GUI question and some other noob asks
by Cameron Anderson · in Torque 2D Beginner · 07/24/2017 (10:52 am) · 10 replies
So late night post so forgive me for being blunt
Started with torque a few days ago. Have a rough idea with how it all works as i made the asteroid tutorial,fish tutorial and other little changes to the games (brakes for the space ship, death on collision with asteroids) then decided to do a compilation
After going over the two gui tutorials i made a main menu and console template and started work on recreating the two previous games (just to really cement in the learning)
So anyway i have completed the asteroid game and thats where my first issue began as i had no idea on how to input GUI buttons outside of doing it like i had learnt with the main menu (with TAML files and the like) and even then i dont understand where in the script I would of added these buttons? (First week blues)
A little bit of thinking and i realised it would be as easy for me to add a static prite with attached image and have it set up in the top right corner so that when i clicked on the sprite the asteroid game would close and return me to the main menu!
So was this correct? It feels like i completely bypassed what the GUI is there to do (being a game user interface and such)
Second question is wether there are any good scoreboard tutorials available that would really assist me in creating a scoreboard for the two games? (how long lived, asteroids destroyed) i have seen the one already mentioned in theae forums but it seems to be for the older outdater version and seeing how this is all script it leaves me in abit of a bind
Finally my last question
In my googling i learned abit about gg and torque and it seems that the activity and amount of active users has died down alot and it leaves me wondering if i should stay with learning torque2D and 3D when im comfortable or make the change to some other game creation tool? (dissapointing as i can see all the wonderful work gg has put into making all these tools and resources but the lack of community help can really fubar the situation)
Sorry for the word dump! If anyone can reply that would be wonderful to help atleast clarify my questions lol, i do have other scripts i can post with questions attached but ill save that for another time!
Started with torque a few days ago. Have a rough idea with how it all works as i made the asteroid tutorial,fish tutorial and other little changes to the games (brakes for the space ship, death on collision with asteroids) then decided to do a compilation
After going over the two gui tutorials i made a main menu and console template and started work on recreating the two previous games (just to really cement in the learning)
So anyway i have completed the asteroid game and thats where my first issue began as i had no idea on how to input GUI buttons outside of doing it like i had learnt with the main menu (with TAML files and the like) and even then i dont understand where in the script I would of added these buttons? (First week blues)
A little bit of thinking and i realised it would be as easy for me to add a static prite with attached image and have it set up in the top right corner so that when i clicked on the sprite the asteroid game would close and return me to the main menu!
So was this correct? It feels like i completely bypassed what the GUI is there to do (being a game user interface and such)
Second question is wether there are any good scoreboard tutorials available that would really assist me in creating a scoreboard for the two games? (how long lived, asteroids destroyed) i have seen the one already mentioned in theae forums but it seems to be for the older outdater version and seeing how this is all script it leaves me in abit of a bind
Finally my last question
In my googling i learned abit about gg and torque and it seems that the activity and amount of active users has died down alot and it leaves me wondering if i should stay with learning torque2D and 3D when im comfortable or make the change to some other game creation tool? (dissapointing as i can see all the wonderful work gg has put into making all these tools and resources but the lack of community help can really fubar the situation)
Sorry for the word dump! If anyone can reply that would be wonderful to help atleast clarify my questions lol, i do have other scripts i can post with questions attached but ill save that for another time!
#2
07/24/2017 (11:17 pm)
Thank you! (Im assuming by you telling me to go over there that the torque 3D community would have all the understanding needed to answer any issues i may have during my creation process?) 
#3
07/28/2017 (1:50 pm)
There are a few dedicated 2D users over there, along with users who have worked in both T2D and T3D MIT. Some 2D users still post here more frequently, but it's a toss up. 
#4
From what I can tell so far is that there's nothing wrong about just bypassing the new GUI stuff and using events triggered by sprite buttons. This is pretty much how the previous version of T2D worked, and it still seems to hold up in the Torque MIT version.
In working on my new game in Torque MIT, I have run into issues with trying to mix a combination of both elements on a single screen - in the GUI overlays any non-GUI buttons and makes them unclickable. So ,probably adding it as a sprite is the best option. If you wanted to add a GUI element that is a sprite button, they are the <GuiImageButtonCtrl> objects.
Unfortunately, it does seem like a lot of the community has moved on. Granted, Garage Games has essentially made the engine open source and moved on themselves, so that might be part of it losing some steam. It still seems like a pretty solid engine, and I'm personally planning on trying to finish my current game project using it.
09/10/2017 (1:50 pm)
I saw this and meant to reply, but then hadn't logged back on here in a while. While you've probably already got this worked out, posting just in case you still do have questions or want to talk about the engine. From what I can tell so far is that there's nothing wrong about just bypassing the new GUI stuff and using events triggered by sprite buttons. This is pretty much how the previous version of T2D worked, and it still seems to hold up in the Torque MIT version.
In working on my new game in Torque MIT, I have run into issues with trying to mix a combination of both elements on a single screen - in the GUI overlays any non-GUI buttons and makes them unclickable. So ,probably adding it as a sprite is the best option. If you wanted to add a GUI element that is a sprite button, they are the <GuiImageButtonCtrl> objects.
Unfortunately, it does seem like a lot of the community has moved on. Granted, Garage Games has essentially made the engine open source and moved on themselves, so that might be part of it losing some steam. It still seems like a pretty solid engine, and I'm personally planning on trying to finish my current game project using it.
