Torque Game Builder

I decided today to get the indie version of Torque Game Builder. I had tried the 30 day version and it was kinda cool - but I really hadnt had alot of time to dig into the features. But today I was reading about Amanda Fitch (creator of Aveyond) and several other indies who've jumped on the Torque bandwagon. I have had a game idea for a long time (basically an action rpg) and GameMaker - while really easy to work with - doesn't have the features I need for this game (basically the ability to commercialize a game). I tried out MultiMedia Fusion (Klick n Play) which also is easy to code for but isnt cross platform.

So, I'm going to start a project with Torque Game Builder and blog about it here. Perhaps if you are considering getting the engine yourself perhaps what I talk about here might influence your decision.

So far the things that have impressed me are the smoothness of the animation, and the niceness (is that a word?) of the folks on the TGB boards. One gotcha if you are just poking around - you cant build a standalone of your game and also run the IDE at the same time - there can only be one instance of torque running at a time.. wierd. But I tried it and was scratching my head thinking "I'm just trying to run one of the demos - sheesh" and it would fail to launch. After actually reading about how to package a game I see in big green letters " ... dont try to launch your game while the IDE is running ...".

Other than that, so far it's very cool! I cant wait to start digging into particle effects, parallax scrolling, collision detection, etc. etc.