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.
#302
10/06/2009 (5:51 pm)
Artyom why even bother posting, your very rude and your post should be deleted. 
#303
please sorry me for my bad english it is not my native language
10/06/2009 (6:01 pm)
What are you doing people this is very bad idea even 500$ is too expensive for some people like me, personally i am student and until now i was collecting 250$ to by the Basic version but when today discovered that the basic no longer exists, it broke my mood.please sorry me for my bad english it is not my native language
#304
10/06/2009 (6:12 pm)
While I know that discussions, especially when discussing pricing, can get heated, let's stay professional.
#305
10/06/2009 (6:30 pm)
I would also like to add that since 2005 GarageGames has offered discount pricing for students attending one of our licensed schools. Once we complete the Artist edition we will likely offer a discounted version for students attending these schools as well.
#306
Don't forget, your blogs are STILL available:
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/16727
That my friends at GG is false advertising...
10/07/2009 (2:33 pm)
I like how GG staff totally ignored ALL posts to the $250 Basic license, that they SAID would be available...? Makes you wonder doesn't it? I think "bait and switch" term that was used perfectly fit this situation. Talk about lying to your community.Don't forget, your blogs are STILL available:
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/16727
That my friends at GG is false advertising...
#307
10/07/2009 (2:56 pm)
Fine, they should release it with the current checkboxes in Basic. No AL, no Particle Editor, no Shape Editor, no Road/River editor, no Web publishing. Those are a few off the top of my head. For those who own TGEA they are going to get a "better" product than what was advertised at less cost. For those who don't, they will pay a bit more, but still get a better product.
#308
After posting our initial thread on pricing and announcing the Basic version, we heard a lot of developers concerned that a feature delta between the two version would interfere with many studio's development process. In the Basic version we were going to remove some of our best, artist friendly, features such as Advanced Lighting and the River and Road Tool. We want new users, particularly artist, to be able to create content which looks great and is easy integrate with the full version of Torque 3D. Removing the River and Road tool and Advanced Lighting would have instead limited content creators to making "gimped" versions of their environments.
Additionally, by having two version of Torque 3D with separate features, we would split our documentation and increase our support costs. Think about it: we would have to create two separate sets of docs and every time someone sent a support inquiry we would have to ask "Which version of Torque 3D are you using?" By pursuing a full feature Artist version, we can maintain one set of docs, one update scheudle and support one core engine. This was not a "bait and switch." It was a careful, reasoned business decision which will result in a better experience for our customers.
10/07/2009 (3:01 pm)
@ Thomas- I don't believe that is a fair or accurate assessment. We've actually addressed the conversation about the Basic License removal head on and explained our reasoning. After posting our initial thread on pricing and announcing the Basic version, we heard a lot of developers concerned that a feature delta between the two version would interfere with many studio's development process. In the Basic version we were going to remove some of our best, artist friendly, features such as Advanced Lighting and the River and Road Tool. We want new users, particularly artist, to be able to create content which looks great and is easy integrate with the full version of Torque 3D. Removing the River and Road tool and Advanced Lighting would have instead limited content creators to making "gimped" versions of their environments.
Additionally, by having two version of Torque 3D with separate features, we would split our documentation and increase our support costs. Think about it: we would have to create two separate sets of docs and every time someone sent a support inquiry we would have to ask "Which version of Torque 3D are you using?" By pursuing a full feature Artist version, we can maintain one set of docs, one update scheudle and support one core engine. This was not a "bait and switch." It was a careful, reasoned business decision which will result in a better experience for our customers.
#309
I know it can be frustrating clipping the "afford" level,but what GG are doing is spot on.An "Artist" version of this engine for $500 is absolutely what people like us (the poor whining category) need.
You can grab a copy of other "indie" engines for $200,but you'll be wasting your money because it isn't going to give you,an indie game maker,the full complete set of tools which is absolutely neccessary to keep you inspired and to make that idea in your head come true and that includes shadows,light effects,shaders,post process,lets face it the most important things to at least attempt to create the visual experience we all enjoy with modern gaming.
Where would Doom3 have been without shadows right?
$1000 for what you get is still amazing value,let alone an "indie" version for $500 AMAZING!!!
which these days is about right.In 2006 it was $300 for TGEA.
But the most important thing here is in all of this to me anyway is this,the GG guys listen,take it on board and deliver,and deliver it the best way they can at a price which is fair and affordable for all.
Where else are you going to get an all in fully featured 3D game engine for $500.Trust me T3D basic would have been just that,and an absolute waste of time because while your in the slow lane,most others are speeding past,with their advanced shader,lighting,post process effects which are absolutely essential.
Without the right tools,you lose inspiration and end up not bothering and find something else to do with your time.
Don't get angry,and save that little bit extra,cause there is no-one else on the market doing this,and it'll we well worth it.
