Tracking Torque 3D Community Contributions

#41 Ok as a newish user to T3d I just wanna say James is absolutely correct,
I am finding it increasingly difficult to find material on t3d scripting, I have used t3d once before back when it was first released and let me tell you i dropped it pretty quick much to my dismay cause i really enjoyed the rendering engine, which is kinda dated now but is still powerful for almost anything you want to do, the strenght it has in the level editor was one reason i wanted to keep it around but the lack of learning how to script with it was what ultimately drove me away to UDK and Unity 3d, If there were comprehensive scripting tutorials for more things that teach you how to use it for different things I could see more people coming to it. there is nothing more frustrating to someone like me who is almost all graphics based to try to get something together,

the argument join a team or get a team to work with is a nonstarter in my opinion as almost everyone wants to do their own thing, Not everyone wants to publish the next big thing and would like to just have fun with it. I have never had a bad experience on the forums here when i asked a question it was always answered in a friendly manner. Which is important to me. T3d has come into my sights again cause 1 its free for my use of what ever i want to do even with the source code, and 2 cause it still looks good graphics whys.

but the only thing i have a problem with is that the scripting/programming tutorials are slim to non existent, sure you have the fps thing on the main download page and i worked threw it but for some reason got stuck on the bubble trigger tutorial. following written tutorials are one thing but we really need someone to comb threw them and make videos, people like videos cause then they can see exactly what you have done and where, they can back it up and watch it again and again which is something i have really made use of in video tutorials.

This is a user on unity3d who goes thru a series of tutorials on unity scripting using basic unity 3d primitives.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbK_tjZ2OrIZFBvU6CCMiA

You wanna attract people to t3d do this, and do lots of this. people don't mind learning from the ground up and thats why t3d has people still working with it but why work hard learning something when you can just follow a few tutorials and practically be a master in a few weeks to a month.

Again im personally not a coder of any kind and have been struggling to learn code, but thats fine with me if i have ways to learn it.
There is also an app store of sorts that unity provides accessible via editor you might want to think about, some people will sacrifice individuality for simplicity and just download what they can using an asset store which uses every aspect of the engine such as models scripts shaders and textures.

just a summery of what I think would go a long way to helping T3d out of the muck.

1. Video tutorials and lots of them. If the gurus could make well done voiced video tutorials that teach how to make things from the ground up in increments and build upon how things work slowly utilizing a friendly inviting format with a fun topic you would see people flock to it.

2. An asset store available from inside the editor that will import the asset directly to where you want it to go this is less important then no.1 but not everyone is a scripter or a graphics artist and this helps loads of people get their ideas across.

3. I really think the editor is ok like it is but we need to add scripting from inside the editor. Torsion should be freely distributed with T3d in the same way Monodevelop is with unity 3d. I honestly dont wanna pay 30$ for an IDE like torsion that should be part of the package. granted i could use notepad++ or anything else really but you don't get the same integration with those that you do torsion. sure it helps weed out the undesirables like the 12yro do it for me crowed but
it also makes people think why buy this when i can use this for free over here.

4. More support for things like Blender would be a great idea cause blender is an awesome free powerfull tool, much like T3d is. some inter-functionality between the 2 that would maximize production would be welcome, Unity reads the more important native formats like .blend or .max or .ma so you just save the file into the directory and unity reads it with out a problem which i have found is more then just a small usefull tool. its indispensable period.

#42 @Waco there is plenty of video tutorials and scripting tutorials (see a list here) What topic is it that you don't find covered in these tutorials?
The FPS Tutorial alone have plenty of "how to do scripting" stuff and the RTS Tutorial goes through a bunch of scripts aswell.

There is a video tutorial for each of the editors, there is coin collection tutorials, Tactics-action hybrid tutorials, everything you need to start creating a game, I don't see whats missing tbh.

#43 .. well most of this is not about scripting, its more about how to use the editor. there are like 3 scripting tutorials that are videos. and its mostly the same stuff on the fps tutorial page. not what people are looking for, this is the problem your not thinking like someone who isn't a coder or a newbie, we need more videos about coding written tutorials are good for some but honestly i got confused on the trigger scripting stuff,because i couldn't see where to put what when.

anyway you may not see a problem but i sure do coming from a few engines that provide massive amounts of tutorials by people on every single aspect of the engine and how to do specific things, people want tutorials that teach them at their level. not just written tutorials but video tutorials. yeah some level design videos are good but what i and many others are looking for is someone to guide us from beginning to end on certain things get us use to using the commands regularly and then setting us up all we need to know after that. brakeys tutorials work so well because he has a lets make a game style its not a great game with awsome art its a functional game with a strong base of here is how things work and here is how to script it and what each script does.

you can formulate arrays to be run in the console till your blue in the face but people want more substance they want to see how to implement this array into their game and why to use it. I am an artist not a coder but thanks to him i have a better understanding of unity script and how things fit together in unity.

a small handful of tutorials is not going to cut it we need more tutorials that actually implement the coding a coding school if you will, with videos on a popular hub like youtube or vimeo that cover building a game from the ground up. but my count of 3 video tutorials for scripting is not really going to cut it as he just goes over the first part of the scripting tutorial linking your script to the engine building it and running it in the editor is not the same as what i demonstrated with brakeys tutorials, its not even in the same realm of what he has offered new unity users and thats what im talking about.

