INTRODUCTION
BEGINNINGS
“Hi Ken. Davey here. How’s the family? How’s TubettiWorld Games doing? We need you to write a book about Torque 3D and we need it yesterday. Have you beaten Time Crisis 5 yet? How are things at UOIT?
Fine. Great! We’re .... Uh, whut?!?!!!
This book began, way back at the beginning, as my response to all the emails I’d received about how to go about making computer games. It’s morphed beyond that by now, but it still reflects its roots. I know there are people out there looking for a cold, dry academic reference tome on Torque 3D. This isn’t it. I like a light-hearted and fun tone to my tomes. But this book might really be what you are looking for. Or this book might really be the one for which you are looking. (Some people still think a dangling participle is something that you don’t end a sentence with. Heh, I slay me.)
My editors had been clamoring for a new edition, and then when Davey Jackson called from Torque (the game engine company formerly known as GarageGames that is now called GarageGames again!)—well that was the tipping point, I guess. Torque 3D was coming down the pike, and the tech was looking awesome.
This book took so long to make because I had a moving target—those are always hard to pin down, and based upon the changes that took place to yield the current Torque 3D, I’m glad I wasn’t able to finish it in the normal six months. But in the interim a great deal of changes took place at GarageGames as well. It got bought, then sold, and bought again, many people lost jobs, then some got them back, new faces joined, old faces went elsewhere, and so on.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
If you want to, you will be able to take this book and a computer, go into a room without Internet access, and emerge with a completed, ready-to-play first-person shooter style game within weeks. You will then be able to spend as much time as you want to dream up your game play concepts, and you will have the ability to add them to your game.
You might think this is a bold claim, but you can see for yourself. Go ahead and turn to the Table of Contents, or take a quick flip-through skim of the chapters. It’s all there. If you follow through and do the exercises and work, you will arrive at the other end of the journey with experience, not just book learnin’.
But keep this in mind: you must start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. As the book advances, it builds on your efforts in earlier chapters. This is not the sort of book to leap around in, until you’ve been through it at least once.
Believe in Yourself
In 2004, when this book’s first edition hit the shelves, I pointed out in this introduction that computer games were a $9 billion per year industry, and that number increases every year. As of 2008, industry watchers said that the computer games industry was worth more than $18 billion per year. That’s pretty well exponential growth! It shows no sign of stopping, either.
A growing part of this industry is people like you—part of an ever-expanding segment of the gamer population that doesn’t just want to play the games but believes that you can make them better than the game companies can. Your problem may be that you lack the right combination of training, experience, and tools needed to turn dreams into reality. This book is for you.
Every year more and more colleges and universities offer game development programs, and every few months a new online indie game developer site launches on the web. There is no lack of training available for those with the money to pay, and there is no lack of books for those of you who want to create your own engines or other specialized parts of a game.
To me, a key element that has been missing is a resource that takes inspired and aspiring game developers by the hand and walks them through all the steps and tools required to make a fully featured game. This book is that resource. With the exception of game music composition (which itself could be a complete book series), you, the Gentle Reader, will learn how to create every part of the game yourself by using a well-defined toolkit of programs, knowledge, skills, and ideas. Art assets, resources, and code libraries are included on the companion DVD for you to use if you lack a certain artistic or creative flair.
What You Bring to the Party
I assume that you have more than a passing familiarity with computer games, especially the first-person shooter genre. Throw in some computer savvy, add a capable computer system, sprinkle with desire, spice it with passion, and you should be good to go!
Skills
You are probably fully able to deal with all aspects of Microsoft Windows-based computing. You don’t need to be a programmer, but you do need to be aware that some programming will be required in creating a computer game. The first few chapters will introduce you to all the programming concepts that you will encounter in the course of using the book. You will not be expected to learn advanced 3D math in detail, but you will learn enough about 3D to accomplish your goals.
I’m going to show you how to create your own artwork, but you don’t need to be an artist. The companion DVD features a collection of art you can use in your game, distributed throughout the game engine demo and RESOURCES folders.
System
All of the development tools, including the engine, are also included on the companion DVD. All of these tools are priced such that even though the shareware version may be included on the DVD, and thus possibly time-limited, the actual registered versions are less than $100.
You will need a Windows-based computer to use this book. It is possible for Macintosh users to use this book to create a game, because the game engine used—Torque 3D—is also available for that platform. However, not all of the required development tools are natively available for Apple-based systems, so this book’s focus will be on Windows-based development.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, Torque has no plans to support Torque 3D on Linux for single-player games, or for clients for multiplayer games. I’m told that they will soon have official support for Torque 3D servers (only) on Linux, but there is no fixed date, and it’s not at the top of the priority list.
Windows-based System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
Windows XP or Vista
Intel or AMD Processor @ 1 GHz
512MB RAM (1GB recommended for Vista)
100% DirectX compatible video card with 256MB video RAM required
DirectX 9.0c+
Recommended Requirements
Windows 7 with latest service packs installed
Dual-Core Intel or AMD processor @ 2.0 GHz or better
2GB RAM
100% DirectX compatible nVidia-based video card with 1GB or more video RAM
PhysX SDK and Runtime
DirectX 9.0c+
Apple-based Computers System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
OSX 10.6.1
Intel-based Macs only
2GB RAM
ATI or nVidia shader model 4.0+ video cards with 256 MB video RAM required
XCode version 3.2 or better
Note that not all Torque 3D features are available for Apple-based computers.
