A Better Torque? Start with the Editor.
by Marty · in Torque 3D Professional · 05/04/2013 (5:24 pm) · 26 replies
I'm wondering, will T3D 3.0 or later bring the Torque editor up to the level of Unity3D's editor?
For new users (and bread-and-butter users too for that matter) the Torque interface *is* Torque. Working in U3D, the editor is the only interface that you ever need to deal with. If the Torque interface is fractionated and cumbersome and limited to one platform, it's going to be more of a barrier than a gateway.
One universal, all-encompassing editor, that looks the same and acts the same on Windows and Macintosh - that should be the first goal for the next iteration of Torque.
For new users (and bread-and-butter users too for that matter) the Torque interface *is* Torque. Working in U3D, the editor is the only interface that you ever need to deal with. If the Torque interface is fractionated and cumbersome and limited to one platform, it's going to be more of a barrier than a gateway.
One universal, all-encompassing editor, that looks the same and acts the same on Windows and Macintosh - that should be the first goal for the next iteration of Torque.
About the author
#22
It would be great if T3D's editors were streamlined and polished but the biggest question that needs to be answered is who is going to do the work? For the past 6-8 months there have been numerous community discussions about what to add or what needs to be improved in T3D -- some really great discussions. But the reality is, most everyone is sitting back waiting for someone else to implement those ideas. Who is going to do that? I don't get paid, Ron doesn't get paid, and Dave is the only GarageGames employee who works on T3D full time.
We meet each week to discuss what we are individually working on and to go over the general state of the community's needs and wishes and how that impacts on our charter and roadmap. Improving the editors is something that we are aware of but with our limited time and resources it's not a major priority for one of us at this time. Because of the apparent confusion and spate of "how do I do...?" questions we are actually kicking around the idea of having a future release cycle that encompasses nothing but documentation and guides/tutorials -- but we are still only three people and such activity will take away from the time we have available for actual development work. The steering committee has been asking for contributions from the community from the beginning and only a handful have submitted anything for review.
We often ask ourselves how do we get everyone else more involved? The general response from those we've approached is lack of time, or "I don't know how to use github". And these are seemingly competent people who've expressed an actual desire to help out! Discussion is easy and potentially endless. I'm not saying "do it yourself", but I would like to start seeing more focus and active development participation from everyone who is involved with Torque and wants things to improve. The more people who actively contribute, then the faster that things can get done.
05/05/2013 (9:47 am)
Quote:For 3.0, no; for the future I certainly hope not. Unity may have a so-called "artist-friendly" editor but I detest that thing.
I'm wondering, will T3D 3.0 or later bring the Torque editor up to the level of Unity3D's editor?
It would be great if T3D's editors were streamlined and polished but the biggest question that needs to be answered is who is going to do the work? For the past 6-8 months there have been numerous community discussions about what to add or what needs to be improved in T3D -- some really great discussions. But the reality is, most everyone is sitting back waiting for someone else to implement those ideas. Who is going to do that? I don't get paid, Ron doesn't get paid, and Dave is the only GarageGames employee who works on T3D full time.
We meet each week to discuss what we are individually working on and to go over the general state of the community's needs and wishes and how that impacts on our charter and roadmap. Improving the editors is something that we are aware of but with our limited time and resources it's not a major priority for one of us at this time. Because of the apparent confusion and spate of "how do I do...?" questions we are actually kicking around the idea of having a future release cycle that encompasses nothing but documentation and guides/tutorials -- but we are still only three people and such activity will take away from the time we have available for actual development work. The steering committee has been asking for contributions from the community from the beginning and only a handful have submitted anything for review.
We often ask ourselves how do we get everyone else more involved? The general response from those we've approached is lack of time, or "I don't know how to use github". And these are seemingly competent people who've expressed an actual desire to help out! Discussion is easy and potentially endless. I'm not saying "do it yourself", but I would like to start seeing more focus and active development participation from everyone who is involved with Torque and wants things to improve. The more people who actively contribute, then the faster that things can get done.
#23
While playing around with Torque3D I encountered a lot of not so nice things, but did not really know where to put them, since they are not really bugs and also not total new feature request.
A place to collect improvement wishes would be good, so everyone can look what would be needed and if someone sees a thing he can easily do solution for, he could do that, so the work could be shared, so nobody will have to do a lot.
So how about that?
I mean such little things, like if you add an object to the scene the default alignment options should be snap to terrain and move on the horizontal axes and the object should snap to the mouse and if you press the mouse button the object gets placed. And if you click an object in the movement mode it gets automatically picket up and you are again in the snap to terrain horizontal movement.
As I learned blender I experienced how effective and fast the handling system with hotkeys is and back in Torque I miss the fast and effective system.
Don't know if this all is really a good idea, but for that a place to discuss with others would be good, so a solution could be found that would fit all.
05/05/2013 (10:56 am)
I was planning to do a "feature/improvement request" thread or something like that, where I will collect all things I encountered that could be improved.While playing around with Torque3D I encountered a lot of not so nice things, but did not really know where to put them, since they are not really bugs and also not total new feature request.
A place to collect improvement wishes would be good, so everyone can look what would be needed and if someone sees a thing he can easily do solution for, he could do that, so the work could be shared, so nobody will have to do a lot.
So how about that?
I mean such little things, like if you add an object to the scene the default alignment options should be snap to terrain and move on the horizontal axes and the object should snap to the mouse and if you press the mouse button the object gets placed. And if you click an object in the movement mode it gets automatically picket up and you are again in the snap to terrain horizontal movement.
As I learned blender I experienced how effective and fast the handling system with hotkeys is and back in Torque I miss the fast and effective system.
Don't know if this all is really a good idea, but for that a place to discuss with others would be good, so a solution could be found that would fit all.
#24
My list is something that will mostly be done, because it's improvements I'm looking to have to make my life when developing easier. The issue is timing, as it gets backburned to get other stuff made, etc.
One thing I'd been contemplating on is how to go about releasing. Some stuff I'd figured on just being general enough, or simple/useful enough to be thrown out free, but there's a few things I've been working on slowly that are actually pretty huge tools, and I feel would be warrant some payback, and how to go about that, yada yada.
So yeah, prioritization and potential returns on some big things are something I'm trying to sort out for my part. Obviously it's easier to justify working on some of those things when you know there'd be a ROI on it ;)
05/05/2013 (12:30 pm)
I'll see about cleaning up my list of stuff(it's pretty big) and getting it thrown out here for others to input on. Michael raises an excellent point of who would do the work.My list is something that will mostly be done, because it's improvements I'm looking to have to make my life when developing easier. The issue is timing, as it gets backburned to get other stuff made, etc.
One thing I'd been contemplating on is how to go about releasing. Some stuff I'd figured on just being general enough, or simple/useful enough to be thrown out free, but there's a few things I've been working on slowly that are actually pretty huge tools, and I feel would be warrant some payback, and how to go about that, yada yada.
So yeah, prioritization and potential returns on some big things are something I'm trying to sort out for my part. Obviously it's easier to justify working on some of those things when you know there'd be a ROI on it ;)
#25
05/06/2013 (5:37 am)
A central location for feature requests already exist: Torque 3D MIT UserVoice. Not only is there a list, but there is a voting system. This makes it easier for developers to see what the users want, then pick a feature that is not only within their skill range, but something many people will use. 
Torque Owner Robert Fritzen
Phantom Games Development