Torque X Engine 3.0 Launches
by John Kanalakis · 05/09/2009 (1:42 am) · 30 comments
The wait is over. Torque X 3.0 is now available with new features and new opportunities for XNA game developers. There are many new enhancements to the Torque X engine to better help you create and sell games for Windows and Xbox 360. Here's an overview of what's new for Torque X 3.0.
Previously, Torque X 2D and 3D services had been coupled within one single .NET assembly, leaving it up to the game developer to ship large amounts of compiled code that had nothing to do with their game. Now, Torque X has been separated into two streamlined engines that focus exclusively on rendering 2D or 3D with a shared common codebase. This results in faster game code and less extra code bloat shipped with your game.
Torque X 3D Builder
No more manually creating 3D scenes in straight XML. Torque X 3.0 now has a 3D level designer that can import art assets into your game project, position them within the scene, add/remove components, and write out the XML. The 3D Builder will cut hours out of level design.
Support for fully skinned DTS models
Previous versions of Torque X lacked support for skinned DTS shapes, so only a handful of DTS shapes would render. Now, all skinned DTS shapes properly load, render, and animate and have been checked against most (but not all) GarageGames content packs.
Support for XNA 3.0
XNA 3.0 offers a lot of great new features, including: sound effects API, game trial mode, rich presence, game invitations, networking improvements, graphics improvements, and new math helpers. XNA 3.0 also automatically compresses and decompresses content, resulting in a smaller footprint and faster load times.
Support for Visual C# Express 2008 and Visual Studio 2008
XNA 3.0 is also based on the 2008 series of the Visual Studio tools. New language features include: query expressions, extension methods, lambda expressions, expression trees, and partial methods. Excellent language additions to help streamline your game project.
Clean Deployment to Xbox 360
Torque X 3.0 also has a smoother Xbox 360 deployment flow. Using Visual Studio's built-in Xbox 360 project converter, you can quickly create an Xbox version of your game and deploy it via XNA connect.
Exposed Engine Classes
In previous releases many internal engine classes were marked sealed or internal to squeeze a bit more performance out of the engine. The downside was that these useful engine classes were inaccessible to game code. Now, many of these classes are exposed externally for you to tap into.
Create Xbox LIVE Community Games
The best part about Torque X 3.0 is that you can now create games that target XNA 3.0 and start creating Xbox LIVE Community Games. As I've mentioned earlier, Community Games are a way to sell your Xbox 360 games to Xbox LIVE subscribers.
Next, start Visual Studio and open your game project. The project upgrader will automatically start. Accept all options and continue to the end of the upgrade wizard. Once the upgrade completes, make sure you change your project's references to point to the new Torque X 3.0.0.0 assembly. Then, rebuild and run your game project.
Solicheck is still selling well in several countries as (I believe) the very first Torque X game released into Xbox LIVE Community Games. A sequel with new graphics and gameplay is right around the corner, coming as a free upgrade to those who have already purchased the original game.
AirSpace is a fast-paced, arcade-style game that puts you in the cockpit of modern fighter planes in an around-the-world campaign to repel an alien invasion. The game was built completely on Torque X 3D and extends the engine with new game objects and shader effects. It's expected to launch on Xbox Live Community Games platform this summer.
Last Straw Productions is also making great progress with their RTS Kit for Torque X, empowering game developers to create a new wave of real-time strategy games for the Xbox 360.
Fluid Images is working on Robot Revolution, a fast action 3D game featuring fighting robots. Built with Torque X 3D, this game highlites amazing motion-captured animation, effective scene lighting, and energetic audio.
XNA 3.1 has been announced for this Spring and we're already looking into how Torque X is going to incorporate those features. The new XNA is promising easier content creation, more Xbox LIVE functionality, and full use of the Xbox Avatars as animated FBX models. My personal favorite is the support for video on the Xbox 360, so look for some cool rendered cut-scenes in my next game ;) Torque X is planning a maintenance 3.1 release around the same time to maintain compatibility with XNA, fix some bugs, and improve the tools a bit.
Online Video Sessions
Looking for more instructional material on Torque X? I'm already deep into production with new online video tutorials that range from getting started with Torque X to implementing useful game features. The online Web videos will serve as an additional free resource for learning Torque X best practices. More details are coming soon...
