Hi All,

Find the recording of our live broadcast below, showing some new cellar demo assets and the latest work on the UI:


I am also happy to answer all your questions from the live chat, which you can find below:

Q> ​News time what about the Character rigging?
A> Though can import your own models with any rigging you like, we have a set one for our own character creator bodies which we use to allow us to interchange parts and animations. We will be providing a template set of files so you can create your own character creator parts using our chosen rig.

Q> ​Does Max use floor zones?
A> We are planning to gently remove floor zones and replace them with a system to scan the level and determine all places where a character can reasonably walk about. This would also mean that some of your legacy levels that depend on the floor zones may produce different gameplay in MAX, as the character could potentially leave their designated zone and go beyond the line.

Q> Chance of a Classic Hot Fix?
A> We are planning a Christmas Fixes update for December, so watch that space!

Q> ​Will the Steam launch date defo remain 1st December?
A> We have dropped the planned December release of MAX and instead replaced it with an open release date, focusing on making sure the product is 100% right before we release it. I believe putting product quality first makes a lot of sense.

Q> Will there be a View option to hide things like lights, markers, etc?
A> We will be looking at intuitive ways to display the various level elements in a smart way, but we will likely add some extra controls to filter out elements you do not want to see as you develop your level.

Q> ​When importing models, how do we set up collision?
A> We will be overhauling the importer panel to allow you to control the type of collision the imported model uses, be that a simple box or a full polygon shape. We can also choose other shapes such as sphere and cylinder.

Q> ​Will there be a way to import the entire GG Classic asset library into Max?
A> Yes you can simply manually copy all the files over from the entitybank folder, but we recommend you use the new built-in system which loads a Classic FPM Level from the classic installation, and it will carefully copy over all the assets that level uses into MAX. Much cleaner.

Q> ​What will the native FPS be on game guru?
A> It will match the hertz rate of your display, whether that is 60, 72, or 144. We have v-sync on by default to create a smooth rendering experience and avoid the artifact known as screen tearing.

Q> ​When is the next beta out?
A> There is no planned date for the next build, but please let me know below if you want to have a play with the version you are seeing now or whether you want to wait until grass is done and the new UI Is further along.

Q> ​Will multiplayer be on steam or a dedicated server also will you include a mission objective system?
A> We are avoiding details on the multiplayer side at the moment so we can focus on single player. We are using Photon now so you will not require Steam to run your games. As part of our game logic work, we will probably be adding an objective system so you can easily create a series of objectives without resorting to scripting.

Q> The 3 types of game you mentioned - will all of these mechanics be available for VR without any additional scripting?
A> Yes all games you create will work out of the box in VR and non-VR. There will be some games that work better than others in VR, but that is half the fun of creating your own games and finding this out for yourself.

Q> ​Will there be a dedicated Makehuman model importer or something to bypass the need to make animations manually?
A> There are no plans to provide dedicated support for any third party character format, but we are looking at other character creators to see how they could work with MAX.

Q> Will we have voice chat with multiplayer in MAX? Photon seems to support it?
A> I believe Photon does have a voice component to their service, though for the time being, we are focusing on single player. I believe voice chat would be important in a VR setting when you would not have access to an easy keyboard.

Q> ​Tell us more about the A.I. and will we be able to see better interaction between player and NPC's?
A> Any new AI we work on will come directly from our work supporting the three game types, RPG, SHOOTER, and PUZZLE. I think it is safe to say we will need a number of new AI elements to create mechanics that fulfill the requirements for those games.

Q> Aan aproximate day of the release?
A> There is no rough release date at the moment, and for the moment we are using an open release to ensure the product is 100% right.

Q> Do you guys need any support for Lua scripts for interactive entities and such?
A> I think a few builds down the road when you can start making games without hindrance, any scripts that do cool things would be most welcome as part of the final release. I think the best time to know what these might be is when we are finishing off the mechanics for the three game styles, as we will have created more scripts by then.

Q> ​Will we have a mission objective system also will gamepad support work out of the box for Xbox one controller and PS4 controllers?
A> Thanks to the requirements of the RPG style of games, we will need an object system creating that does not rely on someone to script, and would be an intuitive and visual system so anyone could quickly and easily set up game objectives. We already have support for some controllers, but once we get to the game play work, and you find a controller you have does not work, report that to us and we will buy the peripheral and make sure it works for release.

