What is the easiest kind of game to make with Torque

#1 Easiest. Well the Torque Game Engine, was first designed and made for Tribes 2. So a FPS of much the same style shouldn't be too hard to do.

But the easiest would really be to just play the starter.fps :-P. And that is what you should do at first, and start to just mod that to what sort of game your after.

#2 Its easy to say that you'll do a FPS "easy"... but that would be a lie.
A good fps requires AI, weapons inventory, Mission transition systems, and cutscene and music management... even if you're an artist and easily create content (there are content packs available in garagegames BTW), the CODE to create and weld everthing together is HELL TO MAKE.
And i'm not even placing new things that are standard to the genre nowadays, like piloting vehicle or flying. Now, about a dozen brats will flame around here saying that "IS EVERTHING ON THE RESOURCEEEES!!!", but fact is, it isn't. Every resource seems to mess up the other, so the AI code will bug the inventory code, with will bug the vehicle piloting code, with will bug AI back... is a mess. TORQUE has been created for LARGE teams of VERY skilled programmers to create a game. You will notice that there isn't a "full FPS" starter kit around here - there's a strategy game one, etc, but NOT FPS.
There's a reason why TRIBES: VENGANCE had been developed in UNREAL 2 engine. Very sad. You wanna do a FPS? Start looking for programmeres right NOW, or you will never finish your game.

#3 Well there is a starter fps, being developed by DreamGames:
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=12614

Called BFT (Battlefield Torque). But I'm sure this is a while off.

Basically saying any development is easy is a lie. Need to remember this is a game engine not a game maker.

#4 The simplest thing would be a multiplayer only deathmatch fps, you'd have to add in a couple weapons (there's not a weapons pack out) you could add another character or 2 (chracter packs available) and it wouldn't involve you having to go into the code. Just script up a little and go.
Would it be an amazing game. No it would be pretty bland but if you were looking to get something done and go wow look I did make something, you'd have that plus then you could build in little things at a time. Take the teams script add that in, take the class script add that in so people had to choose which weapon they started with.
And yes that would be easy. People look too complicated when they pick a first project. If you first project is a AAA fps with cutscenes vehicles both ground and air, massively complicated AI (the simple AI resources are very easy to get in and they do make a simple AI that will attack you when you get too close).

So a very simple multiplayer only deathmatch FPS would be the easiest to do and with the content packs you could get it up and going in a short time, it wouldn't be great and it wouldn't sell but if it's for your own fun there you go.

I won't get into my feelings of having a community that charges everytime they make a new project in this thread. Especially when they charge you almost the same cost as the engine itself

#5 Ok how hard are rst's.

#6 I assume you meant RTS's. They're as complex or as simple as you want to make them, and likewise, you will be fuming and beating your brow against the code with each cool feature you implement. Just like anything that's not "stock" to any engine.

#7 There's also a reason that TRIBES: VENGEANCE was a total flop that played nothing like a Tribes game. Trust me, with the resources that Irrational had at its disposal, they could have used any engine they wanted. They had to write a lot of custom code to make T:V behave like a tribes game on top of an engine that was really not built for large outdoor environments or action as fast paced as Tribes. They would have had to write custom AI for the movement and 3-dimensional thinking required in a jetpack-based game regardless of engine.

In all truth, they probably would have had a much easier time building the game on Torque, rather than trying to fit a square peg in a round hole - but often decisions like engine selection are more politically and business motivated than based on a smart technical analysis.

Making a AAA-quality game in any genre will require a lot of work and a fair amount of programming skill. Starter.fps and the RTS Starter Kit are great places to push off from, but going from there to something like Tribes or Warcraft 3 will take a lot of work and dedication, and yes, probably a large team of people. However, a J Sears points out, getting from those starting points to a fun multiplayer-only game with cool weapon/gameplay options is something most independent developers can do on their own.

There are a lot of resources available on the site, but for developers who really want a solid game they should be used as examples of how to write your own code and scripts. Doing so will help you become a better programmer, and understand the systems of your game and of Torque. With the exception of AI (a challenge for the best programmers), all of the features needed to build a standard FPS game are nearly trivial for someone with a baseline level of programming experience and willingness to learn the basics of the engine.

Making that game fun is another issue entirely, as that requires a good combination of game design, balance, and level design instincts.

#8 A lot of people have had troubles with the RTS kit, I don't know what if any improvements ahve been made to it I bought it and gave up on it fairly quickly.
With stock TGE a decent RTS will be a lot of work

#9 But is it possible to make a RTS without touching the code toooooo! much.