And there we have it. We're very excited about Torque X 3.o and what it brings to game developers. We're already marching forward with the next release with more improvements and features in mind. I'll be on the Torque X 2D/3D forums ansering a ton of detailed questions. So, stop reading this and start downloading the Free Torque X Binary.
John K.
Torque X 3.0 Features
2D/3D Engine DivisionPreviously, Torque X 2D and 3D services had been coupled within one single .NET assembly, leaving it up to the game developer to ship large amounts of compiled code that had nothing to do with their game. Now, Torque X has been separated into two streamlined engines that focus exclusively on rendering 2D or 3D with a shared common codebase. This results in faster game code and less extra code bloat shipped with your game.
Torque X 3D BuilderNo more manually creating 3D scenes in straight XML. Torque X 3.0 now has a 3D level designer that can import art assets into your game project, position them within the scene, add/remove components, and write out the XML. The 3D Builder will cut hours out of level design.
Support for fully skinned DTS models
Previous versions of Torque X lacked support for skinned DTS shapes, so only a handful of DTS shapes would render. Now, all skinned DTS shapes properly load, render, and animate and have been checked against most (but not all) GarageGames content packs.
Support for XNA 3.0
XNA 3.0 offers a lot of great new features, including: sound effects API, game trial mode, rich presence, game invitations, networking improvements, graphics improvements, and new math helpers. XNA 3.0 also automatically compresses and decompresses content, resulting in a smaller footprint and faster load times.
Support for Visual C# Express 2008 and Visual Studio 2008
XNA 3.0 is also based on the 2008 series of the Visual Studio tools. New language features include: query expressions, extension methods, lambda expressions, expression trees, and partial methods. Excellent language additions to help streamline your game project.
Clean Deployment to Xbox 360Torque X 3.0 also has a smoother Xbox 360 deployment flow. Using Visual Studio's built-in Xbox 360 project converter, you can quickly create an Xbox version of your game and deploy it via XNA connect.
Exposed Engine Classes
In previous releases many internal engine classes were marked sealed or internal to squeeze a bit more performance out of the engine. The downside was that these useful engine classes were inaccessible to game code. Now, many of these classes are exposed externally for you to tap into.
Create Xbox LIVE Community Games
The best part about Torque X 3.0 is that you can now create games that target XNA 3.0 and start creating Xbox LIVE Community Games. As I've mentioned earlier, Community Games are a way to sell your Xbox 360 games to Xbox LIVE subscribers.
Upgrading Your Game Project
Upgrading your game project from Torque X 2.0 to 3.0 should be a snap. There are no changes to the scene data format and every effort was made to ensure that public interfaces were unchanged. All you need to do is upgrade your computer to Visual C# Express 2008 or Visual Studio 2008 and then upgrade to XNA 3.0 and Torque X 3.0.Next, start Visual Studio and open your game project. The project upgrader will automatically start. Accept all options and continue to the end of the upgrade wizard. Once the upgrade completes, make sure you change your project's references to point to the new Torque X 3.0.0.0 assembly. Then, rebuild and run your game project.
Torque X in Action
There are a lot of great game projects under way with Torque X. At the 2009 Game Developer Conference, GarageGames featured Box Macabre from Perfect Dork Studios. This clever 3D platformer won a lot of attention at the conference and I was thrilled to meet with the developers.Solicheck is still selling well in several countries as (I believe) the very first Torque X game released into Xbox LIVE Community Games. A sequel with new graphics and gameplay is right around the corner, coming as a free upgrade to those who have already purchased the original game.
AirSpace is a fast-paced, arcade-style game that puts you in the cockpit of modern fighter planes in an around-the-world campaign to repel an alien invasion. The game was built completely on Torque X 3D and extends the engine with new game objects and shader effects. It's expected to launch on Xbox Live Community Games platform this summer.
Last Straw Productions is also making great progress with their RTS Kit for Torque X, empowering game developers to create a new wave of real-time strategy games for the Xbox 360.
