I’m considering getting iTorque 2D to release a game. I’m choosing it over Unity (for now) because it is only $100 instead of $400. I just have a few questions that I would love to have answered (I would ask them at the GG forums but they’re private):
1- If I develop on windows, will I have to buy it again for $100 for the Mac version?
2- Is the engine really buggy?
3- How difficult is the engine to use?
4- Are there any hidden costs?
PS I’m still sticking with Unity once I have the money for it, I just need something cheaper for now…
I already said the GG forums are private… Unity seems to be better I just don’t have the money for the Iphone license and don’t have a Mac to develop on right now.
They are both decent products and iTorque 2D is not too shabby. For both of them, you’ll need to have an OSX system for development. Currently, you can buy it for $100 at GarageGames (http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque-2d/iphone). If you are really on a budget, I think Cocos2D is worth checking.
Looks to me as though anyone can register? You’ll definitely get far better information from their forums than from here which will be speculative/second-hand at best.
Not needfully but I know that the boards over there are not private for anything but T3D unless the switch to GG has made it private again. hard to say as I own it though
You can do your game in Windows, to a point, like with Unity. When it comes time to really deploy your project to a test device or submit it to the App Store, you must have access to an OSX system.
I own both iTorque and Unity iPhone but haven’t used Torque’s iPhone engine for a while (and newer versions have come out since I used it). When I was using iTorque I was discouraged because optimizing the game to be fast enough for the phone would require getting into the source code rather than sticking with scripts. I found this both by what people were saying in the forums and with my own personal experience. Where 2D engines go I like Torque’s implementation in general but needing to do a lot of work in the engine’s source for mobile… was more of a time investment than I was willing/able to put in.
At the very least it’s educational and fun to tinker with but I don’t know how you feel about wasting $100 if your experience of it is similar to mine. If you want to be careful about money the cocos2d suggestion may be better though (because it’s free) I have never used it and can’t directly comment on it one way or the other. This may also be helpful if you’re considering the cocos2d route (haven’t tried but it looks potentially helpful and within your budget): http://www.iphonegamekit.com/
To directly answer your questions
1- Regarding licensing, the Torque people would only be able to give the official answer but every game development tool I have purchased from them allows a download for both Mac and Windows (and used to be Linux too) with no extra charge. I don’t think they have changed that.
2- When I last used it around Dec of 2009 it was decently buggy, much more than I have found with Unity (though I rarely run into issues with Unity unlike some others on these forums)
3-I found the engine easy to use and the scripting language as easy as any other scripting/programming I’ve done. The need to dive into the source though took it out of the easy category for me. So if that is no longer the case it could be considered easy… Take the word “easy” with a grain of salt, game development is not easy. I still consider Unity in the “easy” category (because most things can be done in scripting among other things) but getting a game done in Unity is still hard. It’s the nature of game projects, they tend to be complex software systems. Just wanted to clarify how to interpret “easy” in this context.
4-The only “hidden” costs are $100 to apple to be a developer and purchasing a mac if you don’t already have one. Oh and a device for testing on too (iphone or ipod touch, ipad). I know those are probably obvious but I don’t want to assume anything.
