Tutorial request thread

#1 I moved this to the Torque 3D public forum so that users who have downloaded the Demo and are working through the documentation and engine can also provide input. It is important to know what Torque 3D and Torque 3D Professional users want, but it is also a good idea to hear what new users who haven't settled desire.

Also, thanks for creating the topic! I can't wait to see what people want. The core documentation topic was getting huge and we can get a good idea of what people want in terms of tutorials versus core documentation.

#2 I'd like to know all about animation. From importing to setting up a new character. It doesn't have to be specific for a gametype, a tutorial on one npc going from point A to B, with all custom animation & voicesets and set up would be nice. At least the official documents can refer: "this part of the older documents are still valid for torque3d". At the moment I can't find any official doc on character animation.

Or even a simple guide like "this is how we imported gideon into the engine and set him up" type of article would do well.

#3 RPG Tutorial Suggestions from J.

#4 I have posted links to both tutorial suggestions in the exact spot I need them to be: Official Documentation Feedback Thread. I kind of like having tutorial suggestions as separate threads, so long as you post a link to them in the official feedback thread.

#5 I think for every editor in T3d there should be at least a basic step by step tutorial, doing something it is designed for, it doesnt need to be complicated but it could help at least as a starting point. For example, there should be a tutorial for creating a new datablock using the datablock editor, it would be also cool for setting up an animated shape with the shape editor, etc. Most of the primary world builder stuff is already in the documentation, but as well as setting up tutorials for scripts, lets also put together some tutorials which cover the basic operations of the editor.

Maybe even combine it all into one large editor, i remember vaguely when i started with tge way back when there had been a basic game tutorial which went through collecting torque logos on a terrain, that was very useful for a starting point perhaps something similar for t3d which at least covers something of each of the editors

Also as far as tutorials go I would love some more tutorials/documentation on physx, (now that nvidia finally let me reactivate) the breakable object stuff is great but now someething on say soft body physics would be great, or just setting an objects specific physical properties through script would be great....well thats my two cents :)

#6 I would like to see little tutorials on:

- cutscenes creation with the camera options available now.

- mounting and unmounting objects on players and players on vehicles.

#7 1. Melee, melee, melee, melee
2. I second cutscene creation with camera options
3. Info on the current inventory system, after so many years with TGE I'm still not sure on everything I can do with that one.
4. EVERY GUI element being used, not just saying what I can do with it, took me forever with TGE to figure out how to add text and text files to certain GUIText elements.
5. I also second a demonstration tutorial for any and all editors, too much with TGE pertaining to this with just a list of commands but no showing actual application.
6. Tutorial on proper game packages, speaking of thinks like GameDM, GameTDM, GameCTF. Not those specifically, but something that shows the proper activation/deactivation of game types.

#8 +1 for the RPG suggestion. As mentioned before if Torque can be shown to be good at more than just shooters then I feel it will open the eyes of lots more potential customers. The popularity of Bioware's recent games, to take just one example, shows that there is still a lot of life in this genre. Even shooters seem to be getting more and more rpg elements to add more depth and immersiveness to the gaming experience.

#9 Any tutorials where you control more than one character, or game types where you control none. Real-time and turn-based strategy, casual game clones, god games.

#10 A part for tutorial, why isn't there a reference guide? The guide of the like:

command1 option1, option2 \brief description of the command, description of the options ...

command2 option1, option2 \brief description of the command, description of the options ...

... and so on

people that now has no access to source but only scrpiting needs a reference guide!
In the manual there are some examples but not the whole command list (or better there is a small command list with usual commands: if then else for and datablock declarations and so on but not specific commands like camera commands or object manipulations, mount and unmont etc.).
Or I am looking it in the wrong way?

#11 Tutorials I'd like to see. These are all things I need to know how to do. Basically all the things you need to create a multi-player online game...I'm also willing to pay for help with most of these tasks if anyone is looking for work other than #1 which I have already contracted out.

