Curses And Laziness, Loss Of Interest And Lack Of Time
by Vitreous Humor · 01/22/2007 (7:46 pm) · 7 comments
All terms in the title are excuses. I happened to forget 'lack of skill'. Should I start from the beginning?
I was 14 years old. The small home schooling school (a bit of an oxymoron) that I was attending had just completed a feature length film, and I was in the credits 13 times. The project had been led by my uncles, multi talented dreamers. They had a band. They had been taught animation by the old head of Disney TV animation. We had recently started our own line of comic books, that I was writing. The point of all this thus far? I felt that we could do anything we wanted to.
I started finding interest in video games, as all teen boys do. I had seen that I didn't have to be a part of the crowd that buys and uses other's products-I could make things myself. My uncles and friends seemed as excited about the idea as I was. I started doing research. I found DarkBasic first, kept looking, and found Torque. It seemed the most impressive and most useful to me.
My little brother, who was always better with money than I was, just so happened to have $100 and was easily swayed...
We bought Torque and so it began. We started drawing characters, I wrote a silly little 5 page level guide. I thought we had it covered.
So here we are, almost 4 years later. We have NOTHING to show for that time spent. Nobody knows how to code. Nobody's learning. That's probably our biggest problems. We can vaguely model and animate. I am coming into musical ability. I can write. But I can't do this myself.
I desperately want to provide some service to the GarageGames community. I think that this is one of the greatest things happening right now, and it's very cool to talk to people who aren't spending time and energy for the sole purpose of a paycheck.
This blog seems a bit distended and lacks a theme of any sort. This was my original purpose: Anyone looking to spend time and money making video games, make sure you've got the initiative and the support you need to at least get things started.
I was 14 years old. The small home schooling school (a bit of an oxymoron) that I was attending had just completed a feature length film, and I was in the credits 13 times. The project had been led by my uncles, multi talented dreamers. They had a band. They had been taught animation by the old head of Disney TV animation. We had recently started our own line of comic books, that I was writing. The point of all this thus far? I felt that we could do anything we wanted to.
I started finding interest in video games, as all teen boys do. I had seen that I didn't have to be a part of the crowd that buys and uses other's products-I could make things myself. My uncles and friends seemed as excited about the idea as I was. I started doing research. I found DarkBasic first, kept looking, and found Torque. It seemed the most impressive and most useful to me.
My little brother, who was always better with money than I was, just so happened to have $100 and was easily swayed...
We bought Torque and so it began. We started drawing characters, I wrote a silly little 5 page level guide. I thought we had it covered.
So here we are, almost 4 years later. We have NOTHING to show for that time spent. Nobody knows how to code. Nobody's learning. That's probably our biggest problems. We can vaguely model and animate. I am coming into musical ability. I can write. But I can't do this myself.
I desperately want to provide some service to the GarageGames community. I think that this is one of the greatest things happening right now, and it's very cool to talk to people who aren't spending time and energy for the sole purpose of a paycheck.
This blog seems a bit distended and lacks a theme of any sort. This was my original purpose: Anyone looking to spend time and money making video games, make sure you've got the initiative and the support you need to at least get things started.
#2
01/22/2007 (9:55 pm)
Well written Vitreous, very entertaining. Good luck in erm... "getting started" - persistence pays off. Just start small. Mod the starter.fps and build from there.
#3
I too was having a pretty tough time getting up and running with the Torque Game Engine. There's a lot to wrap one's head around in Torque, and it's not always easy to get started. Like Andy said, modding the starter.fps one step at a time is a good way to go -- that's been helpful to me.
One of the biggest things that helped me really get my mind working with TorqueScript was to get Torque Game Builder and start playing around with that. It simplifies game development quite a bit, and can really help get a developer comfortable with writing code in the Torque framework as it applies to 2 dimensions before extending it all the way out to 3.
