Torque3D/engine/index.html

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title: Engine | Torque 3D
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<div class="banner"><div class="container">
    <h2 id="made-with-torque">Made with Torque</h2>
</div></div>

<div class="container">
    <p>
    Here are some of the premier projects using Torque 3D right now. This isn't
    an exhaustive list, just a showcase of some of our favourite projects. If
    you'd like your project to feature on this page, let us know!
    </p>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.frozenendzone.com/">
              <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/frozen-endzone-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.frozenendzone.com/">Frozen Endzone</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.mode7games.com/">Mode 7</a>
                <p>
                Frozen Endzone is the premier tactical future sports game! 
                It combines the strategic depth of Frozen Synapse with completely
                original creative gameplay and a thrilling futuristic aesthetic. 
                You must design a play to get the ball into your opponent's endzone,
                using the stadium's procedurally-generated terrain to your advantage. 
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.yorkshirerifles.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/airship-dragoon-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.yorkshirerifles.com/">Airship Dragoon</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.yorkshirerifles.com/">YorkshireRifles</a>
                <p>
                Conquer the super-continent of Pangea with an invasion of Airships! 
                Battle Dastardly Pirate Insurgents! Keep the locals happy or else
                they will be revolting! Turn-based Steampunk squad tactical combat
                and global strategy with emergent gameplay. No two games the same.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.metaldrift.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/metal-drift-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.metaldrift.com/">Metal Drift</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://blackjacketstudios.com/">Black Jacket Studios</a>
                <p>
                Metal Drift is a vehicular sport combat game set in a distant
                future. As the player, you command an agile, high powered hover
                tank in a futuristic sports arena. Core game play centers on
                intense tank-on-tank team combat seen through an immersive, first
                person cockpit.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.beamng.com/BeamNG.drive">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/drive-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.beamng.com/BeamNG.drive">BeamNG.drive</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.beamng.com/">BeamNG</a>
                <p>
                An open-world driving simulator, and so much more. Hailed as having
                "the most amazing video game car crashes ever", this is not a game
                for the faint-hearted, nor those who like their cars in one piece.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://lifeisfeudal.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/life-is-feudal-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://lifeisfeudal.com">Life Is Feudal MMO</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://lifeisfeudal.com">Life Is Feudal team</a>
                <p>
                Life Is Feudal challenges you to go back in time and discover
                living medieval life. You must not only survive, but find a way
                to prosper. How will you fend for yourself? Where will you live? 
                How will you defend against other players and predators from the
                wild? Will you establish or join a peaceful community?
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.afterworld.ru/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/afterworld-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.afterworld.ru/">AfterWorld MMO</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.dedicatedlogic.com/">Dedicated Logic LLC</a>
                <p>
                AfterWorld is a "free market economy" persistent-world massively
                multiplayer online game set in a science fiction setting of post-
                apocalyptic Siberia. Enjoy a complex skills-based role-playing
                system, an advanced crafting system, and more than 100 square
                kilometers of vast Siberian landscapes.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.villagersandheroes.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/villagers-and-heroes-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.villagersandheroes.com/">Villagers and Heroes</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.madottergames.com/">Mad Otter Games</a>
                <p>
                Villagers and Heroes, a fantasy role-playing game with a vast
                multiplayer world, is easy to learn, has an intuitive
                user-interface, and features wonderfully rich gameplay providing
                thousands of hours of exploration and challenge. The Seven Realms,
                populated with quirky characters and ghoulish beasties, offer
                hundreds of quests and an array of different gameplay styles.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.deadlymatter.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/deadly-matter-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.deadlymatter.com/">Deadly Matter</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.studiodimsum.com/">Studio Dim Sum</a>
                <p>
                Deadly Matter is not a shooter. That doesn't mean you won't have
                to handle a weapon, but it may be a bit different from what you
                have experienced in other games. The story behind the game is
                based on science and history. Be prepared for the unknown and
                face immense forces that threaten our existence.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://respawn.gobbogamessa.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/re-spawn-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://respawn.gobbogamessa.com/">Re-Spawn</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.gobbogamessa.com/">Gobbo Games</a>
                <p>
                Re-Spawn is a competitive, arena-style multi-player first person
                shooter game with fast-paced, high energy combat that requires
                both reflexive skill and tactical thinking. 
                It is strongly influenced by FPS classics like Quake 2,
                Quake 3 Arena, and Unreal Tournament. Just playing one match will
                flood your mind with memories and nostalgia.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.bloodandmana.com/">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/blood-and-mana-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.bloodandmana.com/">Blood &amp; Mana</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.bloodandmana.com/">Blood &amp; Mana team</a>
                <p>
                Blood &amp; Mana is a fast-paced multiplayer medieval arena combat
                game, mixing elements of the RPG and FPS genres. Equip your
                character for each battle with no restrictions, no levels, and no
                classes. Choose from a vast collection of armor, weapons, spells,
                skills, and items.
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
        <div class="media col-sm-6">
            <a class="pull-left" href="http://www.thecube.qut.edu.au/project/virtual-reef">
                <img class="made-with-torque" src="{{page.root}}/img/the-reef-icon.jpg" />
            </a>
            <div class="media-body">
                <h4 class="media-heading"><a href="http://www.thecube.qut.edu.au/project/virtual-reef">Virtual Reef</a></h4>
                <a class="media-subheading" href="http://www.thecube.qut.edu.au/">The Cube</a>
                <p>
                The Virtual Reef is a life-sized marine ecosystem expanding across
                two levels of the Science and Engineering Centre in Brisbane.
                Multi-touch technologies enable the user to manipulate, intimately
                explore and interact with the reef world, specific behaviours and
                relationships.
                </p>
                <a href="http://joticarroll.github.io/Torque3D/">Get the source code</a>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

