Introduction

Torque 2D is a professional engine API dedicated to 2D game development. GarageGames, the original authors, released the engine as an open source project covered under the MIT license.

The expectation is that moving Torque 2D to a MIT license will greatly expand both the engine’s reach and our community. That means more developers to talk with, a larger audience for your tools and art packs, and more games, simulations and other products being created and released.

Using a game engine is not just a shortcut to finishing a game. Using Torque 2D will save you the time and effort required to create a complex rendering system, physics, a scripting system, and so on. However, you must also realize that there is a lot of power "under the hood" that should be harnessed.

Platform Support

Currently, the following platforms are supported by the base engine:

• Windows
• OS X
• iOS

Support for new platforms is surely on the way. In fact, YOU get to help us decide what we should work on, be it Linux, Android, editors, or just simple bug fixing.

Languages

Torque 2D uses a mix of languages, all C-based:

• Core: C++
• Windows: C++ and Windows API
• OS X: C++, Objective-C, and Cocoa API
• iOS: C++, Objective-C, and Cocoa touch API

In addition to the core engine languages, you can script all your game play via TorqueScript. This is a C-like syntax language that is very simple to learn and utilize for your projects. Also, persistent files such as particles, levels, GUIs, and more are stored as "TAML" (Torque Application Markup Language). If you have ever edited XML or XAML in the past, you should feel more than comfortable with TAML.

Main Features

• Box2D physics
• Simple and flexible sprite system
• Powerful asset system, with a built-in Asset Manager
• Composite system capable of rendering thousands of images and animations with little performance impact
• Integrated asset system that manages all your asset loading and unloading in an optimized manner
• Flexible module system that makes rapid prototyping a snap and code reusability a simple matter
• TexturePacker Support
• TAML serialization format (like XAML and XML)
• Batched rendering
• Multiple collision shapes
• Built-in unit testing framework, cross platform
• Solid behavior system for packaging reusable game logic that can be applied to multiple sprites in different projects

There is so much more, which you can read about in the blogs from Torque 2D architect, Melv May:

Torque 2D MIT Preview Part 1

Torque 2D MIT Preview Part 2

Torque 2D MIT Preview Part 3