The announcement of the public release of OpenXR from Khronos, which standardises the implementation of AR and VR, will allow developers to code their simulations once, and have that content run on any headset and controller presently supported by manufacturers.

Once more hardware vendors release the runtimes for their devices, it’s expected that this will become the OpenGL of the VR world, enabling compatibility with many platforms and making the lives of developers much more pleasant.

A timely announcement as VR plays a part in our plan for GameGuru as detailed below ?

We are forging ahead with AppGameKit Studio and the plan is to launch later this month. However, Vulcan is proving tricky and we may end up delaying launch until early July in order to get it absolutely right – watch this space! We are grateful to everyone who pre-ordered and want to deliver a polished product so hope the extra wait is worth it ? A big thank you too to those who fed back on Alpha issues and gave us ideas and input for additional features.

The new rendering system in Studio will support both OpenGL and Vulkan rendering pipelines. We're incorporating some great Vulkan inspired ideas into AppGameKit Studio and we're already seeing some great speed improvements with the OpenGL renderer. On average, where games are CPU bound, we expect most developers will see a 25% speed boost in their games with some reaching as high as 30%.

With our focus now firmly on making Vulkan work, once this is all running we will have a completed and ready to launch version 1 of AppGameKit Studio.

The Linux version now comes in 32-bit and 64-bit varieties and has been extensively tested by the pre-order owners who gained early access to the first builds.

To help educate and ease users into AppGameKit Studio we’ve just finished a detailed User Guide that focuses on the new user interface and offers useful hints and tips. Every owner will find the User Guide bundled free with the AppGameKit Studio when it goes live.

AppGameKit Studio DLCs

The first DLC for AppGameKit Studio is a Particle Editor - an easy-to-use editor that brings GPU particles to your creations, allowing you to create complex effects with high particle counts - without a big performance impact!

The Particle Editor DLC provides tools for controlling all the essential effect parameters and lets you create particle movement and flows visually without the need for programming or complex formulas. Particles can then be controlled and moved by building a layered stack of influencer effects such as reflectors, swirls, forces and attractors.

There's also a special paint layer with which you can freely paint particle movements (speed and direction) in the 3D space surrounding the emitter. This allows for instant visual feedback and an iterative and artistic way of building your game effects.

You can load (or use the included) particle images and gradients to shape and colour each particle throughout its lifetime. Then once an effect is finished, you can export it to a small FX file and then use it in your project with the run-time include that adds the GPU particle functionality to your projects.

The Particle Editor DLC will be available in July once AppGameKit Studio has gone live and will be available on Steam and our website www.thegamecreators.com

VR and Multiplayer

Some of the astute members of the community will have noticed activity around the GameGuru repository related to VR and Multiplayer work. Two areas that have needed improvement, and that also relate to the needs of the next generation of gamers who will expect multiplayer out-the-box and support for the latest tech.

We have had VR support in some small ways in the past, but the fragmented nature of the industry in the early years meant the uptake was low. Thanks to the avalanche of new VR and AR devices, and the efforts from Microsoft and Khronos to unify and standardise the experience, a commercial opportunity to support VR in a bigger way presented itself and we have been working on this in the background (the foreground being occupied by AppGameKit Studio – sadly we only have so many hands!).

As promised at the start of the year, we have refrained from putting this code into the main builds of GameGuru to keep new features separate. Once they have been tested and battle-hardened, we look forward to releasing them as solid replacements for the old VR and multiplayer support.

BUGS!!

So, we had planned to have a bug-fest in May, however this was absorbed into the VR work as described above. We’re back on it and are now aiming for a June release, first through beta builds and Public Preview tests, and finally as a public release to all users. If you are working on projects at the moment, it is highly recommended you switch to the Public Preview build when we announce it, as any issues can be caught and remedied before the final release.

In DLC news, we have some great promotions up ahead including the Mega Pack 2, Medical Pack, Antiques Pack, Death Valley and Abandoned Apartments Pack. If you don't yet have any of these DLCs and want to inject new assets into your next game creation, keep your eye out for these bargains in June.

And finally………meet Harli

Harli invaded Nushka’s space about a year ago when he joined the Meakin household. A Finnish Lapphund with champion parents he didn’t quite make the grade as a show dog, so he decided to train up DAJ and Meash and become a full-time pet!

A year in and he just about has them well trained – they know what and when to feed him, which walks he likes, how to brush him (often!) and which treats he really likes ? With a particular penchant for sheep poo, or horse poo if it’s available, he makes for an interesting walking companion!

Looking a bit like a fat collie, his size belies his speed – he can shift! Lapphunds were traditionally bred for herding reindeer in their native Lapland but there aren’t many reindeer in Cheshire ? so he hones his skills herding Nushka and Iris!