Just some thoughts. I also enjoyed your blog post, and definitely feel like I understand a bit of how you feel.
01/22/2007 (10:27 pm)
Greetings from a fellow home-schooler. :)I too was having a pretty tough time getting up and running with the Torque Game Engine. There's a lot to wrap one's head around in Torque, and it's not always easy to get started. Like Andy said, modding the starter.fps one step at a time is a good way to go -- that's been helpful to me.
One of the biggest things that helped me really get my mind working with TorqueScript was to get Torque Game Builder and start playing around with that. It simplifies game development quite a bit, and can really help get a developer comfortable with writing code in the Torque framework as it applies to 2 dimensions before extending it all the way out to 3.
Just some thoughts. I also enjoyed your blog post, and definitely feel like I understand a bit of how you feel.
#4
01/23/2007 (4:53 pm)
Quote:I found DarkBasic first, kept looking, and found Torque. It seemed the most impressive and most useful to me.Hey, me too!
Quote:One of the biggest things that helped me really get my mind working with TorqueScript was to get Torque Game Builder and start playing around with that. It simplifies game development quite a bit, and can really help get a developer comfortable with writing code in the Torque framework as it applies to 2 dimensions before extending it all the way out to 3.I can second this motion. I think sometimes the lust of game development (that great 3d PS2/XBox game idea) takes over from the love of game development (that great game idea or at least a complete game full stop) and thus many people seem to ignore this advice to their own detriment. Start simple, complete something!
#5
That aside, I need another $100 dollars if I'm gonna get the TGB, and my little brother seems to have magically become less giving with his money.
Besides all of that, I wouldn't be the one learning to code. I stick myself firmly on any other part of the project that can use me. I just need to meet some brilliant, wayward drifter looking to better his life by learning something new. (He is, of course, also a millionaire and absolutely willing to give freely of his funds to pay for anything we might need for the project).
That stuff happens all the time.
01/24/2007 (12:27 am)
Yep. That was the original problem. And that seems to continue to be the problem. It seems like the only things I want to complete are the things that are titanic in scale and I'm sure would have roughly the same emotional impact as, say, giving birth. I, of course, cannot give birth, so that metaphor is simply one of innocence and a budding ignorance that makes me seem oh so idiotic.That aside, I need another $100 dollars if I'm gonna get the TGB, and my little brother seems to have magically become less giving with his money.
Besides all of that, I wouldn't be the one learning to code. I stick myself firmly on any other part of the project that can use me. I just need to meet some brilliant, wayward drifter looking to better his life by learning something new. (He is, of course, also a millionaire and absolutely willing to give freely of his funds to pay for anything we might need for the project).
That stuff happens all the time.
#6
You can do a lot in 30 days, and if you're just looking to get off the ground with TorqueScript, it might be enough of a jump in the right direction...
...at least until your generous benefactor comes along. :)
01/24/2007 (4:17 pm)
It might not be exactly the kind of "Sugar-Daddy-Warbucks" that you're looking for, but GarageGames offers a free 30 day trial of Torque Game Builder.You can do a lot in 30 days, and if you're just looking to get off the ground with TorqueScript, it might be enough of a jump in the right direction...
...at least until your generous benefactor comes along. :)
#7
There are a couple things I need to get in order before I start really getting into this stuff. What I really need to do now is keep the hope in my head so I don't give up on this again...
We'll see how that one goes.
01/25/2007 (7:24 am)
Thanks for the advice, guys.There are a couple things I need to get in order before I start really getting into this stuff. What I really need to do now is keep the hope in my head so I don't give up on this again...
We'll see how that one goes.
Torque Owner Richard_H
I would sugest following the readme that comes with Torque. It is easy to follow and teaches the basics of TorqueScript. From there get a good book like The Game Programmer's Guide to Torque. TorqueScript isn't to hard to pick up, if you run into problems, post them on the forums and try IRC. From experience the GarageGames community is definitly willing to help.