Well it's tool thread ! You should have named your post Torque3D i think.

Well Torque 3D is known for it's bugs and not easy C++ programming side.
I've seen a tutorial on 3D box collision detection in 3D space
by a ray cast, very complicated maths and big program :
I thought ok doing your own C++ is complicated and i hate complicated C++ environment to make simple things !

Well ...
-Is Scripting allowing to do anything as A8 allow ???
-What format can be imported for animated models for indie people that can't afford such high price thing like 3DSMAX ? (Blender, FBX, Collada ?)
-How to do or import easily a lightmap ? from what modeler ? Blender ?
-What is the lightening, does it have standard shaders and how do they interact with lightening of the scene ?

Well i would want to say, juts make some playable demo with
some GUI, PNC animated character, some duplicated ennemie
and shaders and tell us if it was easy or complicated !

Bring on a demo for us !