Newbie question: What do I need?
by David Matuszek · in Torque Developer Network · 01/20/2006 (8:11 am) · 2 replies
I have a CS student who wants to write a game as an independent study.
It looks like Torque is a good choice, but the web page is confusing--
There are five different products listed (2D Gamebuilder, Game Engine,
Shader Engine, Tools, Content/Art Packs). Or maybe there's only one
(Torque 2D Indie, $100). If I have to tell her to shell out much more
than $100, forget it.
Or would the demo be enough? A 30-day demo would be no good, but
one that just splats "Demo" over everything would be fine (for teaching
purposes, anyway).
I would tell her to get the 3D "Game Programming All in One" book
by Kenneth C Finney. (I've figured out that the second edition, same title,
same publisher, different author, has nothing in common with this book--
whose bright idea was that, anyway?)
Finally, would I have to buy my own copy in order to review and evaluate
her work? (I'd have to look at source, not just play the game.)
Thanks to anyone who can answer this for me. If you're feeling kind,
email me directly at matuszek@cis.upenn.edu (my listed email address,
dave@acm.org, is much slower and gets far more spam).
It looks like Torque is a good choice, but the web page is confusing--
There are five different products listed (2D Gamebuilder, Game Engine,
Shader Engine, Tools, Content/Art Packs). Or maybe there's only one
(Torque 2D Indie, $100). If I have to tell her to shell out much more
than $100, forget it.
Or would the demo be enough? A 30-day demo would be no good, but
one that just splats "Demo" over everything would be fine (for teaching
purposes, anyway).
I would tell her to get the 3D "Game Programming All in One" book
by Kenneth C Finney. (I've figured out that the second edition, same title,
same publisher, different author, has nothing in common with this book--
whose bright idea was that, anyway?)
Finally, would I have to buy my own copy in order to review and evaluate
her work? (I'd have to look at source, not just play the game.)
Thanks to anyone who can answer this for me. If you're feeling kind,
email me directly at matuszek@cis.upenn.edu (my listed email address,
dave@acm.org, is much slower and gets far more spam).
Torque 3D Owner Stephen Zepp
The demo is a fully functional executable that allows for full art asset and script modification. If you don't need her to learn any c++ specific coding lessons, then she won't need to do anything but use the demo.
If your goal is to teach more than a survey course, or reinforce specific lessons regarding c++ development, or allow her to utlize the many resources as well as private forums here at garagegames, then she'll want access to the source code (which also provides access to the private forums as well as our wiki--TDN.
Fortunately, you are in luck (most likely) regarding pricing--we have several different plans for educational licenses that may help your situation. My suggestion would be to outline in a paragraph or two the specific requirements you want her to achieve as part of the independent study, and what her levels of performance will be for success, and then email our Educational Sales Director, Davey Jackson (daveyjatgaragegames.com).
If you aren't really sure what lessons you think are important, you can also feel free to email me (I've sent a curtesy copy of this post to your edu address) and we can go over some possible options for you directly.
Stephen Zepp
Torque Education and Commercial Support Director
stephenzatgaragegames.com