Torque Game Builder 1.1.1 Now Available!

Submitted:	Eric Fritz
Posted:	Aug 10, 2006
Synopsis:	New release of Torque Game Builder introduces an improved Tile Editor as well as several other improvements and fixes.
Keywords:	GarageGames Development Torque TGB

Article

Just over a month since the release of TGB 1.1.0, GarageGames is proud to present the first in a long line of updates, sporting many improvements and some new functionality! The following items are new and improved in the 1.1.1 point release:

Tile Layer Editing in the Level Builder
Tile Layers are now editable and viewable from within the LevelBuilder! This means that you can drop a tile layer on a scene and use either the quickedit or the right-most widget on the object to edit it. There are a variety of tools that you can use for editing your tile layers and you can save them off as different names, add scripting, assign collision polygons, and more.

Selection Tool
The selection tool in the layer editor (accessible from the quickedit tile layer toolbar) will allow you to select individual tiles, or double click to flood select a group of them and you can apply changes to any selection using the 'Apply to Selection' button in the quickedit. You can also shift+drag to do rectangle selection of a group of tiles.

Paint Brush Tool
The paint brush tool allows you to paint directly onto the layer with the currently defined brush or settings of an unsaved brush that is defined in the quickedit panel. This works much like the original tile editor painting and should be fairly self-explanatory.

EyeDropper Tool
The eye dropper tool will allow you to drop from any given tile. it will grab all properties from a dropped tile and apply them to your current brush setup in the quickedit. It will get collision information, custom script and other relevent data from the tile.

Erase Tool
The eraser tool when selected will clear tiles that you click on.

Wrap Indication and Layer Collision Creation
The tile layer editor will display a translucent red rectangle around any areas of a tile layer that are wrapping when you are editing. This is to show you which areas you can change and which are simply duplicates from wrapping options. You can also do a normal collision polygon edit on a tile layer and it will automatically chunk out the collisions onto the proper tiles so that they match what you've created.

Managed Brushes
Brushes are created by setting up your properties as you'd like them to be for a given Tile and then typing a name in the Brush name edit and hitting save brush. At this point it will be saved in your project brushes and accesible in any layer that you create within that project!

Editor Addon Support
With 1.1.1, resources have been expanded upon to allow drop-in addon functionality to the LevelBuilder and tools set. An addon is simply a folder with special scripts inside of it that is placed in $installPath/tools/resources/resourceName that will automatically be loaded upon startup. As an example of this functionality we have prepared a floating Layer Management window addon that you will be able to download from TDN soon! It provides a new menu item and shortcut (ctrl-l) to toggle it on screen and will show up as follows. This means that if you've got a modification you've made to the LevelBuilder that is all script you can easily give it to your friends and they can then instantly use your cool addon the next time they start TGB. All currently active addons are listed in the about dialog for TGB.

Layer Y-Sorting Support for Isometric Games
Layers may now have a sorting mode assigned to each of them, including sorting by Y and -Y axes. This allows you to do isometric style games where a player may need to at times be rendered in front of or behind an object depending on his Y position and the sort point for his object. The sorting modes for each layer may be changed by clicking on the scenegraph (on no objects) and in the "Layer Management" rollout.

UI/Workflow improvements
With 1.1.1 we tried to take the UI and make it a bit more friendly in terms of a few things.

Screen Space
We tried to address (atleast in part) the concern with screen space usage by introducing smaller fonts and more space considerate panels and rollouts.

New Button Appearance
There was also alot of confusion about buttons on the Interface so the buttons have been tweaked to appear more like buttons, making them easier to identify and more inviting to click on!

Play Preview Linked to Design resolution
The play game option of the builder has now been linked to the Design Resolution at which your level is designed (this can be accessed from the Preferences dialog or the SceneGraph quickedit panel). This was because of feedback indicating that designing something for 800x600 while running the builder in a 16:9 Aspect Ratio resolution was causing stretching of sprites and overall confusion and dissatisfaction while playing your game. TGB now sets the screen size to the design resolution that is specified when playing your game and then back to it's previous resolution when you return to the editor.

And Much More!
You can find a full changelist here.

Thanks to our amazing community for all of their support and encouragement. We hope you like the new version!

Screenshot

Submit your own resources!

Gustavo Munoz (Aug 10, 2006 at 08:06 GMT)

I have seen the current Mac version is still 1.1.0. When do you think we can get an updated one?
Great work, GG, congratulations and thank you very much.

Simon Love (Aug 10, 2006 at 16:43 GMT)

awesome, many of these features I was actually in the process of designing on my own time. You guys just made TGB the best 2d engine out there, all it's missing is shader support

James Rozee (Aug 10, 2006 at 18:48 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

This is totally awesome! I was in need of this feature just this past weekend for a concept demo. This makes TGB one of the most complete 2D engines I know of! Now to finish my demo. :)

Jason Howard (Aug 11, 2006 at 00:33 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Sweet! Thank you...

Ken Singleton (Aug 11, 2006 at 16:29 GMT)

Sounds really exciting, but as a newbie, where the heck do you download this new update from? I have searched the site and can't find it anywhere?
Regards, Ken

James Rozee (Aug 11, 2006 at 19:29 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Ken, you download the complete product again from your order link under your account section.

rawi (Aug 23, 2006 at 17:16 GMT)

almost 14 days and still no Mac update 1.1.1 ???????

Gustavo Munoz (Aug 25, 2006 at 18:53 GMT)

15 days now... we are all impatients...

Ryan McKenzie (Aug 27, 2006 at 12:34 GMT)

could we please get some information when ROUGHLY the mac versions due ???
I would like to continue the "mini platform tutorial" but they use the new version on windows.

rawi (Aug 30, 2006 at 22:40 GMT)

Sigh !!!!

3 Weeks already and no Mac Update!

Kirk Siemsen (Sep 09, 2006 at 07:39 GMT)

No Mac Update, yet? It would be helpful if an Admin or someone "out there" reading this would respond. Otherwise, it looks like a dead link. Here, here, Ryan McKenzie (see his post above)!
Edited on Sep 09, 2006 07:40 GMT

Kirk Siemsen (Sep 13, 2006 at 03:29 GMT)

Yeah! Mac Update is here! I found it at www.garagegames.com/mg/snapshot/view.php?qid=1272 You have to download it even though it has the label "demo" on it, then it may ask for your e-mail, etc. Unzip the file and you get GetTorqueGameBuilder.app Double click...it may take some time as the server is often busy at the moment :)

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