#44 I agree it would be nice with a public place to access a list of tutorials.
But if you search "tutorials" on the GarageGames site, that thread is about the 4th result.
And np, I link that thread to all new T3D users :)

#45 And to be honest when I think tutorial the first place I search is youtube.
then I google it to see if I can find videos if not i just keep moving on till i find something that resembles what im looking for.

im sure some of these tutorials are great and i will look into some of them especially the videos, but if You or someone can go threw and start building tutorials in video format that would be the most helpful start for new users like me. im going to work threw the video tutorials other then the scripting ones cause i have already done them on the main page for downloading t3d. but again thank you thought id put that back in cause i edited my last answer cause i got to the page and was like .. wait a minute.

#46 the holy documentation

Pretty nice intro I would say as I went through it and even reported a few dead links :o) The documentation above links to many other tutorials and it is often the first one Torque users will see if they did not buy the 3D game programming all in one third edition.

TorqueScript Reference Manual It has a great built in search function. It comes with you everywhere on your laptop(mobile developer rig) even in a train with no internet :o)

#47 Yes!I'm glad to see it discuss ! I would like to quality my idea about
Cg ,HLSL & GLSL. I say about FLEXIBILITY ! (Need have capability to take only necessary . For example,HLSL at linux-based systems unnecessary,and need it FULLY drop out.)
About Tutorials . It's grow from DOCUMENATIONS !!!
If about Torque's script being good "HELP", but C-part(and other) nothing (only it forum & blogs).Into source code comments a few too.
But at start need to clean being the docomentation page (break link, old names, etc),and after to create new page,and make archive old pages in ZIP.
For PROGRAMMERS: PLEASE, create short(or BIG ;D) man-pages for brothers and artistes.
(Good exemples it's UDK documentations or CryEngineSandbox documentations)
Generalize:Roadmap need to make more detailed and somebody must make the blueprint(schemes) in total Torque engine (with binding points).
Torque it's great engine ,but undocument capabilities.(For exemple,I'm seach a site "AISandbox",they project(or part) possibly us or not? And how to? Being native to Torque projects(like MMO),how us it? Is it can make Torque-native projects attach how the plugin module?)
Good luck !!!

#48 And other IDEA !!!
Blender's need Game Engine....
Torue' need Assets Editor...and big community....

#49 It could just be my idea's but the BGE(blender game engine) is being phased out, sadly at this point most blender users are very much into unity3d, just look at cg-cookie.com they have blender tutorials out the wazoo and unity tutorials as well, they make assets and whatnot for use with unity, however most of the tutorials that go with unity could be edited slightly for T3d as i have found using blender with t3d almost as easy as with unity, the content pipeline for exporting is rather simple using collada but it could be streamlined even more so if t3d also accepted the blender native file format like unity.

but content isnt my main concern as a new user its all about tutorials good ones up to date ones and above all else video tutorials about scripting and more to the point scripting with T3d.

#50 As someone who has followed Torque for many years but never really got far with it I have to agree with the sentiment.

1) Video tutorials that go into depth about making different sorts of games are needed. Most of the tutorials I have found spend most of the time on the editor stuff that I could pretty much figure out by myself, or the basics of how TorqueScript works.
Those that do talk about game scripting pretty much all show how to make a simple FPS with the same few features that come with the demos. There's not much in the way of real world examples showing how to implement things like AI, a 3rd person camera controller, terrain picking, interacting with objects to make things open/close etc.

2) TorqueScript is a major learning curve. It's a weird language for someone that knows how to program already and even more confusing for someone that doesn't.
I think there should be a move to using C# as the primary language for Torque. It's a much better language, indie developers coming from XNA or Unity already know it and Microsoft make some of the best tutorials and books out there. Instead of wasting time on language tutorials, the Torque community can focus on how to make games.
The best part is, Winterleaf already did most of the hard work - why not get everyone behind it and make it the official language of Torque?

3) The money for indie game developers is in mobile. It's much easier to get your game in the hands of players and to make money publishing to Android and iOS. Unity3d offers that for free these days.
Torque's MIT license presents an awesome opportunity to make a cross platform engine that doesn't come with big price tags if you want to use post FX or soft shadows. But development effort isn't happening in that area yet. In my opinion the appearance of mobile OS ports in the next 6 months is what will make or break the engine's future.

#51 @Monkeychops
I'm said Flexibility,not only C# library,but any library(LUA,Python,etc).
Need easy system for add and delet any a component.
I'm think it's realize at two points:
1)Level sourse (CMAKE-style)
2)Level project (VisualStudio or similar)(it's better)
But essential has docs,with delal instructions(Howto) about attach required
librares,projects and other.
I'm against hard binding with smth.(but default TorqueScript tidy and quickly, simply not expland).
Generally line for develop Torque it's MODULARITY and FLEXIBILITY.
@Dave Wyand
I'm find at forum many interestig ideas(and codes too).Are you add it into Torque project or not?(If yes need make markes into thread
like "It's add to project".)

#52 Adding Lua integration will expand developer community around Torque3D and I think innovation, it's an excellent scripting language and realy fast and small.

#53 @Griagg,
You know that there is already a very good C# solution from WinterLeaf right? It is called DotNetTorque.

You also know there is already a Python solution right? It is called ScriptT3D and uses SWIG. SWIG BTW supports LUA so with some work the ScripT3D solution could support LUA. I have no current interest in LUA, but would be happy to answer any questions if someone wanted to pursue that.

There is also a person working on a component system. Search the forums.

@Yasser,
See my comment about LUA.

It is up to the community in cooperation with the Torque Steering Committee to decide what goes into each version of T3D.

You can find links to the various things I mentioned here.