Updates to Torque 2D, Torque 3D, and Community

Hey all. It's been a while since I posted a blog with some real meat. This blog contains important announcements regarding Torque 2D, Torque 3D, and the community itself. Continue reading to learn about the new chapter for T2D, fun demos for T3D, and how the new moderator TEAM is taking the fight to the spammers!

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Spam, Web Updates, New Moderators

We've had a spam problem on this website for a while now. The majority of moderation time has been spent on cleaning up the spam than actually contributing to the real thread. One person was handling every day issues, like spam cleanup, issues regarding keys, disputes, and so on. The worst spam occurred when that person was sleeping, on weekends, and holidays.

The ability to moderate the website is as simple as upgrading a user's account. Unfortunately, that would have also given said person the ability to "nuke" accounts...which was extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. It was simply a risk we could not take...until now. Our web developer has updated the nuke system to be safer and also provide notification.

Anyone who may have checked the website in the past 24 hours may have noticed how quickly spam has cleaned up or even missed seeing the spam entirely. That's because I have already promoted Richard Ranft and Nathan Martin to moderators. Everyone should join me in saying "thanks" to these awesome community for stepping up! Thanks guys!

If the spammers increase frequency or start hitting us at times where all three are asleep, then we can recruit more moderators to handle different times of the day. I believe they will eventually be dissuaded and will give up trying to spam our glorious forums. Until then, nukes away!

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Reforming the Torque 2D Steering Committee

In February of 2013, Torque 2D was released as an open source engine under the MIT license. Since then, many users have contributed to its continued success as a solid 2D game engine. We've seen bug fixes, documentation updates, new features, and three new platforms (Android, Linux, Web). As a long time advocate of our 2D technology, I couldn't be more proud and excited.

Unfortunately, the ball has been dropped and I've been mostly to blame. Despite Mike Lilligreen's best efforts to keep things going, participation and discussion of T2D MIT and its SC has come to an awkward halt. Pull requests have stacked up, planning has been non-existent, and the engine is in limbo. I had a brief e-mail exchange with the other steering committee members and we all came to the same conclusion. It's time to reform the Torque 2D steering committee and forge ahead.

The biggest change is that I will be removing myself from the committee. In case you missed it, Eric posted a blog about GG's new venture. I am one of the main contributors to Dev|Pro, which ties up my work time entirely. At home, my wife and I just welcomed our second child into the world. That pretty much means any spare time I have now goes toward family. I just cannot commit to Torque 2D in any official capacity.

This does not mean I will be abandoning Torque 2D entirely. Far from it, as I will now have the freedom to work on much more risky (destructive) and interesting (zomg insane physics!) T2D projects in my own fork. If you wish to follow what I will be working on, you can check out my PuppyDev GitHub Account (name picked by GG IRC crew).

It's time to start a new chapter in the life of Torque 2D. This is an open call to all who wish to join the steering committee, regardless of past participation. We’re not only looking for the most active community members, or those that have been with the community the longest. If you’ve been lurking and believe that now is the time you want to get involved, that’s great! We would also like to hear from people outside of our community that feel they can contribute.

For those that are wondering what the Committee’s role and responsibilities are we have a Charter that is available here: Steering committee charter.This is a living document and may change over time as the Committee sees fit. If you are ready to volunteer, post a reply to this blog or e-mail me directly.

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New Torque 3D Demos

While hanging out in the GG IRC channel, I was contacted by Jeff Raab. He wanted to get details on the availability of the Torque 3D Pacific Demo. For those who never saw this demo, here's the video trailer:




In the spirit of improving the Torque 3D MIT experience via new examples, having more pretty art, and testing the PBR and LPV work, he wanted to know if the steering committee could get their hands on the demo. After a brief call with Eric Preisz (CEO) and Erik Graham (owner), I have great news! Not only will we be handing the Pacific Demo over to the steering committee, but we will be dropping a few other gems on them.

So what are these additional goodies? Have a look for yourself:




Of course, these demos have not been tested against the latest version of T3D MIT. It is highly unlikely they will work out of the box. The steering committee will be responsible for fixing, cleaning up, adding the MIT license header, and whatever else they need to do for the demos to be brought up to spec. After all that, I look forward to seeing these beautiful demos hit the MIT repository!

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Well, that's all for now folks. Many still believe in our little, yet strong community, including myself. I look forward to all the submissions for the new T2D steering committee. The T3D demos are currently being packaged and will be handed over to Jeff sometime this week. For now, long live Torque and the GarageGames community!

Regards,
Mich