Torque game making. How, what and which?

#1 Download the demo for Torque Game Builder and go through the included tutorials to see if you can grok it. If not, then I would recommend GameMaker (gamemaker.nl) as a starting point. For both, you will have to have programs to create artwork--for example, I use Photoshop, Painter, and Pro-Motion for 2D and Modo, Deled, and Lightwave for 3D. I also use my Tablet PC, though a Wacom tablet would be a great addition to your arsenal if you can put drawings to paper easily.

You can create a lot of different types of games with TGE/TGB. There are, however some (such as isometric) games which will require some major tweaking to the engine (source license). The main difference between the indie and commercial license is the amount your company makes (over $250,000 requires a commercial license) or the type of product you want to make (indie is game only, which means no architectural walkthroughs, etc) and whether you want a splash screen (indie requres it, commercial does not).

TGE is not as friendly as most people would want it to be (not nearly as friendly as say Director, BeyondVirtual, or Unity) and has a large learning curve. The curve is well worth it from my perspective, though.

But the best thing to do is download TGB and use the tutorials that ship with the demo to see if you get it.

#2 Hi Eirik,

Well... Game development is not easy, but it's fun. If you can follow tutorials, are patient, persistent and reasonably intelligent it's definitely not impossible, even for an absolute beginner.

Torque Game Builder (TGB), put simply is a 2D version of its older brother the Torque Game Engine (TGE), which is a full 3D engine. From what you wrote it sounds like the ideal place for you to start. Why? Generally speaking 2D game development is easier than 3D game development, TGB is highly polished and has great getting started tutorials, and it really is a little gem.

You will need to invest in some other software, though there are always free alternatives.

- A decent image editor / creator is a good start. If you can afford it, something like PhotoShop is a must. Gimp is a good free alternative.

- A 3D modeling program. Free ones include Milkshape, Blender (yes you can use 3D models with TGB).

- An audio editing utility. I use Sound Forge but there are heaps of good free alternatives.

That's really the bare essentials. There's other little bits and pieces that you may need and will make life easier along the way, but a good image editor, 3D modeler and audio editor is the best start.

If you require more detail or have further questions don't be shy.

Say high to your robot for me!

- Tim

#3 Disregard.

#4 Unless you were not being sarcastic: May I suggest this link for you. That site offers very indepth explainations of some of the words you asked for. It's a great tool.

#5 Disregard.

#6 GameMaker
www.gamemaker.nl/
A game engine. David recommended it as you may find it to be more beginners friendly.

Painter
www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Products/Display
Image creation, editing software.

Pro-Motion
www.cosmigo.com/promotion/
A tool that helps you with creating detailed graphics (logos, buttons, icons) and animations.

Modo
www.luxology.com/
3D modeling software

Deled
www.delgine.com/
3D modeling software

Lightwave
www.newtek.com/lightwave/
3D modeling software

Wacom Tablet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet

Isometric Game
Games are called isometric when their world maps are based on grids of tiles which are drawn to the screen without taking perspective into account (orthogonal). The game view is necessarily top-down in such games.

Architectural Walkthrough
An architectural walkthrough is a computer-based, interactive system that can simulate the visual experience of moving through a three dimensional model of a building by displaying rendered images of the model as seen from a hypothetical observer viewpoint under interactive control by the user. Typically used by Architects.

Splash Screen
A screen that appears on start up of your game. Usually a static image representing a company logo. Typically a game engine's license agreement might stipulate their logo must appear in your game in the form of a splash screen.

BeyondVirtual
www.beyondvirtual.com/
A game engine

Unity
unity3d.com/
A game engine

#7 Disregard.

#8 Top-down and isometric are not synonymic. While isometric games are top-down (at an orthographic angle), top-down games do not have to be isometric. See Smash-TV, the first two GTA's (2D) and Ultima VII.

EDIT: Whatever the hell I typed.

#9 Disregard.

#10 A top-down game could be non-isometric.

The original Diablo was isometric. Pacman was kinda top-down I guess. Death Rally was isometric.

Ortographic view is the opposite to perspective view, I believe.

Edit: If you're going for a sidescroller, then I would suggest TGB rather than TGE though.

#11 Eirik, if you are complete beginner than you might want to do some reading into general game design concepts before you start building your game. There are a ton of good books, maybe go to Amazon and check out some of the novice titles. No matter what anyone tells you, you cannot make a game without doing some coding (or understanding programming concepts enough to know what to cut-and-paste). As Tim suggested GameMaker (www.gamemaker.nl) is a great place to start. You can get a very simple game together just using their built in templates. But once you want to start adding special features than you have to do some coding. I have never used TGB, but if its anything like TGE then its not a good starting place for a complete novice.

If you need to make 2D art then you really want Photoshop (download a 30 day trial from Adobes site). If you need something cheaper than get Gimp or even PaintShopPro. For audio get Audacity (freeware), it is better than some of the commercial audio apps. Start by scanning your art in and tracing it over in photoshop. Then you can color it and add details on the computer easily. You also might want to look into using Macromedia Flash to make game. Its fairly simple for a beginner to learn and you can do everything in the program (draw, animate, code, etc.).

And a word of advice, keep it simple for your first game. Do a Mario Bros. clone or maybe just space invaders or something. It will help you to learn the concepts before you can start building the game you want to. Other than that it just takes time and dedication. Don't expect to get anything done on your first shot. But if you stick with it, its not to hard to learn.

#12 Get something right on your first attempt, LOL, I am lucy if I get a 3d model right the 100th time I have modeled it.

Erik, bottom line we have all be where you are (although for some that was along time ago. We will do what we can to help you. Thank you for posting questions and not being like the dumbasses and saying "I need fire, someone do all the work then tell me how step by step" ... ugg ... again I applaud you for learning the first lesson well ... you will have to do some work .... okay ALOT of work, but eh it was fun for me.