Considering Torque

#1 Torque is easily worth the money. The extensions are simply that: extensions. With programming knowledge and dedication, you could create the lighting pack and RTS Pack yourself (though it would take a lot of time and dedication). But if your time is better spent on the artistic end, the money spent on not having to create the Lighting Pack and RTS Pack is money well-spent. You don't have to buy them.

One of the difficulties with buying Torque with no programming experience is that if you want to make infrastructure changes, you'll have to learn both C++ and Torque at the same time, which splits up your time significantly. But the benefit is that if you either have the time to learn programming well or have a friend who already knows C++ well, you can extend the engine in just about any way you can imagine.

Plus, you can create games for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

#2 If you want to play with the source code, then you definitely need to be able to program in C++. You can play with the scripts and do a lot with them as well. Get the book "3D Game Programming All in One", it teaches a lot about scripting.

Torque is more or less ready to go if you're making a FPS type of game, and then you don't need any of the extension packs, except maybe the Lighting pack.

#3 Hey Chris,

I got the engine a few months ago, and have had no previous programming experience.
But with the help of the brilliant GG community (and the 3D Game Programming All In One book) I have learned so much and I'm in the process of making an FPS... So if I can do it then so can you!

"And is Torque really worth the £53 ( $100 )?" I think Torque is worth a hell of a lot more then $100 (don't tell GG that though)

Joseph

#4 They amazingly already know that ;)

#5 Chris, you only need to buy it when you A.) want a license to be able to publish/commercialise your game/s, B.) when you want to be able to access the source code and make changes to it.

Otherwise, you can still do everything else (learn how to use the basics of it, import models into it, play with the editor, etc.) without actually buying it.

#6 Damn...who told them? ;)

#7 If I recall, until about a year ago, the full commercial license to Torque was $10,000... so, I'd say that's a good estimate of how much the engine is worth. With a few good coders... sky's the limit they say. Check out some of the Poacher screenshots for what the shader engine is capable of.

#8 Yep, the comm. license was $10k. I remember it well because as soon as they dropped the price I snapped up my license quicker than a crackhead grabbing a penny on the sidewalk.

#9 You've certainly convinced me it's worth the money, I knew that all along anyway really 'cause I've seen some impressive games come out of it.

I'll probably buy it sometime next week and just take a look at some tutorials, if I can start to grasp it then I'll buy the book and go from there. It comes with a FPS and racing starter pack though right? So even I can't get it straight away I'll be able to see some basic results.

@Will - You said that I can start testing out features like exporting without buying it, how can I test it? It'd be a good idea to make sure I can export my models properly.

Thanks alot

#10 You can do these things with the demo, it comes with the scripts (those .cs files, open them in wordpad). You could pick up the max dts exporter from somewhere around here no doubt. Then theres a ton of resources and tutorials around the place to learn the basics.

#11 @Chris,
You might want to go to amazom.com and read some of the comments on that book before buying it just so there are no surprises.

#12 Yeah I read the comments, some are pretty harsh.

I'm completely new to programming and I only want to deal with the torque engine, I wouldn't need the whole 3D modelling and UV painting/texturing side of it though.

I've managed to export to .dts using blender, I havn't actually attempted to try and put it in the demo yet ( I can, can't I??? ) but it all seems to be working.

#13 As far as I'm concerned, some of the comments on amazon.com are unnecessarily harsh. Any single-volume "all in one" resource will have its weak spots. It has its faults, but it's a good resource for those wanting to learn Torque from scratch.

I learned Torque from the book, and although I've gone beyond what the book teaches, I still use it as a reference. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a beginner.

#14 Sorry to keep hassling people, but I have another question...

I'm thrown off by the .map and .dif files used in Torque, and I know that the best way would just be to use quark or valve hammer to make my interiors, but I'm not too keen on learning how to use these aswell as starting out with C++.

I've found max2map lying around so I was just wondering if it's any good?

Thanks

#15 If you have Max, Game Level Builder is much better.

#16 Wow, unbelievable stuff.

You guys have actually managed to answer every one of my questions and I'm starting to get the hang of things now.

I managed to model and export an object in .dts format, it came out perfect with textures and everything...the only thing it didn't have was any lighting, not too sure how to make that work.

I also modelled a simple half-arch in Blender by modelling individual convex objects, exported it to an .obj file and opened it in Max 6, ran the GLB and saved it as .map. A little tinkering in Quark and it came out perfetctly in the engine, it may be a messy route but the models look perfect and I can still use Blender so I'm a happy man.

Thanks alot for all the help, I appreciate it.