Torque

[Feline Witch]

Torque seems to be the most popular game engine.

 

OK, so I guess I will learn C++. Does anybody know of a good site for this?

 

 

So here are some questions.

Is the shader engine just a plugin, or is the game engine included?

Are the graphics a bit dated? Or can I just use AM and the shader engine to work around that?

[Obsidian Games]

A lot of Torque is script driven, meaning you might not need to know too much c++ (at least when you're starting out with it). The Garage Games site has info on the scripting language, so that might be a good start. C++ only comes into play if you're looking to modify the engine itself. There are lots of good resources on the web for learning C++, so I'd probably recommend searching on the web before purchasing a C++ book (though that may be a good idea down the road).

 

I believe the Torque Shader Engine is an engine all by itself, an extension of the base game engine with lots of newer graphics features. However, to purchase the shader engine, you must already own the base TGE engine. You'd probably get more realistic and/or newer graphic features from the shader engine, but I think the base engine can do quite a lot.

[Feline Witch]

Okay, thank you .

 

Since you guys made the exporter, how easy is it to export things to Torque?

[Obsidian Games]

The actual export should be extremely easy. The test version right now only has 3 checkboxes that modify how the model is exported.

 

The harder part will be the initial setup of the model for export. Building Torque models definitely takes some getting used to, but once you're familiar with it, it should be a lot easier to work with. They have to be built to a specific scale (iirc, 1 Hash cm = 1 Torque meter), on a specific axis, etc. Also, depending on how complex you want your model to be (multiple levels of detail, collision meshes, etc), it will increase or decrease your design time.

 

There are a number of documents available online (linked mostly through the Garage Games website) that describe the export process for other 3D apps. AMXdtsPlus will follow a similar path, so those documents should give you a feel for what's involved. Of course, I will also provide A:M specific documentation when the exporter is released.

[dirkk]

I now found out that I asked this question in the totally wrong forum :-).

 

Is there an ETA for the DTS exporter?

 

[edit]sorry, just saw on the website, there's no release date yet.

[Obsidian Games]

Honestly, I'm really not sure yet when the Torque exporter will be ready. I really want to get it finished as soon as possible, so hopefully it won't be too long. I'm working on animation now, which tends to take the longest. Once that's done, I'll need to go through everything and fill in any blanks that I find or may have missed the first time around. I want to be sure that when it's released, it will be as complete as possible.

 

Also, in your original thread, I noticed that you mentioned the possibility of using Blitz3D. That engine uses .X files, which my AMXtex exporter can export from A:M. In the interim, that might be an option.

[dirkk]

Yes, I thought so too.

 

I would buy your exporter(s) right away, but I don't know whether to buy AM. This is not a matter of price, but a matter of how to use it in a creation pipeline.

 

Everyone seems to use AM for these outstanding flics, but the references in FPS for example are rare - which is surprising to me.

 

Somtimes I wish I could buy a library of animations and a library of models and I could have all permuations of both to use in a game.