Torque 3D Status - 6/30/2010
by Matt Fairfax · in Torque 3D Professional · 06/30/2010 (9:42 pm) · 96 replies
Hey all,
In an effort to improve communication with the Torque 3D community I am going to start posting regular updates on the current status of Torque 3D.
As part of these updates, I plan to offer some rough estimates of when to expect upcoming releases. These estimates will not be perfect and they will change, sometimes with little warning. They should not be considered a "promise" and they will be wrong at times.
We are now at the end of June and, unfortunately, things are taking a little longer than we anticipated and it is now highly unlikely that Torque 3D 1.1 Final will be released in July.
We have had a number of our other products reach releasable states all at the same time and it is taking some time to get them all through the proper amount of QA and out the door.
We have been progressing nicely on bugfixing Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 but it needs some more thorough focus from QA before it will be ready for release.
Disclaimer: All timeframes in this thread are estimates and should not be considered final
In an effort to improve communication with the Torque 3D community I am going to start posting regular updates on the current status of Torque 3D.
As part of these updates, I plan to offer some rough estimates of when to expect upcoming releases. These estimates will not be perfect and they will change, sometimes with little warning. They should not be considered a "promise" and they will be wrong at times.
Where are we?
At the beginning of June, Eric posted this update where he stated that we expected to release Torque 3D 1.1 Final in July.We are now at the end of June and, unfortunately, things are taking a little longer than we anticipated and it is now highly unlikely that Torque 3D 1.1 Final will be released in July.
We have had a number of our other products reach releasable states all at the same time and it is taking some time to get them all through the proper amount of QA and out the door.
We have been progressing nicely on bugfixing Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 but it needs some more thorough focus from QA before it will be ready for release.
When is it coming?
At this point we expect Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 to ship in late July after iT2D 1.4 and Torque X 3.1.5 have shipped. We think that we will be able to ship Torque 3D 1.1 Final fairly quickly after Beta 2 goes out but that will depend a bit on what the results of the Beta are.Disclaimer: All timeframes in this thread are estimates and should not be considered final
About the author
I am a Game Designer at PopCap who has worked on PvZ Adventures, PvZ2, Peggle Blast, and Bejeweled Skies. I am an ex-GarageGames employee who helped ship TGE, TGEA, Torque 3D, and Constructor.
#2
06/30/2010 (10:58 pm)
Looking forward to a more bug free BETA 2 release and maybe some updated docs too :) 
#3
thanks for the informations. Of course we are waiting for the new beta and release as well. Docs (no complainment) are essential as well.
It would be nice to know how far QA and bug-fix team are, e.g.
01.07.10- QA has driven 50% of tests, found 10 minor, 2 medium and 3 major iusses, bug-fix team on the way 2 major problem solved from last week, todo 4 major, 2 medium, 15 minor problems.
I believe this would cool down the community a bit, because we paid a small pile of money, get some promises and new feature descriptions but cannot see when we get the promises fullfilled.
To see where we are on the road is always very helpful, especially when you have no Tomtom... ;-)
07/01/2010 (12:13 am)
Hey Matt,thanks for the informations. Of course we are waiting for the new beta and release as well. Docs (no complainment) are essential as well.
It would be nice to know how far QA and bug-fix team are, e.g.
01.07.10- QA has driven 50% of tests, found 10 minor, 2 medium and 3 major iusses, bug-fix team on the way 2 major problem solved from last week, todo 4 major, 2 medium, 15 minor problems.
I believe this would cool down the community a bit, because we paid a small pile of money, get some promises and new feature descriptions but cannot see when we get the promises fullfilled.
To see where we are on the road is always very helpful, especially when you have no Tomtom... ;-)
#4
07/01/2010 (12:22 am)
Thanks for the update Matt it's great to get some feedback to be able to work around expected delivery. 
#5
Well thank you Matt for letting us know, it takes alot of effort to come forth and be honest about continually not being able to keep up with stated expectations (about T3D releases among other T3D details). I do understand putting dates on such things is difficult, but i dont understand so much backpedaling.
That Disclaimer bit truly makes me wonder what we can count on to be the facts from GG, seems it could always be added to anything said after the fact to make it all fit in as truth.
Im going to use on of them smiley face emoticon thing's for the first time ever being it seems to be the trend in this thread...
:->
There hows that? I feel better already!
Disclaimer: This forum thread reply is in no way my acquiescence to the original subject
07/01/2010 (1:40 am)
I know I am being a tad on the bitter side of this, but i put much thought into how i could take this as good news (as the previous posters have seemingly done so). I guess im either just too stupid, or too smart to be excited about this torquepowered excrement.Well thank you Matt for letting us know, it takes alot of effort to come forth and be honest about continually not being able to keep up with stated expectations (about T3D releases among other T3D details). I do understand putting dates on such things is difficult, but i dont understand so much backpedaling.
That Disclaimer bit truly makes me wonder what we can count on to be the facts from GG, seems it could always be added to anything said after the fact to make it all fit in as truth.
Im going to use on of them smiley face emoticon thing's for the first time ever being it seems to be the trend in this thread...
:->
There hows that? I feel better already!
Disclaimer: This forum thread reply is in no way my acquiescence to the original subject
#6
07/01/2010 (1:41 pm)
Awesome thanks a lot. Was really wondering and waiting for the final version. Any news means a lot. 
#7
07/01/2010 (2:12 pm)
Thanks for the heads up, Matt. 
#8
07/01/2010 (3:11 pm)
May I ask if there are big changes to the code base? If so I think I should hold off releasing my RPG Kit till the code stabilizes.
