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Torque for Wii availability and licensing

Name:	Zachary Zadell
Date Posted:	Aug 30, 2007
Rating:	Not Rated
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I would like to formally announce the availability of Torque for Wii commercial licensing and evaluation.

Torque for Wii has been in the works for a while now and was officially announced in a press release which you can view here.

Pronto has done an amazing job of putting together a version of Torque, based on TGE 1.5, that can be used to produce a game on the Wii and with Nintendo's upcoming WiiWare. In addition to porting over the bulk of TGE's features (minus networking for now), they also added comprehensive Lot Check compliance which includes required Nintendo features such as notifying the user when their batteries are low.

The major barrier to entry is that you have to be an approved Nintendo developer. This may seem like a huge limitation to a lot of you, but it isn't completely unheard of these days of studios made up of a single developer being approved. You will also need a dev kit which runs for about $2000. Visit www.warioworld.com/apply/wii.html to learn more.

Pronto and myself will be providing limited support for Torque for Wii on our forums. There are the general forums which you guys should use to ask any questions you may have regarding the engine and the private forums for licensees. Be sure to modify your forum subscriptions to see them.

Why is this a big deal?

The Nintendo Wii recently became the top selling Next-Generation console (surpassing the Xbox 360 in total world wide sales). Additionally, with the announcement of WiiWare, Nintendo is opening the door for smaller games and developers in a way that hasn't been seen before on consoles. Torque for Wii provides a relatively low cost (perhaps the cheapest) way of putting a game on the Wii.

Since Torque for Wii is based on TGE 1.5, all that knowledge and content that you the community has developed can now be applied to developing on the Wii. Pronto developed their own game using the engine, which is due out in Europe soon so this is the real deal. When they were first showing off just how easy it was to get games on the console they showed me all the Starter Kits and Content Packs they could get their hands on. That includes the racing starter kit and fps starter kit being controlled with the Wii's controller. They also showed off Tim Aste's popular content packs, which while gorgeous, are hardly optimized for the Wii's hardware. Additionally they had the original Marble Blast, which was based on TGE 1.1, up and running on the Wii within a day.

All the tools and content that apply to TGE also apply to Torque for Wii. So you can use popular tools like Constructor and Torque Show Tool, and Torsion. You can also prototype your game with a cheaper TGE 1.5 license before you commit to a Torque for Wii commercial license.

For more details please visit the Torque for Wii page.

Evaluation versions are available in addition to several licensing options. Interested parties should contact me personally at zacz@garagegames.com or sales@garagegames.com

I must stress that this product is aimed at commercial developers who are serious about putting a title on the Wii.

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Matt Vitelli (Aug 31, 2007 at 00:09 GMT)

Simply awesome. I must say though that parts of this plan seem a bit like a catch 22. For instance:

Quote:
This may seem like a huge limitation to a lot of you, but it isn't completely unheard of these days of studios made up of a single developer being approved.

Yet after that:

Quote:
I must stress that this product is aimed at commercial developers who are serious about putting a title on the Wii.

It seems like in order to buy a dev kit, you'd want to know how much Torque Wii licensing costs. But in order to get that information, you'd need to have a dev kit.

This has caught my interest, though.

Gary "ChunkyKs" Briggs (Aug 31, 2007 at 00:12 GMT)

Quote:
The major barrier to entry is that you have to be an approved Nintendo developer. This may seem like a huge limitation to a lot of you, but it isn't completely unheard of these days of studios made up of a single developer being approved.

It's sad, because I inquired about this before and was told that I wasn't able to get into the program. Torque for Wii seems like a good idea, but as someone who's mostly a hobbiest, I won't be able to see it.

Also, pricing isn't available on the page you linked, yet.

Gary (-;

EDIT: Oh, hey. I re-read the blog entry, and at the end you stress that this is only for commercial developers. Nevermind.
Edited on Aug 31, 2007 00:13 GMT

David Montgomery-Blake (Aug 31, 2007 at 02:06 GMT)

Are there currently any plans for a TGB port?

