Torque Basics

1
Torque Basics

• CIS 487/587
• Bruce R. Maxim
• UM-Dearborn

2
Goals

• Based on the tutorial example shipped with the
  Torque (TGE) game engine
• Build a simple 3D game
• Show basic use of the world, terrain, and GUI
  editors
• Demonstrate use of Torque Script in client/server
  programming

3
Where to begin?

• Start in the directory CTorque/SDK/Example
• Clicking on the torqueDemo icon starts a windows
  executable that will process the script stored in
  the file main.cs found in the same directory (by
  default)
• This brings up a splash screen with several links

4
Using the Links

• You need Internet connectivity to use several of
  the links
• There are also links to the Torque editors,
  console, and exit
• Typing quit() in the console command line also
  allows you to exit the tutorial

5
Building a Game

• Start by making a copy of the folder
  tutorial.base called GameOne
• Use NotePad to edit the main.cs script file in
  the GameOne folder
• Change line that describes the game to read
  defaultGame GameOne
• Save your changes

6
GameOne Folder

• client
• contains several client scripts and ui folder
  (graphics and widget scripts)
• data
• contains resources (models, textures, sounds,
  scripts associated with resources)
• server
• several server scripts
• Note xxx.cs.dso files contain compiled xxx.cs
  code

7
World Editor

• The World editor link on the demo splash screen
  loads a mission that can be edited
• F2 - turns off the inspector windows
• F11 - toggles World Editor on or off
• F10 - toggles GUI Editor on or off

8
Movement

• Camera view
• Alt-C - camera/player toggle
• R-Click-drag - look around
• W, A, S, D - walk around
• R-Click-Tab - toggle 3rd person player view
• Alt-Q - drop camera at player
• Alt-W - drop player at camera
• Camera menu is in the World editor

9
Terrain Shaping

• Move camera so you look down on the player off to
  the side and select the Terrain Editor
• Adjust Brush size (Ctrl-Z or Menu)
• Use Mouse to adjust height (determined by Action
  menu setting)
• Relight the scene from Edit menu
• The Player may end up underground if you are not
  careful toggle camera mode (Alt-C) and drop
  camera at Player (Alt-W) to check

10
Terrain Painting - 1

• Return to Camera view (Alt-C) and select Terrain
  Texture Painter from Window menu
• Select change under the checkerboard box
• Find the file sand.jpg in the folder
  GameOne/data/terrains and press load
• This changes everything to sand

11
Terrain Painting - 2

• Select change under one of the empty boxes
• Locate patchy.jpg file in the folder
  GameOne/data/terrains and press load
• The Action menu item has changed to Paint
  Material
• Select a Brush and paint some of the hills
  (relighting not necessary)

12
Terrain Painting - 3

• Terrain looks great from a far but not up close
• To add a detail texture, go to the World Editor
  Inspector and select the Terrain TerrainBlock
  from the MissionGroup
• In the Media section find the detailTexture
  browse button and load Game/One/terrains/detail1.p
  ng
• Save your mission using the file menu as
  GameOneMission.mis in the folder
  GameOne/data/missions

13
Placing Objects - 1

• Change to Camera view and select the World Editor
  Creator item in the Window menu
• Default action is to drop item at screen center
  so rotate screen so center is on the ground
• Expand Shapes in lower window, drill down to
  TorqueLogo, mouse click on this item will place
  it in the center of the screen
• Be careful it is easy to put things underground
  or in the air where they are nor visible to the
  Player

14
Placing Objects - 2

• The number under an object is its number (null is
  its default name)
• The axis lines can be used to drag object to a
  new point
• The object can also be moved by going to the
  World Editor Inspector and selecting it from the
  Tree
• Object attributes can be modified in the
  Inspector window as well (remember to use the
  Apply button before you Save)

15
Interiors

• Shapes are based on .dts files interiors are
  based on .dif files
• Interiors are placed using the World Editor
  Creator
• Go to Interiors/GameOne/data/interiors and drill
  down to place a box on the screen
• Relight the terrain when prompted
• Move the box so it is not on a hill and its floor
  is level with the ground (so the Player can enter
  the box and explore it) and save it

