Torque Game Builder Closed Beta Signups

EDIT: We now have enough testers for this portion of the Beta, thanks everyone for you interest, we've accepted every applicant we've received until 5PM PST on Sunday Feb 4th and are now finished with the signups.


Hello again from the world of TGB, It's been quite some time since I posted a .PLAN on GG and so I figured with the new year, may as well get it started off right, and by right I mean of course it's Beta time!! This time because of the substantial changes to thecode base we've decided to go with a Closed beta initially before we move into the Open beta to all registered users that we normally do.



Whats New :

Of course before we get into who we're looking for and how you can sign up, let's get to the meat that you care about, what's changed that makes this Beta something you want to be part of!



Sizable Editor Window :

You are now free to have the editor the size you want it. After much dancing around issues related to this feature we've brought it back in a major way! No longer are you confined to working within resolutions supported by normal video game modes!

Save your changes :

This version of TGB goes further than any previous version of Game Builder in making sure that you don't lose your precious changes by accidentally clicking your close button on the wrong window. TGB now employs blocking message boxes similar to those you'll find in any other application when you close it with unsaved changes that will prompt you to save your changes before quitting!

Native File Dialogs :

We've finally taken the plunge and you'll find no more Torque GUI driven file dialogs presented to you when you perform open/save actions. The dialogs have been traded for Platform driven dialogs to favor consistency amongst user experience when using the tools.

Drag-&-Drop :

You may now drag and drop images of PNG, JPG and BMP file format on TGB and they will automatically be imported into your game (copied into your game/data/images/ path) and created as full sized image maps in the builder. You may even drag and drop multiple files at a single time and they will all be imported without hassle.

Much, much more!



Who will you be accepting?

Mostly we're looking for 3rd party developers that are working with adding extensions and additional functionality to TGB such as Neo Bindell's ISO pack, or Josh Ritter's Mozilla implementation!

We're also looking for people with complex games! If you've got a game you're working on that uses TGB in a unique way, you may be perfectly suited for this Beta!

Sounds Cool, where do I sign up?

No huge sign up forms this time around, simply send an email to justind AT garagegames DOT com with the subject "TGB Closed Beta Application" with some compelling reason you should be added. If this blows up into a bunch of spam we may set out a specific application for entry, but we'll go with this simple method for now if it works!

When do we get it?

The first Beta release will be going out as soon as we have enough developers to begin the Beta, hopefully no later than this Friday (Tomorrow)!

Do you have anything else?

I'm so glad you asked! Before I go, here's one more thing you may find attractive about this Beta--The File Size! The binary file sizes that your games and tools run from have been significantly decreased from the 3.2MB monsters that you had to distribute with your game. The new game executable that is packaged with your games in this version weighs in at just 670KB!

Thanks!
I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for supporting us in TGB development since we started back int he days of T2D, while not all of you will get into the Closed beta, we promise to open it up to all registered users as soon as possible!

Cheers,
-Justin