Scripting Tutorials

#1 There aren't really any good ones yet. I'm still waiting, though I have tinkered with the ones that come with the demos. I'd recommend getting a sheet of paper and creating a tree plan of all the script files before tinkering with them as this will help your understanding of the script heirarchy and what each of the scripts do immensely.

#2 *Evil Grin* "Make me an offer!"
J/K I'm just waiting to see public response to the intial tourniquet guide, if there's enough request I might follow up with a scripting guide

#3 I've only just gone through your tourniquet manual, and unfortunately, I think I've just superseded what it teaches by mere days. If I'd had it a month ago, it would have been a great help.

As for a scripting manual, take a look at conitecs manual for their A6 Game Maker ( http://www.conitec.net/a4info.htm ). It starts with a decent tutorial on making a simple game complete with items, doors, lights, usable character etc, then moves on to a catagorised script reference based on probable usage as opposed to Torques outright alphabetical mess. If Torques had a manual of this callibre, games would be streaming out of the community at a much quicker rate.

As for an offer, I could give you server space (would 1Gb be enough?), a website (http://www.designrealm.co.uk/clients/websites.php for examples) and all the backup you like. I'll even go as far as to work to building simple scripts for things like rotating powerups or opening doors etc for inclusion in the tutorial. If that's a good enough offer, then we're in business. :)

#4 I would LOVE to see a scripting tutorial from devon(since the tourniquet beta was so much of a help). i say that there was a section 8 named scritping but you never put anything there. are you planning to?

#5 *Evil Grin*
Lee, yes that may very well do ;)

#6 If you havnt looked at it already I suggest looking at my scripting tutorial which is a group of several tutorials covering most of the issues beginner scripters encounter.

tork.zenkel.com/_tutorials/Coding-Scripting/General/TorqueScriptingTutorials.php

#7 I totally agree with Lee. Conitec made an outstanding tutorial. It is very short, easy to do, once finished, a small game is what one ends up with. After paying $100 for Torque, and having problems trying to find a tutorial like the one for 3D GameStudio, and now seeing so many complaints about good material to learn from, I feel RIPPED OFF, I wish I could get my money back. Crystal Space and Truevision is what I should have gone with instead.

#8 Fred... For what you get for $100, its a fucker of a good deal.

And i do believe Devon's writing a *big* tutorial (i think is big)

#9 Well I hope that I am wrong, and I hope to see more tutorials. What I expect from a game engine starting point is the good old "Hello World." Then slowly progess from there to putting simple objects on screen, and doing simple things like rotating them. Afterwards, bring on the more difficult things. It seems like Torque is more like buying Unreal or Quake then by using scripts, new models, textures, and so on... to change the look and feel somewhat. I guess if I strip out every bit of the screens for the demo game I can end up with something as if I were using a C compiler, writing my own code, and making function calls to the 3D SDK???? You guys that have more experience with Torque, can this be done?

#10 Torque isn't a 3d sdk, it's a game engine.

If you want a rendering engine, OGRE might be a good thing to look into...

#11 Fred:
that is Exactly what you should do..
simply modify change all the startup scripts to suit your needs.
once you modify each screen, you will have you own unique environment... from there the insertion of objects and such are just as you describe...
if you really need to do the hello world thing you can do that with the gui.. make it your main intro :)

from there with your empty scene you can begin to instantiate world objects.

you can do all kinds of things in the script to represent your rotation's and movement.


And Fred.. no more Banter about being ripped off and comparing this to those others.. they are nothing alike.

this is closer to the metal.. and for that its more work to get to the paint stage.

but realize being at this level allows for Maximum flexibility
non of the ones you mentioned can come close to the ability provided here.

#12 Ben on http://www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=1 right at the top of the page it states:

Torque Game Engine SDK $100.00 USD
Thank you for your purchase.
- Limit 1 per customer.

Then in a later paragraph it is titled as a game engine.

#13 I guess I'm not sure I see what you're trying to say... "Torque Game Engine SDK $100.00 USD... game engine."

It is most definitely a game engine. It's a software development kit, too, as it is something you use to develop software.

A "3d sdk" would be OpenGL, SGI's Performer, Direct3D, OGRE, etc... Torque is dramatically different than these things. It is not an API for you to program against. It is a codebase you work on to get what you want.

