Torque 3D looks like a really good game engine and is even open source. Has anyone here used it before? Would you recommend using it?
I have not used torque 3D, and have no experience with it other than playing a game made on it.
What can I say though, it is the same as everything in life. It has it’s pro’s and it has it’s cons.
Some of the Pro’s:
- Capable of creating decent games
- Quite a lot of people using it
- Cross-platform
Some of the cons:
- Requires a lot more technical knowledge to use
- Requires an external program for modelling (eg blender)
- Uses it’s own internal format for handling some things (though this has got better recently)
As with all game engines: Try it, and if you don’t like it, find another.
Moved from “Game Engine Resources” to “Game Engine Support and Discussion”
I used it before i switched to Unity 3D, the scripting language in Torque was the home-made torque script. In Unity you can use languages like javascript and C# .Unity’s Scene editor is much better, and unity has support for more platforms, including mobile, ipad, androyd etc., so I suggest you take a look at Unity first
From a quick glance most of the open-source game engines are similar in capabilities, which means there are other factors to consider. Being open-source, outside the technical requirements, the next important factor is the size of the community and development. That is the first reason I use Blender/BGE. Blender wins by far, as far as the Blender crowd goes; the BGE crowd is slowly getting there. The second reason is the BGE’s relationship with Blender the 3D creation tool, since you can’t make games without a 3D creation program. Therefore you have the tools to create everything you need from the actual game to renderings to movies, etc… (plus the audio and image editing programs)
And of course with proprietary, you get what you pay for. My concern with proprietary engines is relying on a third-party or outside entity for your engine**. I think this is why so many game engines exist -> companies prefer to create their own, and it makes sense. For example, if Toyota used another company to manufacture its engine while the rest of the car was made by them. Specialize when integration is not there. What I mean is outsourcing would be more advantageous if the engine wasn’t so closely tied to the car’s most important functionality of driving. In another example, the radio or sound system need not be made by them nor must they mine the raw materials themselves.
Take Unity for example*. I respect Unity, but I don’t think it’ll last in the long run, unless they turn into a game development company also. However, they seem to be filling in a gap in the market - the smaller/indie developers who don’t have the resources to develop their own engine. The only other alternatives are open-source but will require some programming, which is something these smaller companies cannot afford to do, thus proprietary solutions are the answer***.
Another example, I like its Asset Store but you’ll run into the same problem as I stated above. What happens when that developer stops developing and you rely on its product or plugin (higher risk)? Well, most likely somebody will come along and reinvent the wheel lol.
Random thought: the most ubiquitous applications eventually become open source: operating systems (Linux), web browsers (Firefox), media players (VLC). The OS is a trickier one since it’s closer to the metal. And upcoming are the office suites like LibreOffice and Calligra. I think Calligra will come out on top. It just seems so much more robust and forward filling in the mobile gap. Its Krita component is a worthy competitor to GIMP.
- I do not mean to turn this into a BGE/Unity discussion, just a general game engine discussion.
** Further thought: Cloud technology seems to be facilitating this model of reliance. Whereas a more open-source model would provide support for the business to implement their own servers/cloud technology - take the general software and help with specialization.
*** Implications: the BGE will not be useful to that particular segment of users until the amount of programming is minimal, i.e. BGE needs more demos/assets/resources to build on.