Torque Game Engine Licensing for Wii Now Available from GarageGames

Submitted:	Eric Fritz
Posted:	Jul 18, 2007
Synopsis:	GarageGames and Pronto Games announce Torque Game Engine licensing for the popular next-gen console from Nintendo.
Keywords:	garagegames torque game engine development nintendo wii pronto console

Article

Eugene, OR, July 16, 2007 -- GarageGames, the leading technology provider for independent game makers, and Pronto Games, professional PC and console game developer, are pleased to announce the availability of Torque licensing for the Wii console. First shown at the Nintendo Developer Conference in June, Torque for Wii is based on the popular Torque Game Engine, with built-in support for the unique Wii controller, making it a complete package for both disc-based and downloadable Wii games.

"I think every game designer has a few ideas about how they could use the Wii console's extraordinary features to make fun games," commented Josh Williams, GarageGames CEO. "Torque for Wii makes it easier to focus on creating high-quality experiences for the Wii, rather than implementing the technologies and tools it takes to just get started."

Nintendo recently announced the availability of the WiiWare service, which will allow developers of all types to create downloadable games for sale through the Wii Shop Channel. According to GarageGames, heavily discounted license pricing is available for games targeting the WiiWare downloadable service, versus those aiming for shelf space at the local game store.

In addition to Wii Remote support, Torque for Wii supports skinned mesh rendering, advanced character and shape animation, terrains with seamless indoor/outdoor transitions, environmental effects, industry-leading networked multiplayer game support, collision detection and physics, a bevy of rendering effects, compressed textures, and more, all optimized for Wii. Additional features include a powerful WYSIWYG tool chain for designers, scripting language support, a comprehensive Lot Check compliance component, and Wii graphics and audio abstraction layers. These modifications to the Torque Game Engine combined with the existing Torque toolset and pipeline make Torque for Wii a complete game development solution for the Wii console. Pronto Games, who developed the Wii port, is also using the technology for their upcoming Wii exclusive game, The Destiny of Zorro.

"We chose to develop The Destiny of Zorro with the Torque Game Engine because of its proven reliability and our developers' familiarity with it," said Randy Angle, President and Creative Director of Pronto Games. "Partnering with GarageGames to make the Torque Game Engine available to other Wii developers seemed like the obvious next step, and we look forward to seeing the creation of even more quality Wii titles as a result."

For more information regarding the Torque for Wii license, please contact GarageGames at sales@garagegames.com or 541-345-3040.

About Pronto Games
Pronto Games brings depth of experience to all facets of game production: inventive game design, solid project management, quality artwork, and innovative technology. By combining professional expertise with a passion for fun, Pronto Games creates great entertainment for casual and core players on handhelds, mobile, toys, and disc or downloadable content for the PC, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Pronto Games can be found on the web at www.prontogames.com.

Submit your own resources!

Ed Johnson (Jul 18, 2007 at 17:04 GMT)

I can't wait for more info about this! :-)

Josh Caba (Jul 18, 2007 at 18:40 GMT)

Are we able to develop in the current TGE and be assured that we can port it over to the Wii ? Or do we have to buy a whole new TGEWii Engine and develop in that ? I'm assuming since it's a port that the former would be correct??
Edited on Jul 18, 2007 18:40 GMT

Donald \"Yadot\" Harris (Jul 18, 2007 at 21:59 GMT)

Man this makes my head hurt... this is great and exciting. I have to remember to buy stock in GG if they ever go public.

Claude-Alain Fournier (Jul 19, 2007 at 08:17 GMT)

I just wonder how much is the licence ?

(not that I intend to get it, just curious)

Korpos (Jul 19, 2007 at 14:00 GMT)

Great great news!.. already send an email for more info!. waiting for the reply....

David Montgomery-Blake (Jul 19, 2007 at 14:09 GMT)

@Claude-Alain Fournier
The pricing is yet to be determined. It will most likely depend on the distribution model, sdk licensing from both Nintendo and the port licensing fees from Pronto Games, etc. Since WiiWare licensing costs are still unknown at this time, we will not know that side of the licensing yet.

Clint Herron (Jul 19, 2007 at 23:49 GMT)

What about casual games for the Wii that are 2d? Do you have plans to release TGB for the Wii?

