Happy New Year!

Well, as we're sure you'll agree game development is an exciting field that is constantly evolving. With the latest advances in technology, the world of game development is full of new possibilities. Here are some of the key insights that are shaping the industry in 2023.

One of the biggest trends in game development is the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is being used to create more realistic and dynamic game environments, as well as to enhance player experiences. For example, AI can be used to create more intelligent and lifelike NPCs (non-player characters) that can interact with players in a more natural way.

Another trend that is gaining traction in the game development industry is the use of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR). VR and AR technologies are being used to create immersive and interactive game experiences that allow players to feel like they are truly part of the game world.

In addition to these technological advances, there is also a growing focus on creating more inclusive and diverse game experiences. This includes increasing representation of under-represented groups in games, as well as creating games that are accessible to a wider range of players.

Overall, the future of game development looks bright and full of exciting possibilities. With the continued evolution of technology and a focus on inclusivity and diversity, the industry is sure to continue producing innovative and engaging games for players around the world.

Now for a confession ? 90% of this article was authored by ChatGTP ? It just shows how AI is starting to let us save time and hopefully inspire us!

Those who eagerly watch out for our regular updates will know that for the first time we fixed every reported bug on the  GameGuru Classic issues board during our December update! A few times in 2022 we got close, but it was great to see that big lovely ZERO marking our commitment to making sure your favourite game maker is stable and ready to make games.

The perfect day did not last too long and new reports have appeared and the GitHub Issues Board is once again performing it's role of collecting your feedback and the issues you may be experiencing.

The GitHub repository is also up to date with the latest version of the source code, so you are free to check out a fork of your own and add any functionality your game might need if you need that extra edge. We also encourage you to create branches for new functionality and submit to the official repository. If the feature is good enough and solid, we are happy to make it part of the official build.

As always – you can catch us for our YouTube live broadcast every Wednesday at 7pm GMT/2pm EST/10am PST for the latest news about GameGuru Classic and GameGuru MAX and chat live with the dev team!

As GameGuru MAX marches ever closer to its V1 release, the engine room of development has been busy on many levels. The newest feature, and long anticipated improvement, has been to add the Screen Editor system that's part of your game projects Storyboard and now enables you to customize your in-game HUDs. A new screen is available in your storyboard that when selected can be used to swap in or add additional graphics, text and numerics to lay out your main game screen just the way you want it.

Given the rise in reported issues, we also transitioned our development effort to focus a greater portion of time on high priority bugs, making sure you had the most stable version of GameGuru MAX before the Christmas break.

This focus continues into 2023 as we bring down the issues count and introduce new functionality and increased stability, ready for our V1 release.

Finally, for all those users who are generally happy with the Early Access version so far and want more game-making asset content, we partnered with artists from the community to prepare and release three new Booster Packs. The Wasteland Workshop and Wasteland Weapons Booster Packs cater for a post-apocalyptic world and the OffWorld Station Booster Pack leaves Earth altogether and offers the opportunity to create a game that takes place in outer space. The quality on show is awesome!

We look forward to encouraging more artists to create game assets for your future game ideas and you are welcome to contact the authors of the Booster Packs to suggest ideas for new DLC for 2023 and beyond ?

We released our quarterly update for AppGameKit Studio and AppGameKit Classic in December. The build was slightly delayed from its intended release date due to a code signing issue, but we managed to get it out before Christmas!

The update for AppGameKit Studio focuses on a new way to code with Visual Studio CODE. We've created an extension for Visual Studio CODE that lets you edit, compile, broadcast and run your AppGameKit projects. This early Alpha version is available to anyone to try and we'd really like your feedback on it.

One of our great community has created this helpful guide explaining how to set up the extension and you can post your experiences and feedback into this forum thread

If you, like most Game developers, are looking for the right kind of media for your latest masterpiece then you should take a look at the huge number of great models and media available for your AppGameKit, GameGuru Classic and GameGuru MAX projects. The Game Creator Store has 1000's of models and graphical tools covering a massive range of genres, with new ones arriving weekly. 

As well as the store, we have a growing range of DLC for all of our products, covering everything from Fantasy to Sci-Fi. 

So, whatever you're looking for, you're sure to find it.

In this edition we meet Chris Wilson aka EyeFly

Chris is a self-taught 3D artist with one years game dev experience and five years of blender 3D experience under his belt. Chris has been into arts and crafts since he was a child and always loved drawing and building things. So, game development was a perfect fit for him. His first big step into being an artist was when he started blowing glass which combined his love of arts and love of making stuff. He started working as a glassblower as soon as he graduated from high school and made his living doing that for about 12 years until his first child was born.

Chris takes up the tale from here: “Currently I'm a stay-at-home father, which gives me lots of free time to practice my skills. I've been working on learning lua scripting and making game assets, so I will eventually have the skills to make an entire game from scratch. I started with GameGuru Classic for a couple of months but have now moved over to GameGuru MAX.

My current project is an RPG style wood village asset pack for GameGuru MAX and it will be a pretty big pack - over 200 objects so far. It has a good selection of buildings, bridges, scenery objects and more. Each object in the pack will have 3 texture variants. It should have just about everything needed to set up a nice, old village setting for the player to explore. Each building is open with a full interior. There will even be a couple of animated objects to bring some life to the scene. It will be a great pack for the new RPG behavior system being worked on in GameGuru MAX.

I plan on eventually making a Backrooms RPG style survival game where the player must find a way out or die trying. With an open world that's full of dangers, secret passages and an environment that will change its layout as you explore. Plus, a mystery to discover and solve that will explain the origin of The Backrooms, and the player has to fight constant infection and keep their sanity in check. Also a crafting and cooking system to help them survive and stay protected. But in the meantime, I plan to continue learning GameGuru MAX and teaching myself to make games, as I anxiously wait for each update to see what's new that I can do.

I'm thankful I found GameGuru. Both Classic and MAX have taught me a lot about the game dev world. I believe it’s a great way to get into game development. It's easy enough for anyone to use but powerful enough that someone can do just about anything they can imagine, if they want to dive deeper into it. Overall, GameGuru Classic and MAX are hands down the best game dev software I’ve tried and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to even just get their feet wet in the game dev world.

Take a look at Chris’s YouTube GameGuru Max Playlist and you can find Chris’s FREE STUFF and FREE SCRIPTS on the GameGuru Forum ?

And finally….with a lot of our community discussion moving over to Discord over the last year or so we have decided to move to bi-monthly newsletters from now on. Back to you in March and in the meantime, you can find us on Discord at:

AppGameKit Studio and Classic

GameGuru MAX

GameGuru Classic