EDIT:
And I thought I should also note CONGRATULATIONS to the TorqueWii team! I can't wait for Pronto to ship across the pond!
Edited on Aug 31, 2007 02:16 GMT

Leroy Frederick (Aug 31, 2007 at 10:30 GMT)

Now all we need now is Torque for Mobile! (No barrier to entry there as far as I know)

Donald \"Yadot\" Harris (Aug 31, 2007 at 13:48 GMT)

I second that question David, I have some ideas for TGB and the Wii. When can we expect to see something in that area?

Also what is the Wii plan behind the networking? It doesnt seem very open to MMO or large multi player games.

Zachary Zadell (Aug 31, 2007 at 17:54 GMT)

Here is the thing about networking.

Nintendo is partnering with Gamespy. None of the third parties (like us) have seen any details about what this entails. We are aware of the demand and want to support it as soon as we can, as Torque has always had a solid networking base.

A TGB port would be great, currently Pronto isn't doing it though. If there are any serious developers interested in forming an arrangement with GG to make such a port - I am willing to discuss the details of what would be involved.

Picasso (Sep 30, 2007 at 14:57 GMT)

what about the special effects in Torque for Wii? Shaders are not available there. The TGE simply can't be used to create a great game because there is a luck of shaders.For instance I can't make an animation like game without shaders. So? What about them in Torque for Wii?

Matt Vitelli (Sep 30, 2007 at 16:06 GMT)

There's no reason why you can't make a game just because you don't have shaders. I'm not really sure how they'd improve your animation skills. However, the Wii/Gamecube hardware capabilities are able to handle some rendering techniques including bump mapping.

Matt Fairfax (Sep 30, 2007 at 19:30 GMT)

Quote:

what about the special effects in Torque for Wii? Shaders are not available there.

You do realize that the Wii doesn't support "shaders" in the sense that you mean them, right? There are no vertex or pixel shaders on the Wii.

Now, it is a very highend fixed function video card with a couple of special effects built into it but most of the "shader" effects you are seeing are actually being accomplished with old advanced fixed function tricks (like the toon shading tricks you can do with TGE).

TGE is actually a near perfect fit for the capabilities of the Wii. If you can't do it without shaders in TGE then you won't be able to do it on the Wii.

Picasso (Oct 02, 2007 at 18:09 GMT)

May be bacause most of you, Matt Vitelli doesn't understand shaders are talking about them as a part which isn't enough important. As for Mat Fairfax, FFP doesn't support effects which my imagination can create, therefore i must use the aloready written effects (because it's fixed , ... the pipeline) .These toon effects and bump mappings will appear in my game in the way they appear for everyone who is using them. I can't control them, they are fixed. This suppose to get to a certain limit in the graphics of my game and nothing in the graphics will look different from the other games , using the same effects from the FFP. Also the toon and bump effects look very bad. unfortunately they can't be improved. But one is sure - we must adopt to the wii's capabilities and try to squeeze all of its graphics potential. Good games aren't just good for their unique gameplay and ideas but for their graphics too.

Matt Vitelli (Oct 02, 2007 at 23:24 GMT)

Quote:
Matt Vitelli doesn't understand shaders are talking about them as a part which isn't enough important.

Picasso (Oct 03, 2007 at 17:30 GMT)

Ok , Matt, sorry about that. i didn't spent time to take a look who you are and what you've done. Don't get sooo mad at me. Also it's not nessesary to show off your anger about one's retort. I just hear these words "There's no reason why you can't make a game just because you don't have shaders" very often and only people who don't undestand anything about shaders. That's why i told you are from these people. I expect to forget about that and be friends in future. As many others here I am advanced HLSL programmer too , but i haven't enough time to make tutorials and show my works on garagegames and that's why you haven't read my name somewhere around. I am sorry for this post because it hasn't anything common with the theme of this thread but i had to send you my apologies to you right here.

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