Torque X and Microsoft
by Pat Wilson · 08/14/2006 (10:27 am) · 26 comments
I wanted to post a quick blog post to address some of the things I've seen come up in the forums. Besides, I haven't done a GG blog post in a while.
Our working closely with Microsoft on this project does not mean that we have any intention of dropping cross platform support, reducing cross platform support or anything like that. I know this has been said before. I wanted to say it again. XNA is another platform. It turns out that it's a very important platform. I've had some things to say about C# in the past, and I honestly still prefer C++. However, like I said in a thread recently, there comes a point when thebenefits of a technology outweigh it's costs, and it must be considered seriously otherwise it's just elitism. (I will be the first to admit I suffer from elitism.)
I said this to the associates a while back, and I wanted to say this to the community:
There will be things about this platform that you may not like. Such as: Why should I have to move my code to a new engine, why C#, why we gotta pay money etc, etc. The most important thing about XNA is the concept, and it's goal: Let indies make console games without dev kits. It is critical to this goal which we all share (making games, and further, making games on consoles) that this effort succeed, and I have no doubt in my mind that it will. The best way that we, as developers (and I speak for myself as well, because I fully intend to use XNA even though there is a dev kit sitting on my desk. We eat our own dog food.) can do to try to get our agenda pushed forward is to help this project succeed.
People have asked questions like: Well is this going to be like the PS2 Linux kit where the only people who can play it are other developers? Will we be able to make money off our games or will they only be free? and so on...
Well there's your answer! Help this project be a success. You can use TorqueX, you can write your engine from scratch, whatever. The important thing, again, is the concept. If you want to see more support for XNA on the 360, than help make it so. Make games. Make the game that Microsoft says, "Damn if people are going to keep doing that, we need to let them sell their games!" or, "We need to make it so people can share games ASAP!"
Microsoft is committed to making XNA a success. GarageGames is committed to making XNA a success. So I am asking the community to help out as well.
Our working closely with Microsoft on this project does not mean that we have any intention of dropping cross platform support, reducing cross platform support or anything like that. I know this has been said before. I wanted to say it again. XNA is another platform. It turns out that it's a very important platform. I've had some things to say about C# in the past, and I honestly still prefer C++. However, like I said in a thread recently, there comes a point when thebenefits of a technology outweigh it's costs, and it must be considered seriously otherwise it's just elitism. (I will be the first to admit I suffer from elitism.)
I said this to the associates a while back, and I wanted to say this to the community:
There will be things about this platform that you may not like. Such as: Why should I have to move my code to a new engine, why C#, why we gotta pay money etc, etc. The most important thing about XNA is the concept, and it's goal: Let indies make console games without dev kits. It is critical to this goal which we all share (making games, and further, making games on consoles) that this effort succeed, and I have no doubt in my mind that it will. The best way that we, as developers (and I speak for myself as well, because I fully intend to use XNA even though there is a dev kit sitting on my desk. We eat our own dog food.) can do to try to get our agenda pushed forward is to help this project succeed.
People have asked questions like: Well is this going to be like the PS2 Linux kit where the only people who can play it are other developers? Will we be able to make money off our games or will they only be free? and so on...
Well there's your answer! Help this project be a success. You can use TorqueX, you can write your engine from scratch, whatever. The important thing, again, is the concept. If you want to see more support for XNA on the 360, than help make it so. Make games. Make the game that Microsoft says, "Damn if people are going to keep doing that, we need to let them sell their games!" or, "We need to make it so people can share games ASAP!"
Microsoft is committed to making XNA a success. GarageGames is committed to making XNA a success. So I am asking the community to help out as well.
About the author
#22
08/15/2006 (4:17 pm)
Interesting? TorqueX sounds the better of the two at the moment. Will TSE360 be receiving a make over with polysoup collision etc...? At the moment Oust is coming along really well on the content side and I assumed I would now make the move to TorqueX looking at how things are going but perhaps not.
#23
Of course, we expect this to change in the future, but that's all it is--an expectation. As I mentioned in a recent forum post, this is all very bleeding edge technology, and not fully fleshed out yet, on Microsoft's part.
08/15/2006 (6:46 pm)
Jeremy: The fundamental difference between Torque X and the TSE Xbox360 product is that Torque X can only deploy via the Creator's Club to XBox 360's. The TSE Xbox360 product is all c++/script (not managed code) and hits a dev kit with the build, which is still currently the only way to produce retail games on the 360.Of course, we expect this to change in the future, but that's all it is--an expectation. As I mentioned in a recent forum post, this is all very bleeding edge technology, and not fully fleshed out yet, on Microsoft's part.
#24
-Jase
08/15/2006 (6:56 pm)
This sounds like there are going to be some seriously awsome opportunities for indies. I'm definitely looking forward to what the future holds.-Jase
#25
08/16/2006 (9:32 am)
I'm really excited about the possibilities using the Torque X engine! One question I have is if Torque X is going to be an open environment to permit developers to add game specific features to the engine. 
Torque 3D Owner Pat Wilson