Torque 2D 3.0 Update
by Michael Perry · 04/01/2014 (9:44 am) · 21 comments
Torque 2D 3.0 Update
It has been a little while since the last official update regarding the 3.0 release of Torque 2D. 3.0 is getting closer and closer to release but development has been rather slow. Before we dive into the major features of 3.0 and the remaining work the Steering Committee wanted to give a huge shout out and thanks to the following people for contributing to Torque 2D:
- Simon Love
- Daniel Buckmaster
- Charlie Patterson
- Paul Jan
- Tim Newell
- Cedric Kemp
- William Lee Sims
- Cameron Porter / Frogger
- Richard Ranft
- James Urquhart
- practicing01
- TRON
- Fix bugs / contribute features
- Report issues and make sure they get on the Github tracker
- Write docs/tutorials
- Contribute to the forums
- Spread the word to friends and other communities
- Many others
If you want to help out with Torque 2D but don’t know where to start please post in the forums and we’ll point you in the right direction. Now without further ado here are a couple of announcements.
New Steering Committee Member: Derek Bronson
I’m very happy to announce a new steering committee member. I’ve already mentioned it in IRC, but it’s worth posting a full introduction here. Long time Torque supporter and ex-GG employee Derek Bronson has joined the effort. A few of you may remember him. Derek ported the Rainy Day tutorial to TGB and wrote the tutorial for it. For a while, he was in charge of the GG.com store. He’s participated in blogs, forums, and IRC many times. While working at GG, I bounced all of my ideas regarding TGB, iTorque 2D, and Torque 2D MIT off him. While not a coder, he played a very important role in helping improve the products. Heck, even after his departure from GG he constantly asked about Torque 2D, the community, and suggested improvements. So much, in fact, I told him to get on the steering committee and help make a difference.I’ll let Derek introduce himself and his role on the steering committee.
In his own words:
Quote:When I joined GG in 2007 I instantly fell in love with T2D. Throughout my journey at GG I got to experience a lot of different roles and was involved with all the engines in some form or another but after all that time I still maintain a special place in my heart for T2D. After I left GG I kept an eye on the open source efforts and provided a lot of feedback to Mich. He told me to put my time where my mouth was so I applied to join the group. I’ve watched this community throughout the years and am constantly amazed by the spirit of game making it has been able to maintain. If anyone can take this technology and push it to new heights it is this group of people.
I’m excited to bring my program management experience to the Steering Committee and plan to focus on process, structure and communication to better enable the community as a whole in driving the engine technology forward. If you have any ideas on how to make the T2D experience better or you want to get involved with T2D but not sure where to start please email me at derek.a.bronson at gmail.com.
3.0 Release
A New Platform Appears
This release is really shaping up to be all about platforms. The initial MIT 2.0 release was a solid start with support for Windows, OSX, and iOS. The 3.0 release will double the number of platforms you can publish your games on. First we announced Android, then Linux, and now… the web! Thanks to the work of James Urquhart, Torque 2D can compile to JavaScript with the help of Emscripten. No plugins are needed to play T2D games, just a WebGL compliant browser like Chrome or Firefox. As with any of the other new platforms, what is needed now are willing testers to help identify potential issues. A setup guide is already available on the wiki to help you get started.
Linux
Thanks to Frogger’s dedication, he ported the engine to Linux in record breaking time. Linux support has always been at the top of feature requests for the engine, so hopefully this new platform will help bring in all the Linux devs who have been aching for a dedicated 2D engine.
Sixty Four
Also on the topic of platforms, another great addition from James is 64-bit support. So for native 64-bit platforms like Windows, OSX, and Linux - it would be great to get testing and feedback on how well T2D works as a 64-bit app.
Top Features
As a quick reminder here are the other major features currently sitting in the 3.0 development branch waiting to be released to the wild:
- Android Support
- Leap Motion Support
- XBox 360 Controller Support
- Spine Support
- Fixes and More…
Remaining Work
The feature work for 3.0 is primarily done but there are a few remaining issues that we feel are blockers to fully releasing 3.0. As mentioned above several people have dedicated their time to help 3.0 become a reality but we need just a little more to get over the release hurdle. The full list of issues for 3.0 can be found here: 3.0 Remaining issuesBlockers
There are three remaining issues that we consider to be blockers to the 3.0 release. If you can help in any way (providing fixes, testing other’s fixes, adding more detail to the issue) please do so we can get this release into the hands of everyone.
Testing
This is no official QA group for T2D so we need the help of everyone to make sure there the engine stays solid. If you have a few moments please grab the development branch (it’s as easy as downloading a zip) and play around with the various samples or bring your own projects over. In particular if you have a Linux machine or an Android device we’d highly encourage you to test out the new platform support. Please let us know about your experiences on the T2D forums. If you discover any particular bugs please post them on Github or start a forum thread and we’ll pull it over.