Q> ​Or will there be a keybinding input system?
A> There are no plans to add a key binding system and all controls will be pre-mapped as it is now. If there is a lot of demand for such an addition, we can look at that as a separate conversation and work out a priority for it.

Q> Will there be customizable height maps?
A> There are no current plans for importing terrain height maps, the current design work is suggesting more control when creating random terrain, but there is no option to load in a height map of your own. It is a good idea however and might make it into an iteration of the terrain creation system.

Q> ​If you insist on not releasing extra parts for the character creator, will you at least make it easy to create and import them, and let artist sell them?
A> Not so. We will be releasing extra parts for the character creator, both in updates to MAX and as third party DLCs. We will make available the template files and a guide so you can create your own character creator parts too, and of course, you can then share or sell what you have made to the MAX community.

Q> I tried creating custom parts as it is, it's not an easy task really as it requires the biped on each part?
A> Agreed, it is very much the domain of the technical artist who has prior knowledge of how the parts work internally. The guide we will write, and the template files we provide should help anyone go through the steps to creating, rigging, and exporting body parts.

Q> Will multiplayer be customizable as well, such as not just only Team Death Match games?
A> No details on what the multiplayer side will do at this stage, and for sanity, assume no additions to what you see in Classic. The only major change is that we are using Photon instead of Steam so you do not need Steam to run the games.

Awesome thanks Lee but one question ...
As the videos showed walking through grass and pushing the grass in Third Person im not sure its worth all that extra effort if we do not have Third Person in Max?
Its not going to be very effective in First Person so is there really a need ?
Seems a lot of extra work if we really wont see the benefit .

I sadly coudlnt join the stream today but I watched it now. Nice new assets for the cellar^^ cant wait to put them in.
Take care Lee and everyone at TGC!
Keep up the good work. And please also dont forget gg classic

@ Lee
Any chance to provide the ability to play or doesn't stock particles on the editor? sometimes is too hard to edit it when the particle system is playing, or maybe make them more selectable, in my case playing the default stock particle I can't find the marker to edit/remove it, a lot of pink particles on the scene and the marker is a bit small.

Physics doors are easy, couple of lines of Lua.

This would be very cool, maybe working with an obstacle map.
Soldiers walking/shooting thru the walls is no good.

Hello Lee, i want to ask, is there any chance ggmax is going to release this year? Just asking, of course take your time.

From the questions in Lee's first post.

I came away from this broadcast with two thoughts:

1) Interesting to see your references for grass physics are both third person, yet third person isn't coming to Max anytime soon. You certainly notice grass interaction more in third person, but that just means we'll all notice it less in first person. Not saying it shouldn't be developed, just saying be wary of chasing your tail on this; grass interaction is the frills on the edge, not the main substance.

2) How can you design a UI when you don't fully know what options and tools will be implemented into the engine? Surely you need to start from a place where all the functionality is in but hidden, and then you use UI and UX to expose where it should go?

I caveat that both of these comments come from someone with no programming experience, just a concerned citizen chipping two cents in the well.

The sci-fi soldiers look great btw!

AE

While it is true that you would notice this effect more in third person, in first person you would see this when other entities are moving through the grass, such as enemy soldiers or animals/creatures. It could be cool to use it as a means of becoming aware of about to be attacked by a creature, like a tiger or lion stalking you through the grass. First you see the grass moving, then you see the creature jumping at you. BTW - I am not all that excited about this myself as I intend to primarily create indoor levels.



It's not necessary to fully know what's going to be fully in MAX to design a UI for it. Once you get the basics down - the look, how things get organized in the UI, etc. - then you just go about adding the areas as needed, following the GUI design specs as needed. However, they do largely know what is going to be included, so my above point is mostly moot. As an example, while the terrain engine will be new (compared to Classic), the same basic features will be there - sculpt terrain, paint terrain, paint grass. So, they know that the top bar will contain these three icons and will each open their own section on the right-side panel. The right-side panel may change, but only to add new icons if they add new tools and only to add new sections if they expose new parameters. But none of these would change the UI design or functionality. So, for the most part, the GUI would stay the same.

PLEASE HELP?

