We want your feedback on the future of Torque 3D!
by David Montgomery-Blake · 10/16/2012 (2:03 pm) · 41 comments
We want your feedback on the future of Torque 3D!
Torque 3D was released under a MIT license on September 20, 2012. For those that may not have been following our blogs on this release, please give them a read:GarageGames to Release T3D as Open Source
The Future of Torque 3D is Open Source!
Open Call: Join the Torque 3D Open Source Committee
Torque 3D MIT FAQ
It's here! The MIT licensed Torque 3D GitHub repo is ready!
First T3D MIT Committee Meeting
Torque 3D Open Source Update 2012-10-02
When we open sourced Torque 3D under the MIT license, we talked about creating a community-oriented roadmap. And now, here is the humble beginning: a feedback loop so that you can tell the community, committee, and GarageGames what you most want to see in Torque 3D!
This doesn't mean that everything will be worked on, but it will give the committee a good idea of what is popular to help drive direction. Someone still has to do the actual work, and if you want a complete Gears of War replica then it will take a lot of programmers and artists to make that happen! But we wanted a system in place that would allow us to gauge the popularity of different feature requests. The more popular the request, the more likely a group will get together and start bringing those features to a very real state.
With this feedback in mind as well as the pull requests being processed, the community members working on different parts of the engine, it will provide the committee with the necessary ammunition to create a realistic roadmap for the future of the engine. You can find the submission widget on the Torque 3D page.
Jump in and let us know what you want to see, what you are willing to help with, and where you want the engine to go!
We are currently only rolling this out for the MIT release of Torque 3D. Improvements and feature requests for our 2D engines should be posted to the appropriate forums: Torque 2D, iTorque 2D.
About the author
Community management and development, Educational computing systems and lab management, Flex, ActionScript, JavaScript, PHP, C++, C#, Perl, Python, Ruby, LUA, etc.
#3
10/16/2012 (2:38 pm)
Dammit, no LIKE button! 
#4
As long as I have worked with TGE/A and T3D, I have been of the opinion that the releases should be partitioned as ready to use frameworks for specific genres.
T3D Core + Racing (join as vehicle, race starts, race 10 laps, finish)
T3D Core + RPG (third person view with tab target, levels, inventory, AI mobs, AI NPCs)
T3D Core + FPS (first / third person view aimed combat with AI bot balancing teams)
T3D Core + RTS (no description, I don't know RTS sufficiently to describe it)
I realize that some of these have been covered in resources and GG starter kits. I also realize that such a presentation is probably contrary to GG's design objectives of keeping TGE/A T3D as a general purpose rendering engine for games.
However, if a target for T3D is hobbiest developers (and I don't know if that is the case), many are lacking sufficient resources to pull a general purpose engine into use for a specific genre. Providing them with a solution one step closer to their intended application would make T3D a more effective solution for their needs.
I realize that one cannot fix the past. I also don't know the direction intended for the future. However, when asked what features I would request for T3D, first and foremost is help in applying the engine to a specific genre.
All the bells and whistles of advanced features make no difference to me if I can't get the engine to do what I need in creating a game. I doubt if I'm the only person in this position.
10/16/2012 (2:41 pm)
My suggestions isn't really a good fit for the form. I hope it's okay to post it here.As long as I have worked with TGE/A and T3D, I have been of the opinion that the releases should be partitioned as ready to use frameworks for specific genres.
T3D Core + Racing (join as vehicle, race starts, race 10 laps, finish)
T3D Core + RPG (third person view with tab target, levels, inventory, AI mobs, AI NPCs)
T3D Core + FPS (first / third person view aimed combat with AI bot balancing teams)
T3D Core + RTS (no description, I don't know RTS sufficiently to describe it)
I realize that some of these have been covered in resources and GG starter kits. I also realize that such a presentation is probably contrary to GG's design objectives of keeping TGE/A T3D as a general purpose rendering engine for games.
However, if a target for T3D is hobbiest developers (and I don't know if that is the case), many are lacking sufficient resources to pull a general purpose engine into use for a specific genre. Providing them with a solution one step closer to their intended application would make T3D a more effective solution for their needs.
