Get Skooled! TorqueSchool Announcement

*Are you whittling your nights away struggling to master one of the many aspects of game development, art, or running a team?
*Do you wish to be like a community expert who can drop cool factoids and secret best practices on how to get something done?
*Have you spent hundreds of hours working on a single area only to be frustrated with the end results?
*Do you have specialized team members who disappear, leaving you in the lurch with no way to get something done?

Stop spinning your wheels!

Get 'Skooled!!

We are very pleased to introduce the forthcoming TorqueSchool www.torqueschool.com, a collaborative effort by GarageGames and Dream Games!

Our new online game development school is designed to meet the rapidly expanding education and training needs of the Torque and Game Development community. Focusing on Torque technologies, TorqueSchool offers a large number of hand crafted, high quality online courses designed to bring your level of expertise up to where you need it, and fast!

With the explosion in Indie technology and the introduction of new platforms to launch Torque tech on, like Mac, Linux, Windows, XBOX 360 (XNA), and the very fresh Wii, it's clear that Torque products are here for the long term. They are proving to be a development platform of choice for Indies and a quickly growing number of commercial enterprises around the globe.
Demand will only increase for highly skilled tradesmen who have a proven ability in using the technology and pipeline.

The courses will typically run from 4 to 6 weeks each. They are chock full of sample projects and assignments, factoids and tidbits, tricks of the trade, streamlined processes, best practices, structured learning, reinforcement tools, and are run by a dedicated instructor. Some will include video and/or audio and all include weekly IRC meetings, support forums and occasional celebrity guest speakers who are experts in their individual fields. These are people you never get to talk to, because they're just *that* busy! We will trap them in a chat room, arm you with brain picks, and let you assault them with praise, questions, and explore the mysteries of the very fabric of technology with them. We will also hold ocassional guest speaker sessions with industry experts for students and create an ongoing guest speaker program. Just hanging around TorqueSchool you're bound to pick up something useful.

We are also working towards building a comprehensive certification program in the near future! One of the first of its kind, these official certifications will prove to be an elite and coveted qualification useful in obtaining a contract or full time position with a company or dev team. Significant discounts on certification programs will be offered to students who take advantage of these early courses.

This September, we will be launching the first classes. Some courses are introduction level, some are advanced, and some are comprehensive. Here is a sampling of some of the courses in development:

GENERAL
Team Communication 101
Team Leadership 102
Game Development & Production Fundamentals
Intro to Game Programming in C#

TGB
Comprehensive Introduction to TGB
Learning Torque Script With TGB
Advanced TGB - The Next Level!
Rapid Prototyping: "So you want to make a game in 6 hours?"

TORQUEX
Intro to Torque Game Builder X (TGBX)
Advanced Torque Game Builder X (TGBX)
Intro to TorqueX
Advanced TorqueX
Advanced GUI Techniques
Intro to managed Artificial Intelligence
Advanced Managed AI
Working with Sound using XACT

Torque Game Engine (TGE)
TGE 101
Comprehensive Engine Structure I
Comprehensive Engine Structure II
Special FX Systems
Player Modeling

Torque Game Engine Advanced (TGEA)
Atlas In-Depth
Creating Atlas Terrains with L3DT
TGEA 101
Comprehensive Engine Structure I
Comprehensive Engine Structure II

TGE/TGEA Shared Tech
The Art of Mission Design
Comprehensive GUI Certification
Data Persistence and Database Programming
Custom Tool Creation (Built on Torque Tech)

Modelling/Art
Introduction to Torque Art with Milkshape3d
Constructor: A primer for pro DIF modeling
Advanced Constructor: Beyond the Beyond
Vehicle Modelling - Milkshape3d
Prop/Item Modelling - Milkshape3d
Advanced Torque Art: Weapons - Milkshape3d
Blender for Torque

Effects/ArcaneFX
(Some classes developed by Faust Logic, makers of ArcaneFX!)
Special Effects
Using ArcaneFX
Designing Effects with ArcaneFX
Customizing ArcaneFX for Programmers

Keep an eye on our website (www.torqueschool.com) for a complete schedule of course availability, with the first courses beginning mid September. Registration for courses is to be done through the purchasing of course credits and applied to individual courses, which will range from 4-6 credits each (usually 1 credit per course week). Students will be allowed to register for a course up to 60 days in advance. Seating is limited in each class to 20 people on a first-come/ first-serve basis to maximize per-student attention. These are online courses to be taken and experienced at your own pace, holding to a week by week structure. Group discounts are available for teams or groups of 3 or more people.

Now is the time to ramp up your product knowledge! Get 'Skooled!