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

#81 @Vern: Don't use "preload=true". You could also use the memory-reduction code which also removes the bitmap from system memory when the texture is active. Additionally, you could delete the datablock but obviously you'd need to re-execute the appropriate script to get it back.

#82 haha thanks Melv! I learn something new every day

#83 It's alright David, it can be confusing! Bringing together these products is one of our goals though so as to make the distinction less important. Right now we're looking at T2D and T3D.

Keep the suggestions coming!

#84 This may be a strange suggestion, but it would be very interesting and useful to have an "If" Behavior. In other words, I place some paramters for a behavior inside of an IF. I then activate another Behavior from this If. I guess Else If and While would be nice too.

I got the idea from Scratch.

#85 I would like to able to copy paste from a word doc into torque.

Also a browser plugin like flash with networking support.

#86 One thing I'd like to see is better support for particles on the iphone. Right now you basically can't use them at all. What would really be sweet would be support to import particle effects from other programs like Particle Illusion.

#87 Some improvement suggestions for the particle editor:

- being able to rename emitters (having to create a new emitter just to delete the default UntitledEmitter is a minor annoyance)

- ability to copy emitter properties. Right now to set up a 2nd emitter with the same exact emitter graph field values as the first (just looking to change the imagemap or frame) involves a lot of manual work to reenter graph field values.

- additional numerical input of value and time properties, similar to how the collision and linkpoint editor work

- toggle to show a grid on the graph

#88 I would like to see a new particle system. Basically upgraded from the last and making it much simpler + the option to see multiple graphs in the particle system.

EDIT: Custom Collision Points, in a way which we can do weird shapes.

- Houssen

#89 @Michael/Melv, I might have missed this, but will the language still be TorqueScript? I'm assuming yes, but just wanted to be sure. If the answer is yes, then it seems that at least portions of the project will be usable from TGB to T2D, right?

I guess I just don't know enough about how it is going to work... I'm working on a fairly sizable project (an MMO) and have only done some of the beginning development so far. I guess it all depends on when T2D is coming out and how 'convertible' my project will be. Ultimately I don't want to release a brand new game only to have to redo the whole thing in T2D, but I also can't wait forever for it to come out.

#90 @Bruno - We will have details on that in the coming months.

#91 I was kind of hoping for a release in "the coming months". Are we going to be waiting until, say, summer for this to materialize, or are we waiting for a year+? Obviously the exact schedule is unknown, but can you give us a ballpark?

#92 @Pete - What is the biggest event of the year that companies tend to hold their cards for until that date? Yes, GDC.

I'm not saying a release will happen on that day, but recent (HUGE) changes to the design of the engine have forced us to shift resources and rework the development schedule. So I do not have a realistic estimate for a 1.0 release, but we will have something major for GDC.

#93 how about native support for box2d?

it would be great if i could have the option of selecting between torque engine and box2d for each individual project...

#94 GDC, eh? I guess I'll stop loading the employee blog page everyday for news...

#95 @Seth - There will still be a Torque 2D blog or two before GDC, but at the conference we are going to announce probably the biggest feature.

#96 @Aditya: You mean like this? I'm not sure what you mean when you say switching between "torque engine and box2d", Box2D isn't a game engine, it's a physics library.

#97 would this be a built in feature in TGB? didn't realize development has already begun...

i view box2d as being 'heavy' with respect to system performance, and TGE not so much...

by switching between them, i meant that if am aiming to release 2 games, and only game1 requires realistic physics, i should be able to use box2d for game1 and TGE for game2

#98 Now I'm really confused. TGB is the old product, Torque 2D is the new one in development as the blog shows. It also shows it as a built-in feature of the new engine. TGE is an old 3D game engine. Not sure where TGE comes into play.

Presumably though your question simply relates to incuring costs of using a physics engine like Box2D when you "think" you don't want the features.

Well, I would argue that Box2D is not 'heavy' at all. Like any physics engine, you can easily overload any system. Even in games where you don't want realistic physics, you still want to move things around and use the most basic physical things. Using Box2D in this way adds very little overhead and also brings to the table features like "sleeping" where objects that are not moving take practically no processing. There are also features that you don't associate with physics (which is a way too overloaded term) like picking (spatial queries) which Box2D provides.

Box2D is also optimized quite well and can be used quite successfully on lower-end devices.

Torque 2D uses Box2D for the more advanced physics features. If you don't use them then you incur zero penalty. The only thing that you will always be using (like it or not) will be the spatial queries. Box2D has a very fast dynamic tree that allows this.

So in the end, when using the new Torque 2D, if you don't create joints and other cool physics objects then you won't incur the costs. if you don't want it, don't use it!

I can also guarantee that Torque 2D provides better performance with more features. :)

#99 Box2D is lightweight enough to have an iPhone port. Don't worry :)

#100 that's awesome...you're going to put the others out of this business real soon Melv...hehe

looking forward to the release...:)