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Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

Chapter 2. Working with Your Editors

In this chapter we will cover the following topics:

Setting up fogging of the level
How to cover seams and texture changes using decals placed in the World Editor
Copying the transform of an object to another object in the World Editor
How to change the material of an object in the World Editor
Setting up a glow mask using the Material Editor
Using a convex shape as a zone
Setting zone-specific ambient lighting
Grouping adjacent zones together

Introduction

Torque 3D includes a lot of built-in tools to help us create and refine a game and all that goes into it. The World Editor window is the gateway to all of the various editors that are available, and may be accessed by pressing F11 during game play. The following table lists all of the different editors available from the World Editor:

Editor	Description
Object Editor	This helps you add and delete objects, and position, rotate, and scale them. It also allows you to modify the properties of an object.
Terrain Editor	You can raise and lower the terrain or create holes in the terrain.
Terrain Painter	This helps you to apply materials to the surface of the terrain.
Material Editor	This allows you to create and manipulate materials that are used by all 3D objects in the level.
Sketch Tool	You can create convex shapes to be used as placeholders, or as textured game objects themselves.
Datablock Editor	You can create and manipulate the static properties used...

Key benefits

Clear step-by-step instruction and practical examples to advance your understanding of Torque 3D and all of its sub-systems

Explore essential topics such as graphics, sound, networking and user input

Helpful tips and techniques to increase the potential of your Torque 3D games

Description

Torque 3D is a popular game engine that supports you in every step along the way to making your game a reality. Even with all of the power and tools that Torque 3D provides, finishing a high quality 3D game requires time and knowledge."Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook" is a practical guide that takes you through each of the major steps on the journey to creating your game, while learning a few tricks along the way.The recipes in this book start off with learning some of the finer points about TorqueScript. The book then moves on to each of Torque 3D's subsystems and ends with a variety of game play recipes.The various topics covered include activating level-specific game code and scheduling game events, dragging and dropping items between windows to work with an in-game inventory system, and covering the seams between objects with well placed decals. Some of the advanced topics include writing custom shaders and postFX, using zones to improve rendering performance, and enhancing your game's ambience through sound.Once you are done with Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook you'll be on your way to creating amazing 3D games and gain expert knowledge of Torque 3D.

Who is this book for?

The book is written for professional and indie game developers that have basic knowledge of TorqueScript, are acquainted with Torque 3D's built-in tools, and wish to take their skills to the next level. Having gone through the comprehensive Torque 3D 1.2 FPS game tutorial on the GarageGames website (or its equivalent) is assumed.

What you will learn

Game data manipulation and event scheduling using TorqueScript

Work with and display Torque 3D s built-in metrics to expose your game s performance characteristics

Improve your game s frame rate through proper zone and portal set up

Learn hidden TorqueScript secrets to ease game development

Set up standard RPG mouse controls and object manipulation

Learn to create a drag-and-drop inventory front end

Go beyond the standard FPS weapon set-up to make each weapon unique

Refine the look of your game using various object animation capabilities and damage states

Work with multiplayer servers and pass game specific data to and from the client

Have your game communicate with various third party online services

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Davon Sep 12, 2013

this was a great help in programming beyond the basics of torque.It provided just enough advice and was very readable

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Ahmad Apr 16, 2013

A perfect book for the people who want to learn the intermediate & advance level of Torque game engine base on step by step explanation & screenshots. Great work by the Author

Netwyrm Feb 26, 2013

This is the first and only book of which I am aware written for the modern Torque engine. Wyand's volume not only addresses that lack, but addresses it most adequately, with clear and consistent examples and full explanations. Not a book on engine theory, it is filled with examples of script which answer most common questions involved in setting up the requirements for basic gameplay in the engine. I would that it had been available when I started scripting for Torque -- it would have cut literally years out of the learning curve.

drastik Apr 27, 2013

I found this to be perfect for my current level of understanding in Torque. I like that it doesn't begin with how to download & install the SDK, setting up an IDE, and so forth. It jumps right into what someone in my position is looking for: de-mystifying the code with great explanation and examples.I was very excited that it went into detail about inventory & client<->server communication. That had always been a cloudy subject between game engines that I have coded for. I definitely feel that with what I've read already, and having this book by my side, I can jump back into development with a greater understanding and accomplish more than I was able with google & documentation :)The book on Packt: [...]

Konrad Kiss Feb 21, 2013

David Wyand's Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook is aimed at developers who are already familiar with the Torque 3D engine but who want to improve their level of knowledge or who look for quick and concise solutions to specific problems - carefully hand-picked problems that are likely to surface during the development of any game. This prerequisite and the game developer terminology used throughout the book make it one of the very few intermediate to advanced level guides that are available today.I was a technical reviewer for this book - this made me one of the book's earliest critics. Being a game developer and having worked with this particular engine for many years, my personal wish was to help create a book that goes beyond the widely accessible pieces of information in terms of content and tries to dig deeper. David Wyand's book meets and exceeds this expectation.It is not for absolute beginners - at least not without minimal preparation. It often assumes knowledge of terms and engine features for specific recipes. Such an example would be shaders and CustomMaterial. The book explains how you can make good use of CustomMaterials, but it assumes you have an idea about what a shader is - which I find fair. It doesn't waste your time explaining what a shader is - this information is available through a number of sources online - but it will tell you how you can hook up your custom shader to create unique materials.The great thing about a cookbook is that requirements change recipe by recipe. So even if you are a beginner, you will find solutions to problems that you are likely to face on day one. Other recipes are tailored at problems that you meet several weeks or months into your development cycle, and by then it rightfully assumes a background knowledge of a number of things that you were likely to meet during that time.If you are serious about working with Torque 3D, this book will definitely make your life easier. However, if you are just starting out, be sure to first go through the Torque 3D tutorials that you find in the engine docs. Those will give you the basics, while Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook will be your go-to source for tips once you begin writing script code.

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook: Over 80 practical recipes and hidden gems for getting the most out of the Torque 3D game engine

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