#9
We introduced a new engine to script interface that has largely superseded the Console macros like ConsoleFunction and ConsoleMethod. This was primarily done to make it much, much easier to document the engine-script interface but in a lot of ways it does make things a *lot* easier and cleaner (like property enums and callbacks).
We also did some fairly low level changes to the rendering system to enable hardware mesh instancing and to improve performance.
Edit: I meant "since Beta 1" =P
07/01/2010 (3:28 pm)
There are two big changes to the codebase since Beta 1 (and a lot of little ones).We introduced a new engine to script interface that has largely superseded the Console macros like ConsoleFunction and ConsoleMethod. This was primarily done to make it much, much easier to document the engine-script interface but in a lot of ways it does make things a *lot* easier and cleaner (like property enums and callbacks).
We also did some fairly low level changes to the rendering system to enable hardware mesh instancing and to improve performance.
Edit: I meant "since Beta 1" =P
#10
07/01/2010 (4:20 pm)
Oh wow, why didnt you mention this new engine to script interface, it have always been one of the more confusing parts of debugging engine / script functionality problems.
#11
I also wanted to be sure that it was going to make it in.
07/01/2010 (4:22 pm)
Well, in the blogs it is a bit difficult to post a screenshot of it and, otherwise, it just hasn't quite come up =)I also wanted to be sure that it was going to make it in.
#12
07/01/2010 (4:28 pm)
Ah, there is that. But even dropping a clue about a possible engine to script interface overhaul would leave a sweet candy taste over some of the recent bitterness.
#13
(Us, Mac users are still with the 1.0.1 version, that is quite stable but not very performant).
07/02/2010 (5:46 am)
Did you take profit of this delay to bring the mac version of T3D up to par with the Win version (except for Advanced Lighting of course), and to release it at the same time as the win version ?(Us, Mac users are still with the 1.0.1 version, that is quite stable but not very performant).
#14
07/02/2010 (5:49 am)
I'm guessing my real question is are things like, the character structures, file IO, GUI menu, and over all base game functionality going to change dramatically where when the new update happens and my packet stops working.
#15
We do in fact have a team working to bring the Mac version up-to-date with 1.1. I can't guarantee that it will launch at exactly the same time as the Torque 3D 1.1 Final for Windows but it shouldn't lag very far behind at all.
Kevin,
None of those things have changed dramatically.
07/02/2010 (10:23 am)
Nicolas,We do in fact have a team working to bring the Mac version up-to-date with 1.1. I can't guarantee that it will launch at exactly the same time as the Torque 3D 1.1 Final for Windows but it shouldn't lag very far behind at all.
Kevin,
None of those things have changed dramatically.
#16
07/02/2010 (10:46 am)
Good news ! :-) 
#17
07/03/2010 (6:51 am)
A Mac version would be very welcome news! 
#18
T3D 1.0.1 has too many animation issues that wasn't resolved aside from hacking the cached.dts files, you need a studio license to have outside help (the main reason why we went to UDK), development of the engine is way too slow, and the documentation looks to be borked (missing shots in png format) and honestly it doesn't look like it changed that much since December.
http://www.torquepowered.com/community/forums/viewthread/107369
As an artist T3D is probably the easiest to work with though. The world editor is awesome (UDK is a PITA when it comes to setting up water and terrain), it's pretty easy to get content into the game, and I when 1.1 does miraculously get released I'm hoping to work with T3D again because I did have fun with it.
07/03/2010 (1:20 pm)
Personally I'm glad the project I was working on moved to UDK. Monthly releases, advanced animation, an extremely large community, and most importantly a clearcut license where you don't need a studio license in order to have help on a project! The written license did not reflect what the leader of this indie company was told. He wasted $1000 on an engine he ended up not using.T3D 1.0.1 has too many animation issues that wasn't resolved aside from hacking the cached.dts files, you need a studio license to have outside help (the main reason why we went to UDK), development of the engine is way too slow, and the documentation looks to be borked (missing shots in png format) and honestly it doesn't look like it changed that much since December.
http://www.torquepowered.com/community/forums/viewthread/107369
As an artist T3D is probably the easiest to work with though. The world editor is awesome (UDK is a PITA when it comes to setting up water and terrain), it's pretty easy to get content into the game, and I when 1.1 does miraculously get released I'm hoping to work with T3D again because I did have fun with it.
#19
Anyways if we are getting what I seen on sickhead's flickr page. I'm willing to wait another couple of weeks.
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4755467438/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4755469374/sizes/l/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4754827341/sizes/l/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4754822723/sizes/l/
Visually this is almost crysis! Keep up the good work TP and don't let the negative get to you!
Sorry sickhead!
07/03/2010 (1:49 pm)
Good news, definitely! I wish development would be faster but that's life!Anyways if we are getting what I seen on sickhead's flickr page. I'm willing to wait another couple of weeks.
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4755467438/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4755469374/sizes/l/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4754827341/sizes/l/
www.flickr.com/photos/sickheadgames/4754822723/sizes/l/
Visually this is almost crysis! Keep up the good work TP and don't let the negative get to you!
Sorry sickhead!
#20
I'm curious as to what's in those pics that's not in T3D now?
07/04/2010 (6:40 am)
Quote:if we are getting what I seen on sickhead's flickr page. I'm willing to wait another couple of weeks.
I'm curious as to what's in those pics that's not in T3D now?
Torque Owner Hans
The Darkseer
looking forward to more goodness