I realize that one cannot fix the past. I also don't know the direction intended for the future. However, when asked what features I would request for T3D, first and foremost is help in applying the engine to a specific genre.
All the bells and whistles of advanced features make no difference to me if I can't get the engine to do what I need in creating a game. I doubt if I'm the only person in this position.
#5
10/16/2012 (3:03 pm)
Actually a core engine refactor is the kind of thing that would be great for a feature request.
#6
10/16/2012 (3:22 pm)
Done. I slimmed it down so it's less editorial than my post here. 
#7
10/16/2012 (4:16 pm)
I think both T2D and T3D needs playing through the web(streaming capabilities). Not the current play through a web page option.
#8
10/16/2012 (4:30 pm)
Put that in as a feature request. 
#9
10/16/2012 (4:37 pm)
Cool stuff! Nice and easy to use, and I like the idea of having a limited pool of votes. Oh, and the UI is slick.Quote:Put that in as a feature request.Keeping this in my clipboard buffer :P.
#10
10/16/2012 (4:40 pm)
Haha. Thought that was just a graphic. Didn't know it was a real button link. Done. 
#11
COUGH * THATSMYJOB * COUGH
10/16/2012 (4:51 pm)
Quote:T3D Core + RPG (third person view with tab target, levels, inventory, AI mobs, AI NPCs)
COUGH * THATSMYJOB * COUGH
#12
10/16/2012 (5:07 pm)
Also - the timestamps are localised! Unlike the ones here :P. 
#13
realistic skin shader.
wetness.
**side note with the permission of Alfio I have a screenspace lightning shader, that I'm sure would make for an excellent feature!
10/16/2012 (5:09 pm)
out- the-box AI.realistic skin shader.
wetness.
**side note with the permission of Alfio I have a screenspace lightning shader, that I'm sure would make for an excellent feature!
#14
T3D is pretty much one of the game engines left behind on the mmo support deal.
maybe implementing an existing third party server addon plugin?
10/16/2012 (6:53 pm)
how about a real multiplatform mmo server backend,T3D is pretty much one of the game engines left behind on the mmo support deal.
maybe implementing an existing third party server addon plugin?
#15
10/16/2012 (8:09 pm)
@Kevin, Do you have an RPG solution released? I'd like to take a look. 
#16
10/16/2012 (8:51 pm)
realistic skin shader, realtime global illumination!
#17
I love the game engine and hope it has a good future!
I agree with the #4's reply;
(1)Advanced artificial intelligence system(path finder)
(2)Better physical system support
(3)Effects of various support ( translucent etc.)
(4)Try our best to improve the engine renders the efficiency,Reduce CPU utilization!
I think the follow function is not very useful for many people,donnot waster time do it!
(1)A new scripting language
(2)Add full support for Linux Operating Systems to Torque 3D
(3)Add full support for Mac OS X to Torque 3D
10/17/2012 (12:31 am)
How to develop the T3D, actually I also think a long time;I love the game engine and hope it has a good future!
I agree with the #4's reply;
(1)Advanced artificial intelligence system(path finder)
(2)Better physical system support
(3)Effects of various support ( translucent etc.)
(4)Try our best to improve the engine renders the efficiency,Reduce CPU utilization!
I think the follow function is not very useful for many people,donnot waster time do it!
(1)A new scripting language
(2)Add full support for Linux Operating Systems to Torque 3D
(3)Add full support for Mac OS X to Torque 3D
#18
10/17/2012 (3:01 am)
Shader Editor! Or, support for nVidia's FX shader editor, at least.
#19
10/17/2012 (4:19 am)
@Kenneth I have a few more things to add but I'm grinding right now for a December release. I'm trying to add as much content as possible to get something that has enough features to get something started easily for RPG game play. 
#20
10/17/2012 (4:55 am)
Since Torque 3D going open source seems to be a major success so far will we be seeing any other products move to open source? I'd really like to see Torque Game Engine Advance and Torque 2D make the transition. 
Torque 3D Owner Ronny Bangsund
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