Newbie here with some questions
by Chase Webb · in General Discussion · 07/31/2011 (5:43 pm) · 10 replies
Hello everyone. I've got a couple questions, but first a little backstory.
First of all, I'm a complete newbie to programming. I know a fair amount of web programming (HTML, CSS, a little php and mysql) but not any "real" programming. My eventual goal is to make a 2D RPG, but for now I'm just trying out the Torque 2D demo and the tutorials.
Here are my questions.
1- Will these tutorials teach me all the basics, or should I start looking for additional resources somewhere else? If the latter, where can I find additional resources/tutorials?
2-I started by trying the fish demo tutorial, but couldn't seem to get the fish to animate. Later I realized that I skipped the more basic tutorials, and when trying to make the rain cloud in the second tutorial I found that the rain animation doesn't appear to be included. Are there missing resources from the demo?
3- I've been checking out the Add-ons and tools and whatnot for Torque 2D, but sometimes it is difficult to tell what is actually compatible with 2D and what is meant for 3D. How can I tell the difference?
4- Does anyone know if the Adventure kit includes the resources for how to make experience, skill, and item systems? As I said before, my eventual goal is to make an RPG style game, even if it takes me a couple years to learn how.
5- What tools/art packs/resources do you suggest for someone making a 2D or 2.5D RPG? So far I'm considering Torsion, the Adventure Kit, the Magnitude Editor (for making items?), PD Particles, the 2D effects pack, 2D Fantasy Character Pack, Ambient Sounds collection, and/or the RPG Starter Pack Music Collection. I probably would pick these up one at a time, as I need them.
6- Why does this website seem to go down at night?
7- Any other suggestions or advice for a newbie?
First of all, I'm a complete newbie to programming. I know a fair amount of web programming (HTML, CSS, a little php and mysql) but not any "real" programming. My eventual goal is to make a 2D RPG, but for now I'm just trying out the Torque 2D demo and the tutorials.
Here are my questions.
1- Will these tutorials teach me all the basics, or should I start looking for additional resources somewhere else? If the latter, where can I find additional resources/tutorials?
2-I started by trying the fish demo tutorial, but couldn't seem to get the fish to animate. Later I realized that I skipped the more basic tutorials, and when trying to make the rain cloud in the second tutorial I found that the rain animation doesn't appear to be included. Are there missing resources from the demo?
3- I've been checking out the Add-ons and tools and whatnot for Torque 2D, but sometimes it is difficult to tell what is actually compatible with 2D and what is meant for 3D. How can I tell the difference?
4- Does anyone know if the Adventure kit includes the resources for how to make experience, skill, and item systems? As I said before, my eventual goal is to make an RPG style game, even if it takes me a couple years to learn how.
5- What tools/art packs/resources do you suggest for someone making a 2D or 2.5D RPG? So far I'm considering Torsion, the Adventure Kit, the Magnitude Editor (for making items?), PD Particles, the 2D effects pack, 2D Fantasy Character Pack, Ambient Sounds collection, and/or the RPG Starter Pack Music Collection. I probably would pick these up one at a time, as I need them.
6- Why does this website seem to go down at night?
7- Any other suggestions or advice for a newbie?
#2
As for the items, I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking of a hybrid between old school SNES-style RPG items and modern ARPG or MMO style items. So... probably not as much as a regular MMO but still a fair amount.
Edit: Update - Reinstalling did not fix the rain effect. The file is there... it just doesn't do anything.
Second Edit: Figured it out! I missed the step about importing resources. I skipped it originally thinking that everything was already included and it was a "for future reference" type thing.
08/01/2011 (6:13 am)
Thanks for the response Ted. I'll try reinstalling the demo and seeing if that helps for the resources thing.As for the items, I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking of a hybrid between old school SNES-style RPG items and modern ARPG or MMO style items. So... probably not as much as a regular MMO but still a fair amount.
Edit: Update - Reinstalling did not fix the rain effect. The file is there... it just doesn't do anything.
Second Edit: Figured it out! I missed the step about importing resources. I skipped it originally thinking that everything was already included and it was a "for future reference" type thing.
