Torque 2D Vs. Reaction
by Matthew R. Jones · in Torque Game Builder · 03/11/2005 (7:41 am) · 4 replies
I am debating between getting the Reaction Engine or Torque 2D.
I have an Associate's Degree in Computer Programming from a local community college. Although I don't claim to be a master of C++ I have a solid understanding. Unfortunately everything I've been taught is console (text) applications. I'm a little intimidated to start working with a game engine. The reaction engine looks like a great way to get started, but I'm somewhat concerned that I'm too advanced for it. On the other hand I want something that I'll actually sit down and use, not throw in a drawer for "someday".
What are your thoughts?
I have an Associate's Degree in Computer Programming from a local community college. Although I don't claim to be a master of C++ I have a solid understanding. Unfortunately everything I've been taught is console (text) applications. I'm a little intimidated to start working with a game engine. The reaction engine looks like a great way to get started, but I'm somewhat concerned that I'm too advanced for it. On the other hand I want something that I'll actually sit down and use, not throw in a drawer for "someday".
What are your thoughts?
About the author
#2
From my expirence so far with t2d (bout a week of just messing around, getting a feel for how things work), I would say go with t2d. I have a bachelors in CS and a few years expirence developing internal buisness software. I started using tge shortly after it came out, but got kind of frustrated with the lack of percieved progress i was making. I was learning lots of cool things, making a few cool demos, but not enough to really draw me in and finish a game. Maybe im too much of a slacker, i dont know. However, even in just one week, i can see the things that would frustrate me before become a non issue with t2d. Melv & co have put together a real solid engine that allows rapid development with real results. Heck, a day or so ago, someone released a game on the forums (one level, but damn it looks gorgeous) less then 2 weeks after t2d came out, iirc. My actual progress allows me to keep motivated, and keep doing actual work on the game i want to make, instead of playing gran turismo 4 for another 6 hours after work.
And once you feel comfortable with that and confident of your skills, you can always "graduate" to tge/tse if your looking for a challange.
Anyhow, thought id lend my expirences as a recent college grad trying to make a few games for fun. No matter what you choose, im sure youll have plenty of fun making games.
Ryan Ackley
03/11/2005 (7:53 am)
Ill foward this with the fact that i havent used the reaction engine.From my expirence so far with t2d (bout a week of just messing around, getting a feel for how things work), I would say go with t2d. I have a bachelors in CS and a few years expirence developing internal buisness software. I started using tge shortly after it came out, but got kind of frustrated with the lack of percieved progress i was making. I was learning lots of cool things, making a few cool demos, but not enough to really draw me in and finish a game. Maybe im too much of a slacker, i dont know. However, even in just one week, i can see the things that would frustrate me before become a non issue with t2d. Melv & co have put together a real solid engine that allows rapid development with real results. Heck, a day or so ago, someone released a game on the forums (one level, but damn it looks gorgeous) less then 2 weeks after t2d came out, iirc. My actual progress allows me to keep motivated, and keep doing actual work on the game i want to make, instead of playing gran turismo 4 for another 6 hours after work.
And once you feel comfortable with that and confident of your skills, you can always "graduate" to tge/tse if your looking for a challange.
Anyhow, thought id lend my expirences as a recent college grad trying to make a few games for fun. No matter what you choose, im sure youll have plenty of fun making games.
Ryan Ackley
#3
Just like Ryan I got a bit frustrated with TGE due to a lack of perceived progress. On my end it came about because of my frustration with the 3D art pipeline and uncertainty when changing engine code. I think T2D would be a good place to start for you because what you learn while coding T2D apps will be relevent to TGE/TSE if you ever decide to move on to 3D. Starting in T2D also means that you won't have to spend a ton of time learning 3D art content apps like Milkshape and QUARK. You could make 2D game art with pencil, paper, scanner, and a free 2D editor like GIMP if you had to. There also a ton of free sprites and tiles out there that you could use to put something together quickly. So my advice would be to go with T2D for now, especially if you are going to be starting off as a solo developer.
03/11/2005 (9:09 am)
I'm still in college but I would say my programming knowledge is at the Associate's Degree level as well. I have not tried the Reaction Engine but own TGE and just picked up T2D last night. I think you could learn Torquescript very quickly with your C++/OOP knowledge. What I like about T2D so far is that it seems you can make some pretty nice games just in Torquescript. Also, since it is 2D you can get something up and running very quickly because of the straightforward art path.Just like Ryan I got a bit frustrated with TGE due to a lack of perceived progress. On my end it came about because of my frustration with the 3D art pipeline and uncertainty when changing engine code. I think T2D would be a good place to start for you because what you learn while coding T2D apps will be relevent to TGE/TSE if you ever decide to move on to 3D. Starting in T2D also means that you won't have to spend a ton of time learning 3D art content apps like Milkshape and QUARK. You could make 2D game art with pencil, paper, scanner, and a free 2D editor like GIMP if you had to. There also a ton of free sprites and tiles out there that you could use to put something together quickly. So my advice would be to go with T2D for now, especially if you are going to be starting off as a solo developer.
#4
T2D will provide you with a way to create powerful 2d games quickly once you've become a custom to torquescript, a pseudo c/c++ scripting language. You also have the option of diving into the c++ code. The growing documentation and user community will help you with both. And after putting in your time with T2D, you'll be able to move to Torque for 3d games.
03/11/2005 (10:04 am)
From what I've heard, the Reaction Engine is a flat hierarchy so I don't know if you'll gain much in terms of how c++ is used in typical engines. For a cheaper alternative I recommend the book, "Focus on SDL" by Ernest Pazera. It's a small book and easy read that first goes over SDL www.libsdl.org/index.php, a multimedia library written in C to do 2d programming including games. The remainder of the book covers a C++ wrapper-library for SDL. It's not complete and as robust as it could be but its a good start. You can get the book on amazon or eBay for under $10.T2D will provide you with a way to create powerful 2d games quickly once you've become a custom to torquescript, a pseudo c/c++ scripting language. You also have the option of diving into the c++ code. The growing documentation and user community will help you with both. And after putting in your time with T2D, you'll be able to move to Torque for 3d games.
Torque Owner Peter Dwyer
If you work through the first tutorial doc, you will see how incredibly easy it is to get something on screen. From there the intimidation levels drop rapidly. Everything is logical and you get the source code too so you can even see how things work on that level.