16
Organizing Objects

• You can create folders called SimGroups to hold
  related objects
• Expand the MissionObjects/System/ in the World
  Editor Creator
• Click on the SimGroups item and use the dialog
  box to create a logos SimGroup and drag each of
  the logo items to the logos SimGroup (name is
  important for scripting)
• Create a buildings SimGroup for the box and then
  save your work

17
Graphical User Interface - 1

• Return to the TGE main page by quitting the World
  Editor (File Quit) or Restart Torque
• To Select the GUI editor or use F10
• You will see 3 buttons on the left side of the
  screen
• New Control
• MainMenuGui
• 640 x 480

18
Graphical User Interface - 2

• Select MainMenuGui in the Tree view
• Scroll down in the inspector window and find the
  bitmap field
• Change background to gameonebg and hit Apply
• You can remove the buttons from the top, but if
  you do you should add a Start and Quit button

19
Graphical User Interface - 3

• To add a button use the New Control drop down
  menu and select GuiButtonCtrl
• Drag the button to its desired location
• Change the text field from Button to Start
  and type loadMyMission() in the command field
  then hit Apply

20
Graphical User Interface - 4

• You might also want to go back and change the
  horizSizing and vertSizing to relative and hit
  Apply and Save again
• To create a Quit button, repeat process and label
  the control with Quit and enter quit() in
  the command field of the new button

21
Graphical User Interface - 5

• To add a score counter use the Start button to
  enter the game
• Use F10 to open the GUI editor and select PlayGui
  from the pull down menu
• Add the new control by selecting the GuiTextCtrl
  from the pull down menu
• Enter ScoreCounter in the name field

22
Graphical User Interface - 6

• In the General section enter Score 0 in the text
  field
• In Parent section change the profile to GuiBig
  TextProfile from the menu ()
• Use the Apply button and Save

23
Scripting - 1

• Find the script logoitem.cs in the Windows folder
  GameOne/server
• Enter the following function at the end
• function TorqueLogoItemonCollision(this, obj,
  col)
• // collision function for all Torque logo shapes
• // this data block
• // obj - object itself
• // col - object that collided with obj

24
Scripting - 2

• // check for logo collision with player object
• if(col.getClassName() "Player")
• // client becomes client whose player hit
  logo
• client col.client
• // increment score and message with score to
  client
• client.score
• commandToClient(client, 'SetScoreCounter',
  client.score)
• // remove object from logos
• obj.delete()

25
Scripting - 3

• // find out how many logo items remain in
  logos
• logoCount logos.getCount()
• // if more logos remain continue game
• if(logoCount gt 0)
• return
• // otherwise have client display victory
  screen
• commandToClient(client, 'ShowVictory',
  client.score)

26
Scripting - 4

• Open the folder GameOne/client and create a new
  text file containing the following functions in a
  file called clientGame.cs
• function clientCmdSetScoreCounter(score)
• // This function processes the onCollision server
  call
• // commandToClient
• // (client, 'SetScoreCounter',
  client.score)
• //
• // replaces text in GuiTextCtrl in play screen
• ScoreCounter.setText("Score" SPC score)

27
Scripting - 5

• function clientCmdShowVictory(score)
• // this function processes the server call
• // commandToClient
• // (client, 'ShowVictory', client.score)
• //
• // displays a message box to get user choice
• MessageBoxYesNo("You Win!",
• "Would you like to restart the
  game?",
• "loadMyMission()",
• "quit()")

28
Scripting - 6

• Last we need to add a line to file main.cs in the
  folder GameOne/main.cs
• This line goes at the end of the Client scripts
  section to link our new script into the game
• exec("./client/clientGame.cs")
• Now all thats left to do is play test the final
  game and fix any problems

29
Scripting - 7

• One of those problems is getting the Score to
  display as 0 when the mission reloads
• Add these lines to function onMissionLoaded( ) in
  the file game.cs found in the folder
  GameOne/server/game.cs
• score0
• ScoreCounter.setText("Score" SPC score)