It'll be interesting to see how much I can get off the "artist" version being a TGEA owner :P
10/07/2009 (3:31 pm)
@Thomas -I know it can be frustrating clipping the "afford" level,but what GG are doing is spot on.An "Artist" version of this engine for $500 is absolutely what people like us (the poor whining category) need.
You can grab a copy of other "indie" engines for $200,but you'll be wasting your money because it isn't going to give you,an indie game maker,the full complete set of tools which is absolutely neccessary to keep you inspired and to make that idea in your head come true and that includes shadows,light effects,shaders,post process,lets face it the most important things to at least attempt to create the visual experience we all enjoy with modern gaming.
Where would Doom3 have been without shadows right?
$1000 for what you get is still amazing value,let alone an "indie" version for $500 AMAZING!!!
which these days is about right.In 2006 it was $300 for TGEA.
But the most important thing here is in all of this to me anyway is this,the GG guys listen,take it on board and deliver,and deliver it the best way they can at a price which is fair and affordable for all.
Where else are you going to get an all in fully featured 3D game engine for $500.Trust me T3D basic would have been just that,and an absolute waste of time because while your in the slow lane,most others are speeding past,with their advanced shader,lighting,post process effects which are absolutely essential.
Without the right tools,you lose inspiration and end up not bothering and find something else to do with your time.
Don't get angry,and save that little bit extra,cause there is no-one else on the market doing this,and it'll we well worth it.
It'll be interesting to see how much I can get off the "artist" version being a TGEA owner :P
#310
The parts of the blogs where they said that nothing in this blog series was meant to be taken as guarantees is still available too. It was supposed to be a look into their development cycle and decision making processes, and to give the Torque community input into the process.
The move away from the Basic version was obviously due to them taking into consideration that input from the community, most of which said that the Basic version was going to be pointless and even problematic.
10/07/2009 (4:25 pm)
Quote:
Don't forget, your blogs are STILL available:
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/16727
That my friends at GG is false advertising...
The parts of the blogs where they said that nothing in this blog series was meant to be taken as guarantees is still available too. It was supposed to be a look into their development cycle and decision making processes, and to give the Torque community input into the process.
The move away from the Basic version was obviously due to them taking into consideration that input from the community, most of which said that the Basic version was going to be pointless and even problematic.
#311
Torque 3D's basic lighting is a GREAT performer, looks fantastic (especially in conjunction with pureLIGHT), and will have much better compatibility on the Windows systems through the use of Direct3D instead of OpenGL... and that's all the words your post deserves.
10/07/2009 (4:54 pm)
@Joshua Dallman: Dude, there is a better way to try and express your concern... the (continued) hostility is way over the top and disrespectful to the very people you once worked with... who are NOT some kind of demons who have "lost the way of the indie" and need to be exorcised or admonished.Torque 3D's basic lighting is a GREAT performer, looks fantastic (especially in conjunction with pureLIGHT), and will have much better compatibility on the Windows systems through the use of Direct3D instead of OpenGL... and that's all the words your post deserves.
#312
Edit: Too many Josh's :-).
10/07/2009 (5:02 pm)
@Joshua D: Could you post your specs. Also, have you tried switching it over to Basic Lighting? The Advanced Lighting is designed for DirectX 10 grade cards and depending on what you have that will be the difference between a zone that runs well and one that is not acceptable. The blur thing sounds weird though as I haven't seen that. I don't test on really low end machines, but we do have testers using laptops that don't support SM3 and they are able to run the game. T3D can be designed to support integrated video cards, but a lot of attention has to be made to that platform to make sure you get acceptable framerates by not overdoing the terrain size and keeping the models at acceptable poly counts.Edit: Too many Josh's :-).
#313
I'm with you. I'm also ticked off that I can't get Windows 7 to run on my 386. MS-DOS runs great. What kind of progress is that?
10/07/2009 (5:11 pm)
Quote:
I target older systems which is why I develop on an older system and the new Torque doesn't work on it where the old Torque did. I find it sad to call that progress then charge through the nose for the privilege.
I'm with you. I'm also ticked off that I can't get Windows 7 to run on my 386. MS-DOS runs great. What kind of progress is that?
#314
While we welcome concerns and criticisms, we do not welcome hostility.
10/07/2009 (5:28 pm)
Josh, I have removed your post, and your posting ability. I hate to have to do that, but you have shown time and time again your venomous attitude to GarageGames over some perceived wrong, and it looks like that hasn't changed during your absense. You chose to leave the community a while back, and it looks like that is still the best option for you while you work through your issues with us.While we welcome concerns and criticisms, we do not welcome hostility.
