Torque + Xbox 360 development advice needed
by Lasse Olsen · in General Discussion · 06/21/2007 (6:42 am) · 4 replies
Hi all,
I'm a professional systems developer by day, and I'm planning to get my feet wet in game development at night - on a strict hobby basis. I have a couple of ideas that I would like to see realized, with the help of some collaborators on modeling, sound etc. The basic premise is that it would be a 3D game for Xbox 360 [only], possibly using XNA.
To that end I've been researching the net to find more information on tools and engines that I can buy and use in order to help me out, and the Torque framework looks very, very promising. However, I'm a bit confused as to which product or combination of products would best suit my needs, and I'm hoping you can help me out.
As I understand it, the TGB is a scriptable 2D game builder, and as such it seems a bit lightweight for what I'm trying to accomplish. OTOH there is the more feature-rich TGE/TGEA engine, under which I would develop on my PC in C++ and deploy my game to the 360. The TGE engine does not seem to leverage the XNA platform in any way, so finally there's the TorqueX product - which seems to be free of charge (open Beta). Is the TorqueX a full-fledged 3D engine or a downscaled (2D?) XNA development kit? In any case, that's a lot of different products with (in some cases) overlapping feature sets.
In short, which is the best possible route for me to take when getting started in homebrew/indie development on the 360? I would prefer to develop in C#, and an engine/toolkit that utilizes the XNA framework would be a big plus. I would still very much like a 3D feature set as rich as the TGEA engine (or close to it). Is there a combination of products that can cater to these needs, or am I actually wishing for the not-yet-released Torque 360 product?
Any and all advice will be much appreciated. Thanks all
I'm a professional systems developer by day, and I'm planning to get my feet wet in game development at night - on a strict hobby basis. I have a couple of ideas that I would like to see realized, with the help of some collaborators on modeling, sound etc. The basic premise is that it would be a 3D game for Xbox 360 [only], possibly using XNA.
To that end I've been researching the net to find more information on tools and engines that I can buy and use in order to help me out, and the Torque framework looks very, very promising. However, I'm a bit confused as to which product or combination of products would best suit my needs, and I'm hoping you can help me out.
As I understand it, the TGB is a scriptable 2D game builder, and as such it seems a bit lightweight for what I'm trying to accomplish. OTOH there is the more feature-rich TGE/TGEA engine, under which I would develop on my PC in C++ and deploy my game to the 360. The TGE engine does not seem to leverage the XNA platform in any way, so finally there's the TorqueX product - which seems to be free of charge (open Beta). Is the TorqueX a full-fledged 3D engine or a downscaled (2D?) XNA development kit? In any case, that's a lot of different products with (in some cases) overlapping feature sets.
In short, which is the best possible route for me to take when getting started in homebrew/indie development on the 360? I would prefer to develop in C#, and an engine/toolkit that utilizes the XNA framework would be a big plus. I would still very much like a 3D feature set as rich as the TGEA engine (or close to it). Is there a combination of products that can cater to these needs, or am I actually wishing for the not-yet-released Torque 360 product?
Any and all advice will be much appreciated. Thanks all
#2
FWIW, I've been working with C++ for 10+ years, so I think I have a pretty good understanding of how it works. I'm starting to branch out into C#, so that's why I'd prefer to develop in that language - but either would work just fine. Also, C# is a prereq for developing with XNA, which seems ideally suited for my use.
Can anybody clarify if I can deploy my games to my 360 when using TGEA, or if I need a commercial grade dev kit and/or license in order to do this? A full commercial developer suite is certainly overkill for my project, and it would put a pretty big dent in my $500-ish budget. From what David's saying it seems that I can only deploy to my 360 with XNA, but I'm just making sure :)
It seems that my best bet is to go with XNA + TorqueX and wait for the 3D features of TGEA to make their way into that product.
I apologize for the newbish questions, but your feedback helps me a lot. Thanks again
06/22/2007 (1:04 am)
I appreciate your comments, and now I understand the concepts a little better :)FWIW, I've been working with C++ for 10+ years, so I think I have a pretty good understanding of how it works. I'm starting to branch out into C#, so that's why I'd prefer to develop in that language - but either would work just fine. Also, C# is a prereq for developing with XNA, which seems ideally suited for my use.
Can anybody clarify if I can deploy my games to my 360 when using TGEA, or if I need a commercial grade dev kit and/or license in order to do this? A full commercial developer suite is certainly overkill for my project, and it would put a pretty big dent in my $500-ish budget. From what David's saying it seems that I can only deploy to my 360 with XNA, but I'm just making sure :)
It seems that my best bet is to go with XNA + TorqueX and wait for the 3D features of TGEA to make their way into that product.
I apologize for the newbish questions, but your feedback helps me a lot. Thanks again
#3
Glad to have helped even a little bit!
06/22/2007 (7:16 am)
You would need an official XBOX 360 DevKit to use TGEA with the Xbox 360. And yes, you can only deploy to your 360 through XNA.Glad to have helped even a little bit!
#4
That seems like your best option yes.
While TGB (and TorqueX ATM) is only 2D I wouldn't underestimate it, you can get a lot done in 2D with some imagination. Createing a 2D game whilst waiting for the 3D stuff to go into TorqueX would help your understand of Torque techs in general, and C#.
06/22/2007 (8:11 am)
Quote:
It seems that my best bet is to go with XNA + TorqueX and wait for the 3D features of TGEA to make their way into that product.
That seems like your best option yes.
While TGB (and TorqueX ATM) is only 2D I wouldn't underestimate it, you can get a lot done in 2D with some imagination. Createing a 2D game whilst waiting for the 3D stuff to go into TorqueX would help your understand of Torque techs in general, and C#.
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
TorqueX is the Torque XNA solution. It is currently 2D, though development on the 3D side is moving forward quickly. You can also leverage other XNA libraries and frameworks to use with TorqueX. If you are a C# programmer, this would be the way to go. Also, if you want to be able to deploy to the 360 without being a licensed developer with an expensive devkit, publisher contract, and prayerful release slot, this is the way to go.
Right now TorqueX does not include the featureset of TGEA or Torque. It was written from the ground-up in C#, so a good amount of re-architecting is necessary.