<div class="banner"><div class="container">
    <h2 id="features">Features</h2>
</div></div>

<div class="container">
    <div class="media">
        <img class="pull-left feature"
        src="{{page.root}}/img/rendering-feature.jpg"
        title="By Felix Westin"/>
        <div class="media-body">
            <h3 class="media-heading">Rendering</h3>
            <p>
            Torque 3D includes both a high-performance forward-rendering basic
            lighting engine, and a deferred-rendering advanced lighting mode so
            you can tailor your game to meet the needs of different customers.
            The modern rendering system includes per-pixel lighting, normal and
            parallax mapping, and materials generated by a high-level editor, or
            written from scratch in GLSL/HLSL. The engine comes with shaders
            for water, sky and sun, and many common material types.
            </p>
            <p>
            The engine also has a powerful PostFX system allowing you to create
            custom post-processing effects. It ships with buit-in effects including:
            </p>
            <ul>
                <li>HDR/light adaptation</li>
                <li>Depth of field</li>
                <li>Lens flare and sun rays</li>
                <li>Screen-space ambient occlusion and FXAA</li>
                <li>Refraction, reflection and glow</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="media">
        <img class="pull-left feature"
            src="{{page.root}}/img/editors-feature.jpg"
            title="Metal Drift by Black Jacket Studios" />
        <div class="media-body">
            <h3 class="media-heading">Editors</h3>
            <p>
            Torque 3D comes with everything you need to construct environments
            and levels from your assets. Shapes are imported in Collada DAE format
            and placed in the in-game editor. Switch to playing through your level
            with one press of a button.
            </p>
            <ul>
                <li>Powerful terrain editor that allows you to import terrains
                or sculpt them by hand.</li>
                <li>The shape editor provides tools for previewing and touching
                up your shapes after import.</li>
                <li>The road and river editor modes make it simple to place paths
                that become solid roads, flowing rivers or decal tracks across
                the terrain.</li>
                <li>A fully-featured material editor means you don't have to touch
                a line of shader code to create great-looking visuals.</li>
                <li>The GUI editor lets you place HUD and menu elements in an
                easy-to-use WYSIWYG environment.</li>
                <li>Torque 3D will automatically reload assets that are changed
                outside the editing environment, enabling speedy development
                iteration.</li>
                <li>Editor modes are implemented as plugins, so you can add your
                own custom modes.</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="media">
        <img class="pull-left feature"
            src="{{page.root}}/img/networking-feature.jpg"
            title="Frozen Endzone by Mode 7" />
        <div class="media-body">
            <h3 class="media-heading">Networking</h3>
            <p>
            Since its inception as the engine behind the online shooter Tribes 2,
            Torque has consistently provided high performance, reliable networking
            for fast-paced online games. The engine has networking built into 
            its core, allowing you to quickly get up and running with networked
            games.
            </p>
            <p>
            Torque uses a <em>server authoritative</em> networking model that
            helps you to reduce cheating and exploitation. At the same time,
            the game state is predicted and interpolated locally so each client
            experiences a smooth view of the action. Time-invarying data is
            transferred via datablocks at client join time, reducing the amount
            of data that needs to be networked during gameplay.
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="media">
        <img class="pull-left feature"
            src="{{page.root}}/img/physics-feature.jpg"
            title="Pacific Demo by GarageGames" />
        <div class="media-body">
            <h3 class="media-heading">Physics</h3>
            <p>
            Torque 3D provides a plugin system for physics. There is a simple
            built-in implementation which can be easily swapped out for PhysX or
            Bullet libraries. They enable features like:
            </p>
            <ul>
                <li>Cloth dynamics</li>
                <li>Rigid body dynamics</li>
                <li>Destructible objects</li>
                <li>Destroyable joints</li>
                <li>Fluid buoyancy</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="media">
        <img class="pull-left feature"
            src="{{page.root}}/img/scripting-feature.jpg"
            title="Life is Feudal" />
        <div class="media-body">
            <h3 class="media-heading">Scripts and source code</h3>
            <p>
            When you get Torque, you get everything. The entire source code is
            yours to modify under the permissive MIT license. The codebase is mature
            and extensible with a plugin system, allowing you to easily add features
            of your own, or from other libraries, to each project.
            </p>
            <p>
            If you're not the recompiling type, Torque provides a scripting engine
            using a custom C-like language called TorqueScript. You can create
            whole games without touching a line of C++. Check this out:
            </p>
            <pre><code>$minion = new AIPlayer();
$minion.name = "Fubar";
$minion.setMoveDestination("50 0 0");

