Torque Game Engine also open-source and free?

#1 No, TGE is not open source. We're considering it as a possibility, but if it were to happen it could only be the 1.4.x branch. 1.5 has too much licensed code to make it an open source candidate.

#2 It doesn't matter if one of the 1.4.x series would be open source and free. Because I've been playing older games that are using Torque Game Engine 1.0.3 that makes the game very easy to edit stuff or make maps. TGE 1.4.x is a great awesome engine for beginners.

#3 I disagree personally. TGE might be good for beginners in the sense that it runs easily on low end hardware, but the tools and pipeline in T3D are far easier to work with than TGE ever was.

#4 I Agree with Scott. The same ease of creating maps and editing stuff is still there, but it's even easier in T3D. As far as the Tools and asset pipeline goes, TGE is so limiting once you've experienced T3D -- not to mention a whole list of other improvements and fixes that make T3D even better!

The only real compelling reason(s) for TGE anymore are the aforementioned lower end hardware requirements and the 3 platform (Win, Linux, OSX) support. Already there is dedicated Linux support available for MIT T3D in a fork on Github, the Community Edition is also wrapping up the Mac port -- as well as enabling OpenGL in Windows for T3D. With moderate optimization several of us have T3D running on older hardware that doesn't even meet the minimum recommended specs for T3D! So those reasons are quickly becoming irrelevant.

#5 TGE has issues with class dependencies that were fixed in T3D. TGE is such that you have to use ShapeBase or rewrite portions of the code. In fact a ton of stuff was fixed in T3D.

#6 Thanks for all the information. Does Torque Constructor still work for T3D?

#7 An InteriorObject will still work in T3D, but you really wouldn't want to use them 'as is'. It is a dying/dead format that does have a performance cost in T3D's more modern rendering engine. You can export a DIF from within T3D to the Collada (DAE) format.

#8 Confusing...but anything downloaded from the git is freely usable? How to release a commercial game? Only give the link to the GIT mentioning that the core engine is MIT licensed?

#9 @michael
Releasing a game is no different now that T3D is under MIT than it was before that. Develop your game using the engine and release by whatever publishing path you choose. The publishing paths you choose will dictate the how of releasing your game more than anything. Each distribution portal has it's own requirements and processes to follow.

Or was your question more about how to use the engine itself?

#10 If I understand MIT correctly, I can do whatever I want with anything in that download. (code, artwork everything)
If I'm wrong let me know about any restrictions. Thanks

#11 Yup. You can use it to your heart's content. We were initially going to include all artwork and documentation under Creative Commons Attribution Unported 3 license which shares that same spirit as the MIT license, but wanted to avoid license confusion. Considering how many questions people have already about MIT, it would have really muddied the waters!