Hi All,

Here is the recording of today's broadcast:


And here are the answers I did not get to in the live chat:

Q> Is the "rolling generation" of navmesh and physics as the user walks around the editable terrain area still planned?
A> I am first going to attempt a 'generate in the background as soon as the terrain is chosen' approach, and if the memory footprint is too great, then we can roll in the finalized usable data as needed (rather than the heavy generation which is the worst of the three options).

Q> Will there be a new tutorial series coming out soon. Beginner and advanced???
A> We are only planning standard user tutorials for the EA release to give the majority of users a chance to make a game easily. We will be doing advanced and developer mode tutorials as well, but only when we feel a new standard user has everything they need (at least for their first few days).

Q> I came in late - can this be used for forest generation?
A> Yes some of the terrain theme biomes will come with trees suitable for that terrain, so one of the is a forest generation choice

Q> Will the option for more terrain distance be worked upon?
A> For the first version we are keeping the maximum editable area at 5km squared of the available near-infinite terrain. As we see how users explore this space, we can decide how much bigger the terrain's editable area may need to be. Just for reference, it takes about an hour to walk from one side of the editable area to the other at 5 kilometers (in your game level).

Q> VR and finished game compiling - how soon till that is back in?
A> Virtual Reality game creation will come in 2022, once we are happy the non-VR single-player experience is at a consumer level of quality. Saving standalone is planned for the EA release so watch this space on something called the 'Game Storyboard'

Q> Talking about shaders, will there ever be a selection of shaders for things like glass, water (for water volumes), hair/fur, etc? (Maybe as DLC, lIke AGK the classic shader DLC?)
A> There are no plans to add new shaders to the Wicked Engine graphics engine at this time. In fact, there are features of the Wicked Engine we have not tapped into yet such as depth of field and it is likely we will unlock these for MAX before creating our own from scratch.

Q> ​You could maybe make the building translucent or transparent instead of clipping?
A> Making the building semi-transparent is a good idea, but this can also have its downsides if you are looking through a roof, and then an internal wall at something you want to manipulate. It can get a little foggy.

Q> How I get GameGuru MAX?
A> The pre-orders for the EA version has now closed, but you will be able to get the software at the end of November this year when we release it to the public.

Q> Would you consider doing an arm creator? animate arms we can attach things to and weld and save the arms and weapons. a bit like CC but for 1st person arms and weapons even as a DLC
A> There are no plans to make an arm creator for GameGuru MAX, nor a Weapons Maker. They are very good ideas but for the time being we would be looking to third-party artists to use our templates and guide to create these as drop-in assets for the product. Only when all the major priority features of this game maker are hit would we look at these types of add-on modules.

Q> ​My tip for a long life of development and engine developers' profitability. A store system similar to the combat arms game where with each purchase the developers can earn a percentage...
A> Fortunately, we can point you to exactly such a thing, called the GAME CREATOR STORE, and here is the link: https://tgcstore.net/

Q> Any ideas of making better underwater efx?
A> There are no plans to significantly enhance the water and underwater system you see in the current builds. Down the road, we do want to add improved water effects, swimming and underwater logic, but for the EA version, this will be an above-water game maker.

Q> Do you plan UI editor?
A> We plan a very basic screen editor for the EA release that will enable you to customize your loading, main menu, loading, game over and game complete screens. We also have plans to add more features to the editor over time. Keep an eye out for something called the 'Game Storyboard' - hint hint

Q> Does it support C#?
A> GameGuru MAX supports the LUA programming language only, and is only intended for users who have scripting skills and are comfortable developing their own game logic in code. Most users will be using the visual logic system we are developing so you do not need to code in order to craft the logic for your games.

Thanks for all your questions, more lovely answers next Wednesday 4 PM BST.

Oh God No.
That is such a bad idea.
There will be a race to get the first Max Game on steam and it wont be pretty.

Im extremely happy that physics will be less pily heavy as my inn at present has the ai guys doing moonwalks and not really walking around properly so glad that itbwill be better

@wizard of id
If you need some Clarity please watch this video above. Convex is in now. i believe there are different possible routes he may go regarding loading etc. Hope this sorts your concerns about physics and loading. I'm just glad i dont have a UTI.

Happy days

Ps totally agree with Synchromesh until the release is stable any games made may cause a huge uproar on steam and major ripples in the games progress. I think when comes out of early access. a game can then be made. But its their journey so up to them guys just the flippers will be there giving half completed games and many bugs and issues i do see

Sb

Agree with Synchro.
Unfortunately, this is a feature that many people are desperately waiting for, and on the other hand, TGC needs income, and many buyers can be a good advertisement for the product; This is the easy way, it may also be the time to be brave, and bet on a quality product, even if it implies less income. imho.

Oh, the irony! The explicit irony just reeks!

"GameGuru MAX is a non-technical and fun game maker. It allows you to build your own game world, using creative and enjoyable tools. Populate your game by placing down characters and other game items, then press one button to build your game and it's ready to play and share!"
RE: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1247290

My personal opinion would be Tough Luck .. But you did mention a WaterMark which would be a great idea
That way we could still test our games and not see any rubbish on Steam.

I agree. No to standalone. New year maybe but not on 1st release.... Very bad idea. I think it would be best to wait until at least one of the other modes is in, RPG or Puzzle, that way we would all know how it works and have a good idea on limitations by then.

@synchromesh-- what happened? Why is "it wont be pretty." ?
The irony is; says the person who is perennially THE one man army standing upon a tower defending
all things GG, (whether merited or not) and without discretion throwing user opinion under the bus.
RE: My comments here and Steam about GGjr and resulting "feedback"!

