Thinking of buying Torque, Has Questions

#1 This is a good place to start.

1.) you dont really have to c++ code anything if you dont want.

2.) this might be a bonus as long as that map making was bsp editing.
(adjusting game components on the terrain is to easy.)

3.) the Graphic skillset could come in if you need to make your own art.


Basically depending on the game design.
if simple enuff you can deploy it by adding your resources.
and doing some script code.

but at the least you could get a good picture.

#2 Your current level of experience probably wont let you create a game all by yourself with torque. It's not a miracle engine.

HOWEVER, you can use torque to learn A LOT about more C++, game design, game engine design, and everything else related to making computer games. It will just take some persistance and effort on your part, as does anything worth doing. :)

In conclusion, buy torque if you want to make games. But dont expect to be able to do it immediately. You will have to spend alot of time learning first, which is half the fun.

I hope to see you around in the future. :)

#3 You ca expect to get what you pay for with torque, its comparable to most free 3d sdk's. The illusion is that itll do something more than most sdk's. If your a very experience proffessional c++ programmer than id say your better off writing your own engine, if your a novice youll find that torque is a very complex and hardcoded fps engine thats been stripped of many desired features. Its like tribes2's engine only not as good, but then again what do youe expect for 100 dollars? I suggest any of the well maintained open source game engines over porque. Besides theyll be selling newer versions and a newer different engine sdk soon. I regret buying torque now mostly becuase after i bought it i found out theyre secret plans to sell newer version of torque. But it was just 100$ and i did have a little fun making levels and writing scripts.

#4 I agree with Time, for newbies Torque will be overwhelming, for a single experienced C++ programmer it will be overwhelming.

The illusion of "you don't have to write any C++ if you don't want to is just that", it should be "you don't have to write any C++ if you are going to be satisfied with the extremely basic functionality already there".

To add anything of substance C++ is required. And the scripting language is not really any easier to use than C++, matter of fact it is probably more of a PITA than just using C++ and recompiling, yet another limited language to learn.

But I do recommened Torque if you just want to peek into the core of what powered a few commercial game engines $100 US will get you 2 good game dev books, or close to 400K lines of source code.

#5 ..
well, honestly you dont need to add anything to the torque.
for the most part it was used to make a great game.
and sure some stuff was removed.
but nothing that really Made the game was removed.

I will hold fast to saying you dont have to code any c++

you stated make a game.
not make a game greater than what a team of pro's would make.

there is lots to do with what is there currently, you really Wont need to add Anything in c++ to this engine to make a game.

and I didnt find the script language harder than c++.
there is plenty of error trapping done. to help you find syntax issues.

Quote:very complex and hardcoded fps engine

... hmm well Im sure you must mean the player class.
cause there is not much else hardcoded.
if you mean shapebase, then i'll state even that is a dynamic class im my eye. merely geared toward a 3d game.

#6 Aaron,

There are no Open Source engines that have as many varied and shipping titles as the Torque Game Engine. In addition, the comment about the engine being less than what shipped with Tribes 2 is not factual. Torque has upgraded features over what shipped in Tribes 2 such as improved vehicle code and the wonderful additions of Melv May and many other community members.

All products must eventually must be updated. Torque 2 was just announced, and once it is done (as usual, the answer is "when it is done"), there will be an upgrade path for Torque 1 owners. There were no "secret" plans to upgrade Torque. Also, please note that Think Tanks, Tennis Critters, AND Orbz were conceived and created after November of last year. This engine CAN and DOES make shippable games.

No engine is a "miracle" engine. They all take hard work to actually make a game. Torque gives you a good leg up, with a good engine and a great community. Even at a beginner skill level you can learn a lot about making games, yet the engine has the depth to allow you to go all the way to commercial game if you are capable of going that far.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#7 Torque 2 WTF?
can someone elaborate on that?

#8 Somewhere back about 6-8 months i noticed they stopped updating torque. i also read that they were planning on selling more engines to us. I just connected the dots. Ofcourse they all lied to my face maintaining that there were no plans to charge 1.0 buyers for a better version. Im sure well be offered a deal on what we all thought torque 1 would be by now.

