Chapter 24: The End Game

Overview

By now you've worn many hats, as programmer, 2D artist, 3D modeler, sound engineer, and level designer, to mention just the big ones. It should be fairly evident that each of these specialties has a great deal of depth, and it is hard to do justice to any one of them in a book like this.

However, it should also be apparent that you can make complex and feature-rich games without the need for million-dollar budgets. In this chapter we'll look at some of the things that didn't quite fit as topics in the earlier chapters.

A great deal of the work is done for us by the Torque Engine, but that's just where the process starts—the end is wherever you want it to be. There are other game engines out there, ranging from free to expensive, but the relationship between the end result and the price of the engine is not a linear one. The result is dependent on the amount of effort and inspiration you bring to the table. Making successful games is about transforming a great idea into a great game, and that operation can't be bought with mere money.

If you are going to put together a small team to develop a game using Torque, I would suggest you fill the artistic slots first—at least sign up a dedicated 3D modeler. You will also need one programmer to manage your script work. Finally, you need someone responsible for doing map layout, creating game rules, and managing the relationship between the models and the code. This makes a three-person team, which is probably as close to an ideal size as you're going to get for a small, low-budget development team. If you have the luxury of adding another team member, make sure you give him the sound-engineer responsibilities.