function Fubar::onReachDestination(%self) {
   echo("I made it! Says" SPC %self.name);
}</code></pre>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

<div class="banner"><div class="container">
    <h2 id="roadmap">Roadmap</h2>
</div></div>

<div class="container">
    <p class="alert alert-warning">
        Please note that the roadmap is currently being debated by the Steering Committee.
        This version represents our rough ideas and intentions and may change when we
        settle on an actual plan! When that happens we will document future engine
        versions here with their planned outcomes.
    </p>

    <h3>Short-term</h3>
    <p>
    The theme of our immediate efforts will be cleaning up the state of the repository,
    forging new links with the community, and putting in place procedures that will
    make the Committee more effective in the future.
    </p>
    <ul>
        <li>Complete and launch this website!</li>
        <li>Set up automated testing to increase ease of maintenance.</li>
        <li>Merge (possibly into unstable branches) or reject all outstanding pull-requests.
        In particular:
        <ul>
            <li>A usable CMake alternative to the current Project Generator</li>
            <li>64-bit-ready changes</li>
            <li>VS2013 compatibility</li>
        </ul></li>
    </ul>

    <h3>Middle-term</h3>
    <ul>
        <li>Linux and OSX support via OpenGL rendering layer.</li>
        <li>DirectX 11 and PhysX 3.3 support.
        <li>New modular script templates and content distribution.</li>
        <li>More difficult existing pull-requests, particularly improvements to the TorqueScript language.</li>
    </ul>

    <h3>Long-term</h3>
    <ul>
        <li>Clean up engine source code (e.g. use of non-STL container replacements, signed/unsigned mismatches).</li>
        <li>Modularise scripting engine, paving the way for other scripting languages.</li>
        <li>Entity/component system replacing hardcoded gameplay classes.</li>
        <li>Overhaul editor suite</li>
    </ul>
</div>

<div class="banner"><div class="container">
    <h2 id="history">History</h2>
</div></div>

<div class="container">
    <table class="history table">
        <tr>
            <td>1998</td>
            <td>
                <b>Starsiege: Tribes</b> <br />
                Developed by <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/company/dynamix-inc/">Dynamix</a> and
                published by <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/company/sierra-entertainment-inc">Sierra</a>,
                Tribes was a landmark online shooter and the first incarnation
                of what would later become the Torque Game Engine, introducing the
                engine's signature large terrains, efficient fast-paced
                networking and bespoke scripting language.
            </td>
        </tr>

        <tr>
            <td>2001</td>
            <td>
                <b>Dynamix closed</b> <br />
                Tribes 2, enhancing the original Tribes' gameplay and graphics,
                was to become one of the last games developed by Dynamix before
                their closure. Several Dynamix veterans went on to found
                <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GarageGames">GarageGames</a>,
                licensing the Tribes 2 game engine which was
                released under the name Torque Game Engine.
            </td>
        </tr>

        <tr>
            <td>2007</td>
            <td>
                <b>Torque Game Engine Advanced</b> <br />
                This incarnation of the engine focused on updating the rendering
                engine, including per-pixel shading and a new terrain system.
            </td>
        </tr>

        <tr>
            <td>2009</td>
            <td>
                <b>Torque 3D</b> <br />
                The next evolution in the Torque line introduced a modern deferred-
                rendering engine, an abstract physics layer with a PhysX
                implementation, and a COLLADA-based asset pipeline.
            </td>
        </tr>

        <tr>
            <td>2012</td>
            <td>
                <b>Torque 3D MIT</b> <br />
                As part of GarageGames' move towards being a service provider and
                consultancy, the Torque 3D engine was released as free open-source
                software. The first Steering Committee was set up to manage community
                contributions to the engine, and has been going strong ever since.
            </td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</div>