Torque 3D Development - Release!!!
by Brett Seyler · 09/28/2009 (10:33 pm) · 335 comments
We're finally here. Release day!
Download the Torque 3D 1.0 release from your account now!
It's been a bit quiet for the past month while we sprint to the finish. I've been in Europe demoing Torque 3D to publishers, studios and the press (you'll hear more about this soon). Meanwhile, the whole team here has been putting in a monster effort to bring you the most stable, solid release of Torque ever.
If you've already made the jump, you know that this is a whole new breed of Torque. The tools are ground breaking for development productivity. The content pipeline gets your art into Torque at light speed and live asset updating lets you iterate on your content in tools of your choice and watch them update in Torque instantly.
What's Inside
If you've been following these dev blogs, you've seen almost every feature of Torque demonstrated first hand. You can also find all these details neatly organized on the Torque 3D page as well. So down to details...here's what's in this release:Engine Advanced Lighting* Particle System Revamped Terrain System COLLADA Import Pipeline Audio API Improved Material System Improved Skinned Mesh Performance PostFX System* Improved Water Blocks and Planes Physics (via PhysX)* Live Asset Updating New Tools River Editor Road Editor Datablock Editor Decal Editor Particle Editor Material Editor Shape Editor Viz Toggles Collada Exporter (for Interiors) Improved Tools Terrain Editor Terrain Painter Object Editor GUI Editor | Publishing** Windows (D3D) OSX (OGL) Web (FF, IE, Chrome, Safari) Projects PhysX: Cloth FPS Example: Burg * Limited or N/A on OSX ** Console licenses for all major platforms available separately. Contact licensing@torquepowered.com for details. |
FPS Example? Yes. If you've been a part of the beta groups, you've seen "FPS Genre Kit" as a project in previous builds (including Beta 5). We are planning to build out a much more robust and complete for-pay "FPS Genre Kit" (with improved functionality and documentation), but we want to minimize confusion between the projects. "FPS Example" has all of the same functionality as "FPS Genre Kit" from the betas. What you're seeing here is less content, but primarily a renaming.
Now, some of you are wondering "what's Burg?" Here is your answer...
In a couple weeks, we'll also be releasing Rasmus Deguchi's War Machine demo. Check it out here:
What about...
Gerhard's stuff
From the beginning, we've been very impressed with Gerhard was able to do with older version of Torque. I had hoped to ship Torque 3D with at least one demo of his stuff, but we encountered a few obstacles. Gerhard lost the artist he was working with and on the programming side, we struggled to keep his projects compatible with the Torque core, particularly GFX. Demos like "Wetness", "Depth of Field", "SSAO", and "Soft Particles" all showcase some great artwork and clever extension of Torque. We now have all these technical features in this release and neatly integrated in the PostFX system, with the exception of Wetness. We're going to follow up on that and build a nicer, more flexible implementation of Wetness into PostFX. See the discussion of that here. Much <3 to Pat Wilson and Sickhead for doing all this kickass PostFX stuff, including Light Rays, Scatter Sky and yes, even lens flares / coronas.
Undercity Demo
The Undercity Demo was built primarily to show at GDC last March. We're really proud of what Logan put together for us and we're looking at doing more work on this demo before releasing it either as part of the forthcoming FPS Genre Kit, or as a FPS Example.
Pacific Demo / Forest Kit
The Pacific Demo is built using Sickhead Games' Forest Kit foliage technology add-on. The Forest Kit is slated for a release to coincide with Torque 3D 1.1. This branch is already being actively worked on and you'll hear more about both the 1.1 release and the Forest Kit add-on in the coming weeks. Tom's already posted a nice teaser showing ground cover materials being properly lit by both Advanced Lighting, and Basic Lighting, all with wind animation.
Barricade Demo
The Barricade Demo was originally built to show off Torque technology circa 2006. Yikes. Sickhead Games are working on an updated version of this to be released in the near future.
Warrior Camp Demo
We never got to a point where we were satisfied with the way this looked, so it's been paused until we decide what (if anything) we want to do with it.
Luma's Racing Kit
Still in the works! Luma's been jamming on all kinds of other cool projects, including Rev, but they are working on finishing the Racing Kit in the next few months.
How is Torque 3D licensed?
