iTorque

#1 Thers a TGB you can download and try out.. Thas what Im currently using.
I would quess TGE is also available.

#2 The key reason that there is not a demo is because it includes the source code to the engine and works with the XCode environment for debugging and profiling.

#3 I was having the same question. I had a nice game concept which I wanted to develop and the iPhone kit would be great to start.

Too bad there is no demo.

#4 As David said, there's just no way to demo the product safely without giving it away for free. To test your project on the simulator or device, you have to have source code access.

The work flow is starting to diverge from standard TGB, but you can still test your concept and game play with the base engine.

What kind of details are you looking for? I can probably answer them.

#5 A demo game would be nice, really. Hurry up and make something for the AppStore ;)

#6 If you want to see games made with iTGB, check out the following games:

Sushi to Go
KaBOOM!
The Enigma Machine

Most of these games have a free demo version, so check them out in the AppStore!

#7 Cheers!

#8 Well, then we don't have a demo availble, though I have some questions:
1) How easy is to "export" the game from iTGB to the iphone format?
2) How different is developing in iTGB in comparisson with TGB?
3) Can you take a game made in TGB and work it on iTGB?
4) How simple is doing question "3)"?

Rod

#9 1. The current version requires multiple steps:
- Create new TGB game project
- Modify game
- Save
- Compile DSOs
- Add specific files to the "Resources" section of Xcode project
- Compile Xcode for Simulator or device test

That's the bare minimum, but the next version is going to automate all of the above. It will boil down to make your game, open a menu, fill out some text boxes, click OK. Then your game is ready to test on a simulator.

No matter what, you absolutely have to dive into Xcode to test your game on a device. There is no getting around this due to the code signing requirements Apple enforces on developers. We have done our best to automate this, but it's still up to the user to code sign their project

2. Creating an iTGB game is like creating an extremely optimized version of a TGB project with a smaller scope. The most obvious points are that you are working within a fixed resolution (480x320 or 320x480), your assets must be optimized (small, powers of 2, compressed when possible), and the more code you write in the engine (as opposed to script) the faster the game will run.

3. Some of our iTGB users have done this already, but most of their time was spent optimizing: less particles, smaller textures, converting script to C, etc.

4. Some users have found it easier than others, so you might want to be more specific.

#10 Thanks Michael for the answers, everything is more clear now.

Well, what I'm more worried about is getting TGB and iTGB and realize that (for a simple game like a solitaire) you need 1 month to port it: This means, make everything again.

#11 I'm optimistic about the ease of porting even without having iTGB myself :)

It looks like the majority of the work is shrinking down files (both to fit the screen size and using better compression) and adapting the input methods. I downloaded the lite versions of some of the games above just to look at the file layout, and there were a lot of compiled TorqueScript files. The games don't seem to suffer because of that, so script->C++ isn't always necessary. I'd save that for an updated version, if the framerates seem good. Any turn-based game is at an advantage here

#12 Hello,
I'll try to make some 2D game for iphone but I don't have some MAC at home.
I've tried to install MAC OS in my PC but it don't work.
I got some experience in TGB and TGE but don't know if itorque runs in a PC.
I just want to know if i can develop a iphone game in my PC (Windows OS) with itorque.
I hope you can help me, and thanks for the area.
(Sorry about my english, I'm from Brasil and don't speak to much.).
Thanks.

#13

Quote:your assets must be optimized (small, powers of 2, compressed when possible)

I'd like to hear further clarification of this. Does this mean that all assets, whether they are static shapes or animated sprites, must be in a power of 2? What about the background, where the iPhone screen size is 480x320, would that background need to be made 512x512?

Thanks,
Justin

#14 Textures must be powers of two, but fullscreen PNGs only need to be...fullscreen sized :)
GUI components can be arbitrarily sized PNGs. It would be nice if I could pack a PVR texture with components for the interface and save space and loading time this way.

I bought the engine, and have been chopping off bits I don't need just to see what breaks. Basically removing what amounts to dead code in my planned projects (removing network: some gain). It seems 1.2 will be pretty close to the perfection I expected, but the current 1.1 version doesn't stop you from making a game.

The actual binary is 2.3MB in my test project, assets and scripts on top of that. That's quite reasonable, although I'll probably look into removing more things which don't work well enough to bother with ;)

Framerates on the regular shooter example are past 40fps on my iPod touch. I didn't notice any stuttering either, so the engine seems ready for primetime.

You need a Mac to develop. Hackintosh solutions have all sorts of minor problems you'll notice as time goes by. Power management, USB suddenly dying, compilation of common default projects having obscure errors because some OS component caused an SDK component to fail, that sort of thing.

#15 Thanks for your insight, it was helpful.

Quote:Textures must me a power of two

What do you mean by textures? Animated sprites?

#16 @Andre wissenbach
While you can prototype on a PC, an Intel Mac is required to deploy, debug, profile, and optimize for the iPhone as per the Apple SDK requirements.

#17 Im trying to grasp the process a little more myself. So am I correct in saying that once the game is compiled in iTGB you also have to go into xCode to compile and send it to the iPhone to test. iTGB doesnt connect to the iPhone to be able to test on the fly?

My only concern is the lack of any public docs and an iTGB public forum to get more info. I assume there isnt a public forum because there is no trial version of the software, which I understand why there is no trial also.

My position right now is I want to make my iPhone game in TGB and if I feel at the end that it is worth taking the step to iTGB then I will purchase the mac and iTGB, but the lack of docs or any tutorials holds me back right now, because I want to make my game as optimized as possible to minimize the work when moving into iTGB. I know the example iTGB games(Im assuming there are example game right?)and docs when I buy it will answer alot, but I wouldnt have it till I am ready to move to iTGB. Basically Im watching my money spending and dont want to spend the money on a mac and iTGB unless im confident in my game.

Is there anyway to monitor things like draw calls,fps and such in TGB or iTGB to get an "idea" of performance before going through the trouble of compiling it and testing it in the iPhone?

It says that all the features of TGB are supported in iTGB so can I just open my TGB project in iTGB and continue from there or does they game need to be completely rebuilt in iTGB?

thanks

also is there any updates on the next release of TGB and iTGB?

#18

Quote:
So am I correct in saying that once the game is compiled in iTGB you also have to go into xCode to compile and send it to the iPhone to test. iTGB doesnt connect to the iPhone to be able to test on the fly?

Correct that you must use Xcode.

Quote:
I know the example iTGB games(Im assuming there are example game right?)

Yes, they provide the behavior shooter.

Quote:
Is there anyway to monitor things like draw calls,fps and such in TGB or iTGB to get an "idea" of performance before going through the trouble of compiling it and testing it in the iPhone?

Not that I know of. You pretty much just need to keep in the general guidelines in mind -- minimal script, careful memory management, etc.

Quote:
It says that all the features of TGB are supported in iTGB so can I just open my TGB project in iTGB and continue from there or does they game need to be completely rebuilt in iTGB?

No need to rebuild, per se. First you load it up and see how it runs. The likely next step is optimizing things so it runs well on the iPhone. When I first ported my kart game, it would not run. Then I got it to go at 4.5 FPS. I spent a week tweaking to get it up to 24 FPS.

I hope my answers help!

#19 Definitely helped to hear it from someone who actually ported from TGB.
Thanks Chris