Torque is a exactly like what you get if you purchase a license to Quake or Unreal - you get all the source code, all the scripts, all the assets that are in the demo, everything.

There's a reason that most game development on Quake and Unreal resembles mod development; it's the same reason that most Torque games are going to use the same basic core codebase. Most games have very similar requirements!

Badguy is exactly right. Torque is gives you more power, but at a cost in time.

#14 Torque is not a 3D SDK, its a game engine, theres a difference. Anyway, changes can be made to the engine if thats what your asking Fred. Although, game specific changes are much more easily implemented by the script. I would recommend only touching the engine if you want added functionality to the engine, for example a hand to hand combat system. Otherwise, the engine is best used by being manipulated in script. Find the tutorial on script call order and follow through each file until you understand how the script works. Then try to make changes, see what happens. Then follow some more tutorials, then some more, and some more. Once you get scripting down, see how things trace back into the engine, and try to understand console methods. Read the Tourniquest Guide, and play with the world editor.

The problem with Torque is thats its so huge, its hard to have a single tutorial explaining everything. There are many small tuts on the site, and i suggest doing as many as you can without going crazy. The more experience messing with Torque, you will understand it more and more. Also don't be afraid to post questions on the forums and go into IRC for help. Best of luck.

#15 I think this topic has moved from its current objective. I think the main point is that we need scripting tutorials. Devon Ly has produced fantastic GUI tutorials that get you right into using the GUI, now we need to learn more about the Torque C Script. From then, maybe tutorials into the actual Torque source editing might be possible (though that doesn't sound likely), but C Script tutorials shouldn't be too tough - just time consuming. We already have an alphabetised document of all the functions... Lets see some examples of their usage!

Laz

#16 Well, read the scripting engine part in the official GG documentation and read Daniel's tutorials, there really isn't much more to know.

#17 I disagree. I have already read those tutorials and understand them fully, but there just seems to be a lack of any direction. It's one thing to know how the language works, but another to know how to put it into action.

For example... I've read all the scripts that come with the demo, understand how they work and how the language works, but if I want to do anything other than whats there, I need to sift through the entire alphabetised documents and pick out bits I think are relevant. Thats an awful lot of code, though. What I would prefer, and many many people feel the same, is if we had another version of that alphabetised function list that instead groups those functions via purpose (for want of another word instead of function ;) ) So, I might have chapters displaying all code for vectors, object manipulation, texture manipulation, lighting, particles, lan connections, physics etc etc and at the end of each chapter, or function, might be an example of their usage.

Now, that is what would allow people to learn it quicker!!! Who else agrees with me? Who else feels this would give them a huge boost into the workings of Torque?

Laz

#18 Sure, that would be helpful... but that's a lot of work for anybody who does that... but anyways, the script is only providing access to the engine, so if you know what the engine does you know what you have to do it in script... you can list all the exposed functions and stuff with tools like consoledoc, e.g., but you are talking about writing a "how-to" book for Torque, edited and grouped by chapters... I doubt anybody will do this "for fun"... but if you pay me for the time I can do it if ya want ;)

#19 The trick with a "how to book" is how to make it work with the next version of torque. There are tutorials from earilier this year that need tweeking when I place them in the current release version. Not sure of the scope of what this book would talk about, but thats something to keep in mind.

#20 @ Fred, Lee, and all othe A6 users:

I lust wanted to say that I came here from the (then A5) community.

You are correct, the tutorials and documentation for A5/ 6 is outstanding, though it is easier to track changes when you have 1 or 2 people with access to the engine core - i.e. source code.

Torque has really become a community endeavor, and as such you can bet that there are easily 100's of modifications to it, writeen by many different individuals - tracking this kind of development is a different beast entirely.

I sympathise with you regrading the lack of scripting tutorials, and would encourage to simply grab as amny demos and tutorials that include script files as you can - perusing these has given me the understanding that I have needed in order to properly manipulate the syntax.

In the end, you will find that A6 was MUCH more user friendly, though the results you'll get from Torque, both aesthetically and with regards to overall performance, are more "current" than that provided by the A5/ 6 engine. (Meaning no disrespect - I loved A5).

Don't give up, and don't feel ripped off - you got source code for crying out loud, that's unprecedented outside of the "open source" community!

Cheers and happy coding~ =)