#5
I also had seen this many times and just have not had the time to write my answer!!
With the buttons i did end up bypassing the GUI stuff and using Triggered Sprite Buttons but i was hit with other issues
I did eventually decide to stop using Torque2D and i have made the change to Unity! Its a shame that the community had moved on and that i discovered/started using Torque too late however the things i learned in TorqueScript really made it easy to change over to Unity! (Torque Script, C+ and Javascript really are good beginner languages to learn)
Now that im on Unity i have made great strides with what i have learned, i have created a few little prototype games that i am working on finishing (Mainly for Portfolio Display Purposes) and as much as i hate to advertise another program while here on garagegames i do advise if anybody else reads this and is still making up there mind on what to learn//where to start then i defiantly recommend:
1 at-least start here with Torque2D, make some of the Tutorial Games to get yourself used to scripting!
2 Make the change to another program (If your using Torque then i recommend Unity Or Unreal Engine)
3 Do the new Engines Tutorials. Then Keep doing tutorials!! Complete everyone you can find!!
4 After creating a tower defense,Rpg,Roguelike and Adventure Game (All the Tutorials + More) you should have all the skills needed to create your own envisioned games!! all you need is plenty of research power to help you with the topics and issues that arise.
Good luck fellow game designer enthusiasts! Feel Free to message me anytime to discuss Design/Theory/Scripting or anything really! im always happy to discuss this kind of stuff :D
09/15/2017 (9:50 pm)
Hey thanks for the Reply Harry!I also had seen this many times and just have not had the time to write my answer!!
With the buttons i did end up bypassing the GUI stuff and using Triggered Sprite Buttons but i was hit with other issues
I did eventually decide to stop using Torque2D and i have made the change to Unity! Its a shame that the community had moved on and that i discovered/started using Torque too late however the things i learned in TorqueScript really made it easy to change over to Unity! (Torque Script, C+ and Javascript really are good beginner languages to learn)
Now that im on Unity i have made great strides with what i have learned, i have created a few little prototype games that i am working on finishing (Mainly for Portfolio Display Purposes) and as much as i hate to advertise another program while here on garagegames i do advise if anybody else reads this and is still making up there mind on what to learn//where to start then i defiantly recommend:
1 at-least start here with Torque2D, make some of the Tutorial Games to get yourself used to scripting!
2 Make the change to another program (If your using Torque then i recommend Unity Or Unreal Engine)
3 Do the new Engines Tutorials. Then Keep doing tutorials!! Complete everyone you can find!!
4 After creating a tower defense,Rpg,Roguelike and Adventure Game (All the Tutorials + More) you should have all the skills needed to create your own envisioned games!! all you need is plenty of research power to help you with the topics and issues that arise.
Good luck fellow game designer enthusiasts! Feel Free to message me anytime to discuss Design/Theory/Scripting or anything really! im always happy to discuss this kind of stuff :D
#6
11/15/2017 (7:17 pm)
Wow, it is as i feared :(, I pretty much went through everything in the documentation for Torque2D, and it appears that yes, it is all a ghost town now :(, guess I will have to try something else.
#7
11/16/2017 (9:59 pm)
Nastidon if your still deciding an engine i can help you there!! For ease of learning i recommend either Unity Or Unreal Engine, either have there own list of pros and cons going for or against either!! I will avoid these lists here as that can come to your own choice after alittlebit of research but i recommend either because they have great communities with some wonderfull tutorials that can teach you a hell of a lot!! Goodluck with your projects in the future!!
#8
11/26/2017 (6:55 pm)
Torque 2D MIT isn't a bad engine. It's just unfortunate that most of the community has drifted off at this point. I still plan on trying to make my next game using it, though that may just be because I got so familiar with it making my first game on the old paid Torque 2D engine. So far I haven't hit any issues that I couldn't get around with some engine modifications. Unity, Game Maker, heck even RPG Maker do probably have a more of an active community and user base. But, that is kind of on us the community as Garage Games basically handed it off to us.
#9
12/04/2017 (8:56 pm)
Having never been that active on forums or websites (until now) i had never even seen the community that existed here or on other sites until now. still i remember learning my first ever coding language (torque-script) many years ago and that was my FIRST foray into coding so torque will always hold a special slot inside for helping me learn the basics. :) still i will continue to browse the torque forums just to see if any developments are made 
#10
Also sounds like you had a great approach, learning here then trying another tech. Every tech has it's pros and cons and the best skill you can learn is the ability to learn new tech. The industry and the tech in it has changed so much over the years that you never know what might suit your needs best, so being adaptable like you are learning is a great approach.
Torque 2D MIT might be a great option to circle back to later, especially if you want to get into the engine guts and see how it all works, something you can't do with a lot of engines out there.
01/30/2018 (7:23 pm)
Seems like you already figured out that using Sprites for GUI is perfectly fine.Also sounds like you had a great approach, learning here then trying another tech. Every tech has it's pros and cons and the best skill you can learn is the ability to learn new tech. The industry and the tech in it has changed so much over the years that you never know what might suit your needs best, so being adaptable like you are learning is a great approach.
Torque 2D MIT might be a great option to circle back to later, especially if you want to get into the engine guts and see how it all works, something you can't do with a lot of engines out there.
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