How good is Torque?

#1 A quick search of the forum would yeild you many pages of threads just like this one.

First, to determine if Torque is right for you, please download the demo and play with it. It's fully functional, and has many features. You can look in the options menu and find the editor shortcuts and play with the editors as well. There is absolutely no one who can answer your question as to wether torque is right for you. Read the online docs. Read the eula. If after you have studied everything, and you still are wondering, buy a game made with torque. There is a link at the top of every page that will lead you to that page.

Is it fast? That depends on too many variables. How many objects do you have in view? How many particle effects do you have in view? How many polygons are your objects made up of? You see? It's an unanswerable question. Just read, test and find out. That's the best advice I can give you.

#2 I'm afraid that doesn't exactly answer my question :(

I edited my post to make it more readable.

#3 Well some of your questions can be answered with very general answers but what Mike was saying is very true.

#1. the tourqe source code can be compiled into an exe and the .cs scripts can be compiled into .dso for protection

#2. i would have to say it all depends on your development style but it has been very easy for me to get some great results pretty quick

#3. well this question is kinda worded wrong. but when you buy the engine you get the source code. so engine changes generaly run faster than large script functions but it all depends on how you incorporate them.

#4. TGE can be modified to include some simple shaders using cg but if you want high quality shader effects you should have a look at TGEA. the speed question (like mike said) can only be answered by how much stuff do you want on the screen at once.

hope this helps

#4 Extremely general questions that five minutes reading the forums or looking at the product pages could answer.

Quote:* Can torque games be compiled the same way C++ games can?

Torque is a C++ engine. It is compiled the exact same way that other C++ game [engines such as Quake, Half-Life, Halo, and the C++ ilk are compiled.

Quote:* Without being bias, how good is torque compared to other game dev tools?

It really depends on the tool. Torque is a very complex engine based on legacy technology that has been updated as the years go on. Its art pipeline is problematic compared to many other "indie" engines, but it still quite close to the complex insanity of a number of AAA engines. It has exporters for various modeling programs such as Maya, Max, Blender, Lightwave, Milkshape. It uses BSP geometry (like the original Quake and the still rolling Unreal Engine). But your question is so general, you should search for the specific features that you want.

Quote:* Is there any difference in speed when making a game in torque, and making the same game in C++?

Torque is written in C++. The scripting language is a c-styled language to help modify things without a recompile, just like UnrealScript or LUA or a number of scripting languages used in other engines. The C++ code is complex and has a large codebase, so your C++ skizzilz will be challenged along the way. Whether it is "better" than other C++ engines depends on the engine, the code, and your ability to maintain it. The reason that there are middleware engines is because not everyone wants to reinvent the wheel for every game they make.

Quote:* Can torque make high quality games like todays Half Life 2, FEAR etc., and run at the same speed?

You would have to optimize the engine quite a bit for any gametype to run at production speed. Just like the engines were optimized for the games that were developed. Unreal is optimized like crazy by teams using the engine for the specific features that go into the games. If you are looking for Tech like in FEAR or HL2, then I would recommend TGEA as it is a shader engine. You will be losing a lot of legacy support, but if you are relying on the latest tech, you don't care about customers with older hardware.