1st Torque 2D Release: Gold Fever by TikGames

[MrPhil]

Amazing, that T2D already has another commercial title coming out!

http://www.garagegames.com/news/8206

I think it's a real testament to the technology that Torque 2D is already being used in production games for wide downloadable distribution

[ManuelFLara]

As the text says, it's been just four months since T2D's release, and it keeps being in a Early Adopter state (not stable), so I'm very impressed they got the game done and working fine given the usual compatibility requirements of a high end casual game. Congrats, Tik Games!

[Robert Cummings]

I was one of the first EA buyers and I gave it up after a month - I coded my game in it fine, but the lack of software rendering and ultimately it's failure to integrate with C++ (you really do have to use script) meant for some things it would have not been fast enough.

It's unsuitable for my game, but as we can see - great for others.

[Savant]

I've only had the briefest play with T2D EA, but so far it looks really cool.

Can't wait to spend more time with it!

[Gnatinator]

Hmm? Wasnt the first commercial Torque 2D game Argus Teaches Multiplication Facts by Grim Inventions (tentons on this board)?

He released it months ago.

[Cycle]

From tigsource.com:

That's right, GarageGames has just p1mped its first game using the Torque2D engine that they're so proud of. Behold Gold Fever:

Take a trip back in time and strike it rich as you explore the great American Gold Rush in this addictive new game. Simply flip coins to make matches while mining your way to California.
This game is just.... well. Awful. Not only is it a staggering 10mb for what amounts to 200 bytes' worth of gameplay, not only does it take nearly a minute to install on a high-end laptop, but it runs like a dog, yet mysteriously it's only using 10% CPU. The animation is an entirely un smooth 10-20fps. The graphics are somehow both blurry and crisp which rather jars with the senses. The sound is muffled and low quality. Buried under all this cruft is a trivial game. Go play Phelios' Swap if you want this gameplay.

Unfortunately I can't post the story without somehow you discovering links to the download. Ah what the hell, if you're on broadband download it anyway for an insight into the dictionary definition of mediocrity.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of this sort of game - but I did play Alchemy rather a lot when it came out, and even the odd snoodlike. What sets this game apart is the sheer lack of polish that's gone in to it. It's like they've put all the correct parameters into a machine that generates hit casual games and it's mechanically produced a game that is almost but not quite entirely unlike a hit game.

Just to spite me I expect that Oberon and GarageGames will throw megabucks at it to promote Torque and mysteriously it will sell. Meh.

[Abscissa]

I think tigsource forgot to mention the bad cowboy accent.

I did have fun with the game though.

[Ciperl]

One big thing that TIGSource forgot to mention is that GarageGames had nothing to do with this game. The game was designed, developed and sold by TikGames. We, at GarageGames, don't even sell this game on our own site. It's only sold at Oberon.

There are lots of professional teams working with Torque 2D and I placed that news item on the GarageGames site mainly to spur our community on in their quest to finish a game.

Oh and what's wrong with the cowboy accent... my brother-in-law talks like that. (My wife's from North Dakota).

[tentons]

Thank you, Gnatinator. Argus Math was released way back in April.

Looks like nobody noticed my kids' game, and I even emailed Josh Williams about it when I was done. Ah well, I guess it's not cool enough since it's educational.

I played Gold Fever, and it seems pretty well done. Congrats to TikGames.

[z3lda]

Is it just me or that cowboy looks like Woody with a beard .

[princec]

Just for the record: I mention GG because it was their news release, and because the whole point of the story is not the game but Torque2D has made its first "big" debut. I didn't mention TikGames because they've sold the rights to Oberon and, well, you know, I'm not so sure they'd really want to be associated with it...

Cas

[Cuculain]

Quite funny actually...

Extending the Torque Platform to the exciting and growing area of 2D gaming.

I remember when 3D was the exciting and growing area and 2D more or less dead.

[Abscissa]

I remember when 3D was the exciting and growing area and 2D more or less dead.

Personally, I'm soooo glad it reversed.

[DaveMyers]

I read that tigsource post and was really surprised that anyone bothered to quote it here. It's not a review site, that's obvious by simply reading the posts there. So, in this case it's just one game developers opinion about another developer's game in a genre that the poster himself admitted he did not enjoy in the first place. Who cares?

Here's another developer's opinion you can choose to not care about (quoting the tigsource post):

This game is just.... well. Awful. Not only is it a staggering 10mb for what amounts to 200 bytes' worth of gameplay...

Have you (this is a collective you, btw) taken a look around at what the download sizes are for most casual games? I'm assuming we all have here. Then of course you know that 5-10 mb is a pretty common download size for what amounts to a pretty basic game. Zuma, Jewel Quest, on and on and on have similar download requirements. So, why bother mentioning the download size at all? I could understand if it was 25 mb, sort of, but 10mb is not worth complaining about.

...not only does it take nearly a minute to install on a high-end laptop...

I'm not entirely sure why it took a minute to install on the poster's machine. It took all of 5 seconds on mine.

but it runs like a dog, yet mysteriously it's only using 10% CPU. The animation is an entirely un smooth 10-20fps. The graphics are somehow both blurry and crisp which rather jars with the senses.

Again, not sure what sort of machine the poster was running the game on, but it runs just fine on mine, also a gaming laptop. I didn't check the framerate, but this isn't Battlefield 2, so I don't need a huge framerate in order for the game to look good, which it does. In my opinion, of course.

The sound is muffled and low quality.

I agree that the sound could use some improvement. I didn't get the same sense of satisfaction as I was popping things in Jewel Quest or Zuma, for example. The music was nice enough, but as in all of these games it does get repetitive eventually.

