Some questions
by Paul Jack · in Torque Game Engine · 01/03/2007 (11:27 pm) · 2 replies
QUESTION #1
I want to make a Maniac Mansion-esque game using torque, but with more cinematic camera angles and so on. To do so, I'd want to eliminate the first-person camera. I've seen some articles on TDN about modifying the game engine C++ to support third-party applications, but I'd rather not mess with C++, as the rest of my game won't really require any engine modifications.
Question #1 is: Can I put in a third-person camera just using TorqueScript? More specifically, it would be great if I could animate the camera separate from the player character, just using TorqueScript.
QUESTION #2
Is it possible to somehow estimate how well a particular game will perform on a given platform? Eg, does Torque provide tools that estimate polygon count for a mission and so on? I'm having difficulties determining how much "stuff" I can fit into a level before performance starts to drag. Even "rules of thumb" from seasoned game developers would be helpful for me.
QUESTION #3
This is related to #2, but relates specifically to interiors. Let's say I have a castle level or something. The castle consists of rooms, and the rooms are separated by doors. When the doors are closed, you can't see from one room into another. The doors magically open and close as a player moves through them.
In that environment, is Torque smart enough to not consider all the brushes/faces and things except for the room the player currently occupies? It would be useful to design the entire castle as just 1 .DIF file, but if the extra rooms are going to cause performance to lag then obviously I'll partition things.
From what I've read, it seems possible for one .DIF file to contain multiple "interior regions", am I on track here?
QUESTION #4
I think I read that .cs files compile into "PCODE" -- is this the same P-Code described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-Code
...because if so, cool. :)
TIA,
-Paul
I want to make a Maniac Mansion-esque game using torque, but with more cinematic camera angles and so on. To do so, I'd want to eliminate the first-person camera. I've seen some articles on TDN about modifying the game engine C++ to support third-party applications, but I'd rather not mess with C++, as the rest of my game won't really require any engine modifications.
Question #1 is: Can I put in a third-person camera just using TorqueScript? More specifically, it would be great if I could animate the camera separate from the player character, just using TorqueScript.
QUESTION #2
Is it possible to somehow estimate how well a particular game will perform on a given platform? Eg, does Torque provide tools that estimate polygon count for a mission and so on? I'm having difficulties determining how much "stuff" I can fit into a level before performance starts to drag. Even "rules of thumb" from seasoned game developers would be helpful for me.
QUESTION #3
This is related to #2, but relates specifically to interiors. Let's say I have a castle level or something. The castle consists of rooms, and the rooms are separated by doors. When the doors are closed, you can't see from one room into another. The doors magically open and close as a player moves through them.
In that environment, is Torque smart enough to not consider all the brushes/faces and things except for the room the player currently occupies? It would be useful to design the entire castle as just 1 .DIF file, but if the extra rooms are going to cause performance to lag then obviously I'll partition things.
From what I've read, it seems possible for one .DIF file to contain multiple "interior regions", am I on track here?
QUESTION #4
I think I read that .cs files compile into "PCODE" -- is this the same P-Code described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-Code
...because if so, cool. :)
TIA,
-Paul
About the author
#2
#1) Could you point me to any TorqueScript code that creates these additional cameras? Everything I've tried so far doesn't seem to work.
Regarding my hesitation regarding the engine: It's just I haven't coded C++ for a decade so I'm a little wary. Also, altering the engine seems like it would make cross-platform deployments more difficult.
I did check out Adventure Kit, but it's for Torque Game Builder, not the Torque Engine SDK.
#2) Well, I just want to be sure my game will run nicely on older machines. My rig's only a few months old. So I'm worried I'll pile too much in and it won't degrade nicely on old hardware. I was looking for a magical "X polygons per megahertz" or something, which is probably unrealistic since there's so many factors to consider.
Really I should just find a friend with an older machine and integrated graphics and see how well my game does that way. Never mind...
#3) Thanks! Nice to know I'm not COMPLETELY clueless...
#4) Just a curiosity, I remember playing with P-CODE compilers back in the day, thinking "Wow THIS will never go anywhere..."
Thanks again,
-Paul
01/05/2007 (12:25 pm)
Thanks for the reply.#1) Could you point me to any TorqueScript code that creates these additional cameras? Everything I've tried so far doesn't seem to work.
Regarding my hesitation regarding the engine: It's just I haven't coded C++ for a decade so I'm a little wary. Also, altering the engine seems like it would make cross-platform deployments more difficult.
I did check out Adventure Kit, but it's for Torque Game Builder, not the Torque Engine SDK.
#2) Well, I just want to be sure my game will run nicely on older machines. My rig's only a few months old. So I'm worried I'll pile too much in and it won't degrade nicely on old hardware. I was looking for a magical "X polygons per megahertz" or something, which is probably unrealistic since there's so many factors to consider.
Really I should just find a friend with an older machine and integrated graphics and see how well my game does that way. Never mind...
#3) Thanks! Nice to know I'm not COMPLETELY clueless...
#4) Just a curiosity, I remember playing with P-CODE compilers back in the day, thinking "Wow THIS will never go anywhere..."
Thanks again,
-Paul
Employee Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus
1) It is possible to make a Maniac Mansion-esque game using torque. There are tons of camera resources, and you can certainly do a great deal with custom camera control using just the script. Without modifying the engine code, you can create additional cameras that are static, follow the player, or move on their own path.
I'll throw in my opinion on one thing though: attempting to develop a game using Torque without ever touching engine code might prove difficult. TS (TorqueScript) is very flexible, easy to learn, and allows for you to mod existing starter kits to your liking. However, to take full advantage of the power that the engine provides, and to create a more customized game genre (like MM), I recommend leaving your mind open to future source code changes, or investing in a starter kit such as Adventure Kit
2) This question is difficult for me to answer. Maybe if you list the platform you are targeting, and an example of the "stuff" you want to implement, I could help further. The easiest way to find this out is to just stress test your build and target platform. TGE 1.5's Stronghold mission is great for this kind of thing.
3) You are on track. Interiors can be separated by zones if you use portal brushes. So, it sounds like the interiors in Torque perform the way you want them to.
4) No clue on this, sorry. Maybe someone else can comment on this.