Torque Game Builder - TGB

Torque Game Builder (TGB) is another product I used in my game development class. It is a 2D version of the game engine that uses the same scripting language as the Torqe Game Engine (TGE) which is 3D.

Torque Game Builder was much more polished as a product, but it doesn't include source with the indie or edu license which is a disappointment, but not a good reason not to use it. This class was supposed to be a 3D class, but I did use the TGB for two weeks at the beginnning of class to give students an easier introduction to the scripting language. It was a lot easier to deal with the scripting language without the added third dimension. Once you add that third dimension everything gets more complicated.

Another big difference between the two is that TGB has a much better physics enginee. The physics engine in TGE is not as robust, but it does work for most FPS style games. The TGB physics engine has all the bells and whistles you would expect. As with TGE, TGB includes a multiplayer networking engine at it's core. Even single player games would have the networking code attached at the core. It's not a lot of over head, just the design for multiplayer at it's core. If you are going to develop a multiplayer game I do suggest buying the full license ($495) so you have the source and can run multiple clients on the same machine during development.

I think the TGB is very easy to learn and a great platform for building 2D games. For $100 there is no comparison.