How hard can it possibly be for you guys to create your own side-scrolling 2D shooter? I'm not bashing Badspot's game, I've seen it, and its awesome, but it can't be hard for you guys to figure out how to lock the perspective, you should be able to code that in the 30 days you get to use the demo version of TGE for.
If you really wanted to, you could get together (I know there are at least 3 or 4 people with a TGE license on these forums, probably many more) and make your own open source 2D shooter. Make a community effort out of it or something. I bet 60% of the people on these forums know at least some Torque Script, and wouldn't mind helping a bit.
I'd help out with artwork, that is, if you guys actually get a serious prototype working, and not just a silly concept.