Torque For Teens by Michael Duggan Reviewed

Is Making Video Games Made Easy With This Game Development Book?

Dec 31, 2008

Michael Duggan teaches teens and adults alike how to make computer games with Torque game development software in this book on video game programming.

There are many game making programs available today, from Mark Overmar's simple budget-friendly Game Maker to commercial triple-A game engines such as Epic Games's Unreal Engine which costs thousands of dollars to license. Dominating the middle ground and appealing to the hobbyist and independent game maker alike is the Torque game engine.

In Torque for Teens, Michael Duggan introduces the reader not to just the Torque game engine, but to the game development industry as a whole. Duggan writes with the confidence of a natural teacher, and like all good teachers, is prone to occasionally wander off of the topic under discussion to follow a tangent that might not be wholly relevant, but is still interesting and illuminating.

Teens Making Video Games

Perhaps because Torque for Teens is aimed at the teenage market, Duggan does not offer a dry step-by-step manual on game design. Rather, an overview of the Torque engine is offered, and while all the important areas of making video games in Torque are touched upon, no area is given quite the detailed study that is required to successfully use Torque.

Video Game Programming Overlooked

One of the major omissions of Torque for Teens is the lack of space devoted to TorqueScript. Scripting is the cornerstone of most game making programs, and Torque is no exception. The script Duggan does cover is very basic, and rather uselessly mirrors the example code that can be found in the documentation that ships with Torque. More usefully, Duggan references more detailed works on scripting in Torque, such as Kenneth Finney's 3D Game Programming All in One.

A second peculiarity is the choice of 3D Studio Max as the modeling software used to create art assets for the example game used throughout the book. Torque for Teens is aimed at the teenage audience, which is why the affordable but powerful Torque engine is used as the game development software. 3D Studio Max retails for just under $3500, which is unlikely to be within the budget of a young budding game developer or indeed that of most older hobbyist game developers.

Duggan himself mentions cheaper modeling software alternatives, such as MilkShape and the open-source Blender, and in the section covering sound, introduces the reader to the free sound editor Audacity. Focusing on a budget-friendly or free modeling program would surely have been more in tune with the teenage audience Torque for Teens supposes to target.

Torque for Teens Review Summary

Michael Duggan is a fine writer, and Torque for Teens is a well-presented and interesting read, but unfortunately, it is not thorough enough to arm a newcomer to game making programs like Torque with the skillset or the software required to make video games themselves.

More exhaustive game development books for Torque exist, and a better purchase would be Kenneth Finney's 3D Game Programming All in One and Creating Game Art for 3D Engines by Brad Strong. They might not be as approachable as Duggan's Torque for Teens, but they do provide detailed tutorials on their subject, as all game development books should do, regardless of the age of their target audience.

The copyright of the article Torque For Teens by Michael Duggan Reviewed in Computer Books is owned by Nicolas McGregor. Permission to republish Torque For Teens by Michael Duggan Reviewed in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.