Hi All,
Thanks for attending another live broadcast, happy to see more users joining in live and asking many questions. Here is a recording of today's broadcast:
Also, as promised, here are all your answers from the live chat, preserved for all time:
Q> Why does it keep closing on me when I try to save?
A> Sounds like a bug. Please report in as much detail to the Beta thread on this forum and we will see if we can solve it for the next builds.
Q> Will we get an option to expand the terrain in BETA 4?
A> No plans to add multi-node terrain for the next few builds, we want to focus on getting the first node perfect. The back-end is based on a multi-node system but we will only enable that once we are sure the first node behaves itself.
Q> Will it be possible to customize the in-game menu (e.g. menu items, language and font), and will it be possible to integrate videos instead of images as a start screen, menu screen, and loading screen?
A> No plans to add a drag and drop menu editing system for release, though you can use LUA scripting to customize screens and add the media you require (with the possible exception of the video in your title screens).
Q> Any visual programming?
A> No plans to add a visual programming interface to GameGuru MAX at this time, but it is an intriguing idea!
Q> Will there ever be a good way of creating a random generation as you progress through a level?
A> There are no plans for true procedural generation of events in GameGuru MAX levels, but you can use random commands in the scripts to change up the game logic to your purposes.
Q> Will we get tutorial videos, but remade for max?
A> Yes we are building lots of tutorials into the UI itself so you will not be short on help and advice.
Q> When will it be possible to change the whole landscape material?
A> We are still working out the best visuals for terrain, and how many effects it needs, and we may never enable full material control of terrain to preserve performance, but we will know more once we have a complete terrain node looking AAA.
Q> Price tag on Steam?
A> The official price of GameGuru MAX on release will be $49.99
Q> Does the waypoint path system also support other entities e.g. a car?
A> There are no plans to support vehicles in GameGuru MAX for release, though you can import your own car models and script them, using the path information as node markers.
Q> When will beta 4 be released?
A> There is no fixed release date for beta 4, but it will likely be after we commit our first changes to the UI and/or when we finish the auto updater system. A few weeks at a complete guess.
Q> When will zombie AI be available?
A> This should be available in a few weeks as we continue to improve the Cellar Demo, which plays host to a rather nasty customer.
Q> Would GG Classic be updated to also have node-based terrian like in max?
A> No plans to move large new features of MAX back to Classic, only small bug fixes and tweaks will apply to both products.
Q> Hey Lee... you weren't joking when you said I wouldn't regret buying Max ?
A> Much appreciated, hopefully, the product development will continue to exceed your expectations!
Q> Painting terrain is so slow?
A> Yes it's creating the virtual texture in a very basic and inefficient way, we have yet to optimize this to concentrate the edit to a localized region which will bring the painting up to full speed.
Q> Will we ever get 3rd person perspective.... eventually?
A> There are no plans to rep-introduce a third-person perspective on release, mainly to focus on getting the first person perfect. Once that is achieved, then we will be able to turn our attention to the third person genre and hit the same quality bar.
Q> How come when I get close to an imported image my fps tanks?
A> This relates to the physics which takes the polygon count of the imported model and has a hard time calculating the player position from it. You can change the FPE of the entity, setting the collisionmode to a box shape to speed up this interaction.
Q> Is VSync on board to avoid screen tearing?
A> Yes we switched vertical sync on by default so you would not see tearing of the screen. It is likely if you are at 60 fps then your true system speed is much higher.
Q> Any thoughts on a new type of navmesh system for AI?
A> We are going to see if the current pathfinding and zoning system is sufficient for our needs for release. If we find it is wanting, we have an eye on an open-source solution which does excellent navigation.
Q> When importing music or sound effects will they be the same as on the old Game Guru? I'm thinking about using LMMS?
A> Importing music and sounds effects will be the same. Just place them in your own audiobank folder and select them from the entity properties.
Q> What is the current release date?
A> We now have an open-ended release date, which means we are working through each section until its solid, then moving onto the next one. When all major features have received this scrutiny, we will have a much better idea of the anticipated release of version one.
Q> What about starships? Will we be able to do games like that?
A> There are no plans to add starships and anti-gravity combat to GameGuru MAX, though you can hide the terrain and use scripting to control entities high in the sky. I imagine you could simulate a space scene!
Q> How do we submit our GG Max games/demos?
A> Feel free to create a forum post and get feedback from the community. If it is a resounding "MAX needs this" then we will contact you to see if you would like to see your creation in the final release.
GameGuru Classic will continue to be supported with bug fixes and functionality additions.