Buried under all this cruft is a trivial game. Go play Phelios' Swap if you want this gameplay.

Hm. Well, since the poster didn't tell us what the game play *was*, this obviously disqualifies this post as a review of the game. It's just an opinion. Which is fine, but it's not gospel as written by the game design gawds.

Unfortunately I can't post the story without somehow you discovering links to the download. Ah what the hell, if you're on broadband download it anyway for an insight into the dictionary definition of mediocrity.

Yeah, heaven forbid you support the indie community, right? Don't post a download link to their game, and make sure and deride the game on your website. That's how best to report on the indie community for sure. Makes me want to visit tigsource again soon in the future for my indie game news, let me tell ya.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of this sort of game

Which means that we should even care *less* about what was written there. Why do people go to the trouble to post this type of junk if they don't care about the genre in the first place?

Just to spite me I expect that Oberon and GarageGames will throw megabucks at it to promote Torque and mysteriously it will sell. Meh.

Since the poster now knows that GG doesn't have anything really to do with the game other than making the T2D engine, I'm not sure why he wouldn't update his post correcting the above statement.

And I just want to add that personally I find that jealously slamming another game dev's work is lame. Especially on a site that is supposedly "The Independent Gaming Source".

From tigsource.com:

[Nauris]

Well, gotta hate someone, I guess. Its prolly a subspecies of teen angst. The new breed- Indie Angst.

[mooktown]

personally i thought the game was alright. I probably wouldnt buy the full version though as i did find it a little slowly paced, nice graphics though

[Sirrus]

I couldnt even pass the first level

I got more and more gold...but...theres no meter for how much you need? Or am I a complete idiot?

So time ran out and I sat there perplexed as to what my goal was.

[princec]

It is a very, very mediocre offering, this game, and TIGsource is an opinion site, not a review site. The developers can take this one on the chin I think, and maybe they'll sit back and have a look at what they've produced and try to compare it against the vast array of competitors. But as it stands, this release is genuinely a turd floating in a sea of diamonds, and I'm still wondering what it was doing during that lengthy install and why it was registering components when it's just a little casual game...

Cas

[DaveMyers]

It is a very, very mediocre offering, this game, and TIGsource is an opinion site, not a review site. The developers can take this one on the chin I think, and maybe they'll sit back and have a look at what they've produced and try to compare it against the vast array of competitors. But as it stands, this release is genuinely a turd floating in a sea of diamonds, and I'm still wondering what it was doing during that lengthy install and why it was registering components when it's just a little casual game...

Cas

Yet, the game is offered on Yahoo! Games, so I think the developers most likely will ignore criticisms such as yours while they reap the rewards of their hard work.

It's still strikes me as very disrespectful for one dev to publically dismiss another dev's hard work as a "turd floating in a sea of diamonds", but to each his own.

[princec]

Respect doesn't come into it. Hey, look back through the history of the forums and look at all the shit I've taken. I can handle it. I'd feel sorry for them if they'd put their heart and soul into it but it's so obviously been cranked out in quicktime to make a buck I think they deserve a forthright and frank opinion, and that's what TIGsource is about.

Cas

[MrPhil]

I think some of you are missing the reason I posted this story. The thread isn’t titled “Wow super great new game called Gold Fever!� What I thought was significant is that T2D is still in Early Release, and only became available 4 months ago (2/28/05 was the release date I believe.) But these guys managed to put together something with good production values and isn’t a totally clunker in that time. I thought that was significant.

I think this is an example of a team trying out a new technology and putting it to the test. I think it was very wise of the team to do something simple while working with a new technology. All too often, as programmers we try to do too many new things at once, which leads to problems and long delays. One of the advantages of being an Indie is we have room to experiment, and that means sometimes we might not make the most beautiful thing ever. And instead of spending a lot of time “polishing a turd� they sold it and have moved on. I think that is worthy of praise and congratulations.

My apologies tentons I guess I missed the release announcement for Argus Teaches Multiplication Facts. Maybe you could give us a little insight on the experience? Are you still using it or planning to? Are you using TorqueScript or that python add-on we talked about back in April? (I tried to reword the title, but couldn't figure out how, sorry.)

[DaveMyers]

I think some of you are missing the reason I posted this story. The thread isn’t titled “Wow super great new game called Gold Fever!” What I thought was significant is that T2D is still in Early Release, and only became available 4 months ago (2/28/05 was the release date I believe.) But these guys managed to put together something with good production values and isn’t a totally clunker in that time. I thought that was significant.

Agreed. It is significant and it is very cool.

[kevryan]

I checked it out because I may be using Torque 2D on a future game and I wanted to see what an outside developer had done with it in the few months since it has been out. I didn't have any performance problems on my Pentium III 400 Mhz TNT2 computer (my current low end for testing my own games).

I didn't know about tenton's game - thanks for the link I'm going to check it out too.

[tentons]

@MrPhil: No hard feelings.

I'm indeed using T2D for my very nearly completed Little Gods game. I haven't used Python with it yet, but integrating Python is next. Python and T2D will be quite blissful to me.

T2D has its warts, but they're not significant enough to convince me to jump back into C++ on my own engine. It's only going to improve, and it's clearly already a strong engine technology.

[MrPhil]

Good to hear tentons! Thanks for the update and good luck!

[Martoon]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I just notice that Gold Fever is currently number 3 on RealArcade's Top 10. All opinions aside, it appears that in any case, Tik Games knows how to make something that sells.

[tentons]

The good news for me is that Torque2D is acceptable to portals, even with its shoddy DX support and hardware-only rendering. Thanks for the info, and congrats to Tik for what must be very good sales.