Questions about buying torque

#1 Well, TGE/TGEA are a completely different beast than FPS Maker. They are source code engines designed for programmers to get down and dirty with. And, yes, FPS Maker comes with the complete DB source (I do not know about 10, but the current version does and the community have made some excellent mods to the code to add things that people wanted as "basic" FPS functionality. But Torque is a completely different beast.

It is openGL based, not directX based. It works with DirectX, but in a wrapper situation. That is because it is a cross-platform engine, so DirectX was out for Mac compatability.

Any engine has a number of bugs, but whether they are show-stopping or not depends on what you are doing. Unreal 3 has huge bugs, but there is a slate list to fix them as the support calls come in and priority is adjusted according to licensees. Just like any large-scale software vendor. There are bugs in TGE/TGEA just like any engine. What were your show-stoppers with FPS Creator? Perhaps then I can try to help you. Right now, there are few bugs that would stop you from creating an average FPS. There are some features (pathed interiors) that would make them more difficult than in other engines (say Quake 2/3). But right now, your question is very vague.

#2 Basically I want to make a FPS game where you shoot at enemies and they shoot at you. Currently with FPS Creator this doesn't happen and the enemies just stand there so I was wondering if Torque's AI works. Also, I would like to make levels where you travel outside as well as inside. FPS Creator doesn't allow this because it slows down the Frame rate. Does Torque work with both outside and inside scenes? Does TGE get updates that are downloadable for free? That is the questions i have now, thanks for helping me.

#3 Yes, yes & yes.

Try the demo.

#4 Sadly, the TGE demo no longer comes with the starter.fps mod. But it is safe to say, from what you are saying about FPS Creator, stock TGE and starter.fps will put you further along with having a standard FPS with enemies that fire back at you. However, keep in mind that there is a learning curve with TGE, as with all game engines. Don't expect massive progress in the first week or two. Patience and research are major requirements for TGE development.

#5 Did you adjust your enemy properties in FPS Creator? Because the enemies should attack you if you have.

#6 Yes, I've tried everything to make the AI in FPS Creator fire back. I have changed scripts to the recommended ones, I have tried modifying scripts and I have downloading scripts to make my AI work but they just don't work every time. It is a fluke if they work and later in the development process they don't work. It does sound like TGE is better but I still have a couple of questions. Does this handle indoor scenes well? and Is there any demo at all that will let me use the engine even if I can't save or build games.

#7 Download the 1.4 version of the demo. It doesn't include the nifty content or lighting kit from 1.5, but it will give you a good idea of the base FPS capabilities.

TGE handles indoor scenes very well as long as you portal your scene correctly. You should also be able to get some tutorial stuff from CodeSampler.com that will help you out.

I'm not sure why your enemies weren't attacking. Were you setting triggers and then sometimes not firing the triggers? It just seems strange to me. I installed it last night again and I had them attacking me. Did you update your version of FPS Creator to the latest release to see if bugs were worked out (or in)?

I love TGE, but it is a whole different beast than FPS Creator. I would strongly recommend picking up Constructor from your account and getting used to creating interior maps. Then, you can place them into the demo, relight the scene, and get a feel for editing things. There's a LOT going on in the demo, though. When you push F11 to enter the World Editor, there will be a *lot* going on.

Also, while AFX seems oriented towards Fantasy games and you might not be making one of those, I would *strongly* recommend taking a look at it. It is totally sweet!