GameGuru MAX News

Just over a week ago, we launched a screenshot competition to see what you could create with a single screenshot of a GameGuru MAX scene using only stock assets and your imagination - and what imaginations you have! The entries came in thick and fast and we were blown away by just how varied the visuals were.  

As always with our super creative community, picking out just five winners from the entries was not easy, but we've finally settled on the following submissions:


This was our top pick. Not only is the scene beautiful and commanded a sense of scale, the detail was also excellent and most of all it showed skillful use of the subtle art of lighting. Making a scene feel real is not easy and this entry managed it very well. Congratulations!


Right out of a western movie this screenshot uses the classic setting sun and long shadow trick. The silhouette of the gunslinger's hat and gun are a great touch. If this was a game you would want to check it out!


An amazing level of detail in this scene! The clever part is the use of realistic lighting to cast shadows that reveal some things and obscure others, forcing the eye to go wandering around looking for things. 


Another poster waiting to happen! There is so much story here, the shadows casting deep into a foreboding cave, the three adventurers clustered together in safety, but you just know they are going in and adventure awaits!


You can feel the heat in this one and it's clever of the author to provide objects to go with the orange blaze of lighting, picking out a great level of detail that would not be out of place in a modern game. 


We also want to tip our hat to everyone who entered - thank you! We are looking forward to sharing your masterpieces on our socials in the weeks to come - every single one is worth showing so everyone can see the variety that can be produced with a helping of imagination :-) But do let us know if you prefer us not to use your screenshot ;-)

Congratulations to everyone and keep an eye out for our next competition!

 

Today we make a key change in response to feedback from GameGuru MAX users - The Particle Editor Tool is now included as a core feature of MAX and the Particle Editor effects library now becomes the Particles Booster Pack!

Leverage the power of your GPU to add complex effects with high particle counts - without a big performance impact!  This collection boosts the particle effects available in the Particle Editor library from the default 28 particles to over 270!

Each particle effect can be controlled and moved by building a layered stack of influencer effects such as reflectors, swirls, forces, and attractors.

Once an effect has been chosen from the expanded library, you can export it and use it in your GameGuru MAX games by adding it from the particle library.

Features found in the new particle effects include:

• Burst emitters for explosions and sparks
  
• Textures for common effects
  
• Different tinting and gradients
  
• Orientation for camera facing, billboard, full 3D rotation, and movement speed
  
• Turbulence system for adding natural-looking randomness to the effects
  
• Layered vector fields controlling movement and flows
  
• Shaped layers for directional forces, attract/repel and swirl particles
  
• Reflectors for bouncing particles
  

All existing owners of the former Particle Editor will automatically get the newly named Particles Booster Pack, no need to do anything as Steam will update you automatically.  All GameGuru MAX users will get the particle editor tool, but only existing and new users of the Particles Booster Pack will get the full library of effects.

You can find out more information by visiting the official GameGuru MAX Particles Booster Pack Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1418110/GameGuru_MAX_Particles_Booster_Pack/

Fixed crash bug introduced in 2022.08.05 with the new compact object placement system.

Here is another maintenance version that adds the following:

• Added new animation set awareness in behaviors to choose different animations
  
• Characters are now aware of their weapon fire rate and clip size for reloading
  
• Added new Animation Library to choose which animation to play
  
• New weapon folders are now detected and shown for player and characters
  
• Smart object system now saves static state and corrects quaternion rotation
  
• Added the first Guide to outline how users can create their own melee weapons
  
• Fixed issue causing a large number of enemies to 'not see' the player or other enemies
  
• Added new Behaviors to the library, courtesy of the author Necrym59
  
• Added new compact mode for position, rotation, and scale, better for advanced users
  
• Cleaned the Behavior Library categories to hide the non-script folders
  
• Added new offline mode to Steam version, allows 30 days grace offline
  

Some of the above were included in the Animation Booster Pack released earlier this week, and are now part of the Friday update for everyone to use and enjoy. Do let the team know via our GitHub issues board if you have any problems.

Finally, best of luck to everyone who is entering the screenshot competition!

Today sees the launch of the GameGuru MAX Animation Booster Pack!

This new DLC add-on is compatible with GameGuru MAX and adds cool new animations for your game characters.

The Animation Booster Pack provides extra animations for your combat soldiers, plus a range of civilian activities too. A new behaviour has been added called 'Play Animation' that will enable you to assign any of these animations to any character you created in GameGuru MAX.

We have also enhanced GameGuru MAX with a complimentary Animation Library system to make your animation handling super simple ?

Key animation categories include:

• Additional combat stances for rifle, pistol, and shotgun
  
• General activities and conversations
  
• Sitting and sleeping
  
• Idle animations
  
• Death poses
  

You can find out more information by visiting the official GameGuru MAX Animation Pack Steam page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096770/GameGuru_MAX_Animation_Booster_Pack/?beta=0