Upgrade Recommendations?

#1 Scripting has a strong place in all of the engines listed. The difference between TGB and TGB Pro is that you get the complete C++ source code to modify according to the needs of your game. TGE/A are full 3D engines. TGB was built upon TGE, though it has grown into its own mature product. You can upgrade from TGE to TGEA. TGE/A does not have the interface or the features that TGB has (and vice-versa).

#2 I have to agree with David, scripting is very powerful and I'd say in most cases it's much easier/faster to handle than C++ code.

What are the target platforms? TGEA only runs on Windows (DX9) for example. You should get TGE and the TGEA update for 295 USD together.

I'm not a professional programmer and only have experience with TGEA so far, but I think that TGE is the better choice if you don't need Atlas terrain or are a professional programmer willing to fix/write code that is running in TGE without problems (things like water/swimming stuff for example).

Shaderman

#3 I am still confused on what engine to get next.

TGB Pro seems to be TGB with source code for TGB front end + plus some engine (not sure what). I know TGB is 2d but is the engine underneath 3d? (When I create 3d assets and display them in TGB they have no depth, I assume this is the limitation of the engine or the TGB source code)

TGE looks nice from the information screen but what exactly is it? besides the 3d landscape thing? I assume there is not front end tools like TGB?

TGEA seems like TGE with some extra tools, hence the price increase?

Also what compiler can I use (that is free) to compile the above engines with? I found Visual C# 2005 Express Edition is free, but does it work with the above engines?

Thanks
Sims

#4 Most of your questions would be answered by downloading the demos and scanning the documentation.

TGB Pro is the C++ source code to the TGB engine. The underlying engine is 3D hardware accelerated, but it is a 2D engine. The underlying engine, resource manager, etc are built upon the Torque Game Engine, but it renders and functions as a 2D engine with the benefits of a hardware accelerated 3D engine. This is quite common in 2D engines nowdays.

I would recommend going through the documentation for TGE and downloading the Torque for Teens demo that includes the starter kits. TGE is a full on 3D engine in the style of Quake and Unreal. It is much more than landscapes.

TGEA is shader enabled for fancy effects and has a large-scale terrain engine. It is not "more tools" but more bling. If normal maps and the like are your thing, then TGEA is where it is at. While others mileage may vary, I would not recommend TGEA to someone without C++ experience, however.

You will have to download the Visual Studio C++ Express compiler to compile these engines as they are in C++ rather than C#. TorqueX is an XNA C# engine.

#5 Yep very true, alot of my questions could have been answered by the product demo's and documentation but I was after other developers opinion on what the products were like compared to each other.

Thanks for any help.
Sims