I don't have max, and personally I don't really care what or when things happen with MAX- it's too late.
But I want to know what's wrong with max, why should I NOT buy it because these comments
make me think it's a weird Steam toy when actually I want a game engine? Who's going to give
it great reviews as a game engine when you guys seem to be reviewing it as just an idle game toy?

BTW I said from the beginning that it will need a month or two of public testing before release--
How will any more features prohibit asset flips? More assets? Better CC?!
You know I vote more CCx10.

100% agree that standalones made with the software during early-access (EA) should have a small watermark stamped over them in the corner, something like "This game is made with an unfinished, pre-release version of the GameGuru MAX software. This game is only a DEMO and cannot be sold." People could still make standalones and distribute them to friends/family for testing/fun purposes, but the disclaimer stuck in the corner of the screen would make it impossible for anyone to sell anything until the engine leaves EA and would thus (hopefully) be more complete and better represent it's own capabilities.

That year of EA time would also give the talented folk around here (Such as Duch or Wolf) time to make impressive demos or even entire games to represent MAX once the "gates are opened".

Why ask me in particular.
There are others above in full agreement.
Its not ready yet. For Early access it may be fine but its not ready to make full blown Games.

IDK. Much rather prefer it not get released on steam at all or first product version at all. It is way too soon. You can plaster EA or watermark on it till kingdom come and it is still going to end up with bad reviews and negative feedback, with only maybe a handful of people that fully understand the concept.However I do understand you need to keep the lights on and further fund the project development.

There is still so much lacking in the functionality of editing and the core that, I don't see it going down well steam.Lee even mentioned the lack of most of water functionality will be missing in the first version.IDK release it outside of steam, on the tgc platform.Have those who pre ordered it on steam get their keys and do a closed early access on steam.That way you can limit damage and impact you might potentially get.

So yeah probably not a good idea, would be interesting to see what they can do in the remaining seven odd weeks left going to be fun.

@Scienceboy
I am not doing this with you it ends here, period.

Yep thats the problem.
Many new users will expect to be creating games and have no ( as you say concept ) of Early Access, Alpha or Development Builds no matter how much you try to explain it just goes right over their head. My brutal opinion is if you cannot grasp the point behind Early Access then do not purchase it until later down the road. However if you do your going to love it

Cool stuff Lee
Definitely looking forward to stand-alone! We need to be able to test outside the editor, so this will be great for finding/reporting issues.

Maybe make very first and last game screen a watermark tho. That would sort the planks that will make trash with no effort, and the other you-tuber planks who think they are credible critics that will blame the engine for the trash the first plank made.

Unfortunately having Steam in the picture is a sure -fire way to get trash out there - Steam don't care about quality, they get money anyhow.
Would have been better to not have it on Steam in the first place

OldFlak....

Looks and feels great. But not a fan of the editing so much, has it's pros and cons I guess.Do like the more precise placement of entities and being able to input the values you want.But the indoor editing still leaves me wanting.

Currently working on another exciting project for max. Indoor things again, and without the being able to clip entities I have to use a different approach then I normally do.Does make things slightly harder and more annoying

@science boy
Please refrain from poking your stick as its only going to provoke a negative response and is uncalled for but as it happens i think your both slightly incorrect.
As far as i am concerned The convex hull setting has been there as far back as i can remember ... Its collisionmode = 9
It has worked for me since i was first able to copy my project levels over and lee incorporated as a selection in the menu of the importer way back in April ( broadcast 40 ) along with all the other collision modes but like i said its always worked for me just being set in the .fpe

Synchromesh, I would like to make a stand alone so I can test the game on other machines.

Me to for Prototyping but not for Publishing.
Perhaps a hard coded Water Mark is a good option.
Then we can all test till our hearts content

excellent broadcast Lee, nice work team !!

Nice to see some optimisation being adopted now. The load times were a lot worse on my system than 6 seconds. Will be waiting for improvements to actual game speed before I start properly testing Max again though. It looks like high poly models are being seriously improved physics wise, but just the terrain alone is enough to half my fps still; so won't make any difference to me, as I haven't even got to the point of placing scenery around since the terrain was updated bar an odd building or 2. Even those slowed down when inside compared to the old versions.

So looking forward to the terrain being optimised as Lee mentions in the stream and of course the ability to at least flatten an area out to place things properly. Things are going in the right direction

IMHO...Standalone is good, but with watermarks, or some other way of conveying the "alpha" message. I think all of us have a vested interest in GG Max and have participated in Lee's efforts one way or another. Let's not let Steam or "unguarded" standalone games damage everyone's efforts.

Cheers!

Watermarks are a good idea and also only allow the standalone to be run for say 15 minutes before it quits.

I know GG Max is currently in development but is there any plan in future to make a loader of GG Max for AppGamekit Studio like once we have with classic AppGamekit for Classic GG or something like native cross compiler for other platforms ?

Game Guru Loader was a 3rd party project. The author is also busy on Max, so I wouldn't hold my breath for anything remotely soon in that regard. To be honest the original should still work fine in AGK and can't see a massive reason to add Max support as yet anyway. Max is certainly behind GG at the moment in terms of editor, features and stability; all GG Loader is really, is a tool to let you use GG as a level editor.

Not sure if it is important right now, but tried out the the alpha for the first time and I'm getting 25 - 30 fps in the Cellar Demo. Things are looking good though!

RTX 3060
i5-10400f
16gb ram

Pixel f. How much was your rtx 3060?

GG Loader isn't actually a TGC product, you would have to ask the author (Preben) about that.

@science boy

I was lucky enough to grab one for MSRP. $400 USD at a local computer shop