Torque Game Builder goes Feature Complete!
by Justin DuJardin · 05/09/2006 (9:00 pm) · 40 comments
Torque GameBuilder goes Feature Complete
That's right, you heard it here first, Torque GameBuilder has gone feature complete with the release of Beta3. This has many far reaching implications and is very exciting for us as we're finally able to guarantee that there will be no changes to the engine aside from bug fixes from this point on until release! But you're probably wondering--What does feature complete mean to ME?! I'm so glad you asked!
Tool Scripts unveiled!
With TGB going feature complete and us ramping up for a final release in the near future we've decided to go ahead and release the script source to the LevelBuilder and other tools that come with TGB. The reason we've decided to go this route even though the scripts are still a bit messy in places and need to be cleaned up before the final release is that we understand how invaluable more eyes on any piece of our code can be. Previously we withheld the scripts to the tools as they were in huge flux, but with feature complete that is no longer true.
Codebase Stabilized
Over the course of development of T2D/TGB we have had some users that are not willing to continually update their SDK's with the newest changes that we've made since until now they were unpredictable as far as how widespread their effect on your games would be. This is also no longer a concern as our codebase has been locked down from features and changes to core functionality. We are now focused on only resolving existing bugs in the current setup, which may include tiny UI tweaks if necessary and fixing functionality that may be acting a bit wonky or improperly. What this won't include are any changes to the script methods or functions that you call, or any way your game interacts with the engine.
What's Changed?
Since our GDC Beta2 release much has changed and been improved upon. While there are some things that should be noted, there are so many fixes and improvements that I'm just going to list some of the more interesting changes.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
We were able to parse a good amount of the awesome feedback that you all offered up in our forums about Beta2 and have tried to address the most serious concerns as we were able to understand them. With this Beta3 we have fixed all of the annoying problems that were in Beta2. The enormous number of fixes in this build are not really listable here so i've provided a short list below. They are all made possible of course by the great team working on TGB.
Animation Builder
Click Here To Enlarge
Matt Langley was able to identify and resolve all known issues with this tool as well as adding some fantastic UI improvements to ease it's use.
ImageMap Builder
Click Here To Enlarge
Matt Langley also (while simultaneously writing huge comprehensive tutorials!) was able to overhaul the ImageMap Builder to support operations such as zooming and border/background color for specifying proper contrast on white or lighter images.
Particle Quick Editing
Click Here To Enlarge
Adam Larson was able to expand the functionality of the QuickEdit to support the necessary fields for emitter objects. The Particle QuickEdit support is now functional with the exception of adding/removing emitters. The script is included to support this but it is commented out due to finding a serious bug in the particle management code that made it unstable to add and remove emitters dynamically. This issue has been marked high priority and will be hot-fixed before the Beta is complete.
RSS Update News - In Engine
Click Here To Enlarge
Beta3 will periodically check for official GarageGames RSS news and notify you at the top right of your screen when there are news items available. By clicking on the RSS button near the 'New News!' text, you will be presented with the News reading dialog with links to the full articles on our site.
Project Resources!
After the Beta2 release and with all of the community art bounties that we've got out there, it occurred to us that we really needed to have a simple way for our users to be able to get 'art packs' from each other and us for use in their games. We've included two art resource examples with Beta3 and they're easily configured by a convenient in-game UI.
When you open up Beta3 and create a new project you will be presented with a screen that looks similar to the following. You may notice that you have no game assets with which to work :(
Click Here To Enlarge
Fear Not as the Project Resource manager is here to help! Simply by navigating the menu system to Project->Resources or simply by hitting the shortcut key Ctrl-R you will be presented with a dialog that looks similar to the following, which lists all the resources that TGB currently knows about 'Available Resources' and all the ones that your project is currently using 'Current Project Resources'.
Click Here To Enlarge
If you select a resource, in this example I'm using the 'puzzleArt' resource and then hit 'Add to Project' it will be moved over to your Current Project Resources list.
