I'm Not Grasping The Basic Concept...
by Michael Hense · in Torque Game Engine · 06/07/2002 (2:50 pm) · 7 replies
... of what game development with the Torque Engine is all about...
... bear with me for a second.
OK, here's what I kinda expected (based on past experience with Allegro, PLIB, Crystal Space)...
A class library from where I could subclass new objects such as CWorld, CTerrain, CNode, CPlayer, etc from which to build a 3d game from.
Id start up my C++ compiler, and instantiate a new CWorld that included a Terrain object (derived from CTerrain), a Player (derived from CPlayer), etc... etc...
Then I would overide existing methods to add customized behaviors, and then tie em in with some sorta event handler to do things while the game was running.
Then I would initilaize the whole thing and off I'd go seeking out monsters or whatever to blast into smitherenes... letting the Game engine handle the chores of quaternion calculations, scenegraph management, etc...
... but judging from what I've read so far, this is not what Torque is all about.
Now I know that I'm really lost here, and maybe I'm missing the basic concepts that need to be understood before I can start using Torque.
Hey, don't get me wrong... if judging from the responsiveness of everyone here as an indicator, I think that I am in a good place. I did notice that JEff and many others are pumping out Torque 101 docs as fast as I can request em :) and I do appreciate the effort.
Its just that all I see so far is a disconnected bunch of references (with the exception of the uml scripting docs someone is working on) that leaves me wondering around in a fog.
The Getting started docs that were just posted talks about making a minor change to an already written script, but never puts anything into prospective.
Then it goes off into the realms of modeling apps, leaving me just as confused as before I read em...
Player.cs great... but where did it come from... where does it fit into the whole Torque Engine Framework????
(The Torque Framework... that's what needs to be explained).
Hey... like I said, maybe I'm out in left field here.. maybe developing with Torque is not like I envisioned above at all.
Can anyone just put together a simple Torque app that opens a window and puts up a spinning cube (textured or not) with a few comments (sorta like the NeHe tutorials).
Nothing fancy... just a few lines of code, like a hello world type thingee.
That would go a long way towards helping me see where I'm at here.
Thanks (for being so patient)
--Mike
... bear with me for a second.
OK, here's what I kinda expected (based on past experience with Allegro, PLIB, Crystal Space)...
A class library from where I could subclass new objects such as CWorld, CTerrain, CNode, CPlayer, etc from which to build a 3d game from.
Id start up my C++ compiler, and instantiate a new CWorld that included a Terrain object (derived from CTerrain), a Player (derived from CPlayer), etc... etc...
Then I would overide existing methods to add customized behaviors, and then tie em in with some sorta event handler to do things while the game was running.
Then I would initilaize the whole thing and off I'd go seeking out monsters or whatever to blast into smitherenes... letting the Game engine handle the chores of quaternion calculations, scenegraph management, etc...
... but judging from what I've read so far, this is not what Torque is all about.
Now I know that I'm really lost here, and maybe I'm missing the basic concepts that need to be understood before I can start using Torque.
Hey, don't get me wrong... if judging from the responsiveness of everyone here as an indicator, I think that I am in a good place. I did notice that JEff and many others are pumping out Torque 101 docs as fast as I can request em :) and I do appreciate the effort.
Its just that all I see so far is a disconnected bunch of references (with the exception of the uml scripting docs someone is working on) that leaves me wondering around in a fog.
The Getting started docs that were just posted talks about making a minor change to an already written script, but never puts anything into prospective.
Then it goes off into the realms of modeling apps, leaving me just as confused as before I read em...
Player.cs great... but where did it come from... where does it fit into the whole Torque Engine Framework????
(The Torque Framework... that's what needs to be explained).
Hey... like I said, maybe I'm out in left field here.. maybe developing with Torque is not like I envisioned above at all.
Can anyone just put together a simple Torque app that opens a window and puts up a spinning cube (textured or not) with a few comments (sorta like the NeHe tutorials).
Nothing fancy... just a few lines of code, like a hello world type thingee.
That would go a long way towards helping me see where I'm at here.
Thanks (for being so patient)
--Mike
#2
So, if i wanted to make a submarine simulation where a player (or mulitplayers) could operate the controls of a sub (first person inside the sub) and shoot at enemy vessels, and have enemy vessels shoot back at them, see other ships from a periscope, and have an external view, would you say that Torque is suited to developing such a game???
--Mike
06/07/2002 (3:29 pm)
Thanks Mike... So, if i wanted to make a submarine simulation where a player (or mulitplayers) could operate the controls of a sub (first person inside the sub) and shoot at enemy vessels, and have enemy vessels shoot back at them, see other ships from a periscope, and have an external view, would you say that Torque is suited to developing such a game???
