3rd Party Product Update - November 2008
by Derek Bronson · 11/05/2008 (3:51 pm) · 5 comments
Time for another monthly update on all your favorite 3rd party products. October was a busy month for me as I took a week off for my honeymoon. I also got some new products from some new community members as well as expanded some offerings from long-time community guys. I'm always on the look out for new products, so if you have something brewing or something in-store ready, be sure to send me an email.
Green Ear - A couple of months ago I got a visit from a couple of the guys from Ayalogic who wanted to showcase their new product Green Ear. Needless to say we had some good talks and decided to deliver Green Ear to the Torque community. Green Ear is more than just a simple voice over IP (VOIP) product. They offer all the VOIP goodies with voice morphing and voice fonting. The best part is that they have done all the integration leg work so all you need to do is find cool ways to use it for your game. Their solution is super indie friendly, and if you haven't already checked out some of the blogs from Leba and Mike, they are doing everything they can to make Green Ear the product that Indie game studios want to use. They also just announced a contest here where the winner gets a nice lump of money plus they get featured in the Green Ear booth at GDC.
Plastic Games: Tweaker - Tweaker was built by a game team, for a game team. Tweaker allows you to edit datablocks in real time and view their effects. No more constant reloading to test game play elements. Now you can rapidly prototype your game and tweak it 'til it's just right.
Apparatus Catalog - I am happy to announce that we are now offering almost all of Apparatus' content packs for sale, with the rest hopefully available by the end of the month. That means that the Bridge Pack, Environment Pack, Textures Pack, Doors Pack and Props Pack are now available. Apparatus is an awesome game artist who produces some truly stunning textures. A great guy working on some beautiful eye candy, keep your eyes peeled as Apparatus is working on some secret projects that should come to light very soon.
Digital Lightstorm - Will Zettler has been a part of this community since October 2004. He has just recently expanded his offering of Ambient Sound packs from 1 to 4 with 3 more on the way. His sounds have a creepy theme which makes them perfect for all sorts of games. He also recently released the source files to his first pack Ambient Sounds Pack 1 so you can see the method to his madness. Another really great community member sharing his talents.
2D Fantasy Character Pack - I don't get too many 2D pack submissions so I was really pleased when this fell into my lap. This pack includes 15 different characters with multiple animations optimized for TGB from the famous Magnus Blikstad. Use these in stock TGB or drop them into the Adventure Kit and jumpstart your game.
Medieval Characters 4 - Medieval Characters 4 is an character pack with 4 animated models with a medieval theme (go figure). They are ready to be dropped straight into your Torque game. They have all the basic animations as well as some sword fighting ones (sword model is included). A pretty hefty pack for a low price!
MACK Update - The guys over at BrokeAss Games ported their already awesome MACK pack that features mesh hiding, melee combat, an awesome editor and a whole bunch of other great features over to TGEA. Best of all this update is free to all that own the pack. This resource is perfect for anybody doing an RPG game or anything that requires multiple costumes.
Awesome New Products
Green Ear - A couple of months ago I got a visit from a couple of the guys from Ayalogic who wanted to showcase their new product Green Ear. Needless to say we had some good talks and decided to deliver Green Ear to the Torque community. Green Ear is more than just a simple voice over IP (VOIP) product. They offer all the VOIP goodies with voice morphing and voice fonting. The best part is that they have done all the integration leg work so all you need to do is find cool ways to use it for your game. Their solution is super indie friendly, and if you haven't already checked out some of the blogs from Leba and Mike, they are doing everything they can to make Green Ear the product that Indie game studios want to use. They also just announced a contest here where the winner gets a nice lump of money plus they get featured in the Green Ear booth at GDC.
Plastic Games: Tweaker - Tweaker was built by a game team, for a game team. Tweaker allows you to edit datablocks in real time and view their effects. No more constant reloading to test game play elements. Now you can rapidly prototype your game and tweak it 'til it's just right.
Apparatus Catalog - I am happy to announce that we are now offering almost all of Apparatus' content packs for sale, with the rest hopefully available by the end of the month. That means that the Bridge Pack, Environment Pack, Textures Pack, Doors Pack and Props Pack are now available. Apparatus is an awesome game artist who produces some truly stunning textures. A great guy working on some beautiful eye candy, keep your eyes peeled as Apparatus is working on some secret projects that should come to light very soon.
Digital Lightstorm - Will Zettler has been a part of this community since October 2004. He has just recently expanded his offering of Ambient Sound packs from 1 to 4 with 3 more on the way. His sounds have a creepy theme which makes them perfect for all sorts of games. He also recently released the source files to his first pack Ambient Sounds Pack 1 so you can see the method to his madness. Another really great community member sharing his talents.
2D Fantasy Character Pack - I don't get too many 2D pack submissions so I was really pleased when this fell into my lap. This pack includes 15 different characters with multiple animations optimized for TGB from the famous Magnus Blikstad. Use these in stock TGB or drop them into the Adventure Kit and jumpstart your game.
Medieval Characters 4 - Medieval Characters 4 is an character pack with 4 animated models with a medieval theme (go figure). They are ready to be dropped straight into your Torque game. They have all the basic animations as well as some sword fighting ones (sword model is included). A pretty hefty pack for a low price!
MACK Update - The guys over at BrokeAss Games ported their already awesome MACK pack that features mesh hiding, melee combat, an awesome editor and a whole bunch of other great features over to TGEA. Best of all this update is free to all that own the pack. This resource is perfect for anybody doing an RPG game or anything that requires multiple costumes.
Wrap Up
#2
11/05/2008 (4:51 pm)
I agree, Now we just need it to have some more addition addons for AFX and the tweaker editor would be all but complete. 
#3
11/05/2008 (9:11 pm)
Great post! Very cool to see more and more 3rd party add-on support for TGEA. 
#4
Looking forward to taking the others for a test spin as well. Thanks for the announcement.
11/06/2008 (9:32 am)
So far, I've gotten my hands on Green-Ear, Fantasy Character Pack and Apparatus's Library. All are completely awesome.Looking forward to taking the others for a test spin as well. Thanks for the announcement.
#5
@Neill- I've got a list of "shoulds" a mile long. Number 1 on that list is "I should charge more for this engine considering all the great stuff it can do out of the box" but if we did that we might not have as many users. So, which would you prefer: a) we charge everyone $185 for the engine and include Plastic Tweeker, b) we list it as an optional $35 addon c) we follow Epic, charge $250k+ for the engine and purchase or integrate every 3rd party tool possible. See what I'm getting at? It looks like a great tool, and easily worth the $35 it will save you in load times. So if you like it, vote with your dollar and support Plastic Games for making a great add on. But please, stay off my should list.
11/06/2008 (7:07 pm)
Wow everyone of these resources looks awesome! Great job content creators! This is what World Domination Through Collaboration is all about: Indies supporting Indies, co-creating, and sharing great resources.@Neill- I've got a list of "shoulds" a mile long. Number 1 on that list is "I should charge more for this engine considering all the great stuff it can do out of the box" but if we did that we might not have as many users. So, which would you prefer: a) we charge everyone $185 for the engine and include Plastic Tweeker, b) we list it as an optional $35 addon c) we follow Epic, charge $250k+ for the engine and purchase or integrate every 3rd party tool possible. See what I'm getting at? It looks like a great tool, and easily worth the $35 it will save you in load times. So if you like it, vote with your dollar and support Plastic Games for making a great add on. But please, stay off my should list.
Torque 3D Owner Neill Silva