Make Your Own Games Premiere Blog!

Hello InstantAction Gamers!

Welcome to the first "Make Your Own Games" premiere blog (or MYOG for those of you who only speak in abbreviated jibberish).  My name is Deborah Marshall, of limited cardboard fortress fame.  I work for GarageGames, InstantAction's significant other.  Whereas InstantAction gives you games to play, GarageGames sells technology to help people make their own games.  

Because I've heard that some of you are aspiring game developers, I thought I'd start a blog over here to let you know what's going on in the world of Torque, GarageGames's line of AAA game engine tech (which recently won the coveted Front Line Game Engine of the Year award).  In this premiere blog, I'll give you a general overview of our latest game engine in the works, Torque 3D, but my hope is that you'll provide questions/suggestions on what you'd like to see in this blog about game development in general, and I'll post subsequent blogs that meet your needs.

So what is Torque 3D?  It's a game engine used to make stunning 3D games and is currently in development at GarageGames.  Torque 3D's predecessor has been used to make many of the games you love on InstantAction - Fallen Empire: Legions, Rokkitball, Marble Blast Online, ThinkTanks, Cyclomite, and ZAP!.  It's also currently being used to make the next round of games in beta, including Ace of Aces, Lore: Aftermath, and Luma's Arcade Racer.  And that's just the stuff on InstantAction!  For a full list of games made, check this page out.

Video game technology is a bit like an arm's race: all game engine companies keep their eye on the next biggest and shiniest features to put into the engine.  We've already got a pretty good start with our current 3D engine, which boasts the industry's best networking capabilities, the ability to publish to multiple platforms like the Xbox 360 and Wii, and cutting-edge graphics capabilities.  On top of that, we've announced the following new features for Torque 3D:

A little sneak peak at one type of world you can create with Torque 3D

• Easy Web Publishing - With Torque 3D, InstantAction's ability to publish games in a web browser is available to everyone.
• Wetness and Precipitation - New shader technology allows us to create more realistic looking wetness and precipitation for dank and foreboding environments. 
• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion -  With built-in editors for on the fly modifications, you can toggle various screen space shaders on and off and with SSAO. (See video below for what I mean.)
• An updated FPS Kit - Since Torque is popular among people who want to make FPS games, we're updating our FPS kit with two new environments, a new character, and various new weapons.
• A Brand New Racing Kit - Not a big fan of FPS games? No problem! We're expanding our selection of genre kits with Torque 3D. Luma Arcade, the guys who are bringing you the InstantAction racer, are taking their art assets and code and wrapping it up nicely so you can make your own racing games. 

What is Screen Space Ambient Occlusion? A video is worth a thousand pictures!

We're really looking forward to the release of this engine and will be announcing more in the coming months.  Feel free to follow our development blogs here.

So that's all I got for this first post.  However, please let me know what kind of topics you want me to cover for future "Make Your Own Games" blogs.  I'll be happy to answer any and all questions you have.

Cheers and Happy Game Development from GarageGames!

Comments

[DarknessFalls]

I would like you to cover something more interesting then why we should buy Torque. Mentioning the awards Torque has won and calling the games "stunning" makes it sound as if your just sucking up to it and makes you sound like the creepy guy who knocks on your door, introduces himself and then promptly tries to sell you his revolutionary new blender.

This is the "Make Your Own Games" blog (it's actually a blog series as it doesn't appear to be a separate blog, please learn blogger lingo before you embarrass yourself) not the "I Want To Have Torque' Babies" blog.

[Deborah Marshall]

Hey DF,

I'd be completely willing to cover other topics if you give me some suggestions. The reason I started with Torque 3D is that Dr. Wiley and co. have received some inquiries on the tech behind the vast majority of InstantAction games. Sorry if it makes me sound creepy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olv-aR6JKvQ

(Damn, there goes my next topic too...why I want to have Torque's love child. ^_^)

[mmkaka]

Ownage... Probably I'll buy torque 3D in the next 3 years (not to be offensive) that means after collage. cool stuff!

[DarknessFalls]

How about you take us through the dev process over at GG, how about one about a making a totally new game (in several sections) and another about making a legions map?

[Logan Foster]

Hey Deborah, I know I have done this on the GarageGames.com site, but if you want feel free to talk to us about doing some dev articles about some of the tech that went into Lore Aftermath for your "Make your own game" blog.

[Deborah Marshall]

Logan, that's a great idea. Let's work on that for the next one, for sure! d(^_^)b

[Luma]

BTW it's Luma Arcade not Luma Studios.

[Miriam]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Miriam

http://www.craigslistguide.info

[Paul]

Realy nice thanks

[العاب]

i have seen an interesting web site relating to games... there is a good newx 4 games lovers coz there r so many interesting n new games over there u must check that out...
http://games.m5zn.com

[العاب]

Hy hope u all fine and enjoying ur life..I I found this site very informative...... Through this site i wanna tell u about my site which is about games..
plz check it out u ll have fun...
Thanks u.
http://games.m5zn.com/