Hello. Ive been using TGC software (FPS Creator, (10X), Animer, AppGameKit, The 3D Gamemaker, Dark Basic, 3DSMAX, Etc. Etc. Etc.) for over a decade now, and for the most part I haven't had any trouble with any of it working properly.
Until now.
Doesn't matter what version of GGMAX I try to install, it just wont run.
I recorded what happens and uploaded it to my YouTube channel for
the convenience of anyone who might be able to help. Not sure why its
trying to find an invalid file location? To see the YouTube video just copy
this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EHaIsQoHlY and paste it
into your address bar.

My system is:
7th Gen Intel Core i7-7700
32GB DDR4 - 2133 SDRAM
Six 2TB Drives
Duel NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics accelerators.

This is a MUST. Nearly every review of a GameGuru game I've seen always remarks about the lack of detailed options (among other things...), especially key bindings. (Plus, just about every PC game made in the last 25 years allows you to customize controls. I also think as a part of this rework of the options menu, it should include more detailed graphics tweaking; let users decide what they want to sacrifice for performance!)

I'm also interested now that GG Max is planning to target RPG games as well...that's a pretty big fish to fry. Max will definitely need some way to smoothly load and unload assets from memory as needed to support large open worlds....unless you want to make an RPG the size of a small shooter level, which I don't think will pan out too well!

@Oobiedoob

Right click on the shortcut on your desktop, go to properties, check that the target address doesn't have that extra slash in it, and specifically targets the .exe file. It should read something like:

"C:\Program Files\GameGuruMax\Max\GameGuruApps\GameGuruMax\GameGuruMax.exe"

If that doesn't work, it could be that you've put Max down too many layers of folders. Looks to me like the ideal install address should be:

"C:\Program Files\GameGuruApps\GameGuruMax\GameGuruMax.exe"

AE

You're desktop icon shortcut for GGMAX is set wrong. Either delete the shortcut from you're Desktop and go to main program install location where "GameGuru Launcher.exe" is located and Create a desktop shortcut from right clicking sub menu on the "GameGuru Launcher.exe" file.

Or Un-install GGMAX restart PC then re-install and try again, if you are having problems installing in "Program Files" use the local root "C:" or "D:" to install to and not in any "Program Files" folders. If this does not help then follow @Graphix as he has solved some GGMAX launch issues here https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/222290.

also, you should see in your documents folder a path like :

C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\GameGuruApps\GameGuruMAX\Files

What fearlesswee said is quite true. Players want to set their own keybindings. And it makes sense in relation to GameGuru's core identity to give us this basic feature out of the box. Can it be done with LUA knowledge? I don't know. But I have played a lot of GameGuru games on steam and I have never seen a final game have this feature. And like fearlesswee said there is almost always a negative review citing lack of keybinding options as a main problem. Hell, there are some positive reviews that still list that as a negative they didn't like.

It really isn't that far-fetched that players that may love your game, and think that bending grass on level 2 is super sick. But they don't make it to level 2 because the lack of something as simple as custom keybindings. And really the fact that GameGuru still doesn't supply this option and that I have yet to see any community made script that allows this is really strange and makes me wonder if it is even possible.

@Kitakazi-totally agree, maybe somewhere in the future this feature will be present, but can't see it for a long time, it's simply not a priority.

Given that max has a lot of post processing that can chew resources - SSR for example - I would imagine that more control over resources for the end-player are going to be a requirement.

But it will likely be away off in the future....

OldFlak....

The grass that moves out of your way as you walk is totally not important as 'feature news' at this stage Lee, especially in a 1st person engine.

Don't get me wrong -- if it is an easy feature to implement, then great - implement it!

Honestly the most important features need to be talked about especially at this uncertain stage. Maybe grass isn't one of them.

Please remember that there are more than one person working on MAX. So, just because Lee is working on grass (making it move when you move through it) does not mean that no one is working on other things.

Yup of course, I was speaking about what's reported as relevant to prepurchasers and game developers in the video devlogs and news. If anything, we've heard enough about grass motion for a while, especially for a 1st person engine. That's all

Yup, if games don't have options screens to change important GFX options, reviews will tank. Games need certain bread and butter features like these for end users.

