The maps seem to be quite a bit smaller than in T2. With T2 you had to do quite a trek over mountains and such to even see the enemy base. With the maps in T:V it seems like a deathmatch map.
The reason for this is that the Unreal Engine isn't really suited for large-scale outdoor gameplay. Apparently Irrational had quite a hard time getting it to work at all, much less in a fasion that played well. So you get a lot of large indoor levels, and nothing but big valleys outdoors so that you occlude most of the terrain and don't bring the engine to its knees. Doesn't have the natural, rolling-hills and peaks feel of the previous tribes titles.
Just goes to show that when shopping for tools for a major project, a shiny demo and big price tag doesn't mean it will do the job well. I might be biased in that respect, though:)
I feel bad for Irrational, it is a franchise with a huge fan base - quite an act to follow, especially when being done purely as a Vivendi contract.
Your flamebait is delicious.
It showed up on my games section (under an Apple subheading of course) so your point is somewhat moot. Still, mac gaming is a lot better off than it was a few years ago, but still has a long way to go before it is on par with Windows.
It is a testament to how lazy big development houses are that independent developers with small teams and tiny budgets have no problem doing 3-platform releases with TGE... plus Xbox now, as noted in the article I linked above.
The title of the game is Marble Blast Gold, not Marble Blaster. Jay Moore is a GarageGame employee and head of marketing, but the company is run by Jeff Tunnell, former head of Dynamix, as noted by alabrat above.
The game WAS at one point released under the title Marble Blaster in its windows-only retail boxed version by eGames, whose marketing department thought the "er" made it more appealing or somesuch.
More info on this story and Marble Blast for Xbox available here.
But as a general-purpose engine (Torque) and general purpose network layer (TNL) wouldn't you say that is handy to be *able* to support lots of players if you need to?
Developers can limit the number of players they allow on their maps, but at least they have the option of more if they need them.
A number of new features have gone into TNL. But more importantly, it would take a lot of work to rip the networking out of Torque and abstract it for general use. By getting TNL, all this is done for you, and documented. The added cost is largely for the time and effort all of this will save you.
If you just want to start a game from scratch rather than adding networking to an existing project, the full Torque engine is probably a better option.
Of course if you are doing an open source project, there is no added cost:)
Disclaimer: I am a GarageGames employee
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Just goes to show that when shopping for tools for a major project, a shiny demo and big price tag doesn't mean it will do the job well. I might be biased in that respect, though
I feel bad for Irrational, it is a franchise with a huge fan base - quite an act to follow, especially when being done purely as a Vivendi contract.
Your flamebait is delicious. It showed up on my games section (under an Apple subheading of course) so your point is somewhat moot. Still, mac gaming is a lot better off than it was a few years ago, but still has a long way to go before it is on par with Windows. It is a testament to how lazy big development houses are that independent developers with small teams and tiny budgets have no problem doing 3-platform releases with TGE... plus Xbox now, as noted in the article I linked above.
The title of the game is Marble Blast Gold, not Marble Blaster. Jay Moore is a GarageGame employee and head of marketing, but the company is run by Jeff Tunnell, former head of Dynamix, as noted by alabrat above. The game WAS at one point released under the title Marble Blaster in its windows-only retail boxed version by eGames, whose marketing department thought the "er" made it more appealing or somesuch. More info on this story and Marble Blast for Xbox available here.
Yes, in fact Mark Frohnmayer gave that talk. He also wrote these updates to TNL.
But as a general-purpose engine (Torque) and general purpose network layer (TNL) wouldn't you say that is handy to be *able* to support lots of players if you need to? Developers can limit the number of players they allow on their maps, but at least they have the option of more if they need them.
A number of new features have gone into TNL. But more importantly, it would take a lot of work to rip the networking out of Torque and abstract it for general use. By getting TNL, all this is done for you, and documented. The added cost is largely for the time and effort all of this will save you. If you just want to start a game from scratch rather than adding networking to an existing project, the full Torque engine is probably a better option. Of course if you are doing an open source project, there is no added cost :)
Disclaimer: I am a GarageGames employee