Perspective Game Developer
by Chris Childs · in Torque Game Builder · 05/31/2005 (9:20 am) · 8 replies
I am considering buying the Torque 2D game engine to develop some basic games ideas. I have been doing software for over a decade, doing stuff like video and audio device drivers for Windows since the early 3.1 days. So I don't mind writing my own modules for anything that is missing. I just don't want to go through the pain of writing a game engine from scratch.
I had some questions about the Torque 2D package and Garage Games in general.
First, is Torque 2D a stand alone package? In other words, do I need to buy the Torque 3D core engine (or anything else) in addition to the Torque 2D Indy license?
Second, what kind of network support comes with Torque 2D (or is planned to be included in future releases)?
Third, as the product matures, will I receive (or be allowed to download) updated versions of the Torque 2D game engine for free?
Lastly, how well do games sell published by Garage Games versus selling through other avenues?
I had some questions about the Torque 2D package and Garage Games in general.
First, is Torque 2D a stand alone package? In other words, do I need to buy the Torque 3D core engine (or anything else) in addition to the Torque 2D Indy license?
Second, what kind of network support comes with Torque 2D (or is planned to be included in future releases)?
Third, as the product matures, will I receive (or be allowed to download) updated versions of the Torque 2D game engine for free?
Lastly, how well do games sell published by Garage Games versus selling through other avenues?
About the author
#2
As for publishing, let's assume that the game is solid enough to stand on it's own as a worth while game that some people will find interesting. This really is a marketing question as to what kind of exposure can I expect from simply using Garage Games as the publish instead of doing a shareware version and putting it out on download.com. Or should I just plan on doing both, giving the Garage Games portal URL as part of the ifnormation supplied to download.com?
(I'm planning on just asking $10 for my first couple of games to generate the capital I will need for the more advance games. I'm not an artist, so I will need to pay for the services of someone to do the artwork for the nicer games I am planning on writing.)
05/31/2005 (9:44 am)
Everything I am planning on doing will be turn based, so as long as the package supports basic socket communication, it will meet my needs. (One PC will host the game as the server, the other games will be clients filtering everything through the server.)As for publishing, let's assume that the game is solid enough to stand on it's own as a worth while game that some people will find interesting. This really is a marketing question as to what kind of exposure can I expect from simply using Garage Games as the publish instead of doing a shareware version and putting it out on download.com. Or should I just plan on doing both, giving the Garage Games portal URL as part of the ifnormation supplied to download.com?
(I'm planning on just asking $10 for my first couple of games to generate the capital I will need for the more advance games. I'm not an artist, so I will need to pay for the services of someone to do the artwork for the nicer games I am planning on writing.)
#3
I look forward to starting development.
05/31/2005 (9:59 am)
I found my answers for the publishing question on the publishing FAQ.I look forward to starting development.
#4
Right now, there is only one public forum, what types of private forums are available?
And how safe is it to bounce game ideas around on the forums, in other words are there people who will steal game ideas off the forums?
If I want to create a game where I will allow the players to write their own AI scripts, will I be able to use the Torque Scripts for the user mods?
And is there a script program that is public for the users to check for syntax errors in their scripts?
06/06/2005 (12:02 pm)
How much community support is available once I purchase my license? Right now, there is only one public forum, what types of private forums are available?
And how safe is it to bounce game ideas around on the forums, in other words are there people who will steal game ideas off the forums?
If I want to create a game where I will allow the players to write their own AI scripts, will I be able to use the Torque Scripts for the user mods?
And is there a script program that is public for the users to check for syntax errors in their scripts?
#5
As to how safe it is, posting anything on the Internet leaves the possibility that someone may 'borrow' what you post. It will be up to you to decide if you want to run that risk. I'm sure most people here will respect your posts though. Just take a look through the various .plans where people have posted entire game scenarios and plans for the game they are working on. The most obvious one I can think of is 'Snappy' (can't remember who's involved in that one off hand though).
IIRC you can't expose any of the core T2D scripting to the outside, so you would need to incorporate your own scripting language that you interpret from with your game. The same goes with the editors. If you want users to create their own levels for your game, you will need to script your own level editor rather than allow them to use the built in TileEditor.
I don't know of a script checking program, but there some Torque plugins for some of the various text editors that will do colour coding of your script, and these might help with general syntax, but I haven't used them. If you make an error in your script, the console is quite handy and highlights the error in red.
Hopefully that helps a bit :)
06/06/2005 (12:27 pm)
There are 12 private T2D forums that cover pretty much everything, and people are generally helpful and will take a look at your scripts if you're having a problem.As to how safe it is, posting anything on the Internet leaves the possibility that someone may 'borrow' what you post. It will be up to you to decide if you want to run that risk. I'm sure most people here will respect your posts though. Just take a look through the various .plans where people have posted entire game scenarios and plans for the game they are working on. The most obvious one I can think of is 'Snappy' (can't remember who's involved in that one off hand though).
IIRC you can't expose any of the core T2D scripting to the outside, so you would need to incorporate your own scripting language that you interpret from with your game. The same goes with the editors. If you want users to create their own levels for your game, you will need to script your own level editor rather than allow them to use the built in TileEditor.
I don't know of a script checking program, but there some Torque plugins for some of the various text editors that will do colour coding of your script, and these might help with general syntax, but I haven't used them. If you make an error in your script, the console is quite handy and highlights the error in red.
Hopefully that helps a bit :)
#6
Like Philip said, anything public might get stolen, but honestly most people are too busy with their own projects to bother.
And there maybe support for Python in T2D at some point, or at least some community members working on it, which might be your best bet for user scripting. I think Philip is right, you can't expose any of the core T2D scripts publically ... although I suppose you might be able to find a way to execute new T2D scripts on the fly.
06/06/2005 (3:23 pm)
I'm actually having problems with sockets on the Mac, but it sounds like you are focusing on Windows.Like Philip said, anything public might get stolen, but honestly most people are too busy with their own projects to bother.
And there maybe support for Python in T2D at some point, or at least some community members working on it, which might be your best bet for user scripting. I think Philip is right, you can't expose any of the core T2D scripts publically ... although I suppose you might be able to find a way to execute new T2D scripts on the fly.
#7
06/07/2005 (9:35 am)
I thought one of the strengths of the Torque engine was the ability to allow the customers to use the scripts to make modes to the games we develop. I understand that the core scripts cannot be distributed, but shouldn't custom scripts be acceptable if the customer can use a template supplied that only exposes the details that are unique to the game but not directly accessing the engine?
#8
06/07/2005 (10:11 am)
I think allowing scripts that don't call any of the core T2D classes would be OK, but you'd probably want to get a final OK from GG to sort out what you can and can't allow the users to do through their own scripts.
Torque Owner Philip Mansfield
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2. A basic network framework is currently available, but full networking will be in a later release.
3. Should do.
4. Surely that will really depend on how good the game is. A bad game will have trouble selling regardless of the market place.