Click Here To Enlarge
At this point if you hit the Save button you will notice your Object library on the right side now has a large set of Art that could be used to make a Puzzle Game.
Click Here To Enlarge
Click Here To Enlarge
At this point you're ready to go making your puzzle game. Simply drag the elements from your object library to your level and you're all set. Below is my modest attempt at a puzzle level using the puzzleArt resource!
Click Here To Enlarge
You can also do the opposite of this to remove art resources from your game!
Proper Bug Reporting
As we gear up to finalize the release we'd like to ask that in the report bugs private forum you only post bugs that impede existing functionality from properly operating. As always, feature requests and idea for improvement are encouraged, but there are forums for those separately. In the past there has been some spill over and we'd just ask that you be mindful of which forum you're posting in!
Cheers and Enjoy the Beta!
-Justin
Edit : The Mac and Linux builds will be available as soon as they are ready. More to come on that soon!
That's right, you heard it here first, Torque GameBuilder has gone feature complete with the release of Beta3. This has many far reaching implications and is very exciting for us as we're finally able to guarantee that there will be no changes to the engine aside from bug fixes from this point on until release! But you're probably wondering--What does feature complete mean to ME?! I'm so glad you asked!
Tool Scripts unveiled!
With TGB going feature complete and us ramping up for a final release in the near future we've decided to go ahead and release the script source to the LevelBuilder and other tools that come with TGB. The reason we've decided to go this route even though the scripts are still a bit messy in places and need to be cleaned up before the final release is that we understand how invaluable more eyes on any piece of our code can be. Previously we withheld the scripts to the tools as they were in huge flux, but with feature complete that is no longer true.
Codebase Stabilized
Over the course of development of T2D/TGB we have had some users that are not willing to continually update their SDK's with the newest changes that we've made since until now they were unpredictable as far as how widespread their effect on your games would be. This is also no longer a concern as our codebase has been locked down from features and changes to core functionality. We are now focused on only resolving existing bugs in the current setup, which may include tiny UI tweaks if necessary and fixing functionality that may be acting a bit wonky or improperly. What this won't include are any changes to the script methods or functions that you call, or any way your game interacts with the engine.
What's Changed?
Since our GDC Beta2 release much has changed and been improved upon. While there are some things that should be noted, there are so many fixes and improvements that I'm just going to list some of the more interesting changes.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
We were able to parse a good amount of the awesome feedback that you all offered up in our forums about Beta2 and have tried to address the most serious concerns as we were able to understand them. With this Beta3 we have fixed all of the annoying problems that were in Beta2. The enormous number of fixes in this build are not really listable here so i've provided a short list below. They are all made possible of course by the great team working on TGB.
Animation Builder
Click Here To EnlargeMatt Langley was able to identify and resolve all known issues with this tool as well as adding some fantastic UI improvements to ease it's use.
ImageMap Builder
Click Here To EnlargeMatt Langley also (while simultaneously writing huge comprehensive tutorials!) was able to overhaul the ImageMap Builder to support operations such as zooming and border/background color for specifying proper contrast on white or lighter images.
Particle Quick Editing
Click Here To EnlargeAdam Larson was able to expand the functionality of the QuickEdit to support the necessary fields for emitter objects. The Particle QuickEdit support is now functional with the exception of adding/removing emitters. The script is included to support this but it is commented out due to finding a serious bug in the particle management code that made it unstable to add and remove emitters dynamically. This issue has been marked high priority and will be hot-fixed before the Beta is complete.
RSS Update News - In Engine
Click Here To EnlargeBeta3 will periodically check for official GarageGames RSS news and notify you at the top right of your screen when there are news items available. By clicking on the RSS button near the 'New News!' text, you will be presented with the News reading dialog with links to the full articles on our site.
Project Resources!
After the Beta2 release and with all of the community art bounties that we've got out there, it occurred to us that we really needed to have a simple way for our users to be able to get 'art packs' from each other and us for use in their games. We've included two art resource examples with Beta3 and they're easily configured by a convenient in-game UI.
