I’m excited to announce my presence on Odysee to host my videos.

What Is Odysee?

Odysee is a video hosting platform similar to YouTube and, perhaps, a viable alternative to YouTube.

In fact, it acts as a mirror for your YouTube account, but you can also upload your own videos. Additionally, you can create multiple channels more easily than YouTube instead of having one channel and several playlists.

That means that if anything happens to my YouTube Channel, there will be a backup available.

Plans for Odysee

I plan on still uploading to my YouTube account, which is syncronised with Odysee so new videos should also update there.

Additionally, I’m going to upload Odysee exclusive videos, including tutorials and game update videos, starting some time this month!

Some time ago, I conducted a poll on Facebook, on Twitter and in Discord on which game I should continue developing after the game jams they were created for.

What Were the Choices?

The choice was between:

The unanimous consensus across the board was "both". I had considered alternating development on the two games. However, it’s proving to be very time-consuming and difficult to achieve.

What Are the Plans Then?

I’m only going to focus on one, Otherworld: Through the Veil, therefore, because its entire storyline is already written and mapped out.

Both games will eventually also have their own official websites for updates.

Jackson Meira has decided to close his Assets Smile Game Builder Facebook page. He made the following announcement:

You can still download his free assets and purchase his Infinity Pack.

The latest addition to this excellent pack is the Modular Skills Rune Tree, which allows you to create a fully functional skills tree similar to those you see in many RPGs and MMOs.

You can purchase the complete pack from Jackson’s Itch.io page for $40.

Showcase Video

And for a demo on how it works, Jackson has provided a video showcase:

Highly Recommended!

I would highly recommend this pack to anyone who wants to create a game in SMILE GAME BUILDER, so head on over to Jackson’s page and purchase the pack. You won’t regret it!

The SMILE GAME BUILDER Summer 2020 Game Jam is now on! Submissions open from July 19th 2020 at 6:00 AM to July 31st 2020 at 6:00 AM.

The game jam is created by AmalgamAsh, whom you might know from his SMILE GAME BUILDER Playthroughs.

Let’s make games, demos, experiences, proof-of-concepts, or shareable battle systems / puzzles / maps!

So why not show off your game design skills and enter the jam? And have fun while doing so!

I’ll look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

SMILE GAME BUILDER has been updated to Version 1.12.5. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to do a proper showcase video on this yet.

#SMILEGAMEBUILDER is now Ver1.12.5! Please visit the URL for more information.😀https://t.co/L8pS2Pcqbu

— SMILE GAME BUILDER (@SmileBoom_SGB_E) May 28, 2020

Here is the first demo of Relationship Sim‘s "Select A Girl" custom menu, where you can see the girls’ relationship stats. It’s still a work-in-progress, but as game development continues, so too will this menu.

“Select A Girl” Custom Menu Video Demo #1

What Is "Relationship Sim"?

For those who don’t know already, Relationship Sim is a game I’m developing for SMILE GAME BUILDER.

It was originally inspired by Tutorial #16, which demonstrated how to create a basic relationship system. I decided to expand on that idea and build a full relationship system, where choices matter and affects relationships with other people.

However, game development on it halted in favour of other games and projects. Eventually, it came full circle and I decided to continue with this game first – and finish it – before moving onto other games and, possibly, other engines.

Those who follow me on social media already know about the various projects I’m working on, including my games.

Various Game Engines

I’ve tried my hand at various genres and storylines, inculding a quasi-biographical game entitled Confluction, but none of them really progressed beyond initial concept. There are numerous reasons behind this, but the main one seems to be that they haven’t felt "right".

In addition, I’ve been experimenting with various game engines for some time now, including RPG Maker, Unity, GameMaker, Axis Game Factory, and GameGuru. And, of course, SMILE GAME BUILDER.

In a recent announcement on the SGB Discord, I stated:

Game development on "Starborn: The Fallen" will most likely migrate to GameGuru MAX (official release September) and development on "Relationship Sim" will be for SMILE GAME BUILDER.

The next goal was to determine which engine to use for the overall feeling and outcome. I settled on SMILE GAME BUILDER for "Relationship Sim" (a previously planned but now resurrected game idea) and GameGuru MAX for "Starborn: The Fallen".

Why GameGuru MAX? Why Not Unity?

Someone in Discord asked why I’d use GameGuru MAX for Starborn: The Fallen rather than Unity or the Game Creator asset for Unity (interpretably haughtily).

My answer was probably rather terse, so I thought I’d expand it here. What I won’t do here is extol GameGuru MAX’s virtues or lament its drawbacks.

Now I responded that I wanted to try something different. Since I’ve been using GameGuru (not necessarily intending to produce a game with it) on and off for awhile, I saw the potential for a small yet simple horror-style game because of its post-effects, like lighting. Furthermore, some of the models in the add-on packs were (are) perfect for this purpose.

However, as before the "feeling" just wasn’t there, so the motivation dwindled. I continued creating the maps for the game – sometimes from scratch, sometimes randomly generating landscapes – and soon realised that some of the maps bore a striking resemblance to those in Starborn. This was purely subconscious; I wasn’t planning on it.

This then prompted me to delve further into GameGuru as a whole. Although I still need to learn its programming language, Lua, it is more lightweight than the C# that Unity predominantly uses and, while not primarily an object-orientated programming (OOP) language, primary classes and tables can be used to store data and create objects. I wrote a very simplistic script to store some basic information for an equally basic quest log (admittedly partially functional and very buggy).

Completely by accident, I saw a trailer for GameGuru MAX so decided to preorder it in February and recently received the first alpha release. This seriously lacks in actual content but it is a vast improvement on its predecessor, with a better, more intuitive interface and a built-in character creator. I even tried importing some of my own hi-tex models into the engine and was impressed with the results.

So, I made that executive decision to migrate Starborn to GameGuru MAX. I’ll continue working on the game (intermittently) until its official release in September.

Relationship Sim (SMILE GAME BUILDER)

And I will resume development on my SGB game, "Relationship Sim", which I started some time ago. This was loosely based on and inspired by an old tutorial I did, #16: Relationship System.

I particularly like those kinds of games where choices matter and actions have consequences, which result in multiple endings based on those choices.

Relationship Sim is no exception in that you can follow the path of faithful boyfriend or cassanova. Each path has a different outcome and different influences on other characters.

Susbsequently, the "relationship system" is potentially quite complex. SGB’s limitations at the time became one of the major reasons the project was placed on hold. Now, with some of the newest additions (notably displaying text as images and string variables), it’s more viable to create a specific HUD style without having to rely exclusively on graphics for names, relationship status, etc.

My SubscribeStar patrons will also gain access to "mature" or "adult" content. This won’t be sexual in nature, not gratuitous but more inferred, and it’ll be optional content for those who want it.

With that said, I’m going to start development on Relationship Sim from scratch, expanding upon and improving its old system to accommodate the new updates.

Development Updates

Working on both projects at once – plus my tutorials, my model packs and live-streaming – will demand much of my time, but with proper micro-management of time I should be able to juggle them successfully.

Although there won’t be updates on Starborn: The Fallen until September (when it’s officially launched), updates on Relationship Sim will be posted on social media and in the SGB Discord.