Fluid Images is working on Robot Revolution, a fast action 3D game featuring fighting robots. Built with Torque X 3D, this game highlites amazing motion-captured animation, effective scene lighting, and energetic audio.
What's on the Horizon for Torque X
XNA 3.1 SupportXNA 3.1 has been announced for this Spring and we're already looking into how Torque X is going to incorporate those features. The new XNA is promising easier content creation, more Xbox LIVE functionality, and full use of the Xbox Avatars as animated FBX models. My personal favorite is the support for video on the Xbox 360, so look for some cool rendered cut-scenes in my next game ;) Torque X is planning a maintenance 3.1 release around the same time to maintain compatibility with XNA, fix some bugs, and improve the tools a bit.
Online Video Sessions
Looking for more instructional material on Torque X? I'm already deep into production with new online video tutorials that range from getting started with Torque X to implementing useful game features. The online Web videos will serve as an additional free resource for learning Torque X best practices. More details are coming soon...
Get Your Game On
Lastly, Microsoft has launched the Dream-Build-Play 2009 Game Competition. You can get started right now with Torque X 3.0 and XNA 3.0 to take your game idea and bring it to the Xbox 360 by August 6, 2009 to win big cash and possibly an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract. It would be exciting to see a Torque X 3.0 game place as a finalist. Good Luck!And there we have it. We're very excited about Torque X 3.o and what it brings to game developers. We're already marching forward with the next release with more improvements and features in mind. I'll be on the Torque X 2D/3D forums ansering a ton of detailed questions. So, stop reading this and start downloading the Free Torque X Binary.
John K.
About the author
John Kanalakis is the owner of EnvyGames, an independent game development studio in Silicon Valley that produces games and tools for Xbox 360, Windows, and the Web.
#22
I can only learn one engine at a time.. And I really wanted TX3D as well. Now I am getting ready to take vacation and you are making me choose between TX3D and this:
www.flightsim.com/main/feature/natg.htm
Tough decisions ahead!
05/12/2009 (4:40 pm)
Stop it!I can only learn one engine at a time.. And I really wanted TX3D as well. Now I am getting ready to take vacation and you are making me choose between TX3D and this:
www.flightsim.com/main/feature/natg.htm
Tough decisions ahead!
#23
05/13/2009 (5:56 am)
I purchase Troquex 3.0 in Feb 2009 but what I got was TorqueX 2.0, Garage games told me b email, that I'll get the Version 3.0 once is available, in order to do it I need to have in my products, but I dont't have it there. 
#24
05/13/2009 (11:37 am)
Great news! Does this mean we need a new book John, or will the 'Complete Guide' still cover it?
#25
@Kenneth: Can you check my account to see if it needs to have the a key added? My TX Pro only shows v1 and v2 for downloads.
05/15/2009 (6:47 am)
I have a TX Pro license, is this not the same thing? ...Or is this a new product? Looks cool in any event.@Kenneth: Can you check my account to see if it needs to have the a key added? My TX Pro only shows v1 and v2 for downloads.
#26
05/15/2009 (7:54 am)
I don't know if I'm suppose to get this free / update price, full or what, so I wonder say no to an account download / key check either...
#27
When we originally launched Torque X we offered a free, binary only version of the engine (Torque X), a $100 tool set (Torque X Builder,) and the option to buy the engine source code (Torque X Pro.) Licensees who already owned TGB were offered a promotional copy of TXB for N/C.
Last year we added 3D support to the engine, but did not have the 3D "Builder" tools completed. Now that both 2d and 3d have their own sets of tools we've separated products in to simply "Torque X 2D" and "Torque X 3D." Torque X 2D, and Torque X 3D both include the engine source code, and we've stopped offering the free "Engine only" binary. (Honestly, the Binary w/o tools caused a lot of confusion, as few customers understood the difference between the engine and the tools to begin with).
So here is how credit for previous purchases should work out (updated 5/19/09):
Previously owned:
Torque X Binary Only- $0 this was a free engine
Torque X Builder- $100 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Builder and Torque X Pro- $250 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Pro- $50 credit towards Torque X 2D and $100 towards Torque X 3D
05/16/2009 (12:24 am)
Hi Guys- Let me see if I can clear up how the current and previous licenses worked. When we originally launched Torque X we offered a free, binary only version of the engine (Torque X), a $100 tool set (Torque X Builder,) and the option to buy the engine source code (Torque X Pro.) Licensees who already owned TGB were offered a promotional copy of TXB for N/C.
