, there is quite a bit. That bodes well for the future.
FPSC was very much the same way and through its lifecycle, there were several content creators who went from novice to professional levels of quality. Unfortunately, for the most part, GG has not inherited those users. Why? Well, see #1.
TL : DR - If TGC builds it,
They will come. If you want to see better GG-ready content, then press the developers to implement or complete those core engine aspects which will facilitate it. In the meantime, if you want something different, find it elsewhere and import it yourself. You may find the process difficult or unsavory but this sensation is no different from what GG artists have encountered and had to deal with.
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