The Torque 3D 1.x license is currently posted on the Torque 3D page. You can view it there. This document governs the Professional and Studio licenses. You'll find no reference to the "Basic." Why? As I've mentioned on several occasions where it's come up, we were never really hot on the spec for "Basic." It confuses the primary product spec ("Professional" and "Studio" share identical features) in creating a feature delta and frankly, the number of people who've jumped on the "Professional" license has convinced us that a "Basic" version is not really needed. What you'll see contemplated in the EULA we've posted is an "Artist" version instead. What we're considering here is offering a binary only, full-featured version of Torque 3D for $500 / seat. Discounts for owning prior versions of Torque would apply.If you'd like to make your opinion known, log your vote in the form below. We'll defer making a final decision about this for at least a month or two.
No matter what the results, there will be other changes to the Torque product line up as well. Biggest of all, as of November 1st, 2009, past versions of Torque (TGEA, TGE) will no longer be available for purchase.
What's Next?
A couple weeks ago we spun up an official Torque 3D 1.1 branch for work in parallel to the 1.0 release. The primary goals for the 1.1 release are:1. Performance and optimization
This will mostly be targeted at improving Advanced Lighting (shadows), but the uber geniuses at Sickhead and GameClay keep coming up with ways to get cycles back all over the place. Don't be surprised to see huge improvements (over the already great performance) on mainstream hardware and embedded devices in the next couple releases.
2. Usability improvements
We've a bevy of new tools and we're not silly enough to think we did everything perfect the first, second (or 50th) time, so go, use them. Tell us what you like and don't like. We'll keep improving until they are as perfect as they can be.
3. Particle System refactor
This has been in the works for months actually and Pat (with the help of pureLIGHT) is preparing a fully awesomed-out particle system for 1.1. I'll save going into the spec for a separate blog, but it's going to be all kinds of hawt. Here's Pat showing off wiring up 150 point lights in a PhysX "Lightfall."
4. Core improvements necessary for compatibility with Forest Kit
These are ongoing, but expected to wrap with 1.1 and coincide with the much anticipated release of Forest Kit by Sickhead.
5. OSX feature parity
We're obviously a *little* disappointed we weren't able to get Advanced Lighting to run well enough on OSX to ship with this release (see Alex Scarborough's forum post on Advanced Lighting for details), but we're confident that Torque 3D is the best game engine ever released for OSX games. Basic Lighting (what you're seeing in the Burg Demo) is really a very advanced, very fast forward renderer capable of more than any previous lighting system we've had. Objects and materials can recieve up to 4 lights at a time and each light can cast projected shadows optionally. We'd also like find a workable cross-platform solution for physics. PhysX supports everything *except* for OSX, so we're likely to look at Bullet in the next few months. In all likelyhood, we may never achieve feature parity, but we'll push OSX as hard as it can be pushed for you guys, and then we'll push it harder.
The developer community is already on Torque 3D in a big way. Here are some highlights from past weeks you might not have seen. As always, cool, well made stuff contributed back will go into the core for everyone to use.
Special thanks to Sickhead Games for contributing more to this release than I thought possible. You guys rock!
Torque 3D development blogs:
- Post #1 - Kickoff
- Post #2 - Apparatus and Warrior Camp
- Post #3 - Luma's racing kit
- Post #4 - Josh Engebretson and Web Publishing
- Post #5 - Pricing and Licensing
- Post #6 - Pricing and Licensing CONTINUED
- Post #7 - Wetness & Precipitation
- Post #8 - Screeen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)
- Post #9 - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher
- Post #10 - Chris Robertson and Collada
- Post #11 - Depth of Field
- Post #12 - Advanced Lighting
- Post #13 - Soft Particles
- Post #14 - World Editor
- Post #15 - Pricing and Licensing ANNOUNCED!
- Post #16 - GDC Live Edition
- Post #17 - River & Road Editors
- Post #18 - Beta is UP!
- Post #19 - Light Rays, Undercity, and the Material Editor
- Post #20 - Mass Market Hardware
- Post #21 - Beta: Part Deux
- Post #22 - Marching Towards Beta 3
- Post #23 - pureLIGHT
- Post #24 - Lighting, Terrain, and Cloth
- Post #25 - Beta 3!