--------------
The release is almost there, it just needs a gentle nudge from this awesome community to get out the door. Let’s work together to continue making T2D the best 2D engine available!
Regards,
Mich
About the author
Programmer.
#2
We are showcased on github ... and that's just the beginning.
There is much work still to be done :D
04/01/2014 (12:39 pm)
Congratulations to all the developers and users of T2D, is an impressive update.We are showcased on github ... and that's just the beginning.
There is much work still to be done :D
#3
04/01/2014 (2:14 pm)
Great work guys! I hope that you are able to publish T2D 3.0 soon! 
#4
Great write-up Mich and thanks for the recognition; I feel like a princess.
Wish I could help out more with the Android testing but my personal projects are taking 100% of my time.
T2D MIT 3.0 will be a truly epic release!
And Mike, I'm really happy with all the work you've put into it as well. You deserve extra praise and AT LEAST 20 seconds of standing applause.
Done.
04/01/2014 (2:59 pm)
Congrats Derek!Great write-up Mich and thanks for the recognition; I feel like a princess.
Wish I could help out more with the Android testing but my personal projects are taking 100% of my time.
T2D MIT 3.0 will be a truly epic release!
And Mike, I'm really happy with all the work you've put into it as well. You deserve extra praise and AT LEAST 20 seconds of standing applause.
Done.
#5
As for Mike, he deserves more than 20 seconds. He's kept the MIT effort going more than I, basically saving it for the past couple of months. Everyone should thank him for that.
As for you, MUCH THANKS for your effort in helping us test stuff. I know how busy you are with your projects, so any single second you contribute is a huge help to everyone.
04/01/2014 (4:44 pm)
@Simon - You can credit Derek and Mike for the blog. You know how it goes. They wrote the original content. I edited it and then posted it to get the most recognition. As for Mike, he deserves more than 20 seconds. He's kept the MIT effort going more than I, basically saving it for the past couple of months. Everyone should thank him for that.
As for you, MUCH THANKS for your effort in helping us test stuff. I know how busy you are with your projects, so any single second you contribute is a huge help to everyone.
#6
Slightly confused to see myself on the contributor's list O.o
04/01/2014 (5:24 pm)
Whoah, fantastic blog. Great news for T2D, and congrats to Derek! T2D sounds like it's in good hands :).Slightly confused to see myself on the contributor's list O.o
#7
@Daniel - me too, all I do is yell at people on the forums....
<edit>
And crap, I don't have any Android or iOS devices. Why does Apple always have to screw things up? OpenAL should just work - seriously. But no, they have to be "hip, cool, bleeding edge" and breaking....
04/01/2014 (7:03 pm)
Hey Derek! Glad you came back!@Daniel - me too, all I do is yell at people on the forums....
<edit>
And crap, I don't have any Android or iOS devices. Why does Apple always have to screw things up? OpenAL should just work - seriously. But no, they have to be "hip, cool, bleeding edge" and breaking....
#8
I also echo Mich in giving a huge thanks to Mike & Simon for contributing so much effort in keeping things moving.
04/01/2014 (8:14 pm)
@Richard - In some ways I never left. Also, just because you don't have Android or iOS devices doesn't mean you can't run some quick tests to help us find issues. There are tons of new platforms in 3.0 and even the PC version needs people to beat on it and keep the engine honest :)I also echo Mich in giving a huge thanks to Mike & Simon for contributing so much effort in keeping things moving.
#9
@Richard - pull request 142
Even singular pull requests are appreciated contributions.
As for the 3 remaining "blocking" issues that the steering committee have chosen - the Android multi-touch should be covered in the open pull request I have and the Android sound one looks like it can be resolved through scripting (no engine changes needed). I need people with Android devices to test pull request 174 before I merge it in though.
It's really only the no audio in iOS7 bug that needs to be resolved - if someone can figure out the root cause and provide a fix, we can get 3.0 out the door.
04/01/2014 (10:09 pm)
@Daniel - pull request 56@Richard - pull request 142
Even singular pull requests are appreciated contributions.
As for the 3 remaining "blocking" issues that the steering committee have chosen - the Android multi-touch should be covered in the open pull request I have and the Android sound one looks like it can be resolved through scripting (no engine changes needed). I need people with Android devices to test pull request 174 before I merge it in though.
It's really only the no audio in iOS7 bug that needs to be resolved - if someone can figure out the root cause and provide a fix, we can get 3.0 out the door.
#10
04/02/2014 (2:04 am)
keep up the good work guys. 