Last year we added 3D support to the engine, but did not have the 3D "Builder" tools completed. Now that both 2d and 3d have their own sets of tools we've separated products in to simply "Torque X 2D" and "Torque X 3D." Torque X 2D, and Torque X 3D both include the engine source code, and we've stopped offering the free "Engine only" binary. (Honestly, the Binary w/o tools caused a lot of confusion, as few customers understood the difference between the engine and the tools to begin with).
So here is how credit for previous purchases should work out (updated 5/19/09):
Previously owned:
Torque X Binary Only- $0 this was a free engine
Torque X Builder- $100 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Builder and Torque X Pro- $250 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Pro- $50 credit towards Torque X 2D and $100 towards Torque X 3D
#28
Okay, I actually need to correct some of the above (again, sorry for the confusion around all of this, it's actually pretty simple. Here goes:
We have 2 products you can buy now, Torque X 2D ($150), and Torque X 3D ($250). We used to have 3, as Davey outlined. You could get the binary engine for free (no tools), TXB (2D Editor) for $100, and the source code (to both 2D and 3D engine) for $150.
If you own the binary, there is no credit toward either Torque X 2D or Torque X 3D. If you own TXB, there is a $100 credit toward Torque X 2D, and no credit towards Torque X 3D. If you own Torque X Pro (the old engine source w/ 2D and 3D code), there is a $50 dollar credit towards Torque X 2D, and a $100 credit towards Torque X 3D.
TXB => TX2D for $50, TX3D for $250
TX Pro => TX2D for $100, TX3D for $150
TX Pro + TXB => TX2D at no cost, TX3D for $150
That's as crystal clear as we can make it. Again, sorry this wasn't messaged better from the get go. We're really excited to finally have a WYSIWYG 3D Editor, and of course, XNA 3.0 compatibility. Please don't hesitate to send an email to support@garagegames.com if you have any trouble with the above credits toward either Torque X 2D, or Torque X 3D.
Thanks!
05/16/2009 (1:36 am)
Thanks Davey. Love the new avatar :)Okay, I actually need to correct some of the above (again, sorry for the confusion around all of this, it's actually pretty simple. Here goes:
We have 2 products you can buy now, Torque X 2D ($150), and Torque X 3D ($250). We used to have 3, as Davey outlined. You could get the binary engine for free (no tools), TXB (2D Editor) for $100, and the source code (to both 2D and 3D engine) for $150.
If you own the binary, there is no credit toward either Torque X 2D or Torque X 3D. If you own TXB, there is a $100 credit toward Torque X 2D, and no credit towards Torque X 3D. If you own Torque X Pro (the old engine source w/ 2D and 3D code), there is a $50 dollar credit towards Torque X 2D, and a $100 credit towards Torque X 3D.
TXB => TX2D for $50, TX3D for $250
TX Pro => TX2D for $100, TX3D for $150
TX Pro + TXB => TX2D at no cost, TX3D for $150
That's as crystal clear as we can make it. Again, sorry this wasn't messaged better from the get go. We're really excited to finally have a WYSIWYG 3D Editor, and of course, XNA 3.0 compatibility. Please don't hesitate to send an email to support@garagegames.com if you have any trouble with the above credits toward either Torque X 2D, or Torque X 3D.
Thanks!
#29
Some of this is incorrect, please disregard and refer to this.
05/16/2009 (1:38 am)
Quote:Previously owned:
Torque X Binary Only- $0 this was a free engine
Torque X Builder- $100 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Builder and Torque X Pro- $250 credit towards Torque X 2D
Torque X Pro- $100 credit towards Torque X 2D or Torque X 3D
Some of this is incorrect, please disregard and refer to this.
#30
05/16/2009 (4:55 am)
Thanks for the clarification, I couldn't find the landing page for a moment (thought under torque 2d) but found it under consoles link, seems I'm in the $50 bracket :) 
Torque Owner Stephan Goebels
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