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Week of Awesome News!

Name:	Michael Perry
Date Posted:	Sep 15, 2008
Rating:	5.0 out of 5
Public:	YES
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Blog post

Something Awesome This Way Comes!

Greetings all! Looking over the agenda, this week is going to be very crazy and exciting. If you didn't already know, this is the week of two important events (one more well known than the other): Austin GDC and TGE/A IRC Hour. Unfortunately, I couldn't make AGDC this year due to scheduling conflicts and work load. However, if you are there for the conference, make sure you stop by the GarageGames booth. You will be glad you did. Good people, cool swag (limited quantity), and great news.

First IRC Hour Recap

I consider the IRC Hour important for a few reasons. The first IRC Hour was pretty successful. We did not get a big turn out, so we dropped the official agenda and went free-style. Quite a lot was addressed, and the community members who contributed brought up some awesome points I will be taking to heart. More so now than ever, keep in mind that the documentation process includes your fellow community members. If you see something wicked cool being added, I won't always take credit.

If you want to read the transcript from the last IRC Hour, you can grab it here: 9/11/2008 IRC Hour Log. From here on out, I will be posting summaries and transcripts in the IRC Discussion Thread.

This week, TGE and TGEA will be the engines we focus on. Since I was hired on as a full time employee, TGB, TX, and artists got a bit more of my attention than TGE and TGEA. This was mostly due to the long term schedule and major holes that needed patching. Now, for the first piece of great news:

The Originals

My first exposure to Torque Tech was TGE. After TGE, I immediately jumped into TGEA. These are the engines I have the most knowledge of. I'm starting a new cycle of document generation which will range from beginner material to topics suitable for veteran Torque developers. I've already started, but I want to get you (the community) involved early on. If you have any suggestions or requests you want to see in TGE and TGEA docs, make sure you show up for IRC Hour this Thursday.

The Uber Teaser

More Great News!?! Something big is going down tomorrow at the GarageGames booth in Austin. If you are stuck at home, like me, fret not. Stepping slightly outside the original plan for this week's IRC Hour, I will be talking about the big surprise. If you are a Torque developer (*coughparticularlyTGEAcough*), you don't want to miss this week's IRC Hour. Let the speculation, squirming, and wild accusations begin!

I'll be posting one more blog at the end of the month to recap all the documentation changes, IRC Hour rescheduling, and general news from my end. I look forward to seeing you in IRC this week. Thanks for reading, and for those of you at the conference: Have fun and I want swag! If you see Fallout stuff, remember ME!

IRC Hour Schedule Change:

9/18/08 Session Will Start At 5:00pm (PST), which is 8:00pm (EST)

Recent Blog Posts

List:	10/31/08 - October Documentation Wrap Up 10/14/08 - iTGB and IRC HOUR 09/29/08 - September Documentation Wrap Up 09/15/08 - Week of Awesome News! 09/04/08 - Documentation Announcements 08/14/08 - New Documentation System 07/11/08 - MAJOR Documentation Announcement 1 05/15/08 - What do you think about Documentation?

Submit your own resources!

Apparatus (Sep 15, 2008 at 18:40 GMT)

I wonder... :)

Chip Lambert (Sep 15, 2008 at 18:46 GMT)

Hmmm let the conspiracy theories begin... *must...schedule....time....to...be....in...IRC*

DOH!!! Just realized I won't be able to make it... will this world changing announcement be put on the website?
Edited on Sep 15, 2008 18:47 GMT

Michael Perry (Sep 15, 2008 at 18:48 GMT)

@Apparatus - SHHH if you already know! =)

@Chip - That reminds me, if the 3:00pm PST (6:00pm EST) schedule is too rough for most people, say so now. If you want it pushed back an hour or two, let me know so I can mention it in the blog. I want max attendence.

David Montgomery-Blake (Sep 15, 2008 at 18:55 GMT)

Agreed. We want as many people as possible providing us with useful feedback.

Trenton Shaffer (Sep 15, 2008 at 18:58 GMT)

Two Point Oh?

Gareth Fouche (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:11 GMT)

IRC Chat log afterwards for those of us on the other side of the planet and likely to be asleep?

Chip Lambert (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:17 GMT)

Couple hours earlier or later would be better for me. 6 is usually right when I get home and do the dinner thing and all that ;)

Michael Perry (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:23 GMT)

@Gareth - Definitely. As soon as IRC Hour is over, I will post a link to the log in the IRC Hour thread.

@Chip - Noted. Anyone else?

Matt Kronyak (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:48 GMT)

I am interested in attending (are these held every week?) but living on the west coast and working full time I would not be able to make it at 3PM PST. 5PM PST would be much better.

Michael Perry (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:52 GMT)

@Matt - The original schedule was every 2nd and 3rd Thursday, with the first one happening last week. I'm thinking about changing the format, but I need more feedback from those that attend. I'll be asking this kind of thing this Thursday.

I am thinking about pushing it to 5:00pm PST. I keep forgetting that not everyone can surf the Intarweb and hang out on the GG site all day like me =).

Mark Dynna (Sep 15, 2008 at 19:59 GMT)

I'll see you there Mich.

David Montgomery-Blake (Sep 15, 2008 at 20:05 GMT)

I'll be rushing off to rehearsal at 5:30pst for the next couple of weeks (and refinishing hardwood floors and painting for the remainder! Oy vey!). :x

Scott Burns (Sep 15, 2008 at 20:14 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

5 PST? Bah I say! That makes it 8 here, that's usually when I eat dinner. Not to mention then I won't be able to watch "Who Wants to be America's Fattest Fatty while Surviving an Amazing Smart 5th Grader Race Idol Runway Model Pussycat Factor".

