Important Questions Before I Buy

#1 1) Its pretty easy to connect the levels (takes 1 function ... most of the time). TGB does not make installers for you. You will have to do that yourself. There are quite a few free programs that will make a installer for you.

2) Stock TGB does not have any method of protection for art or sound assets.

3) Yes.

4) Yes.

5) Can't say anything about it cause I don't own it.

6) No idea.

7) I think you can do it right in the level builder, but not sure.

Hope this helps.

#2 Anthony answered the basics pretty well. If you need help with specific things when/if you get TGB, the forums are extremely useful.

There is a lot of example code out there that will help you get through the learning curve - and the documentation for TGB is really nice. For instance, here's a basic game with level switching code.

In any case, most of those problems/questions have been solved many times before (with the exception of an MMO - don't know if anyone has tried that).

Good luck!

#3 I would personally say stay away from MMO's. Many people tend to start them on many different engines and i expect 99.9999% of them dont get finished :)
Take advice people have given me and start small and build your way up :)

#4 Thanks Anthony, Tom and Mark for replying :)


Anthony can you please tell me name of any such free software which makes an installer. I have no previous experience with such because flash and director always made their own .exe and so did all other game engines I tried.


Tom thanks for that link. I need to know one more thing -to make games for different OS like windows, mac and linux- I will have to buy different game engine license or one basic indie license will do ?

Martyn , I will definitely start with a small game first, then mario kind, then a small rpg ( using the adventure kit) by that time I hope tgb comes out with more versatile multiplayer option so that if not 1000 players I can have atleast 10- 20 players playing together a 2d game like street fighter.

Torque 3d engine does provide this multiplayer option so i think garagegames can work on the code and tweak it for tgb. Multiplayer is in demand in the market.

any 2d casual game having multiplayer[more then 2 players] option will make it affordable and more fun.

BTW has any member tried the adventure kit ? I need to know more about it. any old links or posts about it ?

#5 I have not yet, i plan to buy TGB next month and then the adventure kit the month after :) it does look really gd but im mainly getting it for the graphics :)

#6 Yes Martyn

the graphics are cool, but I can create such quality graphics easily within a month. I want to buy for coding, I am very bad with the script :)


Btw why I do not find any mario kind scrolling game in the game demo section of tgb?

there are only normal casual games just with new themes and ideas.

not many try making scrolling game or what ?

#7 Yes Martyn

the graphics are cool, but I can create such quality graphics easily within a month. I want to buy for coding, I am very bad with the script :)


Btw why I do not find any mario kind scrolling game in the game demo section of tgb?

there are only normal casual games just with new themes and ideas.

not many try making scrolling game or what ?

#8 There is a basic platform game demo on TDN. TDN also has a few more tutorials/demos of things in TGB.

As for the free installers, here are the names of a few I've found.

InnoSetup

NSIS (from Nullsoft)

I think there are a few others. If you search for installer using the search at the top right you will find many topics related to it. They list a lot of them.

#9 You would have to do some major network re-architeching to make a MMO in TGB. I can imagine that someone may want to make a plug-in-esque code addition to add such support to the engine, but MMO tech is so variant right now that it would be extremely difficult to add a layer like that.

Plus, a street-fighter online game will have many more quick ghosting objects to update than most MMO engines, even if the number of clients is fewer. The fast-action mentality requires more updating of ghosted objects than sluggish MMORPG action.

#10 Thanks Anthony

I did not like NSIS, i want something like the install shield installer which is used by most of the game installers now days, even if I have to pay for it. Will be checking innosetup.

David

I have no idea how difficult it will be to add MMO in Tgb, I have spend last few years playing games like ragnarok and WOW but then playing is always different then making a game and nowhere near making a game engine.

If by some means multi player function is added in TGB it will be a very big thing for 2d game industry.

Hope to buy tgb in next few days. meanwhile i finish of next two tutorials :)

Btw can any one tell me whats the approximate price a casual game sells for ? ( a good graphic quality game.)

If I distribute through a publisher(if I find one) will the publisher pay me upfront or pay through royalties ?

I have just no ideas regarding these technicalities which are very important if I start making games.

I hope someone can fill me with these inputs and thanks everyone who has replied.

#11 For your installer needs, I'd recommend Install creator, I've used this with both my released titles without problems and loads of options clickteam.com/eng/installcreator.php also, you can create patches easily with Patch creator clickteam.com/eng/patchmaker.php

#12 Leroy

Thanks I tried it and successfully made an installer.exe

Its just taht after installing the .exe, there is no way to make the game run. lols :)

Can you please tell me exactly which folder in the tgb games demo section(example shooter demo) should I use to make the installer so that the game runs after installing?

#13 This may be a little tricky without illustration, but I'll try.

Assuming you've selected your game folder containing the game exe (remember you need to analyse and build your game for it to make the correct folder structure for you.) as your install project, in the files tab you should see a file called 'yourgame.exe', select this file and under the 'File Options' section to the right, you should see a tab called 'View / Run', select this tab and in the run drop menu select an option to do something with your game exe at the end of install (including run, checkbox to select run (recommended) etc)
You can do this for any file including the infamous 'readme.txt'.

