Getting Started
by Christian Erwin · in Torque 3D Professional · 02/08/2011 (10:22 pm) · 6 replies
Hey everybody! I hope that I'm putting this in the right forum.
I finally bought T3D and, although I'm excited, I'm not sure where to start. Even though I've been researching this engine for quite a LONG time, I've never really found any good learning resources (besides the included documentation). I guess what I really want to know is, where did all you Torque pros start? Are there any books, videos or websites I should check out? I'm not really looking for anything on general game programming. I wouldn't call myself a programming noob, just a Torque noob I guess.
Thanks in advance! Again, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, this tread has already been created or if this is just a plain ol' annoying question.
I finally bought T3D and, although I'm excited, I'm not sure where to start. Even though I've been researching this engine for quite a LONG time, I've never really found any good learning resources (besides the included documentation). I guess what I really want to know is, where did all you Torque pros start? Are there any books, videos or websites I should check out? I'm not really looking for anything on general game programming. I wouldn't call myself a programming noob, just a Torque noob I guess.
Thanks in advance! Again, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, this tread has already been created or if this is just a plain ol' annoying question.
#2
02/08/2011 (11:00 pm)
Thanks so much Morrok! :D 
#3
one way to go about it anyway. To me if you can learn the ins and outs of the tool and get comfortable with the programming you can then start an actual project and not be totally overwhelmed.
02/09/2011 (8:11 am)
I've just started as well and I got the books Morrok mentioned and they are actually very good. You can get them used super cheap. Their bundled projects don't work but I'm actually finding it very good for my learning curve to recreate what their examples do in T3D. Still using their art and code I've been able to recreate their examples with little difficulty and learning quite a bit along the way.one way to go about it anyway. To me if you can learn the ins and outs of the tool and get comfortable with the programming you can then start an actual project and not be totally overwhelmed.
#4
... actually search is a little tempermental.
There's a lot of info on the older engines (TGE/A) inside TDN but much of it is still relevant, especially the scripting stuff.
Check out the Torque3D Script Manual which should come with the download and is also available here.
And there's lots of additional stuff in the resources section of the site, though it's not in any particular order and as the engine filter system is kinda new I doubt many people have updated their older resources to use it.
And in-game you can find a list of the functions relating to any object by typing the name or ID into the console with .dump();
And generally lurk the forums and read through the scripts that come with the example games/engine.
02/09/2011 (8:47 am)
Search Function is your friend ...... actually search is a little tempermental.
There's a lot of info on the older engines (TGE/A) inside TDN but much of it is still relevant, especially the scripting stuff.
Check out the Torque3D Script Manual which should come with the download and is also available here.
And there's lots of additional stuff in the resources section of the site, though it's not in any particular order and as the engine filter system is kinda new I doubt many people have updated their older resources to use it.
And in-game you can find a list of the functions relating to any object by typing the name or ID into the console with .dump();
my_object.dump();
And generally lurk the forums and read through the scripts that come with the example games/engine.
#5
I hope this helps.
02/09/2011 (9:00 am)
@Christian there are a number of books while they are written for TGEA they are still quite helpful, a good beginners guide is www.amazon.com/Torque-Teens-Second-Michael-Duggan/dp/1435456424 or if you look down on the page they also have links to The Game Programmers Guide To Torque, and 3D Game Programming All In One. All of these books have been helpful to me, and so far as I have found the best way to learn TorqueScript. I hope this helps.
#6
02/09/2011 (7:13 pm)
Wow! Thanks to everyone! You all are great! 
Torque 3D Owner Morrock
Torque 3D Documentation. Go through through the Getting Started steps and check out the docs for anything else you need. The TorqueScript manual is very helpful (though is assumes you already have a working knowledge of some other OOP programming language).
There's also the TDN Wiki Site. It's just undergoing some major fixes/revisions to the site, so it might not always be stable at the moment, just a forewarning.
Great video tutorial series on creating a fully developed scene. More videos should be up on GG's Vimeo channel soon enough.
There's also some good books out, The Game Programmer's Guide To Torque, and 3D Game Programming All in One are great examples. They rely on TGE (the earliest version of the Torque engine, far behind T3D), but most of the concepts are similar if not exactly the same.
There's many other good places to get started, and just searching via the site searchbar, or searching the TDN will often point you to exactly what you need. But for now, I think the docs above should be enough to keep you occupied for at least a few weeks.
Good luck!