#9 Aaron,

I would not put too much stock in what Tim says, his views do not reflect the POV of the majority of the community here.

#10

Quote:Somewhere back about 6-8 months i noticed they stopped updating torque.

This isn't true, here's one of many changes added last wednesday:

Quote:Change #: 3555
Committed by: Tim Gift
Date: 2003/06/18 16:17:43

Description:

Integrated patch from Ed Maurina which fixes a number of issues with water blocks caused by incorrect bounding volumes.

#11 What Tim is trying to say.
is that Torque is not getting any updates.
just fix's.

whatever tho, it dont matter.

just how far does 100$ go?

#12 Tim,

If you have such a problem, then please email me.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#13 Hey, is there a thread or news article about Torque 2 that I missed?

I searched GG, but couldn't find anything.

#14 Well do you really think they would keep updating the TGE for ever when you pay $100 ?

maybe if you paid a ongoing fee then you would!

i think this is a great engine to start out since ive just started and cant see anything better then this!

#15 Tim, I would recommend that you try and build a similar engine such a Torque from scratch with your own efforts. $100 is jack s$#t and I'm Australian so at the time I paid twice that amount. What you'll find is that $100 is really underpricing Torque.
For your $100 you are getting
- About $1,000,000 or more of R&D
- Technology that has proved itself in a commercial package
- Technology that has proven it can be versitile and be used by independants
- ALL the source code, not just stupid library files with only header files.
- A great community who are willing to help advance the engine.
- A great engine and tools to suit

Don't underestimate what that $100 does for you

#16 I am also thinking of purchasing Torque, and have several questions for y'all.

1. What's the advantage of Torque over something like OGRE (ogre.sourceforge.net) which seems to be in continuous active development, and has some screenshots with graphics that might be improved over Torque (though I really don't know, not being an owner of Torque)?

2. What's the advantage of Torque over Auran Jet and Amp II (similarly priced development engines, perhaps with higher licensing costs)?

3. This may be answered in the above posts about Torque 2, but I'd noticed that at least the public development board was pretty inactive (there are year-old tasks that haven't been touched), and I was concerned that the engine might not be moving forward. Is there active development by the garagegames team as well as the owner-developers?

4. If Torque 2 is going to come out (sometime), why should I buy Torque? Will I get a free upgrade if I purchased after a certain date? Will my code all be able to be moved to the new engine? What improvements are planned for Torque 2?

Many thanks in advance!

#17 1) Ogre is strictly a graphics engine. Torque is a full game engine with physics, scripting language, networking, etc.

2) Auran Jet is only competitively priced for non-commerical projects. It's a 30K license fee if you want to sell your game. Jet also doesn't come with the engine source code.

I'm not familiar with Amp II, someone else will have to comment.

3) Yep. Just took a look at the CVS change list.

4) Some GG employee will have to answer most of these. Still, there's one reason to buy Torque - You don't want to get into the trap of waiting for the 'next engine'. There will ALWAYS be a 'next generation engine' coming down the pipe from somebody. At some point you've just got to pick the best one available right then and start working on a game!

#18 There will be an upgrade path from T1 to T2 both license wise and code wise. Unless you own the Torque SDK, you do not have access to most of teh Torque discussion.

Like Mark said, if you wait for the next engine, you will never buy one and get started making your game. It would kind of be like waiting for the next computer upgrade before you finally buy your computer. It is $100. This does not break the bank.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#19 Torque 2... yeah behave......................sign me up :)

I would not mind paying for an upgrade to version 2.0 as long as it is within half the price of my t1 license....... but would think twice if i had to buy the whole thing...lol...

by the way what is Torque 2 called... "Moment Of Inertia"???? :P

edit :

or on second thoughts : "FLYWHEEL" - Less Torque..More Power... hee hee...

#20 There will be no more discussions about Torque 2 from GG people.

-Jeff Tunnell GG