Cosmind, I want to know more about the Torque engine as well.  Everytime I try to research it, I only come away thinking that it is a limited 2D engine.  It even costs a subscription to access their wiki to find out how to use the software (I think)... suffice it to say, I don't find their website intuitive or informative at all.  It just seems deliberately confusing to get you to buy a bunch of products up front, then figure out which you need/intend to use after you've paid.

there are two versions - plain ode torque, and then torque 2d.  torque is a full-fledged 3d engine and framework.  torque 2d is focused on a 2d framework.

the torque game builder and its sister the torque x builder are amazing toolsets that are geared mainly at torque 2d.  i'm not sure if you can bend them to use on the 3d torque engine or not.

all the info i have on torque 2d is that which i've conjured through first-hand experience with the 30 limited demo of torque game builder.  you can nab both it and the torque x builder from their website and tinker with them for 30 days (note that you must also download and setup xna to be able to use the x builder, though).

they are simply amazing toolsets.  they are very, very similar in usability as gamemaker.  they have features that are way better, and also some features that aren't as dope as gm.  they balance out, really.  you should see their "room" and object population setup/tools.  and their particle creator/editor setup.  awesome stuff.

but, in the end, it's probably the only non-"game creating software" toolset that i've found to be so usable and slick.  also, you can choose to use their own torque script or another scripting language of your choice (and, of course, c# with the torque x builder).

i say snatch the demo(s) and explore them.  you'll likely discover way more than i even have (since you actually seem to be a programmer).

game builder demo
http://www.garagegames.com/products/96/

x builder demo
http://www.garagegames.com/products/255/

and, as icing, these toolsets are    cheap    as    heck...

Out of interest, what are the ways in which you found them to perform less than GM? Also I assume they possess a lot more in terms of computational power?

oh, they burn gm in terms of computational power.  and it also has a dang efficient, built-in 2d physics (and collision) system that is quite slick.

in regards to "less" on the usability front.  well, just running the gui toolset is a bit more resource intensive than gm is.  so, if you have an ancient video card, then it'll be a bit of a pain to use.  additionally, i like the object container setup in gm a tad more.  a bit more streamlined and "container-like" in that it is a great collection of all resources and events/scripts/et al that may belong to that particular object.

I noticed too that Creator Club members get Torque X and Torque X Builder for free... so I might be investigating more seriously in the coming months.

Add those prices, and I can practically scream in joy. Getting the TGB as soon as I finish my current overloaded duties.

You guys are getting me kinda excited about all this Torque stuff - I was looking into it myself recently, just by pure coincidence.  Sinaz, I will playtest demos for you as well, and you'll have to let use all know how this works out / what tool you finally settle on to invest some time in.