--Mike
#3
torque is a very flexible engine, and you can create just about any kind of game with it. Some will require more work than others, of course, but that goes without saying.
06/07/2002 (3:47 pm)
Absolutely.torque is a very flexible engine, and you can create just about any kind of game with it. Some will require more work than others, of course, but that goes without saying.
#4
Very little of what you are calling the "game" is actually in the C++ code.
The scripts are what make up the "game".
In this respect TGE is probably one of the most sophisticated "engines" on the market.
for example the only thing that makes RealmWars "RealmWars" right now is the models, sound effects and missions/maps.
In the future I am sure it will evolve to a more sophisticated game with specific game play features, most of which will probably be script based, some of which might need corresponding C++ code added.
You could probably write your submarine game in nothing but script if it is not extremely reliant on features that the default objects support. Then subclassing the correct objects and creating new functionality is not hard, but it is also not trival either, at least not until you "get it".
06/07/2002 (3:53 pm)
TGE is "suited" for any genre/type of game, understanding the idioms that it uses to implement the engine is not a simple task.Very little of what you are calling the "game" is actually in the C++ code.
The scripts are what make up the "game".
In this respect TGE is probably one of the most sophisticated "engines" on the market.
for example the only thing that makes RealmWars "RealmWars" right now is the models, sound effects and missions/maps.
In the future I am sure it will evolve to a more sophisticated game with specific game play features, most of which will probably be script based, some of which might need corresponding C++ code added.
You could probably write your submarine game in nothing but script if it is not extremely reliant on features that the default objects support. Then subclassing the correct objects and creating new functionality is not hard, but it is also not trival either, at least not until you "get it".
#5
Thanks Jerremy and Jarrod...
OK, it looks as if I was approaching this the wrong way...
I guess I got a lil book learnin' ahead of me..
Thanks Again Guys
--Mike
06/07/2002 (4:17 pm)
Ok... Great!!!Thanks Jerremy and Jarrod...
OK, it looks as if I was approaching this the wrong way...
I guess I got a lil book learnin' ahead of me..
Thanks Again Guys
--Mike
#6
1. Make a 3D sub shape using Milkshape. Make some terains that look like the bottom of the sea. Cover the entire terrain with water.
2. Look into Tim's new vehicle code and read every tutorial and forum post you can find regarding the vehicles. Keep in mind some of this is Beta code and it will take research and hard work to get it going.
3. Use the vehicle code to power your sub.
4. Use the GUI builder to create the different maps, and control screens.
By now you will have a much better grasp of how the Torque works and you can delve more into the C++ code if you find you need to extend what can be done in script.
This is the way we would use the TGE to create a submarine game. I think you are looking at too low of a level I can see that you are trying to understand the engine before you get started, but it may not be possible. There is a great system here, and the more you use it, the more you will understand it.
Over time, I hope this process becomes easier, but for right now, this is the only approach I can think of.
Jeff Tunnell GG
06/07/2002 (4:24 pm)
Your could have a very nice, multi-player sub simulation up in a short period of time. I'm not a programmer, but I thought about how I would do it, then verified it with Tim, Rick, and Mark. This approach is very similar to the way the students at Full Sail made their ship fighting game. It is all done in script and editors.1. Make a 3D sub shape using Milkshape. Make some terains that look like the bottom of the sea. Cover the entire terrain with water.
2. Look into Tim's new vehicle code and read every tutorial and forum post you can find regarding the vehicles. Keep in mind some of this is Beta code and it will take research and hard work to get it going.
3. Use the vehicle code to power your sub.
4. Use the GUI builder to create the different maps, and control screens.
By now you will have a much better grasp of how the Torque works and you can delve more into the C++ code if you find you need to extend what can be done in script.
This is the way we would use the TGE to create a submarine game. I think you are looking at too low of a level I can see that you are trying to understand the engine before you get started, but it may not be possible. There is a great system here, and the more you use it, the more you will understand it.
Over time, I hope this process becomes easier, but for right now, this is the only approach I can think of.
Jeff Tunnell GG
#7
06/07/2002 (6:30 pm)
One thing that's on my TODO list is to be able to emulate larger vehicles (originally for spaceships, but could be used for subs or regular ships) by using the appropriate control stations inside a standalone interior. This way you can run around inside the ship as well ;) 
Torque Owner Mike Stoddart
So it's up to you to take the basic game framework, and extend, modify and remove to your hearts content.
I'm sure you've checked out the features of the engine already so I won't list them.
To learn what player.cs does you should really read any documentation and forum posts. Also, get hold of Tribal IDE and look through the example program scripts to get familiar with them.
I'm sure someone else can explain it better than me. I'm not doing too good a job helping!