Torque: GUI Updates

TGB was my first port of call when I joined the GG community. It was a great starting point for a game development hobby, but ultimately I would want to move onto bigger and better things.

Despite being derived from similar code the differences between TGEA and TGB made it difficult for me to get my head around things. If you take a look at each of the level editors in the Torque engines you will notice that they are quite unique, but dated.

I had the crazy idea that I would give the editors a bit of an update.

My idea was simple: Create a GUI system that is consistent between each Torque engine and is easily extendable.

Here is my first concept:


The entire toolbar is derived from an XML sheet and is processed through TS. Here is a small example of the toolbar:

<LevelEditorToolBar>
    <ToolBarPage>
        <Text>Mission</Text>
        <ToolBarStack>
            <Text>Project</Text>
            <LargeButton>
                <iconBitmap>newIcon</iconBitmap>
                <ToolTip>New Mission</ToolTip>
                <Command>EditorNewMission();</Command>
                <Shortcut>New</Shortcut>
            </LargeButton>
            <LargeButton>
                <iconBitmap>openIcon</iconBitmap>
                <ToolTip>Open Mission</ToolTip>
                <Command>EditorOpenMission();</Command>
                <Shortcut>Open</Shortcut>
            </LargeButton>
            <DropDownButton>
                <LargeButton>
                    <iconBitmap>saveIcon</iconBitmap>
                    <ToolTip>Save...</ToolTip>
                </LargeButton>
                <MenuButton>
                    <Text>Save</Text>
                    <Command>EditorSaveMissionMenu();</Command>
                    <Shortcut>Save</Shortcut>
                </MenuButton>
                <MenuButton>
                    <Text>Save As</Text>
                    <Command>EditorSaveMissionAs();</Command>
                    <Shortcut>SaveAs</Shortcut>
                </MenuButton>
            </DropDownButton>
        </ToolBarStack>
    </ToolBarPage>
</LevelEditorToolBar>

Because the toolbar is derived from XML it is easily extendible. The tag references a keyboard command like "Ctrl S" or "Shift-Ctrl S" and binds the button's command to the assigned shortcut.

The references a quasi-control that I have created. It is just like a regular pop up control, except it is a button and looks like a regular toolbar menu with shortcut labels as well. See below:




Note: This drop down menu is a "Radio" type menu. The "Normal" button has been depressed and the other one is highlighted with the mouse (though the screenshot neglected it).

The toolbar pages are either permanent or conditional. Permanent pages are there, permanently and the conditional pages are only visible when criteria have been met (i.e. mission creator/inspector is active). This aspect hasn't been properly implemented yet, but it is the plan.

The next idea that I had is the idea of widgets: small scripts that you can add into the editor to make it work the way that you want it to. I want the user to be able to dictate the type of environment they want to work in and how they work in it.


Now, here is the bad news. My time with gaming and game development is becoming quite limited and I really need to select my projects carefully. I want to gauge community enthusiasm towards this project. If there is enough interest in this, then I will pursue the project and roll it out eventually, otherwise I will have to put it aside and give way to profitable projects (this project will be released for free to the community).

Just leave a post or give the blog a rating and let me know what you think.