Torque X!

It's been about 18 months since we announced that we were developing a brand new Torque engine for Microsoft's XNA framework. Josh's post Torque X, Why We're Doing It, described our very early interest in Microsoft's venture, and why we chose to partner with them to remove barriers for indie game development.

We worked our asses off with our highest powered engine devs to deliver Torque X last June. Since that time, XNA has grown to huge proportions and Torque X development has continued apace, in many ways leading the charge for our overall Torque engine development. Torque X's component architecture is a significant break from our C++ engines and it's something of a model for where those engines are headed.

Until recently Torque X was a 2D only game engine. Lots of you downloaded our beta release of Torque X 1.5 which supported a full range of 3D features, but the last component missing was an update to the XNA 2.0 framework. Today we're proud to release Torque X 2.0. This release is a full-featured 3D component engine compatible with XNA 2.0. Big credit goes to Thomas Buscaglia and Adam Larson for doing most of the heavy lifting to add 3D functionality last fall. Huge credit to superstar John Kanalakis for working on the update to the 1.5 beta to achieve XNA 2.0 compatibility. W00t!

What can Torque X 2.0 do now?
Torque X 2.0 takes full advantage of XNA 2.0, including its improved content pipeline, multiple-render targets, consistent behavior between Windows and Xbox 360, faster rendering performance, and simplified deployment process to the Xbox 360. Torque X 2.0 also works with Visual C# Express and all variations of Visual Studio 2005 on Windows XP and Vista. Torque X 2.0 can load and render a variety of 3D model formats, including GarageGames' .dts, .x, .fbx, and .xsi model formats. Animation support for other formats is in the works.

Sweet! How do I get it?
The current lineup of Torque X products looks a little different than our C++ engine products. This was intentional. For Torque X, we were able to independently develop the engine from the editors and, in the spirit of more options always being better, we decided to offer the engine and the editor separately. What you see on the Torque X landing page actually looks like 5 products. We have:

-Torque X Engine binary FREE
-Torque X Engine Pro (with source code) for Indies $150
-Torque X Engine Pro (with source code) for Commercial $750
-Torque X Builder for Indies $100
-Torque X Builder for Commercial $495

Yikes that's a lot of choices! I get confused just looking at them... : / In general, I want to make it easier to describe which product does what. For Torque X, we'll be moving towards the goal of less products and more obvious choices with future releases. For now, Torque X 2.0 will be a straight update to the Torque X 1.5 beta engine and at no change in price. That means you can still check out the binary of the new 3D engine for FREE. For those looking at 5 choices and not sure what they need to build a game, here are my recommendations:

• Experimenting with the technology, new to game development
Grab the FREE binary and TXB for a total of $100 if you qualify for our Indie discount. Get used to writing your own components and working with the WYSIWG editor. When you're ready, give importing 3D assets a try and see what you can do with the FPS demo.


• Some programming experience, want to make a game
You're probably a candidate for our Indie discount, so grab Torque X Pro and TXB Indie for a total of $250. You get source code for the engine and the 2D WYSYWIG tool and should be well equipped to make your first game. Add a Creator's Club subscription from Microsoft to the mix and you can deploy to the Xbox 360!


• Part of an established studio, want to try XNA for prototyping or commercializing a game with Community LIVE Arcade.
You can equip your team with Torque X Pro and Torque X Builder Commercial licenses for $1245 / seat (programmer). Our commercial license also allows you to publish and monetize your game with Microsoft on the XNA LIVE Arcade channel. Site licenses are also available. Contact licensing@garagegames.com for details.

Torque X Builder is still 2D? When will there be a 3D WYSIWYG editor?
TXB has been updated for XNA 2.0 compatibility with engine, but at this point is only supports 2D WYSIWYG editing. Our next big project with Torque X is going to rock. We demo'd this quietly at GDC last month and all the features aren't quite there yet, but we're moving *very* fast and this new editor is awesome! For an early look, I'll let this video (and John Kanalakis!) do the talking:

Video Preview of Torque X Builder 3D
See? Told ya :) When will this be available? Well, you guys know better than to ask for a delivery date, but we're working on getting it to you ASAP and as you can see, progress is fast.

Can I see examples of what's been done with Torque X?
Sure! XNA and Torque X are still very new, but there are already a lot of cool projects and games. Back in 2006 we showed, more as proof of concept than anything else, Marble Blast Ultra done with Torque X. We saw great performance and the port job was done in a matter of weeks.

Youtube Video of MBU in Torque X
We also have Simian Escape published last year. The bulk of this game was created in just 4 days during GDC 2007. Since shipping the game, Last Straw Games has started a couple new projects with Torque X: Fowl Prowl and Rattle Battle.

Simian Escape
Another veteran of the XNA Challenge 2007, Josh Butterworth has two very good looking Torque X games under his belt. The first was a product of the same 4-day crunch last year at GDC. It was titled 'Final Stand' then, but is now known as Damage Control.

Damage Control
Josh has another great looking game called Last Alarm made with Torque X. Check out the trailer by following the link below:

Trailer for Last Alarm
On top of these cool 3rd party projects, there's the great looking Platformer Starter Kit.


Platformer Starter Kit
Lastly, if you want to see what can be done in a short time with some basic art assets, the FPS demo that ships with Torque X has some impressive game play and visuals.

Video of the Torque X FPS Demo
There are likely many more Torque X games out there that we haven't seen. If you have a cool project, please send us an email and let us know what you're doing. We'll add it to the Powered by Torque page and possibly do a developer feature on GarageGames.com.

What's Next?
Aside from the 3D editor, we have big improvements planned to the art pipeline including compatibility with XSI's XNA Mod Tool. All the tutorials and starter kits (including the hugely popular Platformer Starter Kit) either have been or very soon will be updated.

We're doing Torque X boot camps across the country. Davey Jackson and the team just returned from a regional camp in Texas hosted by SMU Guildhall. We look forward to doing more camps like this with Guildhall and with other schools who want to target developers in their region. Send us a note if you want to see a camp in your area.

Oh yeah...John Kanalakis, on top of trouncing a mountain of work in the XNA 2.0 update to Torque X, is in the midst of finishing a book titled The Complete Guide to Torque X. It should be awesome.

Not a final cover design...but close!
Beyond that, the future for Torque X is wide open. XNA 3.0 offers some truly amazing opportunities to developers who want to make XNA games. For the first time, there's a real, viable commercial path for your games with the ability to publish to Xbox LIVE Community Arcade. Did we mention that you can make games for the Zune?! Wow. Anybody up for porting Legions? :) Okay...we don't know what the hardware will support yet, but when the XNA 3.0 SDK is out, we'll give you the straight scoop. This should be fun!