- Post #26 - Documentation
- Post #27 - Beta 4!
- Post #28 - Shape Editor
- Post #29 - Beta 5!
- Post #30 - Collada Import GUI Dialog
- Post #31 - 1.0 Release!!!
- Post #32 - Coming Soon!
About the author
Since 2007, I've done my best to steer Torque's development and brand toward the best opportunities in games middleware.
#242
@Jeremiah
We're talking about niche products here. This is engine development. So, comparing this to anything where a company sells millions of products isn't quite in the right proportion.
And the fact that software is cheap to copy and distribute is absolutely not the point. Software development is expensive. Very expensive. How many licenses you think GG needs to sell for TGEA to recuperate the costs of one month worth of continued development effort?
10/01/2009 (6:43 pm)
@Jeremiah
We're talking about niche products here. This is engine development. So, comparing this to anything where a company sells millions of products isn't quite in the right proportion.
And the fact that software is cheap to copy and distribute is absolutely not the point. Software development is expensive. Very expensive. How many licenses you think GG needs to sell for TGEA to recuperate the costs of one month worth of continued development effort?
#243
I mean it's BAD,
I'm gonna get fired for sneaking to my house when I should be at work, and for taking lunch HOURS instead of hour. I've set and used a mouse/keyboard so much I can't hardly play guitar anymore. My girl friend is seriously jealous of my computer. And my dog pissed in the house because I was too immersed in T3D to let him outside. Serouisly all true!
BAD BAD BAD!!!
And I'm just now downloading T3D 1.0
T3D is so cool guys! Awesome! Look forward to the future of GG!!! Congrats!
10/01/2009 (6:44 pm)
Really, this is just an all around bad deal GG! I mean it's BAD,
I'm gonna get fired for sneaking to my house when I should be at work, and for taking lunch HOURS instead of hour. I've set and used a mouse/keyboard so much I can't hardly play guitar anymore. My girl friend is seriously jealous of my computer. And my dog pissed in the house because I was too immersed in T3D to let him outside. Serouisly all true!
BAD BAD BAD!!!
And I'm just now downloading T3D 1.0
T3D is so cool guys! Awesome! Look forward to the future of GG!!! Congrats!
#244
Haha!!
Oh man, I know this. And always on that tiny piece of carpet. Never on that big area of parquet around it.
10/01/2009 (6:51 pm)
Quote:And my dog pissed in the house because I was too immersed in T3D to let him outside.
Haha!!
Oh man, I know this. And always on that tiny piece of carpet. Never on that big area of parquet around it.
#245
10/01/2009 (6:54 pm)
He actually got in the corner by my kitchen: the wall, the carpet and the back of my recliner. He showed me!!! 
#247
It's definitely niche now.
I'd need to know more of the variables to make even a ballpark estimate.
10/01/2009 (7:43 pm)
Quote:We're talking about niche products here.
It's definitely niche now.
Quote:How many licenses you think GG needs to sell for TGEA to recuperate the costs of one month worth of continued development effort?
I'd need to know more of the variables to make even a ballpark estimate.
#248
10/01/2009 (8:17 pm)
Quote:I have only one question... whats the name of the song in the first video?That's "Hunted by a Freak" by Mogwai.
#250
Not exactly the same thing there - compare how many computers have video cards to how many are even used for games development
Any computer that is used for game development will have at least a decent video card - so 1 video card per PC that is used in game development plus 1 on all others who are not
10/02/2009 (8:55 am)
Quote:Ask video card manufacturers how they do it. They sell a wide variety of video cards ranging from high end monsters to mass produced, low cost cards.
Not exactly the same thing there - compare how many computers have video cards to how many are even used for games development
Any computer that is used for game development will have at least a decent video card - so 1 video card per PC that is used in game development plus 1 on all others who are not
#254
I don't think anyone is seriously saying, "T3D is over-priced and should cost less" or anything like that -- it IS a fantastic engine and is likely worth every penny! But clearly the price is beyond what many are willing to pay! And the graphics card analogy IS a very good one -- e.g. if I cannot afford the $500 card, then I'm going to buy the $250 card. But imagine if the $250 card doesn't exist; well, I still can't afford the $500 card, so guess what -- I can't buy a graphics card at all!