#10 Jaren, if you want to make anything outside of the scope of an FPS with Torque, you'll have to touch a lot of code ... be it C++ to implement new functionalities not currently in the engine, or TorqueScript to change the default behaviour of objects ...

For an RTS, with a 3/4 view ... you have to first change the camera angle, then ... you have to implement multiple object selection, and multiple object Path-Finding and movement controls ... that alone is a good deal of code and work ... most of which you may be able to find done for you in the Resources and the Forum Threads ...

As stated earlier in this thread, TGE was originally designed as the engine for Tribes ... as such, it has a TON of FPS Specific code in it ... it is a great starting base, as it has resource management, scene rendering management, and a built-in GUI system ... not to mention other things ... so it's a lot easier to build a game with then starting from scratch and writing all these things yourself ... and it's a lot easier to work with then say engines like OGRE, etc ... which implement a lot of things for you... but when it comes to telling it what to render, where and how ... you have to do all the hard work ... with TGE, you can develop your RTS maps in the World Builder ... with the help of Constructor (yay for free tools!) ...

#11 K thanks alot. But do I have to Memorize or learn Torque script to make a RTS. :)

#12 Make a 2D game...anything 3D is going to take A TON more work than it's 2D counterpart.

#13 You will have to be extremely proficient in Torquescript and have a very good understanding of the underlying C++ code to create a playable RTS game.

#14 So what kind of Game can I create without having to memorize Torque script!!!

#15 Perhaps First Person Shooter Maker* would be more up your alley if you do not want to do any work (and even then would will be surprised at the amount of work). Even modding in Unreal often means touching UnrealScript.

EDIT:
* FPSC come with the complete DarkBASIC source code...not that you want to touch code at all or want to memorize DarkBASIC any more than you want to learn TorqueScript.

#16 Is this just a little hobby project? Or do you actually expect to make money off this?

#17 It is just a Hobby project

#18 If you want to play around with game creation with no script interaction you might want to check out the new Behaviors system in TGB - granted, it is 2D and not specific to any one game type, but it lets you get some basic gameplay in without touching code. It is also fairly generic, so you can build a variety of very simple games with it - the disadvantage of that being that in order to create more complex games you would still have to use script.

Aside from building-block type solutions like TGB Behaviors and specific custom solutions like First Person Shooter Maker, you aren't going to get too far making games without learning basic scripting, though...

#19 Then why not use Sauerbraten? It's honed for FPS's and has some extremely intuitive level creation tools!

#20 Other engines? TORQUE has all problems, but is still the best around, sorry. There's 3Dgamestudio, if you can take the ugly graphics.
I found that Lite C in 3Dgamestudio was really easy to work with - i created a fair bit of interactions with it, some of them somehow buggy, but nonetheless i was able to do it alone.
Really, i bought torque because of THIS - forums developers. I choosed it for 3dgamestudio for a series of reasons:

The PROS:

1- Torque is beautiful - even the base render engine give cool graphics, OpenGL or direct 3D. As a 3D artist and lightining kit owner, i'll givemy word on that.
2- Torque enviromental scenario tools are THE BEST. You actually build the entire levels while playing it - eh, playing with the STANDARD FPS script. Place house, buildings, background skyes, etc, it's a snap. Every single demo of torque in garagegames focus on that - AND ONLY THAT - , then, they asks for your money.
3- Torque is CHEAP. The cheapest engine in the market, even cheaper than RPG maker. Garagegames will even consider comercializing your game online if it comes out good.
4- Great community support. People often will give you a hand, if they're able to.

The CONS:

1- Torque standard FPS is too limited. Even after if you get the hang on it, the standard code lacks AI, Inventory, Cutscene management and vehicle/character interaction. Basics for a standard FPS aren't present on the code, and NOBODY has been able to join all them together sucessfuly up till now. I'm wrong? Send me the code, them ;)

2- Torque is MESSY, BAD DOCUMENTED and COMPLEX to implement. For real. C'mon, try it. Get version 1.5 and try add some easy resource, like, swimming and prone movements. Place a inventory system. Basic AI! Nothing too fancy, just standard run-and-shoot routine. Melee weapons... well, you get the idea.


I really tought that item 4 on the pros would help overcome item 2 in the Cons, thus rendering item con 1 void. But fact is, you WILL need a team of programmers, no matter what. Period.
Either that, or stick with RPGmaker.