T3D dated?
by Grant D · in General Discussion · 05/10/2010 (11:32 pm) · 5 replies
I was considering buying Torque3D but after looking around I get the impression the game is dated? The screen shots in the RTS addin tool shows very low res terrain skins, and the terrain screen shots from the terrain builder isn't upto current standards. Can T3D produce cutting edge games with highres terrain / skins? How old is T3D?
Also, I noticed the Character package with 1,000 animations, does it contain melee animations? sword thrust, spear thrust, bow fire, throw spear etc etc etc? and can I add my own 3rd party figures into T3D and use someone else's animations? is that easy or impossible?
Thanks
Grant.
Also, I noticed the Character package with 1,000 animations, does it contain melee animations? sword thrust, spear thrust, bow fire, throw spear etc etc etc? and can I add my own 3rd party figures into T3D and use someone else's animations? is that easy or impossible?
Thanks
Grant.
About the author
12 years IT development in the finance / insurance Industry. Hobbies : war gaming, computer gaming.
#2
So the RTS Kit would not be an easy plugin. If your interested in the content packs search around and make sure they'll work in Torque 3D ok, and not just TGE and TGEA (Torque Game Engine Advanced - both TGE and TGEA where older forms of Torque 3D).
05/11/2010 (4:49 pm)
The RTS Kit however is quite old, based on the Torque Game Engine. Before it became Torque 3D. It would have to be ported over to Torque 3D, I don't know if anyone has done this yet or not.So the RTS Kit would not be an easy plugin. If your interested in the content packs search around and make sure they'll work in Torque 3D ok, and not just TGE and TGEA (Torque Game Engine Advanced - both TGE and TGEA where older forms of Torque 3D).
#3
"
etc ....
joystick0 input device created.
DirectInput enabled.
Done
SFXFMODProvider - Could not locate fmodex.dll - FMod not available.
--------- Loading DIRS ---------
--------- Parsing Arguments ---------
Binding server port to default IP
UDP initialized on port 0
Attempting
.... etc
"
Is loading heightmaps unavailable for demo version? why am I missing - fmodex.dll ?? It's hard to test the system if i annot even load a heightmap.
Also, I was a little disappointed in T3D not being uptodate (compared to Crytech's new engine but i suppose it's a different league) but then i saw DreamLords and Cherry Blossom Forest (needs grass!) which are really good! High res terrain skins are really essential these days.
A few more questions are you might have a sale, do i get characters or animations with the professional version? I suspect i'll need to create and import my own characters but can I rig them to standard animations in the game? (if there?)
WHat's the standard rate to get meshes made and animated in T3D? (4K triangles, 1024 skins, many animations)
Thanks
05/12/2010 (7:04 am)
I just tried to import a heightmap but continually got a error message. After examining the log, thisstuck out -"
etc ....
joystick0 input device created.
DirectInput enabled.
Done
SFXFMODProvider - Could not locate fmodex.dll - FMod not available.
--------- Loading DIRS ---------
--------- Parsing Arguments ---------
Binding server port to default IP
UDP initialized on port 0
Attempting
.... etc
"
Is loading heightmaps unavailable for demo version? why am I missing - fmodex.dll ?? It's hard to test the system if i annot even load a heightmap.
Also, I was a little disappointed in T3D not being uptodate (compared to Crytech's new engine but i suppose it's a different league) but then i saw DreamLords and Cherry Blossom Forest (needs grass!) which are really good! High res terrain skins are really essential these days.
A few more questions are you might have a sale, do i get characters or animations with the professional version? I suspect i'll need to create and import my own characters but can I rig them to standard animations in the game? (if there?)
WHat's the standard rate to get meshes made and animated in T3D? (4K triangles, 1024 skins, many animations)
Thanks
#4
You will get 2 meshes fully ready - Gideon (dude in trench-coat) and boomBot (blue robot guy)
They give you the 3dsMax file so you could disect that. The animations are stored in a DSQ file which contains transform data for bones. This means any character you want to re-use the animations with needs to have the EXACT same hierarchy as the default meshes.
It would be pretty hard to replicate the hierarchy without owning 3ds Max and being pretty advanced with it.
There are, however, some character kits that have a bunch of fully skinned + animated characters ready to be dropped in to torque, but they won't be tailored to your specific game and will look pretty generic.
There is no standard rate for asset creation. You would probably expect to pay professional wages ($20/hour and up), and a really high end character (4K triangles, 1024 skins, many animations) can take 40 to 200 man hours to fully model, skin, texture, rig, animate and export.
Art is the heavy lifting for any game project, so expect to spend most of you budget there.
No one cares how high res your grass is if the game sucks. I wouldn't worry too much on delivering a AAA art quality experience and focus more on gameplay + mechanics. If you feel like you need all the shiniest art, your budget will need to accommodate (assuming high end assets: a level + doodads + characters + weapons + effects could run you >$100,000, and that's on the cheap "indie" spectrum.)
Torque 3d is a great product - I wish I could afford pro. However, it will be hard to jumpstart a project without proper funding or a skilled group of volunteers (hard to get). That is, unless you lower the bar a bit in some places and focus on the core of the game. I don't want to delude you into thinking you can make the next Gears of War with 2 people on a shoestring budget.
05/12/2010 (10:30 am)
You barely get any art assets with the engine - it's not a game maker, it's a framework of code to program your own game.You will get 2 meshes fully ready - Gideon (dude in trench-coat) and boomBot (blue robot guy)
They give you the 3dsMax file so you could disect that. The animations are stored in a DSQ file which contains transform data for bones. This means any character you want to re-use the animations with needs to have the EXACT same hierarchy as the default meshes.
It would be pretty hard to replicate the hierarchy without owning 3ds Max and being pretty advanced with it.
There are, however, some character kits that have a bunch of fully skinned + animated characters ready to be dropped in to torque, but they won't be tailored to your specific game and will look pretty generic.
There is no standard rate for asset creation. You would probably expect to pay professional wages ($20/hour and up), and a really high end character (4K triangles, 1024 skins, many animations) can take 40 to 200 man hours to fully model, skin, texture, rig, animate and export.
Art is the heavy lifting for any game project, so expect to spend most of you budget there.
Quote:High res terrain skins are really essential these days.
No one cares how high res your grass is if the game sucks. I wouldn't worry too much on delivering a AAA art quality experience and focus more on gameplay + mechanics. If you feel like you need all the shiniest art, your budget will need to accommodate (assuming high end assets: a level + doodads + characters + weapons + effects could run you >$100,000, and that's on the cheap "indie" spectrum.)
Torque 3d is a great product - I wish I could afford pro. However, it will be hard to jumpstart a project without proper funding or a skilled group of volunteers (hard to get). That is, unless you lower the bar a bit in some places and focus on the core of the game. I don't want to delude you into thinking you can make the next Gears of War with 2 people on a shoestring budget.
#5
http://www.torquepowered.com/community/blogs/view/19497
05/12/2010 (10:41 am)
Look at some of the Chinatown content that we showed at GDC.http://www.torquepowered.com/community/blogs/view/19497
Torque 3D Owner Ronny Bangsund
Torque Cheerleaders
T3D is a game engine, not a game, so the whole point is to build your own things with it. T3D isn't old at all - it's still being developed. It's the flagship engine of torquepowered.com, after all!
See this thread:
www.torquepowered.com/community/forums/viewthread/93301
Does it look old? ;)