Torque Game Builder 1.1.1 Lives!

So it's been a little over a month since we released TGB 1.1.0 and we're proud to present the first in a long line of updates which brings with it many improvements and some new functionalities! Keep in mind that we're still working and so things will continue to get better, but we need your help! Please continue to help us improve TGB by reporting issues that you have (we promise to get to them when we have time!) and ideas for ways to make your experience more enjoyable. We take all comments to heart and consider them, though sometimes it may take a while before we can get to them.

That out of the way, I'd like to take a moment and introduce you to what is new and improved in the 1.1.1 point release.

Note Our Mac update is slightly delayed as our Mac guru is out at WWDC currently and was not in the office to get a build together. We will have that for all of you Mac guys very soon, I promise!

Tile Layer Editing in the Level Builder
Tile Layers are now editable and viewable from within the LevelBuilder! This means that you can drop a tile layer on a scene and use either the quickedit or the right-most widget on the object to edit it. There are a variety of tools that you can use for editing your tile layers and you can save them off as different names, add scripting, assign collision polygons, and more.


Selection Tool
The selection tool in the layer editor (accessible from the quickedit tile layer toolbar) will allow you to select individual tiles, or double click to flood select a group of them and you can apply changes to any selection using the 'Apply to Selection' button in the quickedit. You can also shift+drag to do rectangle selection of a group of tiles.

Paint Brush Tool
The paint brush tool allows you to paint directly onto the layer with the currently defined brush or settings of an unsaved brush that is defined in the quickedit panel. This works much like the original tile editor painting and should be fairly self-explanatory.

EyeDropper Tool
The eye dropper tool will allow you to drop from any given tile. it will grab all properties from a dropped tile and apply them to your current brush setup in the quickedit. It will get collision information, custom script and other relevent data from the tile.

Erase Tool
The eraser tool when selected will clear tiles that you click on.

Wrap Indication and Layer Collision Creation
The tile layer editor will display a translucent red rectangle around any areas of a tile layer that are wrapping when you are editing. This is to show you which areas you can change and which are simply duplicates from wrapping options. You can also do a normal collision polygon edit on a tile layer and it will automatically chunk out the collisions onto the proper tiles so that they match what you've created.

Managed Brushes
Brushes are created by setting up your properties as you'd like them to be for a given Tile and then typing a name in the Brush name edit and hitting save brush. At this point it will be saved in your project brushes and accesible in any layer that you create within that project!

Editor Addon Support

With 1.1.1, resources have been expanded upon to allow drop-in addon functionality to the LevelBuilder and tools set. An addon is simply a folder with special scripts inside of it that is placed in $installPath/tools/resources/resourceName that will automatically be loaded upon startup. As an example of this functionality we have prepared a floating Layer Management window addon that you will be able to download from TDN soon! It provides a new menu item and shortcut (ctrl-l) to toggle it on screen and will show up as follows. This means that if you've got a modification you've made to the LevelBuilder that is all script you can easily give it to your friends and they can then instantly use your cool addon the next time they start TGB. All currently active addons are listed in the about dialog for TGB.

Layer Y-Sorting Support for Isometric Games

Layers may now have a sorting mode assigned to each of them, including sorting by Y and -Y axes. This allows you to do isometric style games where a player may need to at times be rendered in front of or behind an object depending on his Y position and the sort point for his object. The sorting modes for each layer may be changed by clicking on the scenegraph (on no objects) and in the "Layer Management" rollout.

UI/Workflow improvements

With 1.1.1 we tried to take the UI and make it a bit more friendly in terms of a few things.

Screen Space
We tried to address (atleast in part) the concern with screen space usage by introducing smaller fonts and more space considerate panels and rollouts.

New Button Appearance
There was also alot of confusion about buttons on the Interface so the buttons have been tweaked to appear more like buttons, making them easier to identify and more inviting to click on!

Play Preview Linked to Design resolution
The play game option of the builder has now been linked to the Design Resolution at which your level is designed (this can be accessed from the Preferences dialog or the SceneGraph quickedit panel). This was because of feedback indicating that designing something for 800x600 while running the builder in a 16:9 Aspect Ratio resolution was causing stretching of sprites and overall confusion and dissatisfaction while playing your game. TGB now sets the screen size to the design resolution that is specified when playing your game and then back to it's previous resolution when you return to the editor.

Layer Management (Locking/Hiding)
In 1.1.1 you will finally be able to lock and hide objects in your levels based on their layer in the file. You can find the layer management rollout in the SceneGraph quickedit panel which you can access by clicking on the scene anywhere that there is not an object.

Updated Linux Pro version
With 1.1.1 we offer an updated download for linux users that comes with a precompiled binary and should compile out of the box! You can get it from your my account page!

There's so much more - Full ChangeList!

So much has changed since release that I can't bare the thought of typing it all up here. You can find a full changelist HERE for all of you that just HAVE to know EXACTLY what has changed :)

We truly hope you guys like the new version and we promise to continue to make it even better and better in the future! Thanks for all your support and encouragement, you guys rock and this is our way of saying thanks!

Cheers,
-Justin



Extra Special Thanks - to Tom Spilman and Russell Fincher from over at SickHead games for kindly letting me use their starter kit assets for my screenshots. You can find out more about their upcoming kit on Russel's latest blog "Update: Sickhead TGB Tile Pack"; they're doing some awesome stuff I know I can't wait to see released!