Hi All,

Here is the recording from today:


And here are the questions I had no time to answer in the live chat:

Q> Last week I mentioned layer mask for painting dirt maps rick replied that you will be using the wicked engine feature for things like bullet masks etc. Will we be able to edit our own masks?
A> I checked out the video you sent, thanks for sharing. That method of 'projecting' decals to a surface is not as efficient for things like bullet holes, which may require hundreds of projections, not to mention scorch marks, blood, etc. So far, the plan is to use GPU instanced quads and placing them primarily on flat surfaces for game performance.

Q> Has the level editor snapping options?
A> Yes you can find the Grid Settings in the object properties.

Q> It would make a lot of sense to have first-person arms be directly imported into gg max like any other modern game engine. Can you please add this feature?
A> We are leaning towards adding empty hands by default when you have a blank game level and then have the option of equipping a weapon to fill those hands.

Q> ​Will v1 in November be capable of producing a full FPS game?
A> You will be able to make a level that includes first-person player combat. If you mean to create a modern FPS game that can sell alongside other commercial FPS games of today, then not for 2021.

Q> ​When are we likely to see improved weather effects?
A> It is part of our plan to improve the rain and snow effects with improved techniques, though thunder and lighting may slip to 2022.

Q> Will you please bring the structure editor back to the forefront and make it possible to bring new structure pieces into the structure editor? it could be a really good system for modular buildings
A> Since we released Structure Editor, not many users used it, and most who did use it did not like it very much. It is also very 'technie' with lots of constraints applied to it. The plan is to leave it available as a Developer Mode option for those who wish to continue using it, fix it when it goes wrong and make very small tweaks to give it more usage. The larger plan is to redesign the whole idea of making structures and buildings, and look at it from a non-developer perspective in 2022.

Q> ​Can we have some easy ragdoll options? Would be cool if you could tick a box and models with a skeleton would just ragdoll or ragdoll when shot in the head
A> Ragdoll will be re-introduced into the games engine soon. We disabled it while the new animation system from Wicked was being worked with, but we are almost ready to bring it back. Any object marked as a character will have their ragdoll system active. If you mean ANY 'rig' being ragdrolled, there are no plans for that at the moment.

Q> Can u add substance materials and mega scan support for gg max?
A> There are no plans to directly support substance painter or mega scans in GameGuru MAX, though you will be able to import their exports in some form.

Q> Wicked 11 is being dropped what will happen with MAX ???
A> Can you post a link to the news that Wicked Engine is being dropped, thanks! In any event, we are pretty proficient with the current Wicked Engine source code and will be okay maintaining it far into the future.

Q> When will I be able to import my dungeon into max?
A> There are no plans to import dungeons into MAX. We recommend you export your dungeon model as a GLTFv2 model as this has proven to be a good import format for MAX right now. FBX is also possible but milage varies a lot with this much older format. Bear in mind it is better to assemble floors, walls, ceilings, scenery, etc inside the GameGuru MAX editor as the games engine can then make good choices about physics, logic and other rendering concerns to ensure your game level runs as fast and as stable as possible.

Thanks for all your questions, I look forward to more next Wednesday 4 PM BST.

@Lee

I think this is what is being referred to. The removal of DX11

Started the video-- then left again after a minute. More Military war features? So we can shoot at zombies or soldiers now? Now that's all new! Thanks TGC for giving us all the same template so we can all duplicate our first MAX game. MAX stands for Military Ai Xing engine? At least they can all say different things before we shoot them. But what will the reviews be like for Military Ai Xing engine and those "Just Another Asset Flip" games?

This had to constrain some other core and diverse features that could have been put in place for release time- no?
(Thinking Multi-player / VR, etc) Myself, I just want to see entities spawned via script demo.

Well the word is we might get to see terrain next week
So if the idea of seeing that does not get your juices flowing .. I dunno ..
Maybe watch something on Netfix instead

Asset Flipping is not a thing. So-called asset flips are found in every engine - it is in no way an indication of the engines capabilities - tis just lazy people after a quick buck. YTubers who review such games and blame the engine likewise have zero credibility and are just after Lemmings and quick buck for no effort. Surely you are not swayed by such things?

If TGC spent just two days adding AI then complaints would be plentiful and valid that's for sure.

Why not just knuckle down and test MAX and give useful reports to the team so they can make MAX great - so far they doing a pretty darn good job of it from what I can see.

OldFlak....

There is a guy on youtube that is bashing max like crazy, having a full on meltdown vendetta against anything and every gameguru max. I am not going to post the videos about that as it is seriously toxic and not some thing this forum needs or wants. but you should be easily able to find it with the right search words, it would likely lead to a tirade of offtopic discussion.

To be fair gameguru, is based on fixed assets, there is no way around it. That said, with max and multitexture support I have gone an entirely different route in recent months, using multi textures on assets in most cases, seamless textures which can be easily swapped out and mixed and matched as needed.It uses a bit more resources but gives the end user far more flexibility overall. And with the addition of grouping and saving out entities things are changing for the better. But yeah gameguru in general is know for it's flexibility with regards to assets.Considering the target audience being on the younger side......iam on the fence here.....

"Well the word is we might get to see terrain next week "
Yes, synchro, that might "get my juices flowing", and I might even put the $dough down on the software if it appears to be predominantly bug free at the time.

@Wizard of id
If that Youtuber is the same person I am thinking of, interestingly (but not surprisingly) he did give synchromesh's Protoscope a fully credible and fair review on his channel. He was very excited about it in a positive way actually. He should be excited. This is kinda basically supporting the thesis of my; "TGC should promote game style diversity and openness" in their broadcasts and on site promotion of the GG software.

"it is in no way an indication of the engines capabilities - tis just lazy people after a quick buck."
Exactly OldFlak --absolutely agreed. That statement is actually hidden in the "Asset Flip" label. Asset flip is used to signify that your game is made using only what _x_ engine provides "out of the box" without your custom input. GGC/ GGMAX provides complete ready AI behaviors built in, there's only a handful of characters as well... (as of this writing), and when you use them get ready for critics of YOUR GGMAX built game if the behavior or duplicate characters are not interesting to said reviewer.

I'll be looking forward to a civilian/ family/ farmer/ fisherman/ driver/ pilot/ industrial/ construction/ office/ teacher/ coach/ administrative/ workforce/ characters DLC or an easy tutorial to import them to CC. Today on STEAM games are colorful, diverse, strategy, base building, factory running and team based.

The AI looks awesome, and so far everything is looking great, but one thing that dawned on me is that zombies don't ally with the player or soldiers much in other games. So my question is, will there be an AI setup so if the zombie or soldiers get to close to each other they will attack each other and forget the player, make for some interesting gameplay options, ie: lure zombies to combat areas.

Well TGC have just 12 to 16 weeks tops to get it that way. ( Depending on a November or December release )
Its not long really but even then will be Early Access.

No someone entirely different, his entire channel is mostly toxic....

Lee you're knocking out of the park. Happy I started using GG Classic a while back to present something creative because GG Max is really getting polished up. Great work man!