Michael Perry (Sep 15, 2008 at 20:44 GMT)

@Mark - Fantastic!

@David - Noted and begrudged.

@Scott - Look, I feel your pain...but so long as I don't have to miss my new, favorite, original teen drama: "One-OC-Gossip-Tree-Creek", I'm fine with it. Besides, you and I both know we only watch WWE and Adult Swim.

Scott Burns (Sep 15, 2008 at 21:11 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@ Mich - Pfft, you know I'm too cheap to spring for the good cable.

Back to topic. I'm disappointed in the lack of wild speculation going on. I'll give it a kick start......"Torque, Now with helper monkeys to push the Make Game Button for you!"

Well, it was kind of on topic.

Apparatus (Sep 15, 2008 at 21:15 GMT)

Maybe XSI exporter release? :(

Morrock (Sep 15, 2008 at 22:16 GMT)

I'll be there again. Hopefully it will fill up this time with TGE(A) users.

Mike Rowley (Sep 15, 2008 at 22:21 GMT)

Michael, you are P U R E Evil. 5pm pst is great for me. (if I'm not stuck out of town)
Speculation is what you want?
TGEA 2.0 with uber awesome new starter projects and cross platform. There. That's my spec. and I'm standing by it. :-D (<-- that's laughing for those Non Forum types. (ok, normal forums))

Nathan Kent (Sep 15, 2008 at 22:29 GMT)

I would like TGEA 2.0 (if there is one) to be announced, but that means two things for me:
1) TGE isn't getting nearly as much attention, which makes me sad because
2) I'd force myself to get TGEA, even if it's only to get the cool updates.

Ben Acord (Sep 16, 2008 at 00:20 GMT)

Reverse-Osmosis Mission Editor

Jondo (Sep 16, 2008 at 17:13 GMT)

*Spoiler Alert*

I got this directly from a GG bigwig: "TGEA will now handle speculation maps much more betterer".

See what I did there?

Jondo

Chip Lambert (Sep 16, 2008 at 19:27 GMT)

Well I seen an announcement about the 3D TXB pricing on GameDev... still waiting for something on us TGEA users ;)

Michael Perry (Sep 16, 2008 at 19:59 GMT)

Hmmm...methinks the surprise will be ruined by damn developer websites that blog about every single announcement that happens at the conference =(

If someone does post the surprise, I have a nice little counter =)

Apparatus (Sep 17, 2008 at 10:09 GMT)

I am guessing something really big...at least for me :)

Scott Burns (Sep 17, 2008 at 12:44 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I can't believe the surprise hasn't been spoiled yet.

Trenton Shaffer (Sep 17, 2008 at 14:07 GMT)

So ... what is the "awesome" news? Unfortunatately some of us work regular jobs during the day and can't stay tuned 24/7.

Michael Perry (Sep 17, 2008 at 15:53 GMT)

@Trenton - You'll have to join us in IRC Hour on Thursday (or read the log of the session), or wait until someone ruins the surprise or starts making threads about it.

Michael Perry (Sep 17, 2008 at 15:55 GMT)

BIG CHANGE!!!

IRC Hour will be at 5pm PST tomorrow (9/18/2008). This really sucks for me since I usually get out of work at 5:00, and have to ride the bus which takes another 30min. However, I want to make this convenient for all of you for this special edition of IRC Hour.

Hope this helps everyone out!
Edited on Sep 17, 2008 18:44 GMT

Scott Burns (Sep 17, 2008 at 16:01 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

You're killin' me Smalls.

Michael Perry (Sep 17, 2008 at 18:41 GMT)

Oy....I messed up!

I modified my last post announcing the schedule change, and the main blog itself, to reflect the accurate schedule change.
Edited on Sep 17, 2008 18:46 GMT

Apparatus (Sep 17, 2008 at 19:20 GMT)

C'mon Sherlock, you have the hint right here, on this very page...

Guimo (Sep 18, 2008 at 05:14 GMT)

MMMM If its related to the news in Gamedev.net and related to TGEA and comments in this page... I wil throw two guesses and say:
Guess A: XSI support in TGEA + XSI Mod Tool Pro included with the TGEA license.
Guess B: DTS exporter for XSI + XSI Mod Tool Pro included with the TGEA license.

Please please update TGE also!!!!!

Luck!
Guimo

Steven Peterson (Sep 19, 2008 at 14:29 GMT)

Just saw the announcement - this is the BEST news i've had in a long time. Congratulations to GG on all the hard work, not to mention a great decision! :-D

William Freeman (Sep 19, 2008 at 15:38 GMT)

lol.. Boy you guys really need to come up with a better way of getting out "Awesome" news.

I've looked over the forum and the site.. the last "News" I can find is dated for July!

You'd think "awesome" news would be plastered on the front page?

Trenton Shaffer (Sep 19, 2008 at 15:58 GMT)

TGEA 1.8 sounds awesome! Thanks for posting the logs! =]

Michael Perry (Sep 19, 2008 at 16:50 GMT)

Thanks to everyone that showed up for the event. Lots of excitement and reception. I'm going to write the full recap now in the IRC Hour thread, for those who do not wish to read through tons of text.

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