Space Sim in the Torque Game Engine - Introduction

This post is based upon the latest TGE at time of writing which is version 1.5.2.

After reading MANY posts, blog entries and resources on the subjects related to getting Torque Game Engine into a state ready to make a space sim, I've realised that it takes a lot of reading and effort to properly set up the engine specifically for this purpose. Moreover, many of the resources available are based upon older versions of the TGE and require a high level of perseverance in order to succeed in any changes. If you are like me and want to take the path of least resistance as often as possible, it will seem like quite a daunting task to alter the TGE this way.

With that in mind, I am writing this comprehensive guide to making a space sim using TGE 1.5.2. Hopefully it will help someone else out there to avoid all the mistakes I had to make to get where I am now!

All of the changes I make will be available via a download (possibly for a small fee) should anyone want to take the easy way out and just overwrite an install of TGE 1.5.2 with my changed files. To start with, I'm going to discuss the issues involved in making a space sim in detail and go through some of the things I learned along the way!

The main issues / ideas / tasks involved are (in no particular order):

1: Removing terrain.
2: Removing gravity.
3: Creating a star-based skybox.
4: Removing (or rather altering) the fog.
5: Creating points of reference such as floating debris, space-dust etc so that when you are flying around in your spaceship, you feel like you are actually moving!
6: Creating planets that you can fly down to from space and fly up from back into space.
7: Creating space-stations that you can dock with, and also trade at, pick up missions etc.
8: Create "sectors" of space that are "fly-anywhere" but split the universe up into larger "quadrants" that can only be accessed via jump-gates. This allows you to define a finite area of space so that you don't have to load the whole universe into memory.
9: Create an infinite universe algorithm so that objects and planets etc are generated via a mathematical function rather than by defined data, thus allowing the player to explore endlessly (unless defined data exists, then use that instead).
10: Multiplayer!!!!
11: And last, but by no means least, allow multiple servers to connect together, creating "super-jump-gates" that allow the player to jump to completely different space (which is actually a different server so that space is totally varied and players can host their own part of the universe!). This works by server admins swapping XML files containing data for where the super-jump-gates are located and the IP or DNS of the server the client will connect to upon jumping.

This is a work in progress that I will be updating regularly with each part, starting from scratch, all the way to a playable game. This is a rather large undertaking and my free time like many others, is quite limited.

Watch this blog for updates!

Update 9th July 2007 - Part 1 of the Guide - Setting up TGE and using SkySpheres
Update 10th July 2007 - Part 2 of the Guide - Setting up the Gravity Mod