Hi All,

Thanks for joining me for the latest live broadcast, here is a recording of the event, which featured a quick look at the improved FBX Importer and Particle Emitter system for Beta Three:


Also, here are the answers to all the questions you posed during the live chat:

Q> ​Will max have 8 players max a server or per game?
A> There will be an imposed limit of 8 players per game, there is no larger massive server running, it would just be one host and multiple joiners.

Q> Will we get animation blending?
A> No plans to add blending between two discrete animation sequences for the release.

Q> Will native wicked engine LUA functions be available for usage within GGMax?
A> No we are using the GameGuru LUA command set for a higher-level control of game mechanics. The lower level LUA commands specific to Wicked Engine will not be used.

Q> Can you make a tutorial on photon multi-player?
A> We will eventually be making both tutorials and some live broadcasts on the features of multiplayer when we get that part

Q> ​Can you change the direction of the flame movement?
A> Yes you will have control over the particle emitters position, rotation, and scale, plus a variety of other settings which would be vital for setting the particle effect up in your level.

Q> Has the issue whereby certain animated characters when imported, are deformed been fixed yet?
A> We have made improvements to the FBX import to reduce the deformed import issue, please test it again when you get your hands on Beta Three.

Q> Will the fbx import support full body characters with animations, and how hard will it be to add custom animations to them?
A> Yes if the FBX model has animation and it is of a variant that imports well, you can then use LUA script to control that character.

Q> Could you add a double click on slider so we could type our values?
A> There are no plans to add a double click feature of the sliders, but we are looking much closer at the UI so if others agree this is a good idea, and a replacement for how manual values are entered now, please feedback below.

Q> ​Will we have companion ai?
A> There are no plans to add additional AI scripts for the release, but you can of course create your own AI logic using scripting to make both companion and temporary ally characters.

Q> I noticed using the GG pickupable that the hand sprites don't show. are they still disabled?
A> It could be a bug, or we could have removed it deliberately for consistency with how VR experiences work.

Q> When should we expect to be able to add normal maps to the terrain?
A> We are going to look at optimizing the colormap initially for the multi-node large terrain virtual textures, and then see what burden the normal maps and surface details would impose on the system.

Q> Where would we get the Particle Editor?
A> Here is our intro video for the product, written by the amazing Gabor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSHOBTcBhk

Q> Will we eventually be able to import our own terrain maps in something like .raw format?
A> There are no plans to import heightmaps into the terrian geometry for release, but we feel it is a very good idea to support external terrain creation tools which can go a lot further with the specific specialties of uber-realistic terrain.

Q> ​Hello Game guru can you only make shooting games or did you innovate in this aspect?
A> Yes you can predominantly create first-person shooter games in GameGuru MAX. Other variants of the genre can be done, but it is fair to say the primary game logic is the shooter genre.

Q> It is possible to save imported meshes as X file?
A> There are no plans to save or export X files from GameGuru MAX. After many years, we have decided to leave X files as a distant import format only

Q> Do you plan to support GG fx shaders?
A> There are no plans to support the old GameGuru Classic HLSL .FX shaders, nor support custom shaders on release for MAX.

Q> ​Can we use susbstance materials in-game guru max?
A> You may be able to export in PNG and JPG texture files, which are compatible with GameGuru MAX for remapping entities with new textures.

Q> Please consider resurrecting the roof removal?
A> Yes this has been a missing feature which proves super useful, and as soon as we break into the core shader for Wicked Engine, we may add an alpha slice function back in.

Q> Does wicked have the cartoon shader?
A> There are no plans to add a cartoon shader for GameGuru MAX, but we would be interested to know ourselves if Wicked Engine supports one already.

Q> ​Will the packs and bundles from GameGuru work with GameGuru Max?
A> Yes, you will be able to manually copy your assets over which will mostly work in MAX, and we have a new system now which allows you to load a level using classic and DLC assets, which are then copied automagically to MAX so the level can be loaded and saved in MAX When the operation completes, you will suddenly find all your old assets available for selection in the Entity Library.

Q> ​Will there be an advanced user mode?
A> We are considering a BASIC and ADVANCED modes, defaulting to BASIC, in a new Settings config panel, this would give us the option of hiding some of the more complex functionality until the user is more comfortable with the basic game making process.

Q> Will we have a weapon editor?
A> There are no plans to create a weapons editor inside GameGuru MAX, but we will be providing templates and a guide on how you can create your own and integrate them into the engine.