When you open up Beta3 and create a new project you will be presented with a screen that looks similar to the following. You may notice that you have no game assets with which to work :(
Click Here To EnlargeFear Not as the Project Resource manager is here to help! Simply by navigating the menu system to Project->Resources or simply by hitting the shortcut key Ctrl-R you will be presented with a dialog that looks similar to the following, which lists all the resources that TGB currently knows about 'Available Resources' and all the ones that your project is currently using 'Current Project Resources'.
Click Here To EnlargeIf you select a resource, in this example I'm using the 'puzzleArt' resource and then hit 'Add to Project' it will be moved over to your Current Project Resources list.
Click Here To EnlargeAt this point if you hit the Save button you will notice your Object library on the right side now has a large set of Art that could be used to make a Puzzle Game.
Click Here To EnlargeClick Here To EnlargeAt this point you're ready to go making your puzzle game. Simply drag the elements from your object library to your level and you're all set. Below is my modest attempt at a puzzle level using the puzzleArt resource!
Click Here To EnlargeYou can also do the opposite of this to remove art resources from your game!
Proper Bug Reporting
As we gear up to finalize the release we'd like to ask that in the report bugs private forum you only post bugs that impede existing functionality from properly operating. As always, feature requests and idea for improvement are encouraged, but there are forums for those separately. In the past there has been some spill over and we'd just ask that you be mindful of which forum you're posting in!
Cheers and Enjoy the Beta!
-Justin
Edit : The Mac and Linux builds will be available as soon as they are ready. More to come on that soon!
#3
05/09/2006 (10:48 pm)
And what about mac verison? Will it be done?
#5
I'll keep you all updated on the status in the forums!
Cheers,
-Justin
05/09/2006 (10:55 pm)
Kostya : I edited the initial post to reflect that Mac and Linux builds will be available shortly. We only have one Mac guru and he's doing about 500 things right now. If the community wants to provide a build that works on Mac, it should really only be a matter of updating the project file and rebuilding the binary. I'll keep you all updated on the status in the forums!
Cheers,
-Justin
#6
05/09/2006 (10:58 pm)
WOW, Great!!!
#8
05/10/2006 (12:42 am)
Yes, I can finally continue work on the adventure core interface! Well, whenever I'm not buried in schoolwork. Thank you all very much.
#9
05/10/2006 (12:47 am)
cool ! i ran my game using beta3 and everything worked beautifully ! :) i was afraid to encounter many headaches. Thanks for making it easy !
#10
05/10/2006 (12:50 am)
Looks great. Thanks!
#11
05/10/2006 (3:45 am)
Cooool! I have still not purchased it :/ Need to get my ass around soon, before i have dreweled my keyboard to history. Great work, guys! 
#12
05/10/2006 (6:20 am)
I'm out of the loop TGB-wise.. Has full networking support been implemented yet, or is it still turn based?
#13
05/10/2006 (6:33 am)
Has the physics been stabalized? Beta 2 and previous had issues where if the game lost focus the physics went nuts, and things would jitter like mad if not brought to rest when colliding with multiple other objects (under a constant force). 
#14
-JF
05/10/2006 (7:39 am)
Given the extremely finite Mac development resources you have at your disposal, why aren't there any Mac-related bounties?-JF
#16
05/10/2006 (8:32 am)
Full networking support is in?
#17
05/10/2006 (8:52 am)
I really really really really hope that the physics are stabilized and that full networking support is implemented........ 
#18
I'm also voting for stable physics.
I realize "full" networking it not likely.
05/10/2006 (9:08 am)
NICE going justin.I'm also voting for stable physics.
I realize "full" networking it not likely.
#20
Why isn't real-time networking likely? As an early adopter I was given the impression that this would be a feature of the engine :(
05/10/2006 (9:33 am)
@PaulWhy isn't real-time networking likely? As an early adopter I was given the impression that this would be a feature of the engine :(
Torque Owner David Stewart
Great news!