1. How to connect to a database - MySql, MSSQL etc
2. How to create an inventory system.
3. How to create items that a player can pick up and add to inventory.
4. How to create a sign-up/log-in system.
5. How to adjust health and damage to AI and players and display.
6. How to create an auto-updater so players get a notice of updates and the ability to download them.
7. How to tie a 'throw' animation to onFire so that AI and/or players can throw items at each other.
8. How to create a melee system.
9. How to create a buddy list.
10. How to send instant messages.
11. How to create customizable characters i.e. MACK/FACK type system.
12. How to limit chat to a certain radius.
13. How to create a trading system.
14. How to create a fishing system.
15. How to create an agro system for growing plants.
16. How to create movers that players can ride.
17. Customizable base samples of players, animals etc.
18. How to create a compass. (Horizontal and/or round)
19. How to display location coordinates and elevation to players.
20. How to create maps of the level for players to pop-up.
21. How to display Frames Per Second to players.
22. How to create a Day/Night, Season, Time, Weather system.
23. How to display Game Time to player.
24. How to set-up various camera views that a player can choose from.
25. How to set-up a dedicated server.
26. How to best use models with LOD.
27. How to best use all of the various texture types available on models. (explain creation process and define each map type)
28. How to create various AI types including NPC's.
29. How to create and animate basic characters in free or cheap software. Mainly the boning and naming of bones/joints to work right in T3D.
30. How to display stats from a database in HUD.

#12 First, go Here for the T3D documentation. It has all the stuff for artists (LOD, DTS, Animation, everything)

Since the current engine and scripting documentation is lacking, I suggest digging through the internal script and engine documentation (commented lines.) You can learn everything about Items, health, damage, and inventory through those.

Fishing, Trading, and Farming are too large for a tutorial. I recommend learning the basics of the engine and how/when things are called and implement those systems where you would need.

Asking someone to develop a fishing system is like asking for a tutorial on making a game. Remember: writing/performing a tutorial takes at least 4x longer (I'm throwing that out there... could be more) than actually doing it. Depending on the complexity of the system, it could take 2-5 work days to fully implement a fishing system, and the tutorial would be 2 weeks long. No one is going to make it, and no one is going to watch 2 weeks worth of footage or read 2 weeks worth of procedures and code changes.

That being said, if you get comfortable with the engine and start to make headway on a fishing system, for example, then people here would love to help you when you get stuck. The engine assumes a basic-intermediate coding standard and is not intended to teach you basic programming techniques.

Hope this helps.

#13 I don't know, Josh did a nice job with his Gone Fishing Tute but it's so out of date now that a non-coder like me wouldn't know where to start. I guess I'm just looking for a T3D version of the MMOKit. Are we still waiting on or expecting an RPG Starter Kit from GG at some point? I suspect that would have a lot of what I need in it. The way it is now this seems to be an engine BY programmers FOR programmers.

A Forum called Tutorials organized by name would help too. Maybe a way to rate the tute.

#14 @Scot Kinney

That makes more sense, and yes I suppose the MMOKit would answer a lot of your questions.

I'm all for a Tutorials Forum, or even a very well organized Resource forum. Currently, it's hard to browse the Resource forum.

#15 How to Trigger a script from an animation trigger?

#16 I'm a long ways off from this need, but maybe a Clean-Up tutorial that shows how to take your game from an editable package, to a stand-alone publish ready game that can not be modified or edited. Just a check-list really of everything needed before the game ships.

#17 I need tutorial from Start to finish to build a game with Blank Template.

#18 I feel a little out of place here, but I just wanted to pop in and say I just found Matt Fairfax's tutorial on the workings of collision in TGE to be massively helpful for a deeper understanding of how Torque works. For anyone getting into actually modifying the engine (which is what everyone should be doing!), more stuff like that would be extremely helpful.

#19 Please Read This Thread

#20 Wrote up a quick tutorial for 3Dmax users wanting to utilize level of detail with collada. Uses the DTS Plugin for more simple node setup and exporting.

Lod Tutorial