Q> Do you plan to improve the weather?
A> We have a new particle system now, which is a great candidate for replacing the weather with one that uses more particles and finer effects, so watch this space for that!

Q> I appreciate you answering my other questions. I have one other one regarding terrain. Will we be able to apply some form of a wind parameter to the grass to get it to wave back and forth?
A> We have been recently working on grass, and it has become clear that we need amazing grass, and amazing grass moves in the wind

Q> Does the bugs posted on the forum get listed somewhere as something to look at? I see some of the bugs were not listed in the first post.
A> The forum thread featuring bugs for beta 1 and 2 is not definitive, but if you find something you are pretty sure has not been reported, add it there, that would be great!

Cool!

Thanks, Lee for the replies.

I could not attend the broadcast, but I have a question:
Anyone knows if Appendanim... functions are going to be supported in GGM FPE files?
Thanks in advance

sorry if this is a stupid question, but as an artist when i create an FPE file i set the (shader) FX file to use, now we do not have FX files so how do we set apbr_basic or apbr_anim etc how do we tell MAX which shader is appropriate to the asset ? or does MAX do it automagically so the
'effect' line in FPE files is now redundant ?

Slightly confused

Does the particle editor DLC require us to purchase AGK Studio, or is it a standalone application? Can it be made a standalone application, or a DLC for GG Max? I have zero interest in purchasing AGK just to make particle effects.

AE

I purchased particle editor as a separate application months ago, you dont need to purchase agk.

I don't (yet) own the AGK Particle Editor. Will GameGuru MAX accept particles from other particle editors? There are several out there, from free to paid, that produce actual particles for 3D games. So, what file format will MAX need for particles? Is the end-user forced to use the AGK Particle Editor if they want to create custom particles for MAX?

I know you mention 'on release' - but will it come later?

MAX not having FX files is a major loss imo, it effectively cripples my current game in development.

I use this for lots of effects. Animating monitor screens, animating force-fields, animating flowing substances, and other stuff.

Classic is just ugly to work with now, and MAX won't tick (or may one day) some serious basic boxes required by my game.
So yeah, creates a real game-changer for me.

OldFlak....

Yes it is the only way to produce these effects in GG. However I have never been happy with them myself, as I started my journey with TGC products with Dark Basic.

In Dark Basic, Dark Basic Pro and App Game Kit you can texture an object with a video; Complete with sound. No shader knowledge required. I see no reason why this is not possible in GG or of course now, GGMax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9sEnPncStc&t=40s
I recently wrote this silly demo in the original Dark Basic. As you can see, it handles multiple videos quite well considering. It's all 3D, I just chose to texture the videos to lots of plains. I could have easily made a just one and used it as a big monitor screen in a game. It could play an entire movie, never mind a few frames from an atlas texture! A single video playing would run fine in all engines mentioned above. The DB demo is to show it can run a few if needed and loads if fps is not a concern.

Simple texture scrolls could be handled via a uv scroll, although when shaders are involved perhaps not. Thing is, for simple UV scroll all that is needed is a UV scroll, not a shader to produce a UV scroll.

Just made this, to show how easy it is in AGK.

Does any one else feel the water plane in max is "off" and lacks controls classic had to better improve the water, as it is now. It is a one fit for all water solution that completely lacks the controls classic had. While the new shader is nice, the severely restrictiveness of the functionality makes it worse then classic.

I agree it needs the following effects that were in GGC.
Flow direction x, flow direction y, water reflection, water transparency.

Transparency and flow are all vital for a good water effect, as it's early days yet for Max I'm sure Lee will get this right soon.

I also agree with. wizard of id

I agree.
Water needs more sliders.

with you guys, water here has amazing potential if they can get an under water fog and the preben water wobble thats the water sorted regards under graphics, surely a simple physics and swim controls that job is then done. i think an entire different world for rivers not sure that would work but it has to be seperate from the ocean plane jus for above plane and water direction possibly a river zone type thing cubic water entity with the effect on the top of the sized cubed with direction and then if jump into the cube the water physics apply etc. the underwater physics will be already there with the efx so its applying it to a cube that can be entered with a water exf on the top

The solutions are existent in other engines ofc. The water cube solution sounds flawless. Let's see what TGC have in mind, I'm sure these ideas aren't too complicated to implement, it's just a matter of what takes priority.