What's next for TGB?
by baylor wetzel · in Torque Game Builder · 07/03/2006 (12:35 pm) · 6 replies
At first i hadn't realized just how new TGB is. There's an awful lot of (good) tutorials and documentation for something so young
But there are still parts that seem rough around the edges. For example, i can't make heads or tails out of the GUI builder and i didn't see a GUI builder tutorial. The tilemap tutorial is pretty basic and doesn't cover animated tiles or things of that complexity. Having to leave the IDE to writes scripts seems a little hokey and there's no compile to tell you you left off a brace or semicolon or whatnot (although running the code will if it executes that line). i believe TGB can call out to my C++ code but i didn't see a tutorial/explanation on how to do that. There's no tutorial on how to associate different animations with the same character (i assume it's possible) other than FlipX. And there's no on-line help. Again, the product is pretty solid, especially for a 1.1 release, but there are still some polish items left
Is the intention that there will be more tutorials and code changes coming? If so, is there a list saying what the top priorities are or what is hoped to be in the next version?
But there are still parts that seem rough around the edges. For example, i can't make heads or tails out of the GUI builder and i didn't see a GUI builder tutorial. The tilemap tutorial is pretty basic and doesn't cover animated tiles or things of that complexity. Having to leave the IDE to writes scripts seems a little hokey and there's no compile to tell you you left off a brace or semicolon or whatnot (although running the code will if it executes that line). i believe TGB can call out to my C++ code but i didn't see a tutorial/explanation on how to do that. There's no tutorial on how to associate different animations with the same character (i assume it's possible) other than FlipX. And there's no on-line help. Again, the product is pretty solid, especially for a 1.1 release, but there are still some polish items left
Is the intention that there will be more tutorials and code changes coming? If so, is there a list saying what the top priorities are or what is hoped to be in the next version?
About the author
#2
As a student making roughly nothing a year :) i was hoping to get an indie license. Is what i want (calling my own C++) not possible without owning the Pro license/source code?
07/03/2006 (12:52 pm)
Tom, you raised an issue i hadn't realized. i'm a student and looking for a tool to do my research on, which would almost certainly involve the application calling a C++ DLL or what not i'd written. Specifically, i research AI and i would write my agents in Torquescript but call out to my AI DLLs written in C++As a student making roughly nothing a year :) i was hoping to get an indie license. Is what i want (calling my own C++) not possible without owning the Pro license/source code?
#3
I think of it this way:
TGB -> Script Only
TGB Pro -> Script + Source Code
You might want to ask someone else, as I'm not the most knowledgable person in this world, by any stretch of the imagination.
- Tom.
07/03/2006 (12:57 pm)
I'm pretty sure you would need Source Code modification for calling your C++ and ConsoleFunctions. However, I'm not entirely sure. I would have thought you would, but you never know.I think of it this way:
TGB -> Script Only
TGB Pro -> Script + Source Code
You might want to ask someone else, as I'm not the most knowledgable person in this world, by any stretch of the imagination.
- Tom.
#4
If you wish to wish to write things in C++, then you will need a TGB Pro license. For indies, that's the $250 version. The $100 TGB is binary only (just Torquescript).
As for your other questions:
There have been many requests for GUI tutorials in the private forums, I'm sure that is an area the GG staff will be focusing on soon, although I'll let them confirm that. :) There are some TGB GUI related tutorials in TDN but those are currently locked off for license owners only.
For an IDE, check out Torsion. It's still in an alpha status but quite robust and stable at the moment. It let's you debug Torquescript and allows for things like precompile. There also ways to compile scripts while the level builder is running, such as including your exec statements to other scripts within the startGame() function.
There are other tutorials as well in TDN which explain the C++ and how to associate different animations to a player character. As for online help, the private forums are a great resource as the community is very helpful in answering questions.
Nothing has been stated by Melv or GG for what to expect in TGB 1.2 outside of a few teasers that it's "really cool".
07/03/2006 (2:53 pm)
Baylor,If you wish to wish to write things in C++, then you will need a TGB Pro license. For indies, that's the $250 version. The $100 TGB is binary only (just Torquescript).
As for your other questions:
There have been many requests for GUI tutorials in the private forums, I'm sure that is an area the GG staff will be focusing on soon, although I'll let them confirm that. :) There are some TGB GUI related tutorials in TDN but those are currently locked off for license owners only.
For an IDE, check out Torsion. It's still in an alpha status but quite robust and stable at the moment. It let's you debug Torquescript and allows for things like precompile. There also ways to compile scripts while the level builder is running, such as including your exec statements to other scripts within the startGame() function.
There are other tutorials as well in TDN which explain the C++ and how to associate different animations to a player character. As for online help, the private forums are a great resource as the community is very helpful in answering questions.
Nothing has been stated by Melv or GG for what to expect in TGB 1.2 outside of a few teasers that it's "really cool".
#5
07/06/2006 (11:19 am)
I heard world domination is next. Or maybe it was just Market domination. I get confused! :)
#6
Oh, and I'm pretty sure Jay said "world" .. but whatever. ;)
07/07/2006 (12:48 pm)
Great responses. I just thought it worth mentioning that the tile editor has just gone through a consirerable growth period and that we are currently working on more up-to-date and detailed GUI tutorials as we speak. We hope to eventually create easy to follow demos for every feature - including manipulating animations. These will, as you might have guessed, only be available via TDN to licensed users. As for an IDE, I personally use Torsion - it's great, but it does crash every once in a while as it is in alpha (don't drag tabs! .. doh).Oh, and I'm pretty sure Jay said "world" .. but whatever. ;)
Torque Owner Tom Bushby
You can view compile errors in the Console (tilde key (mostly on the left of the number 1 key on Windows)) or in the console.log file, in the same directory as your TGB executable. It will report things like missing braces, or missing semi-colons or what have you. The error might not be exact, but it will tell you that you have a syntax error on or around line X in file path/to/file.EXT.
For C++ you need to own the TGB Source(Pro). You use ConsoleFunctions to expose your C++ functions to TorqueScript. You will probably only find these tutorials if you become an Pro owner.
No idea on Animation, sorry.
I can't comment for GG or anything, but when the Bounties were up for TGB (then T2D), there were requests for tutorials like Memory Game and the like. Though some of them never made it to TGB, so I'm not exactly sure what will happen to them.
Hope that helps,
- Tom.