NFT’s are the new disruptor kids on the block, currently creating news headlines on a regular basis. From the founder of Twitter selling his first ever tweet for $2.9 Million, to digital artist Beeple auctioning off Everydays: The First 5000 Days for an eye-watering $69.3 million!

Non-Fungible Tokens are digital tokens tied to assets that can be bought, sold and traded. Maybe it’s all a financial bubble that will soon burst or maybe they will become part of everyday life?

If artists can profit from NFT’s then surely game developers could too? A game could be auctioned off and owned by an individual, just like a baseball playing card. It’s surely going to happen, it’s just a matter of time.

While it may seem that the world is standing still during this pandemic there’s a lot of activity happening in the digital space!

It's been a busy time in the GameGuru MAX development labs where we have put the finishing touches to the basics such as our installer, auto updater and bug tracking system and we’re now focusing on how objects are managed when creating your levels.

We've been happy with the responses received so far regarding the new method of control for standard users and, with a little more refinement, we should have a system that is super intuitive and easy to use.

These efforts are partly to reduce the need to refer to documentation and tutorials but, as a belts and braces approach, we are also taking the inclusion of help into the software very seriously, such as the keyboard shortcuts helper panel which will be available in every key section. We’re also working on templates for video tutorials that will be embedded into the software too, so you are never far away from help in understanding how the software works and how you can create your first games.

Keep in touch with weekly development progress with our GameGuru MAX weekly live broadcasts and those of you who have Alpha versions get ready for an art flavoured April!

In the final March broadcast we showcased an early version of the new model importer. Models were loaded in and their animations were detected and setup using new controls that will make it a cinch to bring in third party models into your levels.

If you haven’t as yet taken the plunge and pre-ordered GameGuru MAX, you can claim 25% discount off the launch price and receive all the exclusive Alpha builds as we develop what is going to be a great game-maker!

As you may have spotted, the GameGuru Classic  March Fixes update went out last month and once again we either fixed all the reported bugs on the GitHub issues board, or responded with help and work-arounds to those that did not quite make the grade. GameGuru Classic has now consistently achieved a zero-bug count for all of 2020 and for the first quarter of this year, and we are determined to continue this trend and make sure each update places the highest priority on fixing any issues you find. If you do find an issue that is preventing you from completing your game please do report it on our issues board!

Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled in April for some great promotions on assets including:

And…….if you’re in need of Easter vibes for your game take a look at our Easter Game Pack too!

We just want to respond to some of the adverse commentary appearing in the forum about the future of AppGameKit and confirm that we, are of course, continuing to support it. We have quarterly bug fixes planned into our schedule and will always ensure it stays stable on new OS releases.

As you’ll know we are a very small team and the pandemic has meant that we have really had to be very flexible and focus on key revenue drivers. We’re managing our way through this difficult period, thankfully without having to lose any staff, but we have had to focus our efforts (and resources) on key projects.

We can’t at this stage promise big feature lists for AppGameKit, but we’ll keep reviewing this alongside the resource available to us.

We are, however, wholly appreciative of our great community and whilst we can’t comment on every thread that appears, we hope this public response reassures those who had concerns and clarifies our ongoing support for AppGameKit Classic.

If you’d like to add to your AppGameKit Classic asset armoury in April look out for deals on:

April sees AppGameKit Studio  discounted by 60% - you have until the 12th to grab a copy at this great price!

The Particle Editor is also available from the 12th April with a 60% discount. NB! The GameGuruMAX dev team are adding support for the particles effects that this tool creates, so you’ll soon be able to use it for both Studio and MAX!

In this month’s newsletter we talk to Cine|Guru, a collaboration between coding genius Chris Stapleton (better known to many in the forum as AmenMoses) and award-winning filmmaker Scott Tanner (Avenging Eagle).  With Cine|Guru they have set out to create a pack crammed with features that is simple enough for anyone to use - from seasoned filmmakers looking to direct engaging machinima cinematics, to beginners simply wanting to place a security camera in their level.

For many years, GameGuru users have dreamed of being able to make cutscenes for their games right there within the editor and now there is an exciting new third party tool that has just been released that will satisfy all the budding Hitchcocks and Spielbergs!

Cine|Guru is a revolutionary asset and script pack that gives you the tools to create your own in-game cinematics and scripted sequences for GameGuru games. From fully-controllable cameras to actors that move, perform, and speak according to your instructions, Cine|Guru gives you the power to create stunning story sequences, all without touching barely any code.

This exciting teaser trailer shows off many of the headline features!

The pair worked hard to keep ease-of-use front and centre during development. Scott says, “Behind the frankly mind-boggling maths was a desire to create a set of tools that would enable anyone, of any skill level, to create cinematics within the GameGuru editor. We documented everything thoroughly; Cine|Guru comes with a 49-page instruction manual explaining every feature and giving plenty of examples, and the pack also includes three example maps so you can see first-hand how everything works.”

To get a taste for what Cine|Guru can help you to achieve, Chris and Scott created an atmospheric intro cinematic for a GameGuru level called “Infiltration”.

“We've been overjoyed by the response to the pack so far”, said Scott, “it's deeply satisfying now that we're starting to see what other users are making with Cine|Guru, and that motivates us to keep developing it further”.

At the moment, Cine|Guru has been designed and tested to work in GameGuru Classic, but Chris and Scott are already hard at work on updating the pack to work in GameGuru MAX too. “Some functionalities like cameras, triggers, and focal points already work in GameGuru Max right now and take advantage of Max's powerful dynamic lua capabilities”, Scott explained, “but we're still working on getting our character controls up and running – the aim is to allow you to have fully trigger-able actors that lip-sync on command. We won't say it's fully Max-compatible until you can achieve that - but watch this space!”