danydrunk: As mentioned on the Torque product description page you visited when you downloaded the demo, and the Engine Overview section of the demo itself, TGE includes an integrated World Editor, GUI Editor, Terrain Editor and Terrain Generator.

You will need third party tools to create script files, images, sounds, and 3D models though, which is fairly standard practice. Besides anything else, it makes it easier to transition to/from other game engines, as there are fewer new tools to learn each time.

Almost any text editor can be used to write scripts, but life will be much easier if you use one intended for programmers which supports syntax highlighting, projects and/or macros.

Almost any 2D graphics program can be used to create the images, as long as it supports .gif, .jpg and .png file formats.

For animated 3D models, Milkshape and 3DStudio Max exporters are included, and a TGE user has created one for Blender which can be found in the Garage Games resource section.

For static 3D models (buildings etc.), QuArK and WorldCraft (formerly Hammer) converters are available. These tools are probably what you're thinking of when you use the term "level editor".

What you might not realise is that the demo is actually a fully functioning version of the game engine. The menues, overview screens, feature walkthrough and the demo games are all written using TorqueScript.

The main differences between using the demo and purchasing a license are that with the latter you gain access to the source code along with additional documentation, resources and support forums.

Of course, you need a license to distribute finished games or the engine itself, but the demo can be used during the early learning stages.

As for the graphical/shading capabilities of the Torque Game Engine, they aren't up to the absolute latest standards, but they are working on an updated version called the Torque Shader Engine.

Then again, there are a lot of people who don't have a graphics card with per-pixel shading capabilities, so it's a moot point.

If you do decide to use Torque, I would strongly suggest purchasing 3D Game Programming All In One by Kenneth Finney first (even before purchasing a license), as it takes you through the process of creating a full game using TGE.

It includes a CDROM containing a precompiled version of the game engine, (TorqueScript) source code and a selection of useful tools (such as Milkshape, UltraEdit, QuArK and Paint Shop Pro), although some of them need to be purchased/registered if used longer than 30 days.