Looks Good, some follow up Questions.
by Programmer Art · in Torque 3D Beginner · 07/26/2009 (5:40 pm) · 4 replies
I was developing a game for XNA, but due to their recent removal of a $10 price point ($5 is now max) on XBLIG, I'm looking at better alternatives for a PC only or PC/Mac engine. $5 is too cheap to make a profit on XBOX, and as a PC only engine XNA has a severely lacking feature set. Torque 3d looks good with all the editors and features, but I have a few questions that I'm hoping you will answer:
1) When is the expected release date? I'm not looking for a comittment here, an estimate will do (sometime this year, next year, etc.)
2) I was burned by TorqueX 3d (the builder didn't work at all for me and that was a must have since I'm doing this project alone), although Torque 3D looks to have a lot more momentum than that project, what words of comfort do you have for someone hoping this one will succeed where the other is languishing.
3) Is there any way to try out the engine w/o committing to a beta project given my reservation from question 2.
4) Multiplatform is a big deal for me, Unity is definitely mac & pc. Torque 3d mentions OSX in browser, but it appears so briefly that I'm worried it might get dropped if/when a deadline looms. How likely is OSX compatibility full or browser at or shortly after initial release of the engine?
5) I'm looking at the pro version due to the advanced lighting, is there an upgrade path from basic to pro so I can try it out for $250 and if I like it then upgrade to pro for the price difference?
I'm sure I'll have more, but for now this will do. I await your response.
1) When is the expected release date? I'm not looking for a comittment here, an estimate will do (sometime this year, next year, etc.)
2) I was burned by TorqueX 3d (the builder didn't work at all for me and that was a must have since I'm doing this project alone), although Torque 3D looks to have a lot more momentum than that project, what words of comfort do you have for someone hoping this one will succeed where the other is languishing.
3) Is there any way to try out the engine w/o committing to a beta project given my reservation from question 2.
4) Multiplatform is a big deal for me, Unity is definitely mac & pc. Torque 3d mentions OSX in browser, but it appears so briefly that I'm worried it might get dropped if/when a deadline looms. How likely is OSX compatibility full or browser at or shortly after initial release of the engine?
5) I'm looking at the pro version due to the advanced lighting, is there an upgrade path from basic to pro so I can try it out for $250 and if I like it then upgrade to pro for the price difference?
I'm sure I'll have more, but for now this will do. I await your response.
About the author
#2
07/27/2009 (8:38 am)
Thank you for your prompt reply.
#3
08/03/2009 (5:11 am)
Does the source code you get with torque 3d also include the source code to the editors (world/terrain, etc)? 
#4
Yes.
08/11/2009 (11:30 am)
Quote:Does the source code you get with torque 3d also include the source code to the editors (world/terrain, etc)?
Yes.
Employee Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus
2) Torque 3D has had about 30 developers at one point or another, which is about 25 more people than Torque X 3D had. Each major aspect of the engine has had at least one dedicated person, sometimes double. For example, there are about 3 people dedicated to the tools (editors, importers, GUIs, etc). Torque X did not have a dedicate doc engineer during its entire life span. Torque 3D has myself and my interns for doc work, for the entire development cycle. The manpower and development cycle for Torque 3D is far beyond any of our previous engines
3) Currenlty, no. We will be releasing demos after the engine ships, but that would mean you would have to pass up the discounts currently offered. Check out our Show Off thread in the Torque 3D public forum to see what others have been able to produce with just the beta.
4) Torque 3D is running on Windows and OS X right now. The browser integration is working on Windows. I have not booted up the OS X browser plugin in a week, due to a conference. However, Torque 3D will ship (1.0) with parallel OS X and Windows feature sets.
5) The actual Basic license is still being worked out, in regard to features. If a user starts with Basic, I'm sure there will be an upgrade path.