XNA Game Studio Express will allow users to develop games in managed C# and play them both on Windows PCs and on retail Xbox 360 game consoles. GarageGames' Torque suite of game development tools is used by many commercial game studios, independent and hobbyist game developers, and in game development courses at over 100 major universities and schools around the world. Torque X is the next-generation of GarageGames' Torque technology ported over to C# to run on the XNA platform.
The complete line of Torque X products is still available on the GarageGames website. The Torque X binary is free to anyone, and the purchase of Torque X Pro for $150 provides developers with the full source code. Torque X Builder is priced at $100 to non-XNA Creators Club members. Both the binary and the Pro versions of Torque X come with a 30-day free trial of Torque X Builder.
GarageGames' original C++ 2D engine and toolset, Torque Game Builder, will be available for free with the purchase of Torque X Builder. Developers who buy Torque Game Builder first will also be able to download Torque X Builder for free.
The first major starter kit for Torque X, the Platformer Starter Kit, is also available for purchase. The kit includes a broad range of professional art assets and code, as well as a full game demo to help developers get started.
The following is a breakdown of the pricing structure for all Torque X products:
- Torque X: free
- Torque X Pro (Indie license): $150
- Torque X Pro (Commercial license): $750
- Torque X Builder (Indie license): $100
- Torque X Builder (Commercial license): $495
- Platformer Starter Kit (Indie license): $29.95
- Platformer Starter Kit (Commercial license): $149.95
For information on Indie versus Commercial licenses, click here.