Is Torque right for me?
by Jason Clark · in Torque Game Engine · 03/25/2005 (8:55 pm) · 7 replies
Torque's history is seated in the FPS genre. I have a game idea and am pondering the torque engine, but I wonder if it is suited to what I want to do. The closest I could come to describing what I want for a world would be very similar to GTA 2 if you have ever played that. Just imagine a top down view of a city with many people walking about, cars driving around, etc.
For those of you in the know, how do you feel torque would handle this kind of environment. A single unit controlled, with many other entities moving about. Some of those entities would have a fairly complex behavior.
Do you think torque can handle this sort of environment without a lot of engine modification?
For those of you in the know, how do you feel torque would handle this kind of environment. A single unit controlled, with many other entities moving about. Some of those entities would have a fairly complex behavior.
Do you think torque can handle this sort of environment without a lot of engine modification?
#2
03/25/2005 (9:06 pm)
Thanks for the reply and the resource. I may just have to get a license and check it out. I have the know how, but like all programmers, I wonder if it's better to try to rework someone else's code, or just write my own from scratch. ;-) 
#4
But i'm pretty sure it won't take a lot. I've been studying GTA2's structure as a play, especially the police AI...although I can barely work AI, I noticed some patterns. It'd probably have to be a dynamically generated path for the police cars...idunno...
The only problem i *can* think of so far is the population. I mean, I really don't think they have the ENTIRE population of the city there at one time. I'm guessing around 1500 people? You'd have to make them low poly, and since all of them are walking around, using the AIPath thingie might be a killer....unless each of them follow one path (so you wouldn't have to draw out all 1500 paths)
The game sounds pretty close at hand. Perhaps if you decide to use torque, i'd find some free time to get it going =D
[afterthought]oh yeah, the legal problem i see is that maybe you might get a call one day from Rockstar Games for a cease and desist for stealing their idea O.o i doubt it....never can be too careful...then again, what do i know about law....[/afterthought]
03/25/2005 (9:17 pm)
Hrms....i'm a big fan of GTA2 O.o I really like the top downs and all. Perhaps we could team up sometime =DBut i'm pretty sure it won't take a lot. I've been studying GTA2's structure as a play, especially the police AI...although I can barely work AI, I noticed some patterns. It'd probably have to be a dynamically generated path for the police cars...idunno...
The only problem i *can* think of so far is the population. I mean, I really don't think they have the ENTIRE population of the city there at one time. I'm guessing around 1500 people? You'd have to make them low poly, and since all of them are walking around, using the AIPath thingie might be a killer....unless each of them follow one path (so you wouldn't have to draw out all 1500 paths)
The game sounds pretty close at hand. Perhaps if you decide to use torque, i'd find some free time to get it going =D
[afterthought]oh yeah, the legal problem i see is that maybe you might get a call one day from Rockstar Games for a cease and desist for stealing their idea O.o i doubt it....never can be too careful...then again, what do i know about law....[/afterthought]
#5
03/25/2005 (9:21 pm)
Well, I'm not making a GTA2 clone, but it's the closest approximation I can give to describe my idea without telling you what my idea is exactly. I don't really want to use bot pathing to be honest. I would prefer a little more free roaming AI. Maybe have nodes at itersections of the city and the AI can navigate between nodes. Just so long as they are headed in the right direction, I don't care. Maybe even a large graph laid over to ease basic pathfinding.
#6
But anyways, I'm sure torque can definately support that. Like I said before, the only thing that might be problematic is economically making the population. If you have 1500+ people walking around (unless your world is smaller), you'll have to think of a short and smart way to efficiently place them in.
03/25/2005 (9:29 pm)
Hrms...as to the AI question, i think i see what you're saying...basically, have them walk from point A to point B, and when they get to point be, randomly decide if they will walk to point C or point D, or even back to point A?But anyways, I'm sure torque can definately support that. Like I said before, the only thing that might be problematic is economically making the population. If you have 1500+ people walking around (unless your world is smaller), you'll have to think of a short and smart way to efficiently place them in.
#7
03/25/2005 (9:44 pm)
Something like that. More or less, they can walk right down the street. If they hit an intersection, I don't really care which way they go, but I don't want everyone to go to the exact same point when they turn. More like, they are free roaming the city. Most could probably be inserted when I enter an area and removed when I exit. What matters is the population density per sector. Lets say I have an area of the city thats 20% men and 80% women and there are 100 people. When I enter that area of the city I would like that ammount of population density, but I don't care it it's the same people as before. When I'm not in that sector, the density values and population can change so when I go there again, I might notice the change, but it doesn't really matter who those people are. There may be a few key people around the city that I want to keep track of, but that's all. 
Torque Owner Stephen
GearedMind Studio
Stephen