3d torque engine good for RTS dev?

#1 The engine is not completely RTS ready out of the box, but it is fairly easy to get started: RTS Prototype Documentation. A full RTS will be more complex, but the basics can be completed in less than a month.

#2 Is there an indie price break for the Torque 3D engine or is it $1000 regardless of who buys it?

How many times can I install off of one license - aka how many devs can work with the engine in one office simultaneously etc... for that $1000 (assuming there is no indie lic available)

#3 $1000 is the indie price, and it's assigned to one individual, not possible to transfer. The studio licence is the one for companies (per seat). You can install T3D on your own computers when you buy it, and GG put the soft (not enforced) limit at 2. That's usually enough for both the supported platforms.

There is talk of a cheaper option (binary-only) for artists and builders, so keep an eye out for that.

#4 a little of topic... does the torque engine lay on top of something like microsofts XNA? Is that a recommended path to game creation? For a dev team experienced in the world of web development, asp.net, C#, C++, visual studio 2008 etc... and looking to try their hand at a windows based game what would be the recommended path if we are talking at a high level say a 30,000 foot view of what's going on.

Thanks in advance.
-Pat

#5 T3D is a C++ engine, and also runs on Mac (with optional licensing for 360 and more at extra cost). Torque X 3D is the XNA engine, which supports only Windows and Xbox indie games.

#6 sorry for being thick

can I ask then ... when I click the "Engines" link above it shows 'Torque 3D' which sells for a $1,000 - is this what you are calling "T3D" or is it what you referred to as "Torque X 3D"

beyond that this "Torque X 3D" you mentioned you say it IS the XNA engine - very confused on the microsoft XNA site it says XNA is not a game engine rather it is platform to make games on (again more confusion)

I am a .net developer and understand windows app, microsoft IDEs and the .net framework very well but am having a hard time understanding XNA - how it relates to Torque - what ALL do I need if I wish to create PC based Windows games and where EXACTLY do I start with my reading/understanding regarding all of this.

Thanks really, I know I must sound like a dope
-Pat

#7 You don't sound like a dope - my head is spinning too!

T3D = Torque 3D (C++ on Mac and Windows)
TX3D = Torque X 3D (C# on Windows and 360)
T2D = The new name for Torque Game Builder (TGB), the C++-based Win/Mac 2D engine
TX2D = The XNA-based counterpart to TGB/T2D (only for Win/360)

XNA is a C# SDK to make games easier. It can build game bundles for direct upload to your 360 while developing (if you have Creator's Club membership). The Torque X products add editors and more on top of that (map editor, GUI builder most importantly). Check out XNA 3.1 - easiest to download via MSDN, I find.

There is even more confusion because of the old names, but it's all being simplified now. Torque and Torque X products, split into 2D and 3D engines. They will eventually share the same core (input, filesys IO, GUI, graphics layer, sound layer).

If you only want to make 3D games for Microsoft platforms and language familiarity is important to you, TX3D lets you do that relatively cheaply. Being a C# programmer, you'll probably lean towards this.

If you want the better toolset (check out the T3D blogs), get Torque 3D. Yeah, I'm a tad biased :P
(But seriously, look at Brett Seyler's T3D blogs for a nice overview of all the editors and new features in the engine and decide whether it's worth $1000 to you over the $250 of TX3D)

Documentation is included, and also linked at the top of the pages on this site.

#8 is there a link to the TX3D product? I mean when I pick engine from the menu on this page I just see "Torque 3D" which you say is the "T3D" product right? that takes me to a page that sells it for $1,000

where is the $250 product you talk about page?

I will check out the blogs - a bit of confusion here for a n00bie trying to get started - Ronny have you made any games with this engine yet?

Thanks for you help...

Pat

#9 click on engines, then for consoles. there you will see what your looking for.

#10 Michael

the RTS starter kit says it is for TGE 1.5.2 - not sure how that correlates to the full blown torque 3d engine - will the starter kit work with the full blown torque 3d engine (or only with the version lsited which I really don't know what that version refers to)?

You say "it's more complex" to make a full blown RTS. I am looking to make a traditional RTS - not an epic scaled one - think more of command and conquer less World in Conflict

will torque 3d with the RTS kit get me there?

Thanks

#11 *bump*

#12 The RTS starter kit is an old non-GG product for TGE. There is no RTS kit as such yet for T3D, just the tutorial Michael linked.

#13 Thank you for creating the article