Torque X Engine 3.0 Launches

The wait is over. Torque X 3.0 is now available with new features and new opportunities for XNA game developers. There are many new enhancements to the Torque X engine to better help you create and sell games for Windows and Xbox 360. Here's an overview of what's new for Torque X 3.0.

Torque X 3.0 Features

2D/3D Engine Division
Previously, Torque X 2D and 3D services had been coupled within one single .NET assembly, leaving it up to the game developer to ship large amounts of compiled code that had nothing to do with their game. Now, Torque X has been separated into two streamlined engines that focus exclusively on rendering 2D or 3D with a shared common codebase. This results in faster game code and less extra code bloat shipped with your game.

Torque X 3D Builder
No more manually creating 3D scenes in straight XML. Torque X 3.0 now has a 3D level designer that can import art assets into your game project, position them within the scene, add/remove components, and write out the XML. The 3D Builder will cut hours out of level design.

Support for fully skinned DTS models
Previous versions of Torque X lacked support for skinned DTS shapes, so only a handful of DTS shapes would render. Now, all skinned DTS shapes properly load, render, and animate and have been checked against most (but not all) GarageGames content packs.

Support for XNA 3.0
XNA 3.0 offers a lot of great new features, including: sound effects API, game trial mode, rich presence, game invitations, networking improvements, graphics improvements, and new math helpers. XNA 3.0 also automatically compresses and decompresses content, resulting in a smaller footprint and faster load times.

Support for Visual C# Express 2008 and Visual Studio 2008
XNA 3.0 is also based on the 2008 series of the Visual Studio tools. New language features include: query expressions, extension methods, lambda expressions, expression trees, and partial methods. Excellent language additions to help streamline your game project.

Clean Deployment to Xbox 360
Torque X 3.0 also has a smoother Xbox 360 deployment flow. Using Visual Studio's built-in Xbox 360 project converter, you can quickly create an Xbox version of your game and deploy it via XNA connect.

Exposed Engine Classes
In previous releases many internal engine classes were marked sealed or internal to squeeze a bit more performance out of the engine. The downside was that these useful engine classes were inaccessible to game code. Now, many of these classes are exposed externally for you to tap into.

Create Xbox LIVE Community Games
The best part about Torque X 3.0 is that you can now create games that target XNA 3.0 and start creating Xbox LIVE Community Games. As I've mentioned earlier, Community Games are a way to sell your Xbox 360 games to Xbox LIVE subscribers.

Upgrading Your Game Project

Upgrading your game project from Torque X 2.0 to 3.0 should be a snap. There are no changes to the scene data format and every effort was made to ensure that public interfaces were unchanged. All you need to do is upgrade your computer to Visual C# Express 2008 or Visual Studio 2008 and then upgrade to XNA 3.0 and Torque X 3.0.

Next, start Visual Studio and open your game project. The project upgrader will automatically start. Accept all options and continue to the end of the upgrade wizard. Once the upgrade completes, make sure you change your project's references to point to the new Torque X 3.0.0.0 assembly. Then, rebuild and run your game project.

Torque X in Action

There are a lot of great game projects under way with Torque X. At the 2009 Game Developer Conference, GarageGames featured Box Macabre from Perfect Dork Studios. This clever 3D platformer won a lot of attention at the conference and I was thrilled to meet with the developers.

Solicheck is still selling well in several countries as (I believe) the very first Torque X game released into Xbox LIVE Community Games. A sequel with new graphics and gameplay is right around the corner, coming as a free upgrade to those who have already purchased the original game.

AirSpace is a fast-paced, arcade-style game that puts you in the cockpit of modern fighter planes in an around-the-world campaign to repel an alien invasion. The game was built completely on Torque X 3D and extends the engine with new game objects and shader effects. It's expected to launch on Xbox Live Community Games platform this summer.

Last Straw Productions is also making great progress with their RTS Kit for Torque X, empowering game developers to create a new wave of real-time strategy games for the Xbox 360.

Fluid Images is working on Robot Revolution, a fast action 3D game featuring fighting robots. Built with Torque X 3D, this game highlites amazing motion-captured animation, effective scene lighting, and energetic audio.

What's on the Horizon for Torque X

XNA 3.1 Support
XNA 3.1 has been announced for this Spring and we're already looking into how Torque X is going to incorporate those features. The new XNA is promising easier content creation, more Xbox LIVE functionality, and full use of the Xbox Avatars as animated FBX models. My personal favorite is the support for video on the Xbox 360, so look for some cool rendered cut-scenes in my next game ;) Torque X is planning a maintenance 3.1 release around the same time to maintain compatibility with XNA, fix some bugs, and improve the tools a bit.

Online Video Sessions
Looking for more instructional material on Torque X? I'm already deep into production with new online video tutorials that range from getting started with Torque X to implementing useful game features. The online Web videos will serve as an additional free resource for learning Torque X best practices. More details are coming soon...

Get Your Game On

Lastly, Microsoft has launched the Dream-Build-Play 2009 Game Competition. You can get started right now with Torque X 3.0 and XNA 3.0 to take your game idea and bring it to the Xbox 360 by August 6, 2009 to win big cash and possibly an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract. It would be exciting to see a Torque X 3.0 game place as a finalist. Good Luck!

And there we have it. We're very excited about Torque X 3.o and what it brings to game developers. We're already marching forward with the next release with more improvements and features in mind. I'll be on the Torque X 2D/3D forums ansering a ton of detailed questions. So, stop reading this and start downloading the Free Torque X Binary.

John K.