#11
The root cause seems to be that there are 2 calls to alcCreateContext in ios builds:
audio.cc lines 2459 and 2500.
inserting
#elif defined(TORQUE_OS_IOS)
before the #else at line 2499 would prevent the creation of a second context and seems to work so far.
04/02/2014 (9:38 am)
Think I found the root cause of the iOS audio bug:The root cause seems to be that there are 2 calls to alcCreateContext in ios builds:
audio.cc lines 2459 and 2500.
inserting
#elif defined(TORQUE_OS_IOS)
before the #else at line 2499 would prevent the creation of a second context and seems to work so far.
#12
I'll leave the requests open for a couple days for anyone else to comment on, then if no one objects merge them into development.
04/02/2014 (8:28 pm)
Just saw your pull requests Paul - very very very very awesome. Thanks for taking the time to fix those issues.I'll leave the requests open for a couple days for anyone else to comment on, then if no one objects merge them into development.
#13
For anyone who can test Android support, the current open pull request has the last few changes needed to make Android work with the latest NDK. Please fetch those changes and try it out and add comments if you have any trouble. github.com/GarageGames/Torque2D/pull/174
Even if you don't have an Android device, you can still test to make sure things build if you don't mind setting up eclipse/ADK/NDK, using virtual android devices. It's possible with the more recent ADK to enable hardware acceleration of the interface. It doesn't run particularly smoothly, but it even so, if you are able to build and then add your own assets to see if it works, that goes a long way! Feel free to ask if you have trouble with this.
I tried getting Linux 64-bit ready, but I've had some issues with getting an OpenGL context to not error out and fail to render anything (that may be due to my particular hardware/driver combo however). Those changes are on the back-burner for now.
04/02/2014 (9:56 pm)
Lots of great news! Thanks to everyone who has contributed, it's exciting how well-supported the engine has gotten.For anyone who can test Android support, the current open pull request has the last few changes needed to make Android work with the latest NDK. Please fetch those changes and try it out and add comments if you have any trouble. github.com/GarageGames/Torque2D/pull/174
Even if you don't have an Android device, you can still test to make sure things build if you don't mind setting up eclipse/ADK/NDK, using virtual android devices. It's possible with the more recent ADK to enable hardware acceleration of the interface. It doesn't run particularly smoothly, but it even so, if you are able to build and then add your own assets to see if it works, that goes a long way! Feel free to ask if you have trouble with this.
I tried getting Linux 64-bit ready, but I've had some issues with getting an OpenGL context to not error out and fail to render anything (that may be due to my particular hardware/driver combo however). Those changes are on the back-burner for now.
#14
04/03/2014 (6:56 pm)
It's awesome to hear that Derek's on the team! Love that guy! 
#15
04/03/2014 (8:01 pm)
It's amazing to see you all make this happen. I'm speechless and awestruck. 
#16
Good luck on your new chair! :)
04/04/2014 (3:39 pm)
Hey awesome to see Derek back around! Im not using Torque technology since some time now, but is always great to see good old fellas like you around here.Good luck on your new chair! :)
#17
*drools*
I've been looking for a good reason to port from TGB to T2D MIT... this might be the tipping point! Great job!
04/10/2014 (6:00 pm)
Quote:The 3.0 release will double the number of platforms you can publish your games on. First we announced Android, then Linux, and now... the web!
*drools*
I've been looking for a good reason to port from TGB to T2D MIT... this might be the tipping point! Great job!
#19
04/11/2014 (10:28 pm)
Any chance of the editor from T2D 1.8 and earlier coming back?
#20
@Shaolin Dave - a 1:1 port of the old editor is doubtful and would probably need GG to sign off on since that code is not open source. Mich Perry has a personal editor project (not affiliated with his GG or steering committee duties), Simon Love has shown off a hex tile map editor, and Gary Myers is working on an iPad editor - these examples are some of the community work in this area going on at the moment. Whether those projects ever see the light of day and are shared with the community or offered for purchase is up to the individual developer.
04/12/2014 (4:50 am)
@DieRich - network functionality would work the same like on any other platform.@Shaolin Dave - a 1:1 port of the old editor is doubtful and would probably need GG to sign off on since that code is not open source. Mich Perry has a personal editor project (not affiliated with his GG or steering committee duties), Simon Love has shown off a hex tile map editor, and Gary Myers is working on an iPad editor - these examples are some of the community work in this area going on at the moment. Whether those projects ever see the light of day and are shared with the community or offered for purchase is up to the individual developer.
Associate Mike Lilligreen
Retired T2Der
And congratulations to Torque 2D and Torque 3D for being added to the short list of featured game engines on Github!
github.com/showcases/game-engines
Let's keep the positive momentum rolling and get 3.0 released, we're almost there!