This is ultimately the scenario that will occur with Torque. There are many who are looking to purchase a game engine who cannot afford the T3D $1000 price tag, but they can afford something for $300. Or maybe they can only afford something for $100.
By removing the lower priced options -- TGE and TGEA -- you're not necessarily forcing customers to purchase T3D (well, maybe a few *shrug*), you're only removing potential revenue.
For example, if a new game developer has exactly $300 to spend on an engine, he might purchase TGEA. Win-win. Unless TGEA is no longer available, then he goes elsewhere or says "Eh, I'll get by with a free engine." Either way, GG loses $300.
Doesn't make much economic sense from my point of view.
10/02/2009 (4:21 pm)
@ Rene Damm et al: You're missing the point.I don't think anyone is seriously saying, "T3D is over-priced and should cost less" or anything like that -- it IS a fantastic engine and is likely worth every penny! But clearly the price is beyond what many are willing to pay! And the graphics card analogy IS a very good one -- e.g. if I cannot afford the $500 card, then I'm going to buy the $250 card. But imagine if the $250 card doesn't exist; well, I still can't afford the $500 card, so guess what -- I can't buy a graphics card at all!
This is ultimately the scenario that will occur with Torque. There are many who are looking to purchase a game engine who cannot afford the T3D $1000 price tag, but they can afford something for $300. Or maybe they can only afford something for $100.
By removing the lower priced options -- TGE and TGEA -- you're not necessarily forcing customers to purchase T3D (well, maybe a few *shrug*), you're only removing potential revenue.
For example, if a new game developer has exactly $300 to spend on an engine, he might purchase TGEA. Win-win. Unless TGEA is no longer available, then he goes elsewhere or says "Eh, I'll get by with a free engine." Either way, GG loses $300.
Doesn't make much economic sense from my point of view.
#255
You are also removing the resource costs associated with continued development and maintenance of the product line when you sunset any product.
You have to consider cost of revenue and cost of product as well as the revenue itself whenever you make these types of business decisions. One of the key informing positions to a decision like this is total net over a period of time--if a product's net revenue is negative or has no growth potential away from a negative position, then it makes no economic sense to actually keep the product on the market.
Again, I don't know if this is the situation with TGE, TGEA or any of the Engine's GG sells--this is just standard business knowledge.
10/02/2009 (4:32 pm)
Disclaimer: I'm not speaking as a GG employee here, nor am I in any way representing GG or Tech and Tools...I'm just pointing out a general business flaw in your perspective. I also do not have any information whatsoever on unit sales, cost per sale, or any financial information to back up the following--I'm just talking as a previous business owner.Quote:
By removing the lower priced options -- TGE and TGEA -- you're not necessarily forcing customers to purchase T3D (well, maybe a few *shrug*), you're only removing potential revenue.
You are also removing the resource costs associated with continued development and maintenance of the product line when you sunset any product.
Quote:
Doesn't make much economic sense from my point of view.
You have to consider cost of revenue and cost of product as well as the revenue itself whenever you make these types of business decisions. One of the key informing positions to a decision like this is total net over a period of time--if a product's net revenue is negative or has no growth potential away from a negative position, then it makes no economic sense to actually keep the product on the market.
Again, I don't know if this is the situation with TGE, TGEA or any of the Engine's GG sells--this is just standard business knowledge.
#256
10/02/2009 (4:38 pm)
By the way, I think it's ludicrous for an artist to have to pay $500 just so he can view his work in-game. And I imagine many other developers share the sentiment... "Why make my artists pay $500 when I can just hand them an executable?"
#257
I hear that, but in the case of software, the costs associated with maintaining a mature product are minimal. And in the case of TGE and TGEA, it would seem that more "continued development" and "maintenance" are being done by the community than by GG.
10/02/2009 (4:43 pm)
@ Stephen: Quote:You are also removing the resource costs associated with continued development and maintenance of the product line when you sunset any product.
I hear that, but in the case of software, the costs associated with maintaining a mature product are minimal. And in the case of TGE and TGEA, it would seem that more "continued development" and "maintenance" are being done by the community than by GG.
#258
There is a continuous cost to maintaining a product not only for support and development, but also in terms of brand perception. Moving forward we want to focus resources on the products we feel represent our best work. We can achieve these goals with higher quality by focusing on our current products instead of trying to squeeze every sale out of our previous product line.