What the Book Offers
In this book we are going to look at all aspects of game development, a journey from first principles to the completed game.
Concepts
We are going to take a look at various aspects of the game industry to give you the opportunity to see where you might fit in and what sort of opportunities there are. We’ll also examine the elements of a 3D game, game design issues, and game genres.
Next, you’ll be introduced to the programming concepts that you will need to understand in the course of using the book. You will see how to structure program code, create loops, call functions, and use globally and locally scoped variables. We’ll use a subset of an object-oriented programming language called TorqueScript, which is built into the Torque Engine. Hands-on sample programs that you can try are available on the companion DVD. We’ll move on to examining the 3D concepts that you will need to understand some of the more sophisticated activities later in the book. This will provide a foundation for both the programming and the modeling tasks that you will take on later.
Torque 3D
Once you’ve been powered up with sufficient knowledge and understanding of the main concepts in 3D game development, we’ll get into using the Torque Engine in detail. You will learn how to handle client/server programming, how to control the player-character, how to send messages between players, and much more. Concepts will be presented with exercises and sample programs, which are available on the DVD. Although we will cover some of the more intricate low-level workings of the Torque Engine in order to understand it better, it’s important to realize that as an independent game developer you’ll benefit more from mastering the higher-level functions that utilize the engine for us, so you can worry about other stuff—like game play. Without game play, you won’t have a game.
Textures
Next, the book will show you everything you need to know about game textures: how to create them, how to modify and manipulate them, and how to use them in the game. The coverage is comprehensive; all of the texture types and their uses are discussed: skins, tiles, terrain, skyboxes, height maps, GUI widgets, and more. You will be guided through exercises in creating each of the texture types. A collection of textures is available on the companion DVD to fill in any gaps in your texture needs.
Models
Then we get to the meat of a 3D game—the models. In these chapters we will be delving into the world of low-poly modeling. We’ll talk about the general principles involved in ways that can be applied to other tools, such as the expensive 3D Max or Maya. But the practical focus will be geared toward using MilkShape, UVMapper, and other low-cost tools that are included on the companion DVD.
I will show you the various model types, such as polysoup and CSG models. You will create models for all aspects of the game in the exercises: things like player-characters, vehicles, weapons, power-ups, decorations or clutter, buildings, and structures. You will walk through each step in the creation of the different model types so that you can create your own unique game look, if you want. All of the models in these chapters, plus many more, are available on the companion DVD to round out your model library.
Sound and Music
After modeling, you will encounter the icing on the game cake: sound and music. You will discover how to select, create, and modify sounds for use in your game. You will also get some advice about selecting musical themes and how to integrate music into your game.
Integration
After picking up the required programming skills, and learning how to use the art creation and modeling tools, you will learn how to knit all the parts together to create a game, populate your game world, and then test and troubleshoot your game. Finally, we look at where you can go with your shiny new 3D game developer’s toolkit of ideas, knowledge, skills, and software tools.
The Companion DVD
The companion DVD contains quite a few resources.
Source Code
The book’s DVD contains all of the TorqueScript source code in sample form and final form. The samples will be aligned with the exercises in each chapter. The scripts for the final completed game will be included in its own directory tree. The game will be usable immediately upon installation from the DVD so that you can have an instant and extensive preview of what is to come.
Game Engine
The DVD contains the complete Torque 3D Tools Demo version 1.1 with its executable, DLLs, and all required GUI and support files. It is a fully featured game engine that includes advanced networking capabilities, blended animations, built-in server-side anticheat capabilities, a strong and complete object-oriented C++-like scripting language, and many other advanced features. There are some limitations with the Tools Demo that prevent its use in a commercial game.
The following shareware tools are included on the DVD:
MilkShape 3D for 3D player and item modeling
The Gimp 2 for texture and image manipulation
Audacity for sound editing and recording
UVMapper to perform UV unwrapping tasks
Torsion as the Integrated Development Environment tool for TorqueScript code
Goodies
The DVD also includes a few extras that aren’t mentioned in the book or that are only briefly touched on:
Retail game demos created with Torque 3D
Additional image and audio resources
Open source utility source code
GO GET ’EM!
The most important asset you have as an independent, and the key to any success, is your enthusiasm and persistence. Remember to use this book, and other books and training you acquire, as resources that will help you do what you want to do; they are not vouchers that you can trade in for a nice big pot of success. You have to do the work in the learning, and you have to do the work in the creating. And if you really believe you can, then I know you can! Go get ’em!
DVD-ROM DOWNLOADS
If you purchased an ebook version of this book, you may download the DVD contents (and any updates or errata) from www.courseptr.com/downloads. Please note that you will be redirected to the Cengage Learning site.