iTGB 1.1 released, more to come!

PVRTC & Torquescript Improvements Are HERE!

On Friday evening, in a mad rush before many GG'ers left Eugene for their Christmas vacation spot of choice, we posted a new build of iTGB, version 1.1. This version includes a number of bugfixes and optimizations from version 1.01 released a couple months ago.


On top of these smaller items, we've managed to squeeze considerably better performance from Torquescript so that now, the version of our Behavoir Shooter demo that's entirely unoptimized with scrip to code conversion, runs at production speeds.


Generally, the optimizations to Torquescript have yeilded about a 3X framerate improvement in the projects we've tested. While better performance can always be obtaind by converting your scripts to code, this is a big step for usability.


One additional feature included in the 1.1 release is a texture compression tool that uses the PowerVR libraries. This makes it possible to use native texture compression (PVRTC) for your artwork on the iPhone. While the 1.1 release includes only a Windows compatible version of this tool, a Mac compatible version is being tested right now for the next update.


Here's what a couple iTGB users have to say about the 1.1 release:

John Felton
"I'm pleased to say that for the first time I can run the same project on Win, Mac, Simulator and iPhone and get the same results. That is a big step forward. Thanks."

Patrick Hornberger
"This is indeed a great step forward. I can the sample projects now and performance is remarkably better. Thanks to everyone for their hard work in getting this out to us."


We're far from done with iTGB, but it's really great to see so many of you making good progress on your projects. Next on our list for iTGB in particular will be:

• Additional improvements to drawing speeds
• Mac version of the PVRTC tool
• Streamlining of the workflow ("push to preview")

If you're at all interested in making games for the iPhone, there's never been a better time to stand out from the crowd with the kind of game you make with iTGB.

Release Feedback

Please give us any feedback you have on this release in the Official iTGB 1.1 Feedback thread.

Documentation

You can find iTGB documentation on TDN here.

Michael Perry is working up new docs for 1.1 right this moment, so they should be online soon this week. You can find those here.

Planned Reference

• Release Notes
• Gotcha List
• Preprocessor compiler flag descriptions
• iPhone script variables/preferences
• Difference between the 2 Xcode projects you get

Tutorials

• Modifying our Xcode project to use your game and deploy to device
• Handling an interrupt (call, home button, etc)
• Simple Multi-touch tutorial
• Using Windows PVRTC Tool
• Computer Terminal GUI Tutorial (yay!)

Please let us know what you think of the iTGB documentation. You can leave us feedback in the Official iTGB Documentation Feedback thread.

iTGB blogs:

• iTGB 1.0 in the Wild
• iTGB 1.0.1 released!
[li]iTGB 1.1 released, more to come!