I hope that's understandable for you, let me know if this works, I remember setting this option in a previous/older version and it didn't really work, in any case it's no biggy, as long as there's a start menu and desktop exe and an uninstall (which is standard in install creator), the 'run game after install' is not function is no deal/sale/play breaker. ;0)

#14

Quote:1) How to connect different lvls and then finally make a installer out of the finished game for end users ?

Once you get to playing around with TGB levels you will find they are fairly easy to keep organized.. how you connect them will depend on your game.. in a side scroller you will probably load a new one when a certain area is reached by the player. How to do this can be found here in the forums and in the Adventure kit.

Quote:2) is there an option to provide security to the final music and image files, so that when the game is installed no one can copy those files from game folder ?

Why? Even the larger games that compress their art/music into files are accessable though a plethora of freeware utilites.. moders WILL find a way to access the files. Also, moders are your friend, they keep your game alive for years.. look at Think Tanks (a TGE game by Bravetree) its been around for years thanks to moders.

Quote:3) can I adjust the screen resolution of the final game ? making it full screen or windowed with scripting ?

It can be done. You may need to modify some source, but that isn't that hard and their are LOTS of examples and resources here for most problems.

Quote:4) can I make a game like classic mario with side scrolling ?

Once you get access to the TDN you wil find a good section on making a side scroller like Mario. The ship shooter tutorial gives you alot of what you need also.. its basically the same thing. You will also find a tutorial in the TDN on how to make floor blocks with one way collision (ie. you can jump through it from below, but land on it from above)!

Quote:5) Can any member tell me something about the adventure kit for making rpg type games ? is it worth buying ?

As an AK owner I can tell you it is worth every penny. It has excellent documentation and is basically one big tutorial in how to use its art assets, which are excellent themselves. You stated earlier that you could do the art in the AK in a month... you must be SUPER talented.. it is jam packed with goodies.
Note: Alot of the scripting elements you will need for a rpg are not covered in the AK such as inventory management, loading and saving games, etc. but you can find most of that in the forums. It does however cover making objects explode or react to input, spawning, shooting, damage, etc.
You will also find here in the forums a post on how to use 3d models from poser to make animated sprites for use in TGB (plus a free converter made by a user).

Quote:6) Massive multiplayer is not supported yet but is there any plan to include it later for tgb ?

Nope, the checkers tutorial shows you how to do some networking but not MMO.

Quote:7) How exactly can we change animations into particle effect or is there some other application to make it ?

Not sure what you are asking. TGB comes with a very powerfull particle creator and the AK goes into alot of detail about how they made theirs. The TDN also has some really good articles on making them and the books for Torque apply to TGBs well since its built off of the same engine. You can do amazing things with particles.. look at the Arcane FX kit in the GG store.

If you are serious about making a 2d game, I say buy TGB. If you are serious about scripting TGB, I say buy the AK, and the Torque programming book sold here at GG. (and Finney's 3DGPAi1(v2)) There is also an isometric kit/pack slated to come out eventually (if Neo gets to working on it :P).. hopefully it will release with the new TGB version.

#15 Thanks Leroy

It worked, actually I was using the wizard so got a bit confused. At last I have made an installer :)


Tank, thank you too.

Regarding the particles as I am new, I wanted to know say example-

I make a special fx explosion animation in flash and covert it into frame by frame animation or gif animation.


Now how will I convert this special animation I made, into a . eff particle format to be used in tgb?

or the particle editor in tgb works like the particle generators in max and maya where we have to create it inside the application itself?

I think new version of TGb will come out by monday, so will buy by tomorrow.

#16 Tank

regarding this statement -

" 3) can I adjust the screen resolution of the final game ? making it full screen or windowed with scripting ?

It can be done. You may need to modify some source"

Source means the tgb source ? Will I be able to do this with normal indie version or have to buy a pro one ?

#17 You can change the resolution to your liking using only torquescript, search "setscreenmode" in tgb reference in documentation and you'll have it.

#18

Quote:
I make a special fx explosion animation in flash and covert it into frame by frame animation or gif animation.


Now how will I convert this special animation I made, into a . eff particle format to be used in tgb?

or the particle editor in tgb works like the particle generators in max and maya where we have to create it inside the application itself?

Particles in a game engine (specifically TGB) are much more powerful than that--you create textures to represent the individual particles themselves, and then define dozens of properties and sequences to control how they behave.

Yes, similar (although not exact) to how it sounds you are describing in Max/Maya (not an artist here, I've never done that myself).

#19 Benjamin

you saved me a heart attack lols :) Thank you, I was still not sure I could buy the pro version but now I can buy the binary.


Stephen

Thats great, I think I will have a good time making new particle effects for my upcoming game in TGB.

maybe I will create a particle effect starter kit after that ;)