Torque Features for Savvy Developers

Torque Game Engine has been around a while, and developers of all sizes have figured out lots of cool ways to exploit its great features. In my last blog post I mentioned some of the platforms that Torque is portable to. That got me thinking about some of Torque's other features that are sometimes not touted. First of all, go check out the Torque Features page if you haven't seen it in a while. It's nice to be reminded of what can be done and to creatively think about how to use these features:


Above: The Torque Features page at http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tge/features/

Let's talk about the first cool Torque feature I brought up last time, which we call the CodeOnce feature:


"The same scripts will run on Windows or OSX, and can be ported into other Torque products as well. There is also a community-supported Linux version, and you can build your game onto Xbox 360 with a separate license. We are committed to multi-platform functionality."

Let's update what this looks like with today's Torque products and platforms:


Is that bad-ass or what? We are talking out of the box portability here. Of course, you can also "port" to Flash and other platforms by reverse engineering game logic and such and that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about developing your game once then porting it to other platforms almost automatically.


With Torque, you get the source code, so you can publish to as many additional platforms as you wish to port to. For example, there is a community port of Torque to Linux (and several Torque Linux games out there including Marble Blast and ThinkTanks); there is an SDK to port Torque to run in InstantAction (and several Torque games on IA); you can port Torque to run on coin-op arcade games (see Monster Roll Cage and Orbz); and finally, you can port Torque to run in both Firefox and IE as in this community code with example. That's all thanks to Source Included.

Another benefit of Source Included is that it is a game licensing dream. Let's say you have a game that could be easily rebranded - say, a platformer with a cartoony style whose main character could be easily swapped for Dexter in Dexter's Labratory to turn it into a Cartoon Network branded game for their private audience. If you're pitching your game as a licensing opportunity to any publisher, they'll be pleased to hear that they can get full source code access (by purchasing a Torque license) so that they can change the game to their heart's content or take it to whatever platform themselves. That flexibility and guarauntee of source code to publishers is another chip in your favor when negotiating licensing.


Audience compatibility:

With support for hardware reaching all the way back to Windows 98 operating system and Voodoo 3 video cards- in addition to CodeOnce platform support-Torque Game Engine has the potential to reach a huge audience.

Why this is awesome: it means that your game will run on a variety of hardware, not just the latest pixel enabled cards. Older machines will run Torque which is key to getting more than just the bleeding edge hardcore gamers. In addition, the international PC markets have users that have older PC's than in the west, so having compatibility with older machines opens up international markets as well.

One awesome feature of Torque not listed on the features page is Unicode international langauge support. Here's MBU showing off that very feature:


Why is this feature important? You're talking to a publisher interested in your game. They ask you detailed questions about localization for international market distribution. You've got an ace in your sleeve because you've got Torque: "Localizaion should be a snap as the engine I am using already has built in unicode international language support." This is yet another mark of Torque as a professional grade engine.

Let's look at two features that are helpful to developers, but often overlooked as a user feature:

GeoTerrain: "Generate dynamically blended mountains, valleys, and other seamless terrain with ease."

3D Toolset: "Integrated WYSIWYG "sandbox" Mission, GUI, and Terrain Builder editors for creating 3D environments."

Why these two features are additional levels of awesome: ship your game with a level editor! Torque already comes with a robust one, so it takes just a little GUI work to get your users making user generated content for your game. Check out this FroGames example of shipping a game with a level editor. Very savvy use of the provided game engine features.


Finally, a reminder about a cool feature with TorqueScript. With a split C++ and TorqueScript game logic, you can provide your game players with documentation about which TorqeScript script files they can edit and what those files do. TorqueScript opens up your game to modders in a very friendly and accessible way, which in turn builds community and longevity for your game, two crucial things as an indie struggling to find and keep an audience. If you get people modding your game it will get them playing it and participating in it more. ThinkTanks is a great example of a game whose community loved to mod it.

Well that's it from here. Pretty awesome features for an inexpensive game engine, eh?

Who's bad? Yeah, Fluffy's Bad!



Go check out that Torque features page again and think about how you can use those features creatively. Then consider using some of those features in ways that are listed here - take your game to different platforms, open it up to modding, and more. And if you have savvy ideas based on Torque features that I may have missed, post them here!

Happy game-making,

Josh