Early Access 1

Today I've released what was held in the Development Branch into the Master as Torque2D 4.0, the Rocket Edition, Early Access 1. That long rambling name deserves some explanation. First, the we needed to get this code out. The big change is the Gui System update which I actually started in 2018. Most of the Gui System has been updated by now and it's been battle tested by the construction of the Asset Manager.

Which brings me to the second reason for the release, namely, the Asset Manager. This newly minted manager is immensely useful for seeing all the assets and building particle effects. Unfortunately, the Asset Manager is still rough around the edges so that's why we're doing an Early Access version.

If you're starting a game, or just want to play around in 2D, you should really be using 4.0 since it has breaking changes from 3.5. Plus, I would greatly appreciate feedback on the Asset Manager. The "Rocket Edition" is just a nice text name for 4.x which I'll run with until we reach 5.x. Mostly it's a marketing theme.

So what's next for the engine? Let's review the plan.

Rocket Edition Road Map

Disclaimer: This is a map, not the Bible. I will likely make changes as we go. Also there are no dates by design. These things happen as we have time.

• Early Access 2 - Remaining Gui System changes and Improvements to the Asset Manger such as a visual animation editor and support for named image frames.
• Early Access 3 - Project Manager to allow the copying of modules from the Module Library and a couple of modules for said library.
• Early Access 4 - New game demo based on the Rocket Edition, Perlin Noise Function, and Complex Colors on Tile Maps.
• Version 4.0 - Update to the Toybox to better match the Rocket Edition.
• Version 4.1 - The Gui Editor! (We have started this as a toy. Go thank Marauder2k9!)
• Version 4.2 - The Scene Editor! (This has also been started as a toy, again by Marauder.)
• Version 4.3 - Empty for now...

That's the currently plan. I for one, am excited to see these things completed, but there's a lot of work to be done. If you're interested in helping, please reach out to me through Discord.

Carry on, citizens!