Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
• Torque 2D provides a very intuitive drag-and-drop interface and a robust
C++-based scripting language called TorqueScript, which makes game pro-
totyping quick and easy.
• It supports OpenAL libraries for full-featured sound capabilities and a physics
engine called Box2D to add physics to your gameplay.
• Its simple WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet interface, which supports several im-
age formats, particle systems, and tilemaps among the others, allow even in-
experienced users to make their own high-quality games, thanks to a strong
community support and very little coding required.
• Torque 2D also features built-in multiplayer and Internet game support to fur-
ther enhance the gameplay of your titles while keeping performances high.
• As it is based on the popular Torque 3D engine, Torque 2D is a very solid
and mature development tool, which has been recently upgraded to support
3D models to create interesting mixtures of 2D and 3D elements, though it
is customized for 2D gameplay. If you aim towards the creation of full-3D
games, there are better options available, which we will analyze in the follow-
ing sections of this chapter.
• Torque 2D is based on C++ source code and as such it requires an installed
C++ compiler to make the final build of your games. A license is also required
to make use of this game engine, which is around $1000 as we write.
Cocos2D
Cocos2D is an open source, free framework, based on an MIT license, which allows
development of games for the iOS and Android. Its architecture is based on a pre-
existing engine written in Python and first converted to Objective-C for the iPhone,
and then to JavaScript to support Android development.
Cocos2D is excellent for the first time developer for the following reasons:
• An intuitive interface
• A full set of libraries including Box2D and Chipmunk physics engine
• It's open source and free
• It allows mixing native and external C++ libraries to extend its capabilities
• It now supports 3D
• It has a strong user community
There are a few disadvantages of Cocos2D:
