Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

By : DAVID WYAND

Buy this Book

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

By: DAVID WYAND

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

Torque 3D is a popular game engine that supports you in every step along the way to making your game a reality. Even with all of the power and tools that Torque 3D provides, finishing a high quality 3D game requires time and knowledge."Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook" is a practical guide that takes you through each of the major steps on the journey to creating your game, while learning a few tricks along the way.The recipes in this book start off with learning some of the finer points about TorqueScript. The book then moves on to each of Torque 3D's subsystems and ends with a variety of game play recipes.The various topics covered include activating level-specific game code and scheduling game events, dragging and dropping items between windows to work with an in-game inventory system, and covering the seams between objects with well placed decals. Some of the advanced topics include writing custom shaders and postFX, using zones to improve rendering performance, and enhancing your game's ambience through sound.Once you are done with Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook you'll be on your way to creating amazing 3D games and gain expert knowledge of Torque 3D.

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

TorqueScript: The Only Script You Need to Know

Introduction

Accessing delimited fields within a string

Iterating on words in a string list

Retrieving components of a variable using accessors

Iterating on objects in a SimSet or SimGroup collection

Getting a random object from a SimSet or SimGroup collection

Finding an object in a SimSet or SimGroup collection using its internal name

Executing a method on a SimSet or SimGroup collection

Creating a new SimObject instance

Creating a new internal name only SimObject instance

Creating a new Datablock object

Creating a new singleton

Extending a SimObject instance using the class property

Using a variable to access methods or properties of a SimObject instance

Using call() to call a variable method on a SimObject instance with arguments

Using call() to call a variable function with arguments

Using script arrays as dictionaries

Using ArrayObject and custom script sorting callbacks

Scheduling SimObject methods

Scheduling functions

Activating and deactivating a package

Working with Your Editors

Introduction

Setting up fogging of the level

How to cover seams and texture changes using decals placed in the World Editor

Copying the transform of an object to another in the World Editor window

How to change the material of an object in the World Editor

Setting up a glow mask using the Material Editor window

Using a convex shape as a zone

Setting zone-specific ambient lighting

Grouping adjacent zones together

Graphical User Interface

Introduction

Creating a password text edit box

Using pushDialog() and popDialog() and setting up the UI file to work with them

Displaying metrics (such as FPS) from the console

Displaying a list of all game objects

Displaying a level at the main menu

Dragging and dropping between two windows

Camera and Mouse Controls

Introduction

Locking and hiding the mouse while the right mouse button is down

Clicking on an object in the scene (client-side)

Clicking on an object in the scene (server-side)

Picking up an item in the scene while the mouse is locked and hidden

Changing the camera's view and control mode

Giving the camera smooth movement

Having the camera follow a path

Your Graphics Evolved

Introduction

Using the built-in video recording

Changing the material of a ShapeBase object using script

Building a custom material

Building a custom material using advanced lighting

Building a postFX

Make That Sound Happen

Introduction

Playing a quick 2D or 3D sound on all clients

Using SFXEmitter to create networked sound effects

Playing a sound on a ShapeBase object

Playing music while a level is loading

How to have a background sound for a level

How to have music change according to the mood

Triggering an event during sound playback

Game Objects

Introduction

Playing an animation sequence on a TSStatic class

Playing an animation sequence on a ShapeBase class

How to make it rain using a Precipitation object

Using the Lightning object to automatically create a thunderstorm

Using the TimeOfDay object to generate events

Multiplayer Servers

Introduction

How to start a dedicated server

What ports are needed to be open or forwarded for a multiplayer server

Passing arbitrary parameters from the client to the server

How to become an admin on a server

Kicking and banning people from the server

Stopping a server from restarting when the last player leaves

Accessing the server connection from the client

How to access all client connections from the server

Broadcasting a message to all clients and having it displayed in the center of the screen

Importance of Networking

Introduction

Sending a network event from the client to the server

Sending a network event from the server to the client

Connecting as a TCP client

Setting up a TCP server

Connecting as an HTTP client

Using an RSS feed for game news, message of the day, or other client messages

How to activate, deactivate, and use Telnet for console access

Miscellaneous Gameplay Features

Introduction

How to have a sprinting player use up energy

Enabling and disabling air control

How to jump jet

Adjusting the fire spread of a weapon

Changing the number of shots fired from a weapon

Making a weapon use energy rather than ammo

Finding objects in range

Using the message producer/consumer system

Index

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

Getting a random object from a SimSet or SimGroup collection

Sometimes we have a collection of SimObject instances in a SimSet or SimGroup collection and we would like to retrieve a single, random object from this collection. In this recipe we will discover a quick and easy method to do just that.

Getting ready

We will be adding a new TorqueScript function to a project based on the Torque 3D Full template and try it out using the Empty Terrain level. If you haven't already, use the Torque Project Manager (Project Manager.exe) to create a new project from the Full template. It will be found under the My Projects directory. Then start up your favorite script editor, such as Torsion, and let's get going!

How to do it...

We are going to write a TorqueScript function that will demonstrate how to retrieve a random SimObject instance from a SimSet or SimGroup collection as follows:

Open the game/scripts/server/game.cs script file and add the following code to the bottom:

function getRandomObject1()
{
   // Retrieve a random object from the MissionGroup.  This holds
   // the top level objects from the loaded level.
   %object = MissionGroup.getRandom();
   
   // Print some information about the object to the console
   echo(%object.getId() SPC %object.getClassName());
}

Start up our game under the My Projects directory and load the Empty Terrain level. Open the console using the tilde (~) key and enter the following at the bottom of the screen:
```
getRandomObject1();
```
In the console, we will see the following output (you may have a different object chosen):
```
==>getRandomObject1();
4276 ScatterSky
```

How it works...

The getRandom() method of a SimSet and SimGroup collection returns a randomly selected SimObject ID from the collection. If the collection is empty, a value of -1 is returned.

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

By : DAVID WYAND

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

By: DAVID WYAND

Overview of this book

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Torque 3D Game Development Cookbook

Getting a random object from a SimSet or SimGroup collection

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also