Torque 2D and Torque 2D MIT
by Dawid Zwiewka · in Torque Game Builder · 12/25/2012 (11:01 am) · 3 replies
Hi! I was using TGB few years ago and I liked it very much. I had a break with that and focused on c++. Now I read that Torque 2D MIT is coming soon and it would be totally free. I'd like to make games with T2D MIT :) Can I now use T2D and copy my work to T2D MIT when it comes or I have to wait until MIT version come?
About the author
I'm not from UK/USA so I'm sorry in advance for all grammatical mistakes :)
#2
I too had TGB/T2D (old)... when you launched it, you were in a game editor. That seems to not exist anymore, correct?
07/23/2013 (12:04 pm)
Ok... so along this line...I too had TGB/T2D (old)... when you launched it, you were in a game editor. That seems to not exist anymore, correct?
#3
07/23/2013 (12:51 pm)
Correct. There are no editors with T2D MIT. To get an idea of the current workflow in the new version of the engine, see the Getting Started Guide. 
Torque Owner Richard Ranft
Roostertail Games
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) there have been many engine upgrades and changes that make most things incompatible between T2D 1.7.6 and the upcoming T2D MIT. It wouldn't be impossible to port most of it over, but it would be a great deal of work. Not only engine changes but a few changes in workflow as well. And the only editor that I'm aware of that still works (at the moment) is the GUI editor (though technically there are tools to import sound and image assets that will probably be ported over - or could be converted easily), so the majority of your work would be in Torsion (or the text editor/IDE of your choice) - fortunate that all of T2D's editors were built in TorqueScript, you can build custom editors on a clean slate! It was about time for an overhaul anyway.
Of course, putting together a comprehensive set of editing tools will be high on the list for the T2D MIT Steering Committee I'm sure.
With all of that, T2D is way faster than it was a year ago and the new asset system helps to keep distributions and memory footprints lean as well. Box2D integration changed the way things in a scene work but now we have much better physics. The system now uses an XML-like format for storing many of its data files so editing them is easier (and many editors out there have features to help with XML editing, too) - and there is a binary version of this format to help save space when you're ready to ship.
All in all, this is a much better engine than it used to be - the price of admission is a much steeper learning curve, at least for the time it takes to get the new editors built.
Not to say that you can't use 1.7.6 to make a product and then start fresh on a new product with MIT.