Plan for Pat Wilson
by Pat Wilson · 11/02/2004 (1:30 pm) · 52 comments
A lot of you have been asking? "When is RTS coming?" "Will I ever get to play with this?" Well we here, at GarageGames, have always known that answer is a definite, 'maybe soon'. Soon is next week.
Right now the doccumentation is all that is left to finish off. The associates, mainly Tom, have been beating on this and we think there are no more crash bugs. Tom did a little water-craft based RTS and found some of the limitations of the pack. (I like to refer to that as, "Things to do for version 2.0") Right now, using the RTS Starter Kit, you will be able to very rapidly prototype a standard RTS. I really feel like I need to do a little expectation management, but I also don't want to undersell the amazing leg-up this pack will give you. This will not make your RTS for you. This will not make you not need to do any programming to make the next Warcraft 3.
What does it do? It will give you a huge head-start into making an RTS game in Torque. It has a minimap which will let you click on the map to re-center the camera, show you your camera field of vision. It has a great script interface to let you add pulsing-markers to the map to alert the player or team-mates. It tracks unit-groups, (CTRL+1, etc) lets you add units to groups, selection code, selection circles, drag-selection, giving orders to units, unit-fighting, damage, a modified projectile class that is more network-friendly, network friendly optimization for unit movement. Buildings, a game lobby, some very basic test-art, a camera which can pan around, zoom, change pitch.
So there you have it. Barring anything (like the dev team getting arrested for protesting tomorow if Bush steals this election too) drastic, you'll see this pack available early next week.
Right now the doccumentation is all that is left to finish off. The associates, mainly Tom, have been beating on this and we think there are no more crash bugs. Tom did a little water-craft based RTS and found some of the limitations of the pack. (I like to refer to that as, "Things to do for version 2.0") Right now, using the RTS Starter Kit, you will be able to very rapidly prototype a standard RTS. I really feel like I need to do a little expectation management, but I also don't want to undersell the amazing leg-up this pack will give you. This will not make your RTS for you. This will not make you not need to do any programming to make the next Warcraft 3.
What does it do? It will give you a huge head-start into making an RTS game in Torque. It has a minimap which will let you click on the map to re-center the camera, show you your camera field of vision. It has a great script interface to let you add pulsing-markers to the map to alert the player or team-mates. It tracks unit-groups, (CTRL+1, etc) lets you add units to groups, selection code, selection circles, drag-selection, giving orders to units, unit-fighting, damage, a modified projectile class that is more network-friendly, network friendly optimization for unit movement. Buildings, a game lobby, some very basic test-art, a camera which can pan around, zoom, change pitch.So there you have it. Barring anything (like the dev team getting arrested for protesting tomorow if Bush steals this election too) drastic, you'll see this pack available early next week.
About the author
#42
That's exactly what our project has planned. Add in an FPS mode where you can play various levels of unique monsters (and gain in power along a separate advancement tree), and you're pretty close to what we are shooting for!
@GG:
Any word on the licensing plan you are looking at, or is it up in the air for the type of scenario I am looking at?
11/04/2004 (12:56 pm)
@Josh (Moore):That's exactly what our project has planned. Add in an FPS mode where you can play various levels of unique monsters (and gain in power along a separate advancement tree), and you're pretty close to what we are shooting for!
@GG:
Any word on the licensing plan you are looking at, or is it up in the air for the type of scenario I am looking at?
#43
11/04/2004 (1:22 pm)
I was thinking of using it as part of a thrid person medieval stly RPG.
#44
Add on to that those players that like the strict "kill anything that moves" FPS style play who provide conflict for the RPG and RTS genre players, and that's pretty much what we are shooting for!
11/04/2004 (1:57 pm)
@Josh: we're planning on using an RTS gameplay style for things like community management, empire combat, kingdom level conflicts, and village/city construction, for those players that like that style of play. These players would basically be developing the "content" for the players that prefer a more structured, single avatar oriented RPG style of play.Add on to that those players that like the strict "kill anything that moves" FPS style play who provide conflict for the RPG and RTS genre players, and that's pretty much what we are shooting for!
#45
Nick
11/04/2004 (11:55 pm)
Josh it would be interesting to see how you would make use of the pack for a 3rd person RPG.Nick
#46
11/05/2004 (7:46 am)
Sounds like something I will get. I'm more interested in Turn-Based strategy and since the Turn-Based Strategy Pack never came out I am hoping that this pack will include much of the features I need. 
#48
11/05/2004 (4:38 pm)
Still early next week. :)
#49
11/06/2004 (3:24 am)
@Josh: Any info on licensing for a project, or is that still in discussion? 
#51
11/10/2004 (9:01 pm)
Great. That's going to start another argument...
#52
So I guess that about raps it up, right?
11/12/2004 (3:07 pm)
so let me recap this.. Bush won, the rts is out and the guy dressed like a nazi has bush/ cheney thumbnails ready at his fingertips for random forum posting.So I guess that about raps it up, right?
Torque Owner Josh Moore
This pack looks pretty sweet. I'd like to combine it with a regular RPG and have you wage small scale wars once you become powerful enough.