#3
08/01/2011 (6:30 pm)
Hi Chase! I'm working on a game that seems very similar to what you're wanting to do. I am using both T2d and the adventure kit. The adventure kit will get you started in the right direction but it has no RPG elements built into it and you'll have to code these all yourself. You don't really need it but for $20 it can save you quite a bit of work and it has some nice ready-to-use features. The adventure kit is more of a 2d shooter than anything else.
#4
08/02/2011 (5:51 am)
Thanks Andrew. Probably the hardest part for me is going to be setting up the battle encounters, the experience system and the skills system. Hopefully by the time I get that far I'll have an inkling on how to do it.
#5
08/02/2011 (4:43 pm)
The hardest part is going to be learning how to program all these things. It will take a lot of patience. You honestly may want to consider learning to program in Torque3D first. There are way more books/resources to help you learn and once you have a good understanding of Torque's language, swithcing to Torque2D will be incredibly easy. You will definitely want a book to teach you how. The tutorials won't be near enough.
#6
08/02/2011 (4:52 pm)
Sounds like good advice! I suppose once my Torque 2D trial ends I can try T3D, and by the end of that trial I should be able to actually purchase Torque 2D. Is the programming language between the two of them that similar?
#7
08/02/2011 (5:03 pm)
Yes, it's actually exactly the same. They just have some different object hierarchies. Torque2d is basically Torque3d with a different coat of paint.
#8
08/02/2011 (6:39 pm)
Awesome. Also, I started a blog on here to report my progress. http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21161
#9
"Now it's time to actually do what we set out for in this tutorial – make it scroll! In the rollout named Scroller (at the top just above Scene Object), you can see fields for editing the basic properties of scrolling. Let's start simple and just play with the speed. For this to look good, let's set the X scroll speed to 5. And surprise, you can actually see it scroll in the scene view! Feel free to play around with the speed. When you are done, set it back to 5 (as shown in Figure 9)."
Unfortunately... there is no scroller rollout. This is what I have when the cloud is selected:
-Static Sprite
-Behaviors
-Scene Object
-Align
-Scripting
-Collision
-Physics
-Mounting
-World Limits
-Blending
-Dynamic Fields
I can't find anything else to explain what I'm doing wrong. Is the tutorial outdated and the settings are somewhere else now?
08/02/2011 (7:20 pm)
Well I've run into a roadblock. This is what the next tutorial says:"Now it's time to actually do what we set out for in this tutorial – make it scroll! In the rollout named Scroller (at the top just above Scene Object), you can see fields for editing the basic properties of scrolling. Let's start simple and just play with the speed. For this to look good, let's set the X scroll speed to 5. And surprise, you can actually see it scroll in the scene view! Feel free to play around with the speed. When you are done, set it back to 5 (as shown in Figure 9)."
Unfortunately... there is no scroller rollout. This is what I have when the cloud is selected:
-Static Sprite
-Behaviors
-Scene Object
-Align
-Scripting
-Collision
-Physics
-Mounting
-World Limits
-Blending
-Dynamic Fields
I can't find anything else to explain what I'm doing wrong. Is the tutorial outdated and the settings are somewhere else now?
#10
08/02/2011 (11:14 pm)
Update! As usual, I messed up. I added the sprite and not the scroller... which is why it wasn't let me make it a scroller. Oops! 
Torque 3D Owner Ted Southard
2) I haven't done that tutorial, but it's definitely possible. Have you tried redownloading the file and checking?
3) Good question, very much depends on which packs/tools.
4) The one by Sickhead? A quick look at it doesn't mention it, so I would think not, but XP systems aren't all that hard to do. Skill and item systems are pretty custom, so you need to know how you want those to work before you put them together.
5) I made the Magnitude Editor- it was meant for generating large datasets for MMOs. If you're going to have a large amount of items whose attributes are basically combinations of a few attributes, then it may be for you. Read the manual (I've posted a link in the page for it) and feel free to contact me with any questions on it.
Beyond that: I highly recommend Torsion, and use it every day. I don't have the others though, so I can't say either way, personally.
6) Blood sacrifices have been lacking, of late. We need more goats around here...
7) Failure is a good thing, as long as you use it to improve.