Quote: "I'd love to get my hands on the Studio IDE source code, I think the single best thing TGC could do for AppGameKit right now is outsource the IDE, its stale and gong nowhere, the Lib is out there what harm can doing the same with the IDE cause as the internal tools to compile basic are still a state secret."
Have you tried looking on TheGameCreators GitHub?
It's using Geany (https://www.geany.org/) as a base... but good luck "improving" it., as frankly you'd be better of writing your own.
The Compiler is entirely independent (which is common for most Languages) from the IDE., so all you really need to know is what the Inputs and Flags are for the Compiler; but then that's simple; given it takes the Project File as the input; the "Compiler" does the rest.
Not that you can really call it a Compiler., it's more of a Bytecode Generator; with a renamed Player Runtime spit out.
Quote: "A company has got to make a living and Max is going to sell buckets loads more than AppGameKit I am sure of that so it stands to reason its going to get more attention from the staff but ... "
I'd heavily wager that GameGuru Max is NOT going to exactly sell particularly well.
TGC have this weird obsession with their WYSIWYG Game Maker Tools... and they've always been bad at them., I mean that should be unsurprising as you have essentially programmers making a Streamlined Middleware Tool; and Programmers are TERRIBLE at anything that requires User Experience.
The reason that previous projects are left by the wayside isn't because of Sales., but because it's essentially a what 3 - 5 person Studio; they literally don't have the resources to handle more than 1 Project at once., it's as simple as that.
There is notable irony here that should they focus on their main money makes (i.e. Programming Languages with API Interfaces geared towards making Games)., and changed their business model to echo that of the rest of the industry... well they likely would be in a situation to have grown.
I mean heck even look back at Dark BASIC Professional., instead of working on Dark BASIC v4 they began creating countless Expansion Packs to add new features... which most didn't need and really most were made specifically just to support FPS Creator.
A new iteration of Dark BASIC would've had the existing userbase upgrade and result in a larger revenue than the smaller input from an Expansion that most are only going to get IF it's something they think is useful for their current project.
Nowadays of course Subscription Models have become "The Normal" as this appears better value and choice for Consumers while actually providing a bigger revenue source thus allowing survival with a smaller core base. This doesn't negate the need for Iterative Releases., just better financially.
And what TGC frankly needs are full-time teams dedicated to specific Projects.