--clint

Leroy Frederick (Jul 22, 2007 at 11:09 GMT)

This is great news, the only thing that's just occurred to me is that perhaps it would be a good idea to also focus on making the technology work on devices/platforms that don't require a middleman/women to say whether you can actually sale your game after completion (I think as it the case with the xbox licensing) such as mobile, Palm/PDA etc. I only say this because most people won't get their games on a Wii or xbox anyway (for various reasons), but with the above platforms, there are already mechanisms that allow to sell to these platforms quite easily without permission from someone else and in certain aspects is a less flooded market (well, perhaps not mobile, but hey)...

Toxic Games (Jul 24, 2007 at 02:18 GMT)

This is like a dream Come true!!!!! I would love to develop on the WII. I am a big time nintendo fan. I want this so bad. Its probably going to be expensive though, (Sighs) looks like i'm going to have to sell a kidney and half of my liver to make this port become a reality for me!!

Roy Reynolds (Jul 25, 2007 at 00:22 GMT)

Does this make porting from the TGE to the TGE Wii possible?

I already have TGE licensed. If I could start now and perhaps port later, that would make life a great deal easier.
Edited on Jul 25, 2007 00:31 GMT

Clint Herron (Jul 25, 2007 at 12:40 GMT)

Roy: Does this make porting from the TGE to the TGE Wii possible?

I think the answer would be that it doesn't necessarily make it possible, but it certainly makes it more possible. GG employees have indicated in various forum threads that it will still likely require C++ engine changes to get your game done, and that at this time it's not necessarily a "drop-in-and-go" sort of thing.

Still, this TGE Wii does wonders for bridging the gap, and I for one thing it would be a big help when developing a title for the Wii.

Disclaimer -- I don't work for GG, I only know what I read, but that's the impression I get. I don't think that I'm wrong, but anyone, please feel free to correct me if I'm spreading misinformation.

--clint

Roy Reynolds (Jul 25, 2007 at 16:40 GMT)

Thanks, Clint. That helps greatly. :)

Randy Angle (Jul 25, 2007 at 21:55 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Actually any of the games that you guys have been working on in TGE should work terrifically on the Wii. As the developer, Pronto Games has been successful in transferring many PC games, built in TGE, over in less than a couple of days. It helps greatly if your game runs in TGE 1.5.

I encourage you to develop in TGE 1.5+ and then start figuring out how best to integrate the Wii Remote into your gameplay. It is much tougher to make the controls feel right, than it is to get the technology working. It also helps to remember that a modern PC with Shader 3.0 technology and 3GHz+ CPU speeds with tons of RAM and a harddrive are a bit more resources than you will have on the Nintendo Wii. Marble Blast (classic) works great, so do the FPS and Vehicle demos from the SDK. The Dark Forest demo (Tim Aste) has so many particles and polygons it starts to slow down the frame rate with certain camera angles.

I hope that helps. Get your official Nintendo Wii dev status and check back soon for pricing and the SDK.

Cheers,
Randy Angle
President/Creative Director
Pronto Games, Inc.

Clint Herron (Jul 25, 2007 at 22:15 GMT)

Randy, thanks so much for your encouraging information!

Are you able to tell us if a PC Bluetooth stack is supported by your build? Or are games only runnable/playable on a Wii Dev Kit? We have a distributed development team, and we're leery of buying a dev kit for every remote person who we would like to playtest early builds.

Thanks!

--clint

Randy Angle (Jul 25, 2007 at 23:19 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I'm pretty sure that I have to answer "No" to that question about the PC bluetooth. Of course there are plenty of people who have already got their PC games running on the Wii Controller using homebrew methods.

Nintendo is encouraging the use of development kits, and I'm fine with that from an official standpoint.

Cheers,
Randy Angle
President/Creative Director
Pronto Games, Inc.

Ross Brewer (Jul 27, 2007 at 09:00 GMT)

This sound awsome and i can't wait but a question which i think alot of us still want to know is

"Can you buy it as an upgrade?" and "Is it very expensive?"

Vashner (Aug 01, 2007 at 23:42 GMT)

Congrats,. This seems to have mega potential. It's good to see Nintendo open up the door a bit.

Jedd Wilder (Aug 06, 2007 at 22:58 GMT)

TGE for the Wii!!! I'm going to FAINT!!!!!

AWSOME!

Tyler Slabinski (Aug 07, 2007 at 01:53 GMT)

This is going to be AWSOME!!! I wonder if it's possible to make MMO's for the Wii?

Swaroop Reddy (Oct 09, 2007 at 13:01 GMT)

Will this work with the RTS engine?

Peter Robinson (Oct 11, 2007 at 16:35 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I'll be following this very closely. This is only great news if the price isn't too high. Otherwise I'll be selling a kidney too.

-Peter

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