Torque 3D Development - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher

After an unexpected delay this week, we have yet another peek at the future of Torque with Torque 3D. This week, we're going to finally get a small look at some of the real, functional improvements to working with Torque.

Leading this effort is our own Matt Langley. Matt's our primary tools guru at the Garage and he's been at GG for almost 4 years now. Matt played an instrumental role in designing the TGB editors you all love for making 2D games, and for the past year, he's been fully focused on tools for our 3D technology.


Though most of you probably know Matt, I asked him to tell us a little about himself and what he's working on for Torque 3D.

Matt's Bio

"I graduated with a degree in Networking and Game Design. I joined the GG community, learned TGE and TGB (then "Torque 2D"...soon to be again). I contributed 10 tutorials and thousands of posts to the Torque 2D community, and then became a GarageGames Associate. After interning at GarageGames and becoming an employee, I became one of the original developers behind Torque Game Builder, which added documentation and a tool to Torque 2D while still expanding the engine."



"After managing TGB documentation and then a TGB release, I'm now the lead tool developer for Torque 3D. This work includes updates to the usability of the present tool interface as well as adding new tools and editors to streamline game development in Torque."




As you all know, Torque is one of the few engines with the entire toolset integrated in the runtime. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. It's great for cross-platform development and it provides fantastic out-of-the-box functionality for developers who want to include some game-modding functionality in their game. It also keeps the runtime toolset necessarily lightweight.

There are times though, when you want to do more. With Torque 3D, we wanted to create some project management, packaging, and deployment tools separate from the Torque 3D runtime. "Torque Launcher" is an application built just for that purpose. More than just a build targeting and project selection interface, the Torque Launcher provides a nice hub for your game development projects. You can select which of Torque's runtime integrated editors you'd like to jump into (per project of course), you can access non-Torque tools like Maya or Photoshop, and you can view Torque 3D documentation and tutorials.



While not intended to be comprehensive, the Torque Launcher is a very nice interface to have. It's even better to have it all outside the Torque 3D runtime. It keeps everything inside Torque 3D light, lean, and focused on productivity for game design.

Of course, the shots you see here are very raw yet. The Torque Launcher may finish with a much different design or style than you see here. We'd call this a 1st draft :)

There's much more changing in the Torque 3D editor's as well, and Matt's leading the charge there too. Expect to see more inside Torque 3D soon.

More development blogs to come. This is post #9.

Torque 3D development blogs:

• Post #1 - Kickoff
• Post #2 - Apparatus and Warrior Camp
• Post #3 - Luma's racing kit
• Post #4 - Josh Engebretson and Web Publishing
• Post #5 - Pricing and Licensing
• Post #6 - Pricing and Licensing CONTINUED
• Post #7 - Wetness & Precipitation
• Post #8 - Screeen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)
• Post #9 - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher
• Post #10 - Chris Robertson and Collada
• Post #11 - Depth of Field
• Post #12 - Advanced Lighting
• Post #13 - Soft Particles
• Post #14 - World Editor
• Post #15 - Pricing and Licensing ANNOUNCED!
• Post #16 - GDC Live Edition
• Post #17 - River & Road Editors
• Post #18 - Beta is UP!
• Post #19 - Light Rays, Undercity, Material Editor
• Post #20 - Mass Market Hardware
• Post #21 - Beta: Part Deux
• Post #22 - Marching Towards Beta 3
• Post #23 - pureLIGHT
• Post #24 - Lighting, Terrain, and Cloth
• Post #25 - Beta 3!
• Post #26 - Coming Soon!