So if you watch that video, You will notice that the first time I try loading it, Im clicking directly on the EXE.
But I did go back and check the shortcut just in case. I found that Its correct.
I did a system wide search for anything named Game Guru Max or Guru max and deleted and uninstalled all of it.
Then re installed GG Max and clicked on it. It actually worked the first time. Then it started doing the same thing again.

Very strange.

"we've heard enough about grass motion for a while"
Yeah, probably doesn't need repeating. While the new grass presented
recently is stellar work, ((really love the varying heights per grass))-- still
I'd start with a very simplistic wind move animation for MAX 1.0.
Stepped on grass movement seems to be something more akin to a
MAX 2.2 release. By then (several moons?) Third person maybe?

Also recommending a Nov. beta release before Christmas Beta, so as perhaps
with a little community testing, that could further the de-kinking on said
Christmas Beta....

Would really like to see things like stand-alones out for community testing.
Looking through GitHub... pretty quiet there lately.

Gets my vote

Dave

Yes, I agree on the grass topic too. There's been enough news. It's nice it's been revamped, but if you're working on wind and grass interaction - I think those are features that aren't AS important to us as stability and gameplay stuff (considering what GG is and the things that we know need to be worked on).

Edit: Not at all to downplay the work that's been done. It looks absolutely fantastic!

I think part of the reason for the live podcasts featuring grass is 1) they want/need to show something and grass is something they can actually show you out of what they've been working on and 2) Lee is excited about it.

Take point one - it's not very "sexy" show off bug and stability fixes because, well, you can't really visually show that in a video. So ... grass. You can see that and it's one of the things they are working on right now ... along with the other things that others are working. Since Lee committed to a weekly broadcast, they have to have something to show that visually shows some form of progress. If he hadn't committed to a weekly broadcast, we might not have had the last one ... or two ... at all.

TBH Weekly previews are just to close together IMHO
I see shedloads going on in the background in all area's of Max but not really something you can show until it all comes together so it must be a struggle to show stuff each week.

And mine

OldFlak....

Yes, it must be.
In fact, I think Lee should work with some sort of instance of the original code, injecting temporary code to make works this or that other feature, just to make the vid. imho

First off, I hope this is the right thread to post this, if not sorry for the distraction, don't mind me !

In brief: Morph type sliders for the character creator.

If I've understood correctly the character creator will allow building from component parts to make unique models. Variety is achieved by the diversity of these parts, so making your own gives your game it's own unique character set that isn't 'off the shelf'. A number of other titles essentially put the character creator (for the player at least) in-game allowing body size, shape and facial features, tints, eye colour etc. to be adjusted usually by a series of sliders and blending tools. I think I mentioned this a while back somewhere as an alternative, possibly complimentary approach to making entirely unique characters in GameGuru MAX. I don't know if it is too much work at this stage or indeed if it would even be possible to implement in the current creator, for instance it would probably require clothing to be deformable too to avoid wardrobe malfunctions and may introduce other issues that I haven't considered. I am just curious whether anyone else thinks this would be desirable or even viable ?

After reading a lot of post, and a lot of manuals, I finally realized that is it possible to import Fuse character models directaly in GG and GG add the CGI annimations itself, so it is not needed to use FBX2GG or any other program to prepare such animations. You only need the T-pose of the character and the Armature. For sure, all of you know it, but it is not explained clearly in the forum.
But, additionally I also realized that GGMax did not have this characters import functionalities. Do anyone know if is it going to be included in future releases?

@Oobiedoob : Thanks for providing the link I requested in the latest live broadcast (#20) and for the video which is a great way to see what is happening on your PC. Looks like MAX is unable to establish where your user documents folder is. See if you have something similar to mine, which the raw path looks like: "C:\Users\leeba\Documents". In the next build, I will be adding some more detailed debug and logging code so we can trace the paths through your initialization and report something that makes more sense. If you have access to a second PC, try the installer on that and see what happens with a fresh install and how the files are created in the Documents folder.

CSIDL_PERSONAL maybe come in handy.

Thank You Lee Bamber!
I uploaded a video to show you what happened with my GG MAX install.
In the next build if you would like, I can undo what I did in order to attempt
to recreate the problem. Please let me know.
here's the vid:

https://youtu.be/G2sDljzUjrs