Torque X 3D Update

Development is wrapping up with Torque X 3D as we start preparing for the next release. That means getting final bug fixes in, preparing installers, and lots of testing. Here's a quick update with what's going on in the world of Torque X 3D. I'll post a similar writeup relating to Torque X 2D soon.

Xbox Live Avatars

Xbox Live Avatar support is available in Xbox 360 games only, not Windows, (a limitation that Microsoft has imposed). Unfortunately, that make's it a bit of a hassle to take quick screen captures to share. But, soon your games can render a players own avatar, or dynamically create a random male or female avatar, as part of the 3D scene. However, you're not able design or customize your own avatar on-the-fly, another Microsoft limitation.

3D Billboards

Billboards are a fast ans efficient way to add more life to a 3D scene. Each billboard is just 2 polygons that always turn to face the camera. Billboards are now supported with a new rendering component, called T3DBillboardRenderComponent. You provide the transparent .png image and the engine does the rest. If you want to quickly add a lot of life to a 3D scene, you can simply use the new XTerrainBillboards game object, provide a single billboard template, and then set some parameters, such as Distance and Quantity. The new game object will randomly create instances of the billboard, scatter then around randomly, and then snap them to the terrain.

Randomly scattered plant billboards can add life to a 3D scene.

Projecting Terrain Decals

Here's a preview of a new component, T3DTerrainDecalComponent, that renders a decal to the terrain under the owning TorqueObject. The component attaches to any TorqueObject and projects a graphic that you choose to the terrain below it. In this example, it serves as a simple compass that remains fixed below the player. There are currently some painting issues that are being worked on, as you can see in the video.

Early look at the terrain decal painter.

New 3D Editor Update

The new 3D editor is coming along well. For those that missed the last update, we are currently working with the existing Torque 3D editor, adding new support for components, interacting with Visual Studio, and reading/writing Torque X scene file. It's a win for everyone: one less editor for us to maintain, a great 3D scene building experience for developers, and level designers can easily move between projects that are based on Torque 3D and Torque X 3D. Even better, this also means that Torque X will be getting a lot of new feautes, such as terrain editing and painting. Lightmapping is also supported; when models are added to the scene and cast shadows to the terrain, those shadows can also appear in your game. Overall, the new editor is easier to use and will step up the quality of your Torque X games. The new 3D editor won't be finished in time for the next release 3.2.1 and I don't want to wait until the April release to get it out. So, we're likely to have an interim release in between.

Preview of the new Torque X 3D editor.

XNA Game Competition is on...

The next Dream-Build-Play game competition is on. Time to take your cool Xbox 360 game ideas, build them out, and enter them to win some serious cash and possibly a publishing deal. Games can be submitted from January 19th thru March 3, 2010. And of course, Torque X games are eligible for entry.

For more information about the Torque X game engine and making games for Xbox 360, visit the Torque X product page.
Torque X 3D Engine Details
Torque X 2D Engine Details

Well, it's time to get back to work. There's a lot of coding and testing left to be done before release. We're just a week away from turning over the next release to the Beta testers, and then on to the public release of 3.2.1.

John K.