Torque Boot Camp - Indie Style

Submitted:	Benjamin Bradley
Posted:	Aug 25, 2005
Synopsis:	For many independent game developers, the 500,000 lines of code within the Torque Game Engine can be overwhelming at times. Where do you start? How does this whole Torque thing fit together? Torque Boot Camp is your answer.
Keywords:	garagegames development

Article

For many independent game developers, the 500,000 lines of code within the Torque Game Engine can be overwhelming at times. Where do you start? How does this whole Torque thing fit together? Torque Boot Camp is your answer!

For the past year, GarageGames has been developing a Torque Boot Camp to provide instruction and intensive training for commercial game and simulation developers. With several successful Commercial Boot camps under our belt, GarageGames is opening up a special offer for indie developers to participate in a specialized Boot Camp aimed specifically at independent developers. On October 10-12, immediately following IndieGamesCon, GarageGames will host the first Indie Torque Boot Camp, with carefully selected courseware from our previous Boot Camps, as well as information aimed directly at independent developers and teams.

The Torque Boot Camp is a three-day tech intensive live seminar with GarageGames experts, providing highly informative dynamic discussions on Torque systems and in-depth coverage of the Torque Development Platform.

* You'll gain a solid grounding in the technology and workflow of game development in Torque.

* You'll have the opportunity to be in a hands-on intensive interactive training with experts in Torque.

* You'll be provided a clear foundation and framework for understanding specific parts of the engine and executing your project in Torque.

* You will participate in discussions covering the unique challenges and responsibilities of small independent teams, including remote team management, coordinating a volunteer team, and selecting and using a methodology for project management

Quote:
The boot camp was a great experience that really helped our team to get started using this technology. They had a great class where ideas could be communicated and knowledge was given when asked. The whole GarageGames team made an appearance at one time or another and we were able to pick their brains about many things. Overall this class made up for months of research we would have had to do on our own. - Commercial Simulation Company

The Torque Boot Camp normally runs $2,500/per person for a 3 day event, but the Torque (Indie) Boot Camp is being made available at the special price of $599. This price includes lunch, demo CDs and more. For a limited time only, if you have purchased a ticket and are attending IndieGamesCon (www.indiegamescon.com), we will knock the cost of the $199 IndieGamesCon ticket off the price of the Boot Camp, bringing the price of this 3 day training event to only $400.

If you are interested in attending the Torque (Indie) Boot Camp, please call Stephen Zepp at (541) 345-3040 or email stephenz@garagegames.com.

Submit your own resources!

Stephen Zepp (Aug 25, 2005 at 19:27 GMT)

Just to give a very quick summary of some of the topics we will be covering during this Boot Camp:

--Tools
----TGE Editors
----Torque Show Tool Pro
----Torque Debugging

--Torque Technology
----Client-Server Model and Networking
----Simulation Fundamentals
----Console (scripting) interface
----Class Hierarchy

--Indie Development
----Managing a Virtual Team
----Project Development Fundamentals
----Game Development Methodologies

If you have any questions about the seminar, please feel free to ask here or in this thread!

Matt Vitelli (Aug 25, 2005 at 22:09 GMT)

Ow! So cool! It's a shame I have school those days. :( Plus its too expensive for me right now. :( :( :(
Edited on Aug 25, 2005 22:11 GMT

Stefan Lundmark (Aug 26, 2005 at 20:38 GMT)

Looks really useful. If I only lived in Eugene :)

Matthew Langley (Aug 26, 2005 at 23:38 GMT)

Look great, perfect for an Indie team to one up their skills and fine tune communication skills/tools that are demanded of Indie teams.

Michael Wojcik (Aug 27, 2005 at 17:34 GMT)

Too much moolah.

Ben Garney (Aug 29, 2005 at 18:30 GMT)

C'mon, it doesn't get much better than an 85% discount. :)

When the training event starts to cost less than it does to fly out and get a hotel to do it, you know you have a bargain on your hands.

You're paying less than $20/hour for the training session, which is less than a Torque developer with the level of experience you'll have access to at the event would charge for contract work. And I bet for a lot of people, this sort of training could show itself in a quantum leap in productivity, awareness of the engine, and ability to avoid growing pains in their project.

Greg Cushing (Aug 29, 2005 at 22:03 GMT)

still too much for myself. if it was half that and near the east coast maybe.

Kevin Bluck (Aug 30, 2005 at 17:08 GMT)

Having some experience with what computer seminars usually cost, this is a phenomenal deal. If I can arrange the vacation, I'm there.

Hey, have you considered forming a session with the Geek Cruises guys for some other time? Might as well get a real vacation out of it if you have to pay for airfare and hotel and whatnot anyway!

Kevin Bluck (Aug 30, 2005 at 17:11 GMT)

Actually, one thing you could do to help. Is there something my wife can be doing while I'm attending this thing? She's not wild about being left behind for a week.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem.

Matthew Langley (Aug 30, 2005 at 17:17 GMT)

Have her look up things to do in Eugene on the web, from what I've seen there seems to be enough things to do :) Especially a lot of nature and art though I'm sure someone who lives there will answer this better than I can.

Christopher Haigood (Aug 31, 2005 at 02:57 GMT)

Have you ever considered doing one of these boot camps in dallas or maybe licensing

Jay Moore (Aug 31, 2005 at 22:03 GMT)

@ Christopher - We're considering both commercial and indie boot camps for 2006 in partnership with universities teaching Torque and other industry events. Dallas and Austin have both been suggested.

JohnT (Sep 07, 2005 at 19:41 GMT)

Just signed up for the Boot Camp!
Hope to see as many of you there as can make it!

Michael Rogers (Sep 21, 2005 at 17:33 GMT)

Will it be possible to purchase videos of the sessions? The content sounds like exactly what I need, and the pricing is perfect, but the timing isn't.

Michael Rogers

Stephen Zepp (Sep 22, 2005 at 03:38 GMT)

Unfortunately not for this session--production costs are unfortunately way too high for professional quality video.

Don't be too despondent however--we do have plans in the future for distribution of the content in other ways!

Michael Wood (Oct 03, 2005 at 20:30 GMT)

I wish I would have found out about this sooner, I would have loved to attend. When is the next one?
Edited on Oct 03, 2005 20:31 GMT

Timlon (Oct 07, 2005 at 09:08 GMT)

How about a boot camp in the sunny UK?

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