More Torque Books in 2006

#1 I believe that Edward's book is the revised, edited, and expanded book for The Essential Guide to Torque. I'm definitely interested to see what is in it as well as what Maximum Torque has to offer!

But I'm really interested to hear what Jeff and Jay have to say!

#2 I must say I am really really looking forward to some other resource than the book that is currently availble. I wonder if there is a way to get a sneak copy.

#3 @Donald
Have you looked at Advanced 3D Game Programming All In One? It's a pretty tight little book that expands on many of the specifics that people wanted in the first book.

#4 David I have had lackluster results from the book and had some trouble getting over the large number of errors. I know now that I need to look at the book as a reference instead of a tutorial. I am still working through the book and try and get the most amount of info I can out of it. I really just want to create a large space with a single avatar in it to control...

#5 You mean like the FPS.starter tutorial, but with the Advanced Camera godview setup?

#6 Yes... But I dont want to really make an FPS I want to make space game. Like CyberSpace

#7 Which FPS starter are you referring to?

#8 The main one that comes with the engine. I've never heard of CyberSpace and the cursory searches on GameSpot/GameFAQs didn't garner much. Most likely because it is a generic term as well as a game title. Still, I'm not sure what pointers I can supply without knowing the game. For some reason I feel like I should know it (like it is stuck at the front of my mind but avoiding detection as I search the archive).

#9 Actually I called it the wrong name. Here is the link to what I want the game to look like using the Advanced Camera angle

http://cosmicrift.station.sony.com/main.jsp

I am at Ch5 in that book of Ken's and I still don't even know where to start my own project. And I feel like when I am done with the book I will still be at the same point.

#10 Ah, I remember someone (perhaps you) posting a while back on that game. I would most likely use T2D and hook in the network layer for it. But, I can also see using flattened terrain with a starfield texture and DTS/DIF objects for collision, the advanced camera resource, and key binding modifications for turning.

#11 Yes the second part... LOL :) thats what I need help with getting started. I want to make an MMO of that game. I am going to buy the TGE SDK soon. I want to use it in other projects as well....

#12 Have you seen Fleet? That was same engine as infantry / cosmic rift. But it was awesome little multiplayer game.

#13 Yup i have played them all I am looking to make something along the same lines but with MMO aspects.

#14 The new books look good i'll be picking them up too.

#15 I think I will pick them up as well just to add to my resources.

#16 Donald,

I haven't played the games you've referred to, but for a space game, I would get rid of terrain blocks entirely. That will give you a higher framerate to work with since terrain collisions and rendering won't be calculated. Once you get the engine SDK, you might also want to kill gravity and tinker with a few other physics-related features. You've seen the racing demo before, where the player's "body" is the car. Something similar could be done with a flying vehicle avatar in a zero gravity environment.

Aaron E.

#17 Thanks for the tip. I suppose I can still have planets and space stations in the there as well with a lot more detail and complexity if I don't use terrain blocks. I wouldn't have the fogiest idea on how to start with out a terrain block. I am sure there is a TUT around here that could help.

#18 Going terrain-free is one of the easiest things to do in Torque. And for at least one of my levels, it's pretty cool to see it in action.

Here's how you do it.

1) make a backup of the mission file you're working with.
2) open up the mission file (nebula.mis, for example) in a text editor like notepad.
3) comment out the entire terrain block using double slashes // or just delete the whole block
4) save your .mis file
5) start up Torque, load the mission, and enjoy.

If your player is still gravity bound, you might want to place a simple .dif platform or structure under your spawn points. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of time falling through space. :)

#19 And when he means a lot of time, he means ALOT. I'm not even sure theres a bottom to TGE Based Maps D: Someone wanna try it sometime? Just let yourself fall? I might try that tonight hmmm, just delete the terrain and let my player fall . . all night.

#20 @Chris

That reminds me of a little experiment I tried a few years ago with th RIOT engine. I configured two orcs with nearly infinite health and weak weapons, then set their aggressiveness and retaliation values up to 100%. And I configured their blood decals to never fade. After all that I jumped into the game, instigated a fight between them and then shut off my monitor and went to bed. The next morning when I got up, I followed a really long blood trail to where they were still bashing each other with clubs. It was very cool -- in a morbid kind of way.