I've set up a quick forum if anyone is interested. It doesn't have its domain attached yet but can be accessed through the link below.
https://gamedevresort.freeforums.net/
I also completely agree with you PixelF.
I feel partly at fault for this. As I started one of the first TGC Discords.
When the Game Guru Classic forums separated from the TGC main forums and TGC went on a 6-month-long break of silence the forum went pretty quiet and the overall morale was pretty bad. So I created a discord as a way for the few of us in the community to continue talking about Classic in a more quick friendly live way. It was never meant to replace the forums. I also started the Discord when I received my first warning on my forum profile with the threat of being banned when I made suggestions for Game Guru Classic to use a terrain texture picker option that was used in most modding tools, particularly Creation Kit. I received a threat to be banned for mentioning Creation Kit and showing a screen shot of its terrain texture picker. Ironically, Lee liked the idea and added it to the engine even though I almost got banned from the forums for even making that suggestion. The GGC forums was very different from the TGC forums that had all the engines in it. When TGC moved Game Guru forums off of TGC (but kept the TGC logins) It felt like an isolated place and was very quiet in comparison. I think TGC and the mods assumed that all forums were slow or quiet because they were ONLY looking at Game Guru's forums and not the TGC one which included every other engine.
TGC later approached me and asked for access and control of that GGC Discord. I gave in and handed it over to them. TGC staff themselves however only used it as a way to promote Game Guru Max and then they dipped never to post in that Discord again. I've since left that original discord I created for the community, very disappointed in its lack of use by TGC and also how the engine was being used as a funnel for GGMax. The Discord I created was only meant as a LIVE CHAT option. NOT a forum. Discord forums and threads are terrible to use too. I expressed my disagreement with TGC when they told me they had plans to shut down the forums and move entirely and solely to Discord.
I think TGC underestimated the fact that not everyone uses GGMax. In my opinion, TGC themselves don't utilize Discord properly anyway and the GGMax Discord has unusual activity there where they delete posts out of nowhere and ban/kick members without giving them any reason. The mods seem clueless about which mod is responsible for that since they are not using the "Judy" bot to do the entire logging of all mod actions. It's just not a good community, I've never felt welcomed there personally and that is namely due to one user there. I see the way people interact with new people that ask questions and I dont like that either. It is disheartening to see. I have always preferred the forums as a way to gather information and ask questions or answer questions as the Q/A serves other people who may not be engaged in the conversation and they can quickly reference and grab resources from the posts. Discord is annoying cause you have to deal with personalities in the way to get that information. Yes, there is a search option, but if you want to ask questions or share your opinions about development be prepared to get your post deleted and your account likely banned or kicked and then you have nowhere else to go talk to people about the product you have purchased.
Another thing is the entire internet's database of information for TGC products comes near solely from the forums because TGC doesn't properly use SEO or do any SEM to promote the engines or its community. So once the forums die off from lack of NEW POSTS, Google and Bing Search will demote the products off the Search engine and it will become more difficult to type in search engines questions about the engines and get answers from here. I think TGC and a few people in the community of little understanding of how the internet works and how customers learn about products or gain access to information on product use resources. It should be noted that the SEO issue isn't just about searching for
Discord has ZERO Search Engine results. It has no way to relay its topics to the wider internet. ALSO, it doesn't appear they have properly setup their Discords to be on the Search and Discovery Community page for Discord when searching indie game dev tools. I dont know if this is because TGC prefers the community to be small and so there is less accountability when development falls off after someone new has purchased their engine, etc. There is a history of this with the other products. For example I purchased AppGameKit Classic and started using it and immediately it got discontinued. Then I was forced to purchase AppGameKit Studio. Now AppGameKit Studio looks to be getting barely any attention from TGC and I dont feel confident making an App on it for phone when the engine itself may not get future updates. Thankfully for AppGameKit, its webpages seem to be the only site that gives proper resources on the TGC website for one of their engines. But its too bad that engine is starting to feel abandoned now. I only just got into it. That seems to be the case with all their engines once you pick it up and a few years pass.
Free Game Guru Assets: http://www.freetoronto.org/gameguru/index.html
