What would you like to see addressed in Torque 2D?

#61 That reminds me -- when running TBG I can't hibernate my computer. That's pretty annoying.

#62 I vote for

1.- Editable tilemaps (to create isometric or whatever)
2.- Real time networking
3.- Better antialiasing for texts
4.- Better documentation. Torque Script is good but it needs to be documentated.

#63 - Better memory management (let us free our images or objects when we don't need too, currently TGB is very heavy because of this issue)
- Full compability with Windows XP/Vista/7

I don't think this it's asking for too much ;)

#64 Bruno, you can already load/unload images from memory manually.

#65 Hopefully behaviors (or their concept at least) will be carried over into T2D. The 2D model description seems like it follows a similar principle, attaching functions like rendering and collision properties to the model.

It would be great to be able to attach custom scripts with variables/fields that are editable within the editor like the current behavior system. Also, the runtime compiling of behaviors should be kept, as it is really useful making changes in script, saving, then pressing the play button within the builder and having those changes in the game without having to restart everything.

#66 Behaviors will absolutely be carried forward but will be more integrated with the system and play a more important overall role.

#67 A release in the near future.

#68 Sounds good, thanks Melv. Looking forward to reading about it in a future T2D dev blog.

#69 I don't know if it's been suggested, but integrating A* pathfinding into the tile layer (Or whatever is replacing it.) Not just default A*, but with node weighting, search table lookups and/or "on the fly generated" nodes. The tile layer system in TGB was just begging to have a little A* field with a node flag and weight. Behaviors would decide what to do with the nodes or how to find their path

Camera advances would be nice. Last I checked, mounting a camera eliminated the ability to control the camera(camera shakes or moves). Perhaps have a default "constraining" system to give the camera the ability to mount while still being able to move relative to the mount.

Ability to tie collision meshes to frames or cells - easily implement crouching, stance changes or whatever.

Or better yet, have the ability to "paint" pixel collisions as a layer on top of the PNG on a per frame basis. Sometimes, I'd rather not use just the alpha, and I'd rather be more specific than convex shapes. I know this wouldn't work with rigid body physics, but maybe just have it work with test collisions and not with rigid physics (great for games that don't need robust physics.)

Pretty much anything that would help people build BIGGER 2D games - Database stuff (now that real time networking is all the rage), ways to manage levels/missions better (easier to link together and manage visually), Storytelling / dialogue improvements (more easily integrated or already integrated.)

These would go a long way to making it easier for people to make expansive 2D worlds, and more importantly, populate them with content. I feel like the forest editor, ground cover and prefabs are making it easier to fill worlds in T3D, and T2D needs those kinds of tools. In TGB, we have tile layers (which have their own heavy restrictions) and drag/drop elements and that's about it. Level building is tedious and lacks the "creative feeling" you get in T3D.

#70 The ability to set a rotation point. Or even just rotate about a link point.

I just had to mount nearly a dozen items in this manner yesterday and it was quite painful. Especially since I needed pixel-perfect placement of the items, which required me to make the "pegs" 2x2 in size on a 1024x768 design area.

Thanks!

#71 There's no problem there William. Everything rotates around a body and you place everything else relative to the body. In other words, the body is the point of rotation.

You've also got a whole bunch of joints to string bodies together in cool and interesting ways. For instance, you can use a revolute joint at any point relative to the body and the body will revolve around that point.

Have a quick play with the Box2D test-bed and you've pretty much got everything you need to know. :)

#72 From the comments and replies so far about the GUI editor, it seems like we can look at the T3D GUI editor as the next step in what we would see in T2D. A refinement of what we currently have in TGB, so to speak.

At the moment there is a small (or not so small) minority that enjoy making GUI elements out of t2dSceneObjects and behaviors in TGB, myself included. Obviously it works well for simple stuff like buttons, where it is probably easier to have a neat visual effect and attach a button behavior to it than to create a button in the GUI editor and edit its profile to achieve the same look. I get the impression stuff like this will also still be possible in T2D.

I don't know how constrained you are in needing to keep the GUI editor similar between T2D and T3D, but is it possible to unify things to the point where GUI controls could simply be nodes attached to the 2D model? In my mind I could see positive synergies for workflow in having scene and gui creation sharing the same editor, but since I rarely (never) use the GUI editor, maybe there is something I'm missing out on.

#73 I'm also a fan of avoiding the GUI editor and instead using sceneObjects with behaviors to create GUIs. It seems to give a better overall look and feel. That and I thoroughly enjoy being able to edit and load my menus as "levels" within the TGB editor. I've made some pretty complex menus this way, it's definitely possible to make more than simple buttons ;) To me it seems silly and overcomplicated to be using a whole different system and editor for GUIs.

#74 I would like to see the documentation updated for the new windows SDK and visual C++ 2010.

The files do not compile because there is no windows platform SDK.

At least some updated information on how to change the files so there will be no build errors.

Windows System Setup
Building a Debug Version of TGB

#75 ability to add multiple images at the same time to create linked images...

right now, i have to select each image individually, becomes tedious for large number of frames...

#76 Just wanted to pop by and say thanks to everyone participating in this thread and mention that it is being monitored! :)

#77 Phillip O'Shea wrote:
"Bruno, you can already load/unload images from memory manually."

How? I'm not aware of any way to do this, that truly frees up video and system memory, as if the image was never loaded. Post code please?

#78 @Melv Sorry for the really late response to this:

Quote:the ability to build and run a basic project without using an editor like TGB

Quote:@David: Could you elaborate on what you mean? You can already use the API to create a game without the builder. Is that what you mean?

to elaborate, right now I setup up my scenes and everything in script since I'm randomly generating my levels

I basically use the builder to add images to the project but other than that I just use the builder to rebuild/launch my game

I may just not know how to rebuild my game without going into tgb

additionally, I was just thinking of how I'd like to easily setup collision polys for images without having them already in the scene. Basically in the same way you can reference images that aren't already loaded in the scene, but are in the project.

#79 oh and... pipedream... the ability to target XBox Live Indie Games without having to rebuild everything in TorqueX

#80 @David: This is for Torque2D not TorqueX. Torque2D can't target XBox Live.

TGB doesn't "build" anything, it just modifies script files. When you launch the runtime the core engine compiles the scripts dynamically. Just copy the executable to your game directory and run it, it'll work. :)