Can I do 2D?

#1 Yep.

I'm doing a "2d" game with torque right now. Everything is really 3d anyway as far as your video card is concerned when using OpenGL or D3D. I see nothing wrong with doing a 2D game in torque. It would behoove you to strip out all the stuff you aren't using, of course, to cut down on executeable size.

#2 Excellent! Thanks Pat. I have to confess, I'm a bit intimidated. I've been coding a long time but not really anything with C. I've done some small apps with Java which is supposedly C-like. I really want to build a game and Torque seems to be the best way to go. Are there any other game engines worth considering?

#3 Mark, I would recommend you check out the Reaction Engine that is also available on the website. I think it will fit your needs much better.

#4 Reaction isn't cross platform, which was why I chose Torque over Reaction, and I know Torque much better :P

#5 The only downside to using torque for a 2d game is that the game requires a 3d accelerator. You might lose some of your audience if you are targetting the casual gamer.

#6 My Mom has a 3d accelerator.

so does my sister.

... infact so do most pc's these days.
anyone without it .. should not be playing games anyhow.

>:)

#7 I may be going out on a limb here, but I don't think that there is any computer on a desktop who's users play any games at all that doesn't have at least a TNT2 class card.

#8 You'd be amazed at how many computers are still being sold with only an onboard integrated video. Though both nVidia and ATI offer very good integrated 3D solutions they are in the minority of those being sold. Most are Intel integrated video with little or no 3D support. Go look at the cheapest computers you can get from Dell today as well as the laptops.

For those people who only play 2D games, this is all they need so they are never aware of the lack.

Also, those systems that are sold with a 3D accelerator often don't have proper drivers installed. If you attempt to use 3D on them they will run on the default Microsoft drivers which often are not up to the task.

So, yeah, making a 2D game that only runs on 3D hardware could lead to problems if it is aimed at a casual audience.

#9 Yeah, and the Intel i82845g can run Torque. We have (at GarageGames) a few of the barebones Dell PCs for two interns and they run Torque just fine.

#10 Even most laptops sold these days (except for the extremely low end) support TNT or above level graphics with their integrated chips (the aforementioned Intel chips, the S3 Savage laptop chips, etc).

People who aren't at least up to date with 1998 standards are almost certainly not going to buy your game -- they either play no games, or are happy with just Solitaire and Minesweeper.

I would have agreed with the "use 2D for simple games" advice 2 years ago, but I think these days you're safe to go 3D-only. In fact, you will probably even have less trouble doing this as many vendors seem to pay little to no attention to the 2D pieces of their drivers anymore beyond making sure the basic Windows/GDI stuff works.

#11 /me bows to experience

I was not aware that the current integrated graphics chips could run TGE. It's been a while since I've been around a PC w/o a 3D card =) I stand corrected =)

#12 Obviously Torque 2D is out now so if anyone still wants to do 2D, T2D would be perfect for that.