With Torque 3D, new users will have a great development experience the first time they use Torque and veteran users will gain access to cutting edge features/development tools. When TGEA was released it delivered on the latter, but it missed the mark in delivering the former. Torque 3D achieves both goals and is unquestionably a better overall product.
Look at the all positive feedback from the people who have made the upgrade. Torque 3D is smoother, faster and prettier than anything in this market segment (low cost game middleware). GarageGames has always promised AAA development tools at an affordable price. While I recognize that the real debate here is "What is affordable?," there is no question that the modern AAA engine is Torque 3D not TGE/A.
10/02/2009 (5:56 pm)
What Steven said. There is a continuous cost to maintaining a product not only for support and development, but also in terms of brand perception. Moving forward we want to focus resources on the products we feel represent our best work. We can achieve these goals with higher quality by focusing on our current products instead of trying to squeeze every sale out of our previous product line.
With Torque 3D, new users will have a great development experience the first time they use Torque and veteran users will gain access to cutting edge features/development tools. When TGEA was released it delivered on the latter, but it missed the mark in delivering the former. Torque 3D achieves both goals and is unquestionably a better overall product.
Look at the all positive feedback from the people who have made the upgrade. Torque 3D is smoother, faster and prettier than anything in this market segment (low cost game middleware). GarageGames has always promised AAA development tools at an affordable price. While I recognize that the real debate here is "What is affordable?," there is no question that the modern AAA engine is Torque 3D not TGE/A.
#259
You keep saying everybody is missing the point but in fact you're the one who is.
Although TGE/A are out GG IS still providing a $250 engine for those who can't affoard T3D - it's called TX3D
And if you prefer 2D you can still get TX2D for $150
So those who can't affoard T3D have cheaper alternatives here on GG
That is, except MAC users
Plus with TX3D/2D you can also publish for the XBOX as well as Windows - so you get 2 platforms withouth needing special licence - as you would need to use T3D on XBOX or other platform that isn't Windows or MAC
And with TX3D/TX2D you get assurance from GG on continued development - wich you don't get anymore with TGE/A
It's not that they don't provide cheaper options, just that they don't provide outdated ones
10/02/2009 (6:11 pm)
@Kevin:You keep saying everybody is missing the point but in fact you're the one who is.
Although TGE/A are out GG IS still providing a $250 engine for those who can't affoard T3D - it's called TX3D
And if you prefer 2D you can still get TX2D for $150
So those who can't affoard T3D have cheaper alternatives here on GG
That is, except MAC users
Plus with TX3D/2D you can also publish for the XBOX as well as Windows - so you get 2 platforms withouth needing special licence - as you would need to use T3D on XBOX or other platform that isn't Windows or MAC
And with TX3D/TX2D you get assurance from GG on continued development - wich you don't get anymore with TGE/A
It's not that they don't provide cheaper options, just that they don't provide outdated ones
#260
As it stands an artist, sripter, or any other developer working on your team would have to purchase a full version of T3D. A version discounted by 50% is pretty bloody good, and I'm sure that it is "upgradable".
10/02/2009 (6:12 pm)
Quote:By the way, I think it's ludicrous for an artist to have to pay $500 just so he can view his work in-game. And I imagine many other developers share the sentiment... "Why make my artists pay $500 when I can just hand them an executable?"Why not just download a pirated copy and use the exe from that? What is the difference? Your T3D licence - as with *many* other software licences - is for you and you alone. If you give it to someone to develop with, then you have broken the terms of the EULA.
As it stands an artist, sripter, or any other developer working on your team would have to purchase a full version of T3D. A version discounted by 50% is pretty bloody good, and I'm sure that it is "upgradable".
Torque Owner Jeremiah Moss
Ask video card manufacturers how they do it. They sell a wide variety of video cards ranging from high end monsters to mass produced, low cost cards.
It's a price/quantity tradeoff. You can theoretically get the same income at a lower price by selling a larger quantity.
Software is theoretically very easy to mass produce. Online it's just the cost of electricity, and at stores the cost of games nearly always outweighs the cost of producing CDs.
I *thought* that maybe GG was going to have a wider selection of products at various price points. But I guess not.