#315
10/07/2009 (5:35 pm)
@ Gerald : LOLZ 
#317
Are we to assume your commercial version isn't $3000 anymore either, since now you have to mail you to get a price? Also, basically the Basic was the "artists version" that you are going to charge $500 for now. I guess you can call all this what you want, for quite a few members, we can see clearly exactly what you are doing, and where you are heading, and its not really "GarageGames" indie anymore, its your bank account.
@Jojimbo Its not about the money for me, its about the principle of it. Also the post TITLE was not "Prospective Pricing" it is "Pricing Released" That pretty simple to read and understand. Pricing released, means just that.
@GG
Here's a thought, you should offer that $500 offer for the full T3D to show your concern for your poor business tactics for 1 month to show us you really care
10/08/2009 (9:32 pm)
@Davey The point was that you probably have quite a few customers that did NOT purchase the reduced price T3D because there was going to be a Basic version that they wanted that would be avaliable @ Release. Then @ Release you didn't offer it, and now if those same people want T3D it is $200 more than they could have gotten it. The IS "Bait and Switch", because your forcing people to pay more money than they would have if you would have CLEARLY posted that the basic was not going to be available. Don't post here claiming it was anything other than that, because that simply is not true...(and I read through every single page and didn't find any response to your customers about the basic version).Are we to assume your commercial version isn't $3000 anymore either, since now you have to mail you to get a price? Also, basically the Basic was the "artists version" that you are going to charge $500 for now. I guess you can call all this what you want, for quite a few members, we can see clearly exactly what you are doing, and where you are heading, and its not really "GarageGames" indie anymore, its your bank account.
@Jojimbo Its not about the money for me, its about the principle of it. Also the post TITLE was not "Prospective Pricing" it is "Pricing Released" That pretty simple to read and understand. Pricing released, means just that.
@GG
Here's a thought, you should offer that $500 offer for the full T3D to show your concern for your poor business tactics for 1 month to show us you really care
#318
----
Why would you even think about thinking about using Torque to make a MMO when you can simply get the new Realmcrafter "Professional" version engine which is more powerful then T3D in networking, basically a MMO ready networking engine with a Dynamic Loading system built in for seamless zoneless worlds and a just as capable rendering side if not moreso... and for only 300 bucks.
If GG thinks many people are going to buy T3D for 1,000 - 3,000 they're living in a dream world when there's better options for much less.
10/10/2009 (7:15 am)
"For my project though we wouldn't be able to use the $250 license, we are not making an FPS. We are making an MMO. And Torque out of the box just is not capable of making an MMO - particularly not with our unique specifications "----
Why would you even think about thinking about using Torque to make a MMO when you can simply get the new Realmcrafter "Professional" version engine which is more powerful then T3D in networking, basically a MMO ready networking engine with a Dynamic Loading system built in for seamless zoneless worlds and a just as capable rendering side if not moreso... and for only 300 bucks.
If GG thinks many people are going to buy T3D for 1,000 - 3,000 they're living in a dream world when there's better options for much less.
#319
10/10/2009 (10:57 am)
@TheOne: That would be a LOT of people (thousands) "living the dream" then.
#320
You guys $hould $eriously start concentrating on being a properly organized developer and not allow people on forums to handle your support for you. Maybe than Torque code wouldn't look like it was put together by some untalented college kids and you would not be getting destroyed with bad reviews even on your own engine review site lately.
Or are you just totally oblivious to the fact?
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine_details.php?id=3
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Does not deserve any respect
Posted by: jayx at Sep 30, 2009
This engine is a heap of garbage. GarageGames spends all their money on marketing to dupe all kinds of ignorant hobbyists into buying their junk, and they spend next to nothing on engineering. The engineering they actually do is amateur level at best, and the new Torque3D is nothing different. The way they operate could be considered a scam because they keep charging for new updates that promise great new features, but they never deliver. Don't be fooled and don't waste a cent on this abomination.
===========
10/10/2009 (11:20 am)
I highly doubt "thousands" of people paid 1,000-3,000+ for T3D. But then again I know you're all real good at the BS marketing stuff so who knows maybe there's enough people and hobbyists out there to believe the hype.You guys $hould $eriously start concentrating on being a properly organized developer and not allow people on forums to handle your support for you. Maybe than Torque code wouldn't look like it was put together by some untalented college kids and you would not be getting destroyed with bad reviews even on your own engine review site lately.
Or are you just totally oblivious to the fact?
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine_details.php?id=3
==============
Does not deserve any respect
Posted by: jayx at Sep 30, 2009
This engine is a heap of garbage. GarageGames spends all their money on marketing to dupe all kinds of ignorant hobbyists into buying their junk, and they spend next to nothing on engineering. The engineering they actually do is amateur level at best, and the new Torque3D is nothing different. The way they operate could be considered a scam because they keep charging for new updates that promise great new features, but they never deliver. Don't be fooled and don't waste a cent on this abomination.
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Torque 3D Owner Steve
YP productions