Christmas is coming, is TGB2? Well, maybe next Christmas?
by jydog · in Torque Game Builder · 12/01/2008 (3:39 pm) · 26 replies
Slow day so I start a TGB2 want list. It has been a little while since we have had a bug fix, there are some issues needing to be addressed and there seems to be a fair amount of activity going on. This makes me hopeful for a release soon (after all, Christmas is coming). As it has been stated that the next TGB release will likely be a paid upgrade in the new form of Torque 2D (again), what,s your 2 cents?
What do you think it:
a) will likely included and/or
b) must include if they expect you to plop down some plastic pennies to upgrade! : )
As for me, in TGB2;
a) I expect we will see some form of:
Chris' mode 7 support,
ISO builder,
Swinging "rope" physics,
Improved individual tile manipulation.
b) deal breakers:
Asset library folders with better maintenance capabilities,
Lock/unlock all layers,
Hide/unhide all layers.
Remember Brett, "you'll get more *way* more than your money,s worth."
Money is tight these days, I have very high expectations!
What do you think it:
a) will likely included and/or
b) must include if they expect you to plop down some plastic pennies to upgrade! : )
As for me, in TGB2;
a) I expect we will see some form of:
Chris' mode 7 support,
ISO builder,
Swinging "rope" physics,
Improved individual tile manipulation.
b) deal breakers:
Asset library folders with better maintenance capabilities,
Lock/unlock all layers,
Hide/unhide all layers.
Remember Brett, "you'll get more *way* more than your money,s worth."
Money is tight these days, I have very high expectations!
#22
01/12/2009 (9:11 pm)
Well... im all up for helping you test your tools benajamin... im making 2 games myself with TGB, while having a dayjob, so i kinda feel yopur pain.
#23
01/13/2009 (8:35 pm)
Definitely Mac gamepad support. Pretty please. 
#24
1. Real DirectX support. No mather how nice OSX is, the major platform is still windows and on Windows, DirectX is the standard.
The currently present wrapper is inacceptable, as its performance wise totally useless as it is 30-60% slower and especially on machines with problematic OpenGL drivers, its completely worthless.
But I assume that T2D will be basing on the current TGEA (future T3D structure) so I expect to see a D3D8 GFX & D3D9 Shader GFX comparable renderer
2. Realtime networking, as hinted several times since 1.1.3
But in a non source usable way through syncronization channels that you apply, define what to syncronize and at very best naturally with support for syncronization ranges
3. Finally a tile editor again and a really usable tile system. The current one with the free floating layers etc is a mess and I still can not understand why the unusable tile editor has not been adressed since 1.5.0, especially as the original T2D one worked much better, intuitive and much more productive. I've iced my project twice in the past 12 months because it takes worlds too much time to create usefull multi layer tilemaps. Can't be that I have to do XY tab switches to get the right tile layer, hide inbetween effect layers and so on. Especially if a small window with all tile layers would solve it where you can select the layer, hide/show them and change their depth order.
If you need an idea of a good tilemap editor: http://www.mapeditor.de.vu
4. TXB like support for shaders. TGB didn't have it originally because it was forked out from TGE. But now with the clear focus on T2D and T3D I really expect to see the TGEA 1.8 / T3D code structure and visual capabilities reduced to 2D usable stuff beeing present in T2D
5. DTS objects working with DirectX as well but thats covered by 4 and 1
That are the important core points for me.
I don't use TGB 2.0 or alike on purpose. The so far mentioned plan with Torque2D and Torque3D clearly indicates a unified core codebase which would then be the TGEA one driven further. As the TGEA code is significantly different from the TGB, I wouldn't call it TGB anymore.
01/14/2009 (11:17 pm)
What do I expect with T2D 2.01. Real DirectX support. No mather how nice OSX is, the major platform is still windows and on Windows, DirectX is the standard.
The currently present wrapper is inacceptable, as its performance wise totally useless as it is 30-60% slower and especially on machines with problematic OpenGL drivers, its completely worthless.
But I assume that T2D will be basing on the current TGEA (future T3D structure) so I expect to see a D3D8 GFX & D3D9 Shader GFX comparable renderer
2. Realtime networking, as hinted several times since 1.1.3
But in a non source usable way through syncronization channels that you apply, define what to syncronize and at very best naturally with support for syncronization ranges
3. Finally a tile editor again and a really usable tile system. The current one with the free floating layers etc is a mess and I still can not understand why the unusable tile editor has not been adressed since 1.5.0, especially as the original T2D one worked much better, intuitive and much more productive. I've iced my project twice in the past 12 months because it takes worlds too much time to create usefull multi layer tilemaps. Can't be that I have to do XY tab switches to get the right tile layer, hide inbetween effect layers and so on. Especially if a small window with all tile layers would solve it where you can select the layer, hide/show them and change their depth order.
If you need an idea of a good tilemap editor: http://www.mapeditor.de.vu
4. TXB like support for shaders. TGB didn't have it originally because it was forked out from TGE. But now with the clear focus on T2D and T3D I really expect to see the TGEA 1.8 / T3D code structure and visual capabilities reduced to 2D usable stuff beeing present in T2D
5. DTS objects working with DirectX as well but thats covered by 4 and 1
That are the important core points for me.
I don't use TGB 2.0 or alike on purpose. The so far mentioned plan with Torque2D and Torque3D clearly indicates a unified core codebase which would then be the TGEA one driven further. As the TGEA code is significantly different from the TGB, I wouldn't call it TGB anymore.
#25
With the prices it looks like GG will be charging for updates may be more than many of us can afford.
Let us know what is going on.
Randy
01/15/2009 (9:09 am)
@Benjamin: The time for your d6tools may be ripe.With the prices it looks like GG will be charging for updates may be more than many of us can afford.
Let us know what is going on.
Randy
#26
Contribute your thoughts to the pricing discussion if you haven't already. We do listen. Brett didn't post that blog to get a good discussion going and spend time replying to it just to throw that effort out. It should be obvious we care what the GG community thinks and wants.
01/16/2009 (10:50 am)
Remember, we are still GG :) Despite all of the drama we haven't changed and we still care about indies, beginners, and hobbyists. We just have to keep ourselves researching new possibilities and changes, especially in the industry we are in.Contribute your thoughts to the pricing discussion if you haven't already. We do listen. Brett didn't post that blog to get a good discussion going and spend time replying to it just to throw that effort out. It should be obvious we care what the GG community thinks and wants.
Torque Owner Benjamin L. Grauer
My requests, well... I've already made myself the tools I needed, my request would be for you to contact me again. I'm sure you'll enjoy what I've done so far. I've been working on 2 game projects and d6tools at the same time, while it helps making good tool design decisions, it clearly doesn't help my overall work speed. I don't clearly know what I want to do with my work, but I hope it might interest somebody.