Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Torque Game Engine Deal
It looks like GarageGames is offering a pretty nice limited-time deal if you do not have their core product, the "Torque Game Engine," yet. Release 1.5 is coming out "soon", bundled with tools (including the Torque Lighting Kit, which I always maintained should have been part of the core engine a long time ago) and content to make it worth the $50 jump in base price.
I already have TGE 1.4 and the lighting kit, so it'll cost me only $25 to upgrade - which basically gets me Show Tool Pro for only $25. Not too bad.
The big winners are those who purchased the Torque Game Engine since August 1, 2006. That includes those who buy it RIGHT AWAY (before 1.5 is officially released), so you can score the whole kit and kaboodle for only $100.
Details can be found here.
Besides the integration of the lighting kit (which is, admittedly, awesome) and inclusion of ShowTool Pro and extra "starter" content, there's not much information as to what is changing with 1.5. I know at one point they were talking about 1.5 being vastly streamlined from previous versions, but I think they may have departed from that roadmap. Apparently they have FINALLY fixed the issues with waterblocks and re-scaled terrain sizes, which is nice.
My Take On the Torque Game Engine (1.4x):
I've had a love/hate relationship with the Torque Game Engine for about a year-and-a-half now. It's an incredibly powerful engine, but it should come with the equivalent of a "Some Assembly Required" warning sticker. I wish it was half as easy to use as their 2D product, the Torque Game Builder (TGB). And that it's internal code was as well-designed and easy to follow as TGB's (yes, I know the TGE code is at a layer underneath TGB, but I'm talking TGB-specific code). I also wish it was as well documented as TGB.
Maybe they'll get there. Maybe I'll be stunned and surprised with 1.5 and see that they are heading that way. I don't know.
The thing is, TGE is fabulous for putting together a prototype for a first-person-perspective game. The scripting language is... well, unique, but not too hard to get a grip on if you know C, C++, Java, Python, PHP, or similar programming / scripting languages. TGE can do a lot of amazing things.
But to do something really cool, you are going to need to get in under the hood, and the organization and documentation of the source code for TGE leaves a lot to be desired. It definitely shows its ad-hoc development methodology and evolution over many years. There are member variables that say they are supposed to do things that they don't do anymore (or never did). There are weird limitations that you won't know about until you trip over them and tear your hair out wondering why things won't work.
In other words, is about like every other game engine out there, only it bears a few extra years of kruft.
On the plus side, it's got a pretty decent terrain & water rendering system, both interior (BSP-style) and exterior rendering with a portaling system in-between, good multiplatform support (Linux & Mac), a decent built-in animation and partical system, a very robust (albeit proprietary) scripting system, good tool support, a pretty stellar networking system, built in GUI-building tools and a mission / terrain editor. It also remains fairly compatible with older hardware, which is important for indies who may not be catering to the same audience as mainstream.
And it has solid community behind it, and gives you access to source code. Which are requirements for me. And it comes many, many man-years worth of development and debugging. If you've ever worked on a game project through completion, and you understand the meaning of the 80/20 rule (80% of the work takes 20% of the time...), then you'll appreciate that last one a lot more.
With the Torque Lighting Kit, it also has some really, really impressive rendering. Including some nice detail-mapping for interiors.
So it's a great engine, and a bargain at the price (especially if you sneak in during the free-upgrade window), but at least past versions haven't been very newbie-friendly. Approach with your sleeves rolled up.
Labels: Torque
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:33 PM (Permalink)
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
Just curious, given your few complaints, have you ever evaluated and written anything on alternatives to TGE?
--Steve
--Steve
# posted by 
: September 12, 2006 2:19 PM
: September 12, 2006 2:19 PM
I have a very basic torque question... I'd consider getting this, but I wonder how the model import situation is. I don't have any doubts that I can import a boned Max model and have it work nicely. But I am no bonemaster. Do you know if torque can use basic keyframe animated characters from max? You know, like if I make my guy out of a bunch of separate spheres (elongated for limbs!), and rotate his arm sphere 30 degrees on frame 4. That kind of thing, as opposed to building a bone framework and animating through it.
The whole idea of developing the models is a very large part of what keeps me out of 3D development, but simple keyframed guys are what I've been doing for 10 years now.
The whole idea of developing the models is a very large part of what keeps me out of 3D development, but simple keyframed guys are what I've been doing for 10 years now.
Good points all around.
I'm using TGE + TLK for my latest game and I've been pleased with how fast development has been. The only major limitation has been my free time which is surprisingly nice.
But you're right, the documentation still needs work. There's been efforts by numerous people to really document things (everything for doxygen notes, to PDF/HTML files and now TDN) but nothing is really a "one-stop shop" and suffers from the same evolutional growth as the engine itself.
I will say that TDN was a big step in the right direction but until it really gains significant user support, forum searches will probably remain the best way of finding info quickly.
I'm using TGE + TLK for my latest game and I've been pleased with how fast development has been. The only major limitation has been my free time which is surprisingly nice.
But you're right, the documentation still needs work. There's been efforts by numerous people to really document things (everything for doxygen notes, to PDF/HTML files and now TDN) but nothing is really a "one-stop shop" and suffers from the same evolutional growth as the engine itself.
I will say that TDN was a big step in the right direction but until it really gains significant user support, forum searches will probably remain the best way of finding info quickly.
Short answer: I don't think so. I don't use Max, so you may want to talk to someone else with more information
(Recommanded location: The Public Max User Forums at GarageGames)
Longer answer: I've been using Blender, which of course has a somewhat different user experience. The only way I've been able to get keyframe animation is by attaching the pieces to bones. However, I've never really done a complete skeletal system and animation (yet). I've been doing really simple things, like having a scarf flap in the wind, or having a big missile shoot off the back of a mobile launcher, moving a gun turret back and forth, and so on. That wasn't too hard, especially with Nigel Symes' video tutorials (which helped me learn to use Blender as much as learning how to import everything into Torque).
So while it might be something of a stretch, I don't think it'd be too huge of a learning curve.
Post a Comment
(Recommanded location: The Public Max User Forums at GarageGames)
Longer answer: I've been using Blender, which of course has a somewhat different user experience. The only way I've been able to get keyframe animation is by attaching the pieces to bones. However, I've never really done a complete skeletal system and animation (yet). I've been doing really simple things, like having a scarf flap in the wind, or having a big missile shoot off the back of a mobile launcher, moving a gun turret back and forth, and so on. That wasn't too hard, especially with Nigel Symes' video tutorials (which helped me learn to use Blender as much as learning how to import everything into Torque).
So while it might be something of a stretch, I